Early problems in Bedford, Cambria reports strong early turnout  (PA)
Altoona Mirror   06 November 2007

A 'kink in the system' threatened to add hours of hand counting of paper ballots in Bedford County, while most areas in the region report a slow turnout for Tuesday's election.

The E-Scan machines in Bedford, which read paper ballots, were down in every polling location in the county Tuesday morning. Poll workers said that the slow early turnout was a welcome relief.

Approximately three-fourths of voters in Bedford County use paper ballots, said Melody Kephart, a volunteer at South Woodbury Township.

"If this was next year at this time, it would be chaos," Aldine Over, a volunteer at Woodbury Township, said of the next presidential election.

Election commissioner Peg Koenig planned to visit all 40 precincts in the county to reprogram machines.

The troubleshooting should solve the problem without any late-night hand counting.

Polls were expected to close at 8 p.m. as planned.