http://www.sanangelostandardtimes.com/sast/news_local/article/0,1897,SAST_4956_4559073,00.html

March 21, 2006

Electronic machines not providing all info

By Paul A. Anrthony


On orders from the Texas Secretary of State's office, the recount for
the Tom Green County Court-at-Law No. 2 race has been suspended midway
through its second day.

About 1:30 p.m. today, county Republican Chairman Dennis McKerley
stopped the recount after workers found discrepancies of as much as 20
percent between what was counted Monday and what was reported Election
Night.

"We're having some trouble with the electronic equipment," McKerley
said.

Apparently, McKerley said, new electronic voting machines provided by
vendor Hart InterCivic are not printing ballots for every vote cast on
the machines.

During recounts, which must be done by hand, the machines are designed
to print out separate ballots for every vote.

A Hart InterCivic representative is expected to arrive Wednesday
morning, McKerley said, to determine whether or how to retrieve the
remaining printouts.

The problem affects early votes cast in what appears to be every
precinct, McKerley said. All of commissioner's Precinct 1 was
affected, he said, as were all the randomly selected voting precincts
in other parts of the county.

Although sign-in sheets match the counts provided by the machines on
Election Night, he said, the number of printouts does not match the
sign-in sheets.

More than 3,000 early votes were cast in the race between Assistant
County Attorney Julie Hughes, incumbent Judge Penny Roberts and former
prosecutor Dan Edwards, meaning the problem likely affects more than
600 votes of the 9,500 cast early and on Election Day.

Just 12 votes separate third-place finisher Edwards from second-place
finisher Roberts to see who will face Hughes in the April runoff
election.

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We're gonna see a lot of this.

Harry