Florida Early Voting off to Rough Start: Machines Not Reading Votes

October 20, 2008

By Dave Wax
First Coast News

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Reports have been coming in from all over the city that indicate problems in some of the early voting locations.

The problems stem from ballot-reading machines not working.Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland tells First Coast News that by early afternoon, 7 of the 15 machines had experienced problems with their optical scan readers. Those machines were indicating the ballot was too long.

Officials measured the ballots, and they are the regulation length, 17 inches, so the manufacturer needs to address the problem. The machines were all successfully tested before early voting began.

At least two of the malfunctioning machines have already been replaced.

"Obviously it's frustrating," Holland says, adding that lines are moving fine in most locations throughout the city.

Holland adds that any ballots that are not counted by machines are placed in a bin to be counted manually when early voting ends for the day, 6 p.m. The public is welcome to come to the polling locations and watch the manual count.

Another important point Holland wants to make clear: these machines are not the same machines that will be used on election day; they are only for early voting.

Source: First Coast News