Lines, Voting Problems Continue On 2nd Day

October 22, 2008

11,970 In Duval Voted Monday

News 4 Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The second day of early voting in Duval County began much like the first one: lines at the polling places and problems getting the ballots recorded.

Fortunately, the lines were slightly shorter and the problems were limited to two of Duval County's 15 early voting sites: the Highlands Library on Dunn Avenue and the Pablo Creek Library on Beach Boulevard.

But as the day progressed, the lines moved quicker and election officials think they figured out why the vote scanners were rejecting ballots.
Monday, when seven different optical ballot scanning machines refused to read at least 1,000 ballots Monday at several polling places, Duval County Supervisor Jerry Holland said the machines indicated the ballots physically too long or were affected by high humidity.

By midday Tuesday, Holland and his staff learned the real problem was with the ballot printers. Because voters from any precinct can vote at any early voting site, each ballot is printed individually.

"If the paper is not loaded properly, it can be skewed just enough that the timing marks on the side will produce a ballot that will not be read," Holland said. "Due to the tolerance of the machines, some machines may accept it and some may not."

Holland said these problems will not affect voting on Election Day, as all precinct ballots are preprinted by a professional printer.

A group of elected officials held a joint news conference with Holland late Tuesday urging people to continue to vote early while the kinks are worked out.

"When you go into that polling place, take patience with you," said U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville. "If there's a problem with your ballot, ask for another one and you can stay there until everything is correct."

On Monday, voters at polling places affected by machine problems were asked to place their ballots in an emergency slot so they could be counted Monday evening. While that created concern for some who were uncomfortable leaving without seeing their ballots recorded, those ballots were counted by election workers under the watchful eye of party activists.

"All of us who are here made sure that last night, every single ballot was counted," said state Rep. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville." We didn't leaving the polling locations until that was done."

'Unreal' Response To Early Voting
Despite lines and machine problems, 11,970 ballots were cast on Monday -- more than voted in all 14 days of early voting in the August primary.

Even Holland was shocked by Monday's response to early voting.

Other counties in Channel 4's viewing area had a large turnout on Monday, but not the waits or machine problems experienced in Jacksonville. In St. Johns County, 3,924 people cast ballots on Monday. Another 3,439 voted on Tuesday.

Across the state, just over 150,000 voters cast ballots on Monday.

Holland said this year's election has the potential to be historic, not only because of the candidates running for president, but because of the high turnout.

"Just seeing the interest (Monday) on the first day of early voting, which is probably three times what it normally is, we could very well break the record that was set in 1982 of 84.6 percent," said Holland.

That heavy turnout combined with a large number of first-time voters and a ballot containing several races and constitutional amendments is expected to result in lines of two hours or more at polling places on Nov. 4.

Holland and other election officials encourage avoiding those delays by voting early one of two ways:

Absentee Voting: Registered voters do not need a reason to request an absentee ballot, and it can be done by mail up to Oct. 29 or in person at county elections offices through Election Day. Contact the supervisor of elections office for your county to learn more.

Early Voting: Through Nov. 1 in most counties and Nov. 2 in Duval County, registered voters can go to any early voting site in their county, show a photo ID with a signature and cast a ballot. In large metro counties, there are multiple early voting sites so people can vote when and where it's convenient.

Nationwide, about a third of the electorate is expected to vote early this year. That would be up from 22 percent in 2004 and 16 percent in 2000.

Source: News 4 Jacksonville