News
Gray ballot machine shorts out
By Elizabeth Prata
Left, Warden Mitchell Berkowitz removes ballots
from the shorted out machine while the observers watch.
The Monument: Prata photo
Gray--All day long, steady
streams of voters strode into Newbegin Gym to
cast their ballot in this closely contested Presidential
election. Stacks of absentee ballots were being opened
at appropriate times by sworn-in deputies. Voter registration
was high, with at least three hundred new voters added
to the rolls in by Tuesday. Exiting voters slid their
ballots into the machine at the end of the aisle, and
were then greeted by activists hoping to gain signatures
for their issues. The Gym was humming with productivity
and efficiency. Until 6 p.m.
At the height of the dinner rush, one of the machines
began to malfunction. The counter wasn't ticking over
any more. The machine creaked to a stop, and the monitor
had to call the Election Warden to come take a look.
Warden Mitchell A. Berkowitz determined that the machine
had endured a static charge that unfortunately wiped
out the machine's memory chip. At that point, he acknowledged
that "We lost control of count."
He called the machine company and after several tries
to get the machine up and running again, it was clear
that it was dead as a doornail and resurrection was
impossible. Right,
Berkowitz prepares to cover the shorted machine while
Donnie Carroll (background) moves the spare.The Monument:
Prata photo
Berkowitz called the Secretary of State's office and
spoke to Assistant Secretary Julie Flynn. Flynn advised
Berkowitz on the proper procedure for handling the ballots
inside the dead machine and how to bring the spare machine
into play.
Berkowitz then called in a Democrat and Republican and
representatives from both local newspapers to observe
the machine swap process. "We zeroed out both machines,"
Berkowitz said. Each step was completed by the book
and the old machine retired and new one brought in.
Berkowitz brought the election process up to speed again
within half an hour. After the polls closed, clerks
had another task to complete…re-feed almost 9,000
ballots into the two machines. At a rate of 1,700 an
hour, it took the poll workers over three hours to re-feed
the ballots and sort them properly. Throughout, Berkowitz
said, "Every vote counted."
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