Reply #22: Ohio Struggles to Fix Voting Problems

[kpete]

May 3, 2006, 3:40PM
Ohio Struggles to Fix Voting Problems

By CONNIE MABIN Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

CLEVELAND — Ohio's first election without punch card ballots was marred by a slew of problems with new voting machines, raising a crucial question: Can the state that decided the last presidential race get it together before November?

Election officials had trouble printing ballot receipts, finding lost votes and tabulating election results in Tuesday's primary. Some election workers were late or did not show up at all in Cleveland's Cuyahoga County, the state's largest. Others could not figure out how to turn on the machines.

"Ohio's quickly getting this reputation as most corrupt and maybe most incompetent," said Chris Link, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, which fielded dozens of complaints from voters.

Tuesday's primary was the first in which all 88 counties used either touch-screen machines or devices that scan ballots marked by voters.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/3838452.html