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Friday, November 12, 2004
Indiana Law - Another voting machine problem reported
"Misread ballots may alter races: Straight Democrat votes were tallied for Libertarian ones" was the report yesterday in the Richmond Palladium-Item. Some quotes:
BROOKVILLE, Ind. -- Election equipment counted straight-party votes for Democratic candidates as Libertarian votes, an error that could affect election outcomes in as many as nine counties.The Indianapolis Star also reports the story in today's paper. A quote:Democrats discovered the error in Franklin County, where ballots will be counted again tonight.
The county's election equipment vendor, Fidlar, notified officials Wednesday of the error.
Libertarian candidates received 7 to 8 percent of the votes in Franklin County, which is about 30 miles south of Richmond.
Franklin County Democratic Chairman Jim Sauerland questioned Clerk Marlene Flashpohler on Tuesday about the results after seeing information on the final tally he couldn't decipher, Flashpohler said. That's when Flashpohler contacted Fidlar, who agreed Wednesday there was an error.
The Franklin County Election Board agreed at an emergency meeting today to recanvass the ballots tonight. Noon Friday is the deadline to contest the election results.
A programming error discovered in voting machines has triggered a recount of the Nov. 2 election results in Franklin County in southeastern Indiana.A Democratic official, whose party was shortchanged in the mistake, said the only change in the results might come in a County Council race. State officials are investigating.
"The Indiana Election Division is aware of the problem," said Kate Shepherd, spokeswoman for the agency. "We are awaiting more information from the county and the vendor about what exactly happened."
The error caused votes for a straight Democratic ticket in Franklin County -- selecting all Democratic candidates -- to credit Libertarian candidates instead.
The mistake was in the programming of optical-scan voting machines sold by Fidlar Election Co., Rock Island, Ill. John Kruszynski, the company's director of elections, said only Franklin County was affected. * * *
The company's optical-scan machines are also used in Benton, Elkhart, Fulton, LaGrange, Newton, Ripley, Scott, Steuben and Switzerland counties, according to the Indiana Election Division. Kruszynski said there were no programming mistakes with the company's machines elsewhere in Indiana, or in the half-dozen other states where Fidlar has contracts.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 12, 2004 07:31 AM
Posted to Indiana Law