Romeo Lomas said that technicians from the manufacturer of the voting machines, Election Systems and Software Inc. in Omaha, Neb., visited
Friday, March 31, 2000
Kleberg to post revised race results after vote-count error
By Mary Lee Grant
Caller-Times
Candidates who thought they were winners and those who thought they had lost in April's primary elections will gather at the Kleberg County Clerk's office at 9 a.m. today to see the revised results.
Kleberg County officials said on Wednesday that they had discovered that 1,343 more ballots were counted than cast in the county's Democratic primary.
The discrepancy could affect the results of six local races including county commissioner races in precincts 1 and 3, constable races in precinct 1, 2 and 4 and the race for sheriff. Of the county's 30 precincts, 21 had ballot numbers that did not match.
Visiting Judge Darryl Hester issued a court order Thursday allowing for a recount of the ballots. District Judge J. Manuel Banales withdrew himself because he was on the ballot for the 13th Court of Appeals.
Kleberg County officials are still unsure how the ballots cast on March 14 were overcounted.
County Commissioner Romeo Lomas said that technicians from the manufacturer of the voting machines, Election Systems and Software Inc. in Omaha, Neb., visited Kingsville on Thursday and said that the over-count was due to human error.
"They said that someone entered the information more than once,'' Lomas said.
Lomas said he isn't ruling out the possibility of foul play.
Alicia Gamez, chief deputy for the county clerk's office, helped operate the machines election night and said she thinks the error occurred because the county didn't have the proper software to run the computers.
"There is an election reporting system that will prevent overstacking of the votes,'' Gamez said. "If you save it in a disc and reinsert the disc it prevents this from happening. They should have known we needed that software.''
But Todd Urosevich, vice president of customer services for Elections Systems and Software, Inc. said the overcount probably resulted from a procedural error.
"There was an incorrectly loaded disc moved from one scanner to the other,'' he said. "The equipment did what it was supposed to do, but proper procedures weren't followed.''
Urosevich said that on-site contract personnel who help counties use the computers were probably responsible for the mistake.
"In the county's defense, they were probably guided in the wrong direction by the person who was on site,'' he said.
Additional software
Urosevich said the approximately $12,599 software reporting package isn't required, but that most counties with multiple scanners have it.
The problem will be avoided in the recount because county personnel will use a single scanner, Urosevich said. He said similar mistakes have happened occasionally.
Lomas said that when the county purchased the machines, commissioners weren't told about the additional software.
"We thought we were buying the Cadillac of election machines, and we weren't told we needed additional software to safeguard them,'' Lomas said. "If we do need more software, we will buy it. We just aren't sure exactly what happened yet."
Recount results
On election night, two electronic scanners counted ballots at the county clerk's office. Ballots were fed into the two machines, which count at a rate of about 70 or 80 ballots a minute. The scanners read the ballots in four batches. First, they counted the early votes, and then counted the votes 10 precincts at a time.
Roberto Moreno, the county chair of the Democratic Party, has said it's unlikely that the recount will affect who comes out on top in the county's two runoff elections for county commissioner Precinct 1 and constable Precinct 2. But the second- and third-place candidates of those races could change, putting different candidates in the runoff on April 11. A change could leave a candidate with less than two weeks to campaign before voting begins.
Campaigning
The error was discovered by Melissa Trevino De La Garza, the tax-assessor collector and voter registrar, whose duties include comparing a list of those who voted to the number of ballots counted.
"Whoever brought this error to light should be commended,'' said Jane Dees, spokeswoman for the Texas Secretary of State's Office in Austin. "These sorts of things happen, but this was a little later than they usually happen. They did the noble and right thing. They are following correct procedure."
Dees said that the judge who granted the order has the authority to postpone the runoff election, but the county will still have to hold an election for the U.S. Senate race in April.
"If the recount changes the outcome, some candidates may not feel that two weeks is long enough to campaign," Dees said.
She said that election mistakes by humans and machines are common, but they are usually discovered within a few days of the election.
Gamez said there has been no trouble with the machines in the past.
Costly changes
Former Democratic Party Chairman Horacio "Hoss" Castillo, who helped oversee the election, said he was leery of the vote tallies election night, but not suspicious enough to question them.
"I was sort of surprised at the numbers, but I didn't really think anything was wrong,'' Castillo said.
He said the Democratic Party had the runoff ballots printed on Thursday, even though the party isn't certain who the candidates in the runoff will be.
"We had to do it,'' Castillo said. "Early voting starts Monday. I don't know what we will do if they are wrong.''
A change could cost thousands of dollars if new ballots need to be printed. If another countywide race, such as sheriff, has to be added to the ballot, it would cost about $4,000, party officials said.
County Commissioner Dewey Hubert said he had felt fairly secure going into the runoff with 57 percent of the vote in the primary. But now he isn't so sure.
"Who knows how it will affect the ballot?'' he said. "I'll just have to wait and see what happens. I don't like it, but there is nothing I can do about it."
