Reply #22: IL: High-tech voting hits snags

[rumpel]

Chicago Tribune

By John McCormick and James Janega

Tribune staff reporters
Published March 21, 2006, 7:39 PM CST

As election officials closed the polls Tuesday evening, reports of glitches from throughout the day continued as both voters and election officials learned how to deal with a new, high-tech voting system in Chicago and suburban Cook County.

The learning curve for the new system, which combines optical-scan paper ballots and electronic touch-screen machines, left some missing the old days -- even if they included the notorious punch-card ballot and its hanging, dimpled and pregnant chads.

"It was easier to worry about hanging chads," said Daniel Fore, an election judge in Oak Park's Barrie Center polling place.

Even as election officials continued to deal with missing ballots, power cords and ballots, they were bracing for the next test of the more than $50 million system: Counting and reporting results to eagerly awaiting politicians, voters and reporters.

In the past few elections, officials said, they have typically been able to report results from more than 90 percent of precincts within an hour of the polls closing. They refused to predict how long the count would take this year, though they stressed it may take several hours more.

At Lowell Elementary School on the city's Northwest Side, the only touch-screen voting machine was locked up around 6 p.m. It had been that way since about 4:30 p.m. after a voter tried to use it and the message: "Election verify. Please wait" appeared on the screen.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom/chi-060321voterproblems,1,1831943.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true