Bad Links?
Other glitches?
Notify Webmaster

Election night offers a few surprises

By JOHN THOMPSON
jthompson@TheCitizenNews.com

and JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

Start with Fayette County’s active politicos. Throw in a sampling of the 2000 Florida election and add a dab of software glitches involving four corrupt voting cards and you have the makings for the county’s primary election night.

The hard-core political junkies, along with reporters, started arriving at the Fayette County Administrative Complex shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday to see the results from Tuesday’s voting.

Such political figures as Republican Party head Lane Watts, Connie Hale and Paul Oddo milled around the County Commission chambers with one eye peeled toward the giant overhead screen and another looking anxiously at their cell phones.

But the first results from this year’s election weren’t posted until after 9 p.m. The delay caused several of the natives to grow restless and head upstairs to the Board of Elections office to try and figure out why the results were not being posted downstairs with the click of a mouse.

Election officials said there was a software problem that prevented the results from being posted downstairs, so several people huddled around one computer screen in the office to glance at the first returns posted to the Internet.

“Mrosek’s losing big, this is not a good sign ... Frady looks like he can cruise tonight,” were some of the comments heard around the computer screen.

Another interesting aspect of Tuesday’s race was the three neatly-placed masking tape Xs on the floor of the Board of Elections office. In light of The Citizen’s call for a more open election process this week, the Board of Elections marked the exact spots where reporters could stand.

The glitches in the software program were finally fixed and by 9:30 p.m. residents sitting in the commission chambers could finally see the results.

But the computer nightmares were not over.

As residents stared at the screen, they kept seeing results for all of the precincts except one. What was the hold-up with the last precinct?

Board of Elections member Richard Hobbs said the Murphy precinct on South Jeff Davis Drive was the last one to report.

Officials said they had trouble with one machine as they were shutting it down and called someone to fix it. Another delay, Hobbs said, was due to four “corrupt” memory cards.

Officials then had to shut down the machines and use a different card to download information off the machine’s hard drive.

Hobbs said the machines have several safeguards so Diebold officials had to give information to elections officials to “get around the boobytraps.”

The cards could have played a huge role in the District Attorney’s race. Scott Ballard defeated incumbent Bill McBroom by just over 100 votes and one of the cards was from the Woolsey precinct that Ballard won hands down.

In light of the technological challenges, the Board of Elections shut down the office at 11 p.m. Tuesday and showed back up on the job at 8 a.m. Wednesday. Officials were finally able to extract the information from the corrupt cards and Ballard was proclaimed the new district attorney just after noon on Wednesday.

But the counting is not over.

Department of Elections head Carolyn Combs said there were still 39 ballots to be counted from overseas military personnel. Because of other counties printing their ballots late or incorrectly, Secretary of State Cathy Cox has pushed the deadline for counting all votes to 5 p.m. Friday.

Combs also said their were four provisional ballots that are in question. Election officials will determine by Friday if the electors who cast the ballots are qualified to vote.

After the vote becomes official Friday, Fayette County will see no change on the County Commission. Both Herb Frady and Peter Pfeifer won reelection.

The closest race was for district attoney, where Ballard leads McBroom by just over a 100 votes. Officials at the Board of Elections office said McBroom has not officially called for a recount, but he has until Tuesday to file a request.

Other surprises in Tuesday’s races was the margin by which John Mrosek lost in his effort to unseat incumbent Superior Court Judge Johnnie Caldwell. Many spectators at the administrative complex said the negative aspects of Mrosek’s mailings may have turned some voters off.

Perhaps the biggest winners in Tuesday’s elections were residents who wanted liquor by the drink in the unincorporated county. A resounding majority of residents voted yes on the referendum.

As the last candidates and spectators left the administration building Tuesday night, many breathed a sigh of relief that the primary season had ended.