Kleberg to post revised race results after vote-count error
By Mary Lee Grant
Caller-Times
Candidates who thought they were winners and those who thought they had lost in April's primary elections will gather at the Kleberg County Clerk's office at 9 a.m. today to see the revised results.
Kleberg County officials said on Wednesday that they had discovered that 1,343 more ballots were counted than cast in the county's Democratic primary.
The discrepancy could affect the results of six local races including county commissioner races in precincts 1 and 3, constable races in precinct 1, 2 and 4 and the race for sheriff. Of the county's 30 precincts, 21 had ballot numbers that did not match.
Visiting Judge Darryl Hester issued a court order Thursday allowing for a recount of the ballots. District Judge J. Manuel Banales withdrew himself because he was on the ballot for the 13th Court of Appeals.
Kleberg County officials are still unsure how the ballots cast on March 14 were overcounted.
County Commissioner Romeo Lomas said that technicians from the manufacturer of the voting machines, Election Systems and Software Inc. in Omaha, Neb., visited Kingsville on Thursday and said that the over-count was due to human error.
"They said that someone entered the information more than once,'' Lomas said.
Lomas said he isn't ruling out the possibility of foul play.
Alicia Gamez, chief deputy for the county clerk's office, helped operate the machines election night and said she thinks the error occurred because the county didn't have the proper software to run the computers.
"There is an election reporting system that will prevent overstacking of the votes,'' Gamez said. "If you save it in a disc and reinsert the disc it prevents this from happening. They should have known we needed that software.''
But Todd Urosevich, vice president of customer services for Elections Systems and Software, Inc. said the overcount probably resulted from a procedural error.
"There was an incorrectly loaded disc moved from one scanner to the other,'' he said. "The equipment did what it was supposed to do, but proper procedures weren't followed.''
Urosevich said that on-site contract personnel who help counties use the computers were probably responsible for the mistake.
"In the county's defense, they were probably guided in the wrong direction by the person who was on site,'' he said.
Additional software
Urosevich said the approximately $12,599 software reporting package isn't required, but that most counties with multiple scanners have it.
The problem will be avoided in the recount because county personnel will use a single scanner, Urosevich said. He said similar mistakes have happened occasionally.
Lomas said that when the county purchased the machines, commissioners weren't told about the additional software.
"We thought we were buying the Cadillac of election machines, and we weren't told we needed additional software to safeguard them,'' Lomas said. "If we do need more software, we will buy it. We just aren't sure exactly what happened yet."
Recount results
On election night, two electronic scanners counted ballots at the county clerk's office. Ballots were fed into the two machines, which count at a rate of about 70 or 80 ballots a minute. The scanners read the ballots in four batches. First, they counted the early votes, and then counted the votes 10 precincts at a time.
Roberto Moreno, the county chair of the Democratic Party, has said it's unlikely that the recount will affect who comes out on top in the county's two runoff elections for county commissioner Precinct 1 and constable Precinct 2. But the second- and third-place candidates of those races could change, putting different candidates in the runoff on April 11. A change could leave a candidate with less than two weeks to campaign before voting begins.
Campaigning
The error was discovered by Melissa Trevino De La Garza, the tax-assessor collector and voter registrar, whose duties include comparing a list of those who voted to the number of ballots counted.
"Whoever brought this error to light should be commended,'' said Jane Dees, spokeswoman for the Texas Secretary of State's Office in Austin. "These sorts of things happen, but this was a little later than they usually happen. They did the noble and right thing. They are following correct procedure."
Dees said that the judge who granted the order has the authority to postpone the runoff election, but the county will still have to hold an election for the U.S. Senate race in April.
"If the recount changes the outcome, some candidates may not feel that two weeks is long enough to campaign," Dees said.
She said that election mistakes by humans and machines are common, but they are usually discovered within a few days of the election.
Gamez said there has been no trouble with the machines in the past.
Costly changes
Former Democratic Party Chairman Horacio "Hoss" Castillo, who helped oversee the election, said he was leery of the vote tallies election night, but not suspicious enough to question them.
"I was sort of surprised at the numbers, but I didn't really think anything was wrong,'' Castillo said.
He said the Democratic Party had the runoff ballots printed on Thursday, even though the party isn't certain who the candidates in the runoff will be.
"We had to do it,'' Castillo said. "Early voting starts Monday. I don't know what we will do if they are wrong.''
A change could cost thousands of dollars if new ballots need to be printed. If another countywide race, such as sheriff, has to be added to the ballot, it would cost about $4,000, party officials said.
County Commissioner Dewey Hubert said he had felt fairly secure going into the runoff with 57 percent of the vote in the primary. But now he isn't so sure.
"Who knows how it will affect the ballot?'' he said. "I'll just have to wait and see what happens. I don't like it, but there is nothing I can do about it."
Labels: Acquiescense, Integrity, Judgment, Justice, La Ley
posted by dannoynted1 @ 1:06 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home