Unlike September, Friday's election prep very smooth in Orleans.
Nola.com (New Orleans). December 3, 2004. By Janet McConnaughey, AP 

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? Preparation for Saturday's election ? including a judicial runoff needed because of problems in New Orleans in September ? was going very well Friday, Louisiana's top elections official said.
 
"Everything's going so smoothly you wouldn't believe it," Secretary of State Fox McKeithen, who delivered voting machines Sept. 18, said at 10 a.m. Friday.

Every machine to be used Saturday in Orleans Parish was delivered by 3 p.m. Friday, three hours ahead of schedule, said Clerk of Court Kimberly Williamson Butler.

"They're all delivered, every one," she said.

In September, macines in numerous New Orleans precincts arrived hours after polls opened.

McKeithen, who personally supervised machine delivery in New Orleans for the November elections, came to the city again on Friday.

"I just wanted to see it with my own eyes. Man, things were just so smooth and easy," he said.

By 10 a.m., he said, two-thirds to three-quarters of the voting machines either had been delivered or were on their way. By 11 a.m, McKeithen said he was heading back to Baton Rouge.

Saturday's runoff for Orleans Parish Juvenile Court is needed because as many as 52 of the parish's 442 polling sites didn't have voting machines for hours ? some as late as 3 p.m.

Sandra Jenkins, the third-place finisher in the Juvenile Court race challenged the results when she missed the runoff by 267 votes and a judge ordered a rematch Nov. 2. Jenkins placed third again, this time by 1,056 votes. Attorneys David Bell and Yolanda King are in the runoff.

Another part of the city has a special election for the state Senate seat vacated by Paulette Irons' election to Civil District Court. Political newcomers Clayton Joffrion, an attorney, and union organizer Adam Wilson are running against state Rep. Edwin Murray, who has represented an overlapping state House district since 1992. Murray had all the endorsements as of Friday.

Friday's machine delivery is standard procedure ? machines generally are delivered the day before the election. But in September, New Orleans had been evacuated because of Hurricane Ivan. Disorganization in Butler's office also was blamed for the confusion.