GOP Officials Call To Impound Voting Machines
KDKA/AP November 7, 2006

PITTSBURGH In one of the most closely-watched US Senate races in the nation, some controversy started brewing before the polls even closed tonight.

The race between the two-term Republican Senator Rick Santorum and Democratic Challenger Bob Casey has been a heated battle throughout the campaign – from the political mudslinging to their contentious debate.

Now KDKA has learned that the Republican State Committee has sent a letter to the Secretary of State asking that voting machines in 27 counties that have been accused of being malfunctioning – be impounded tonight

The issue has to do with reports that some of the electronic voting machines were not working properly.

Pennsylvania GOP officials claimed there were reports that some machines were changing Republican votes to Democratic votes. They asked the state to investigate and said they were not ruling out a legal challenge.

According to Santorum's camp, people are voting for Santorum, but the vote either registered as invalid or a vote for Casey.

Asked if the party would consider legal action, state Republican executive director Scott Migli said, "We've got all options on the table at this point. We feel like the electoral system has been left up to computer technicians."

"It seems like he's trying to set up a voter fraud case. We've seen absolutely nothing like this going on," Casey spokesman Larry Smar said. "He's provided absolutely no evidence that this is occurring."

Cathy Ennis, spokeswoman for the Department of state said the state had not received any reports of switched votes.

"Every election has some glitches on every type of voting system," Ennis explained. "This is not atypical."

In Lancaster and Lebanon Counties, polls were ordered to remain open for one extra hour due to glitches with the new machines.

Nonetheless, state election officials say no major problems were reported.

State election officials said late Tuesday they had received no reports from the counties of any such malfunctions. Democrats also said there was no evidence to support the Republican claims, chalking up the complaints to political shenanigans.

In Lebanon County, county administrator Jamie Wolgemuth said a human programming error affected devices that set up ballot machines. Paper ballots were used there until glitches were fixed, Ennis said.

"People were kind of joking about it," said Robin Wenger, an election-machine inspector in Jackson Township. "I haven't seen anybody in here who has been angry or walked out."

Similar issues arose in Lancaster County, and both counties extended voting until 9 p.m.

More than 40 vote-scanning machines throughout Lancaster County malfunctioned, county chief clerk Andrea McCue said. Residents waited as long as 30 minutes to cast ballots, and some voters in affected precincts were asked to fill out ballots which were then placed in sealed envelopes. Those ballots were to be scanned in later in the night.

Cecilia Martinez, executive director of The Reform Institute, a sponsor of the 1-866-MYVOTE1 voter problem hot line, said operators had received nearly 2,000 calls from Pennsylvania by mid-afternoon, with nearly one-third of the calls coming from Lancaster County.

Among the complaints were people having to use provisional ballots and "super-long lines with confusion," she said.

"I think the new voting machines are clearly problematic," Martinez said. "We'll have to wait and see if this is a technical glitch or human error."

In Westmoreland County, many electronic voting machines were programmed with the wrong date, forcing some voters to use paper ballots or wait in long lines until new machines could be brought in. Ennis said much of the problems in Westmoreland were due to human error.

State Republicans asked Secretary of State Pedro Cortes to investigate what they said were instances in at least 12 counties where voters allegedly tried to vote for Republican candidates but that the machines reflected Democratic votes.