A rough start for polling system

Jenny Marder

They were like Christmas lights: When one went out, they all went

out.

Huntington Beach resident Michelle Turner was one of many poll

workers who spent a good chunk of election day tending to mishaps

with Orange County’s new $26-million electronic voting system.

It wasn’t until late afternoon that all machines were up and

running, she said, and until then, lines were 20 voters deep.

“I was really scared,” Turner said. “But I think once all the

machines started working, people felt good.”

Engineers later isolated one machine as the source of the problem.

Since the machines were all wired together, they were all affected.

Some voters were irritated by the problems, but most were patient,

said Marty Armstrong, a longtime poll worker and Surf City resident.

“There were problems. There’s no two ways about it,” Armstrong

said. “Some people were dissatisfied, but most people expressed, ‘I

liked it’ or ‘it wasn’t that bad,’” he said.

Among the 1,022 polling places in Orange County, faulty machines,

such as the ones at the Talbert site, were uncommon, said Brett

Rowley, spokesman for the Orange County Registrar of Voters.

The electrical problem wasn’t the only glitch reported at the

polls. At a polling place on Hamilton Avenue at the border of

Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley, some Huntington Beach residents

weren’t given an opportunity to vote on Measure E, an initiative that

would have divided the city into districts and reduced the number of

City Council members.

Rowley attributed the problem to poll workers who issued voters

with ballots from the wrong city.

Several voters also confused the “cast ballot” button with the

“enter” button, mistakenly sending their ballots too soon.

“Essentially, hitting the cast ballot button is like dropping a

ballot in a box,” Rowley said.

He said the registrar is confident that the kinks will be smoothed

out by the November general election.

“We’re looking at ways to better train our poll workers and also

to provide better instructions to voters as they come in, to make

sure they understand,” Rowley said.

Although the electronic machines are user friendly overall, some

seniors had a tough time with them, Turner said, attributing their

difficulties to not being raised in the electronic era.

“There were a lot of older people, so it took a little longer to

show them how to do it,” Turner said. “They got so excited when they

learned, and once they got it down, they were excited to know they

could do it.”

Officials at the Registrar of Voters lauded the benefits of the

new system. The font is larger, which makes it easier for the elderly

and the farsighted. The machines include Braille, headsets and, for

those who lack mobility, Sip n’ Puff technology.

It’s impossible to over-vote, a problem that often occurs with

punch card ballots, Rowley said, and counting was much faster --

workers left by 1:30 a.m. rather than 5 a.m.

“The vast majority of polling places worked well, and the majority

of voters were able to use the system properly and came out with a

positive response,” Rowley said. “Given the new system, that it was

new for everybody ... over time, we’ll have it all straightened out.”