http://www.sptimes.com/2006/03/09/Tampabay/Human_error_slows_vot.shtml
Vote counting suffers a two-hour delay because of a
technician's mistake.
By WILL VAN SANT, Times Staff Writer
Published March 9, 2006
CLEARWARTER - Pinellas County elections chief Deborah Clark
has presided over a spate of embarrassing gaffes over the past six years.
Things looked good for Clark as polls closed Tuesday in
three municipal races. But a poor estimate by a technician brought the counting
to a halt and again subjected Clark to scrutiny.
A computer server at the elections office froze at 8:38 p.m.
Results in Pinellas Park's races were in, but in Palm Harbor votes from only 4
of 22 precincts had been tallied; in Largo, 21 of 38.
After consulting with Sequoia Voting Systems, the county's
voting technology supplier, the problem was fixed. At 10:18 p.m., the count
began again. Complete results were ready 18 minutes later.
The two-hour delay grated on fretful election watchers and
candidates.
"It's maddening," Pat Gerard said as she waited
for returns. Gerard, a Largo city commissioner, took the mayor's seat from Bob
Jackson Tuesday night.
Some see the delay as further evidence that Clark, the
Republican elections supervisor since 2000, needs to improve.
"We have to do better than this," said Carrie
Wadlinger, Pinellas Democratic chairwoman. "When something like this
happens, voter confidence goes down a notch."
Republican County Commissioner Bob Stewart had a similar
reaction. "Any time there is a delay in the elections process it's cause
for concern," Stewart said. "It leads to suspicion and doubt."
Past problems heightened the concern.
In 2000, Clark's office failed to count 1,400 ballots;
another 900 were counted twice. In 2004, wrong results on two referenda were
sent to state officials. And last November, nearly 60 St. Petersburg voters
were mailed ballots for a Belleair election.
Tuesday's misstep can be traced to mid-February, when Jim
Armstrong set aside hard drive space on a computer server that tabulates and
store votes. Armstrong, Clark's information technology administrator, reserved
530 megabytes, but needed 588.
Armstrong has worked with the Sequoia system, bought in 2001
for $14- million, for four years. He used past elections to estimate reserved
space.
It's not the kind of problem that can be picked up by
routine testing, which does not involve the volume of data created in an actual
election.
Clark, 57, has no plans to reprimand Armstrong and said
Tuesday's trouble cannot be compared to earlier problems that have occurred on
her watch.
"We do our very best," Clark said. "But we
are human beings and once in a while we make an error. It was an honest
mistake."
Kurt Browning, Pasco County's highly regarded supervisor of
elections, stood by Clark.
"People expect perfection," he said. "It
isn't going to happen."
Browning, however, said it was "inane" and
"crazy" to have reserve space on a hard drive to preserve results.
Pasco's technology does not require it.
Pinellas plans an upgrade by September's primary elections
to allow hard drive space to expand as election data are tabulated. That means
no more estimating and no repeats of Tuesday night.
But the delay was not the only trouble.
At a Pinellas Park voting precinct in the morning, and later
in the day at a precinct in Largo, voters reported that touch screen machines
were faulty. When a voter selected one candidate, the machine would put a check
next to another candidate's name.
That can happen to touch screens, which need to be
calibrated regularly, said Michelle Shafer, a Sequoia spokeswoman. Simple
handling of the machines rarely causes calibration problems, but repeated use
does, she said.
Alarmed voters sought help and were shown how to change
their choices. Before a final vote is cast, a review page gives voters another
chance to make sure their choices are recorded correctly.
All machines were checked before they were used, Clark said,
and she is confident that any voter who reported problems had their ballots
counted correctly. The integrity of the election, she said, was not
compromised.
Browning said with the new touch screen technology, voters
have some added responsibility.
"They need to let the election officials know there is
a problem," he said.
County Commissioner Ronnie Duncan was at the elections
office Tuesday as a member of Pinellas' canvassing board.
"I felt very comfortable that everything was being
handled properly," he said.
Tony DiMatteo, Pinellas Republican chairman, said he has the
utmost confidence in Clark and played down the problems. "Elections don't
have to be perfect," he said. "They have to be accurate."
The votes were recounted Wednesday morning, confirming the
results from the night before.
"To me, this was human error," Clark said
Wednesday. "We recovered from it last night, and we got accurate results
last night."
Will Van Sant can be reached at 445-4166 or
vansant@sptimes.com
[Last modified March 9, 2006, 02:45:12]