LATEST: Problems with new voting machines reported in two precincts

BY ROGER DROUIN  Souhtwest Florida Herald-Tribune   29 January 2008

10:30 a.m. (Sarasota)
Problems were reported with two optical scan machines this morning as voters went to the polls.

At Precinct 125, in Colonial Oaks Park, an optical scanner was out of order from 7:15 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., according to voters at the precinct. A precinct supervisor would not confirm how long the machine was down, but said the problem was caused by a paper jam, and that poll workers fixed it. He declined to elaborate.

Dent said the ballots cast during the two-hour period when the machine was down have been set aside and will be scanned in tonight at 7 p.m. She did not know how many ballots were affected.

Gail Hoyt was standing in line at 7:15 a.m. when the machine stopped working. "They didn't know what to do and finally one of the volunteers made a call and took all of the ballots and put them in a pile."

Dent said the volunteer had accidentally opened the bottom of the machine, causing some of the ballots to fall out.

Those ballots, along with those handed in by voters while the scanner was not working, will be counted tonight at 7 p.m.

At Precinct 46 in Nokomis, an optical scanner had to be replaced with another machine because of a problem with a memory card, said Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent. The machine was replaced with a backup machine. Dent said elections officials expected some problems with the 156 machines and had several backups available.