http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-110805arnold_lat,0,7268769.story?coll=la-home-headlines
From the Los Angeles Times
By Robert Salladay
Times Staff Writer
11:03 AM PST, November 8, 2005
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger showed up to his
Brentwood neighborhood polling station today to cast his ballot in the special
election — and was told he had already voted.
Elections officials said a Los Angeles County poll worker
had entered Schwarzenegger's name into an electronic voting touch screen
station in Pasadena on Oct. 25. The worker, who was not identified, was testing
the voting machine in preparation for early voting that began the next day.
Somehow, Schwarzenegger's name was then placed on a list of
people who had already voted, said Conny B. McCormack, the Los Angeles County
registrar.
Schwarzenegger's aides were informed of the problem when
they arrived this morning to survey the governor's polling station. The poll
worker told the governor's staff he would have to use a "provisional"
ballot that allows elections workers to verify if two votes were made by the
same person. McCormack said the poll worker did the correct thing.
The governor, however, was allowed to use a regular ballot.
McCormack said she apologized to the governor's staff and
would investigate what happened. She said nobody actually voted for
Schwarzenegger in Pasadena, and the governor's votes today will be counted.
"This is someone who breached our protocol and was
playing around in advance of the election," she said.
Tom Hiltachk, the governor's attorney, said: "I have no
reason to believe anything nefarious occurred.
But Kim Alexander, president of the nonpartisan California
Voter Foundation, said the problem highlights the need for better verification
of electronic voting.
"If the governor is going to have a mix-up on his
ballot," she said, "it will make other voters wonder what is going to
happen with their ballots."
Copyright 2005 Los Angeles Times
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