Votes still out in two counties, early voting in some counties could be delayed
Friday, May 26, 2006

By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK - Election officials in Lonoke and Phillips counties were still counting primary ballots Thursday, and the secretary of state's office said some counties might not be ready next week for early voting for the June 13 runoffs.

Voting machine problems have slowed results from Tuesday's primary.

"Everybody is making preparations for the runoff (but) I don't know how many counties will begin full-scale with early voting on Tuesday," Deputy Secretary of State Janet Harris said. "That's always the question given the short turnaround time, so I think we'll know a little bit more obviously on Monday."

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Charlie Daniels announced Thursday an independent review of problems associated with Tuesday's elections.

InfoSENTRY Services, Inc., a Raleigh, N.C.-based information technology services firm, will review the preparation, set-up and execution of balloting, Daniels said.

Election Systems and Software Co., of Omaha, Neb., received a $15 million contract to install new electronic voting machines in the state to comply with federal law.

The biggest problem in readying for early voting on Tuesday, Harris said, is that counties can't begin early voting for the runoff until their ballots have been certified for the primary.

Many counties have local and legislative runoffs, in addition to the statewide Democratic runoffs for lieutenant governor, attorney general and treasurer, Harris said.

ES&S must not only reprogram their equipment for the runoffs, but the equipment also must be tested before Tuesday, she said.

"They have started immediately on laying out the ballots for the new machines, so everybody is making preparation for the runoffs," she said.

By Wednesday morning, results from all but three counties had been counted.

Pulaski County election officials were able to finish counting all outstanding ballots late Wednesday evening and are expected to certify ballots and turn them over to the secretary of state's office today, county election commission Kent Walker said.

Walker said he was cautiously optimistic that ballots would be ready for early voting Tuesday. He said three statewide runoffs, plus a runoff for a west Little Rock House seat, could make it difficult for ES&S to get the ballots done correctly and quickly.

"We may have to do our own ballots," he said.

Jean McCanliss, chairman of the Lonoke County Election Commission, said Thursday that the county still was having problems reading the paper ballots and probably wouldn't complete counting votes until this afternoon.

She said a machine that reads the paper ballot results was not working and ES&S technicians were working on it Thursday. All ballots in the new electronic voting machines had been read, she said.

Election officials in Phillips County were having just the opposite problem, Harris said. With paper ballots tabulated, they were still having problems with electronic voting machines, she said.

Harris said ES&S technicians are working in every county to make sure the machines are programmed correctly and all other equipment needed to read ballots is working properly.

Because of the voting problems and the difficulty many counties had in getting the necessary equipment in time for the primary, ES&S replaced its management team in Arkansas.

Harris said the new team, which started on Wednesday, appears to be communicating with state and local election officials, and is moving quickly to correct problems.

ES&S also will be part of the review of voting problems, Daniels said.

InfoSENTRY company president Glen Newkirk helped the secretary of state's office in 2005 to draft the request for proposals on new voting equipment.

A full report is expected by June 30.

The Republican Party of Arkansas, which has been critical of Daniels' handling of the primaries, said the secretary of state could not responsibility for voting problems encountered in the primary.

"It is a response by Charlie Daniels to try to soothe the fears of voters and people involved with the election process," state GOP Executive Director Clint Reed said. "The preparation should have been done months in advance, and it was not."