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"I pushed [Kerry's] name, but a green check mark appeared before President
Bush's name"
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"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our
monied corporations which dare already to challenge our
government to a trial of strength, and bid defiance to
the laws our country."
-- Thomas Jefferson, 1816
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http://abqjournal.com/elex/246845elex10-22-04.htm
Friday, October 22, 2004
Some Voters Say Machines Failed, Incorrect Choices Appear on Screens
By Jim Ludwick
Journal Staff Writer
Kim Griffith voted on Thursday-- over and over and over.
She's among the people in Bernalillo and Sandoval counties who
say they have had trouble with early voting equipment. When they have
tried to vote for a particular candidate, the touch-screen system has said
they voted for somebody else.
It's a problem that can be fixed by the voters themselves -
people can alter the selections on their ballots, up to the point when
they indicate they are finished and officially cast the ballot.
For Griffith, it took a lot of altering.
She went to Valle Del Norte Community Center in Albuquerque,
planning to vote for John Kerry. "I pushed his name, but a green check
mark appeared before President Bush's name," she said.
Griffith erased the vote by touching the check mark at Bush's
name. That's how a voter can alter a touch-screen ballot.
She again tried to vote for Kerry, but the screen again said she
had voted for Bush. The third time, the screen agreed that her vote should
go to Kerry.
She faced the same problem repeatedly as she filled out the rest
of the ballot. On one item, "I had to vote five or six times," she said.
Michael Cadigan, president of the Albuquerque City Council, had a
similar experience when he voted at City Hall.
"I cast my vote for president. I voted for Kerry and a check mark
for Bush appeared," he said.
He reported the problem immediately and was shown how to alter
the ballot.
Cadigan said he doesn't think he made a mistake the first time.
"I was extremely careful to accurately touch the button for my choice for
president," but the check mark appeared by the wrong name, he said.
Bernalillo County Clerk Mary Herrera said she doesn't believe the
touch-screen system has been making mistakes. It's the fault of voters,
she said Thursday.
Cadigan, for example, could have "leaned his palm on the touch
screen and it hit the wrong button," she said.
In Sandoval County, three Rio Rancho residents said they had a
similar problem, with opposite results. They said a touch-screen machine
switched their presidential votes from Bush to Kerry.
Bureau of Elections Manager Eddie Gutierrez also said he doesn't
believe there are problems with the machines.
But Gutierrez did replace one after someone complained-- even
though he found nothing wrong with it.
"He (the voter) felt so strongly about it, that I shut it down,"
Gutierrez said.
Herrera said she's heard stories from Democrats and Republicans.
In some cases, when people have tried to vote a straight ticket, the
screen has given their votes to every candidate in the opposite political
party, she said.
She believes it's a people problem. "I have confidence in the
machines," she said. "They are touch screens. People are touching them
with their palms, or leaning their hand. ... They're hitting the wrong
button."
Herrera and others said voters should be diligent about reviewing
their touch-screen ballots so they can make alterations.
Griffith said she's afraid some votes will go to the wrong
candidates by accident. "People need to know that they have to be
careful," she said.
"I'm concerned that people who don't check and double-check will
try to vote for a candidate and not realize that the vote went to another
candidate," she said.
Journal staff writer Joshua Akers contributed to this report.
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