LizF
01-19-2008, 02:19 PM
Article published Jan 19, 2008
Primary
Human error in Nashua Ward 5 resulted in extra numbers
Dems got more votes than realized
By KEVIN LANDRIGAN Telegraph Staff
CONCORD – Errors hand counting ballots in Nashua's Ward 5 on primary day inflated the totals of three Democratic presidential candidates by 110 votes, a recount revealed Friday.
City Clerk Paul Bergeron confirmed the mistakes that awarded primary winner, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of N.Y. (75), former Sen. John Edwards of N.C. (34), and Sen. Joe Biden of Del. (1) more votes than they were entitled to. Biden dropped out of the race Jan. 3.
"There were two human errors that occurred. These things happen especially at the end of a 16-hour day with a record number of ballots cast. That's why we have people checking each other's work,'' Bergeron said during a telephone interview.
The initial mistake in Nashua was the election officials in Ward 5 failed to understand that automated voting machines accurately count a vote for president even if someone writes in a name for vice president.
"The machine counts the presidential vote correctly, but then shifts those ballots to a separate place so write-ins for vice president can be tallied up by hand,'' Bergeron explained."In Ward 5, they failed to realize that. They added those presidential votes to the machine total which is why those three candidate vote totals reported that night were too high.''
The second error was on the final form reporting the total vote. These additional votes were incorrectly given to candidates on the left-hand side of the form but not to those on the right-hand side of the official paper.
That's why there were no additions for candidates such as runner-up Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., or fourth-place finisher, Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M.
The actual recount of all ballots in Nashua Ward 5 adjusted totals up or down slightly for several candidates.Here are the vote totals for the ward reported on Jan. 8 and the recounted vote for each candidate:
-Clinton: 1,030 on Jan. 8; 959 after the recount;
-Edwards: 405 on Jan. 8; 377 after the recount;
-Obama: 673 on Jan. 8; 678 after the recount;
-Richardson: 72 on Jan. 8; 69 after the recount;
-Dennis Kucinich of Ohio: 8 on Jan. 8; 8 after the recount.
Democratic hopeful Kucinich's requested recount of ballots will resume on Tuesday after the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. Kucinich has paid $27,000, which will finance recounting roughly 40 percent of the ballots cast, and all those may be completed by the middle of next week.
Once that's done, Kucinich can ask for, but must pay another $40,000 to have the rest of the ballots recounted.
The recount teams have already recounted the ballots cast in most Nashua wards, plus the towns of Amherst, Brookline, Greenville, Hollis, Hudson, Litchfield, Lyndeborough, Mason, Merrimack, Milford, New Ipswich and Wilton.
A recount of all Republican primary ballots will proceed at the request of Albert Howard, who got only 44 votes on Jan. 8.
Secretary of State Bill Gardner altered earlier plans and decided to give the recount teams the long weekend off.
Link: http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080119/NEWS08/267211607
Primary
Human error in Nashua Ward 5 resulted in extra numbers
Dems got more votes than realized
By KEVIN LANDRIGAN Telegraph Staff
CONCORD – Errors hand counting ballots in Nashua's Ward 5 on primary day inflated the totals of three Democratic presidential candidates by 110 votes, a recount revealed Friday.
City Clerk Paul Bergeron confirmed the mistakes that awarded primary winner, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of N.Y. (75), former Sen. John Edwards of N.C. (34), and Sen. Joe Biden of Del. (1) more votes than they were entitled to. Biden dropped out of the race Jan. 3.
"There were two human errors that occurred. These things happen especially at the end of a 16-hour day with a record number of ballots cast. That's why we have people checking each other's work,'' Bergeron said during a telephone interview.
The initial mistake in Nashua was the election officials in Ward 5 failed to understand that automated voting machines accurately count a vote for president even if someone writes in a name for vice president.
"The machine counts the presidential vote correctly, but then shifts those ballots to a separate place so write-ins for vice president can be tallied up by hand,'' Bergeron explained."In Ward 5, they failed to realize that. They added those presidential votes to the machine total which is why those three candidate vote totals reported that night were too high.''
The second error was on the final form reporting the total vote. These additional votes were incorrectly given to candidates on the left-hand side of the form but not to those on the right-hand side of the official paper.
That's why there were no additions for candidates such as runner-up Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., or fourth-place finisher, Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M.
The actual recount of all ballots in Nashua Ward 5 adjusted totals up or down slightly for several candidates.Here are the vote totals for the ward reported on Jan. 8 and the recounted vote for each candidate:
-Clinton: 1,030 on Jan. 8; 959 after the recount;
-Edwards: 405 on Jan. 8; 377 after the recount;
-Obama: 673 on Jan. 8; 678 after the recount;
-Richardson: 72 on Jan. 8; 69 after the recount;
-Dennis Kucinich of Ohio: 8 on Jan. 8; 8 after the recount.
Democratic hopeful Kucinich's requested recount of ballots will resume on Tuesday after the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. Kucinich has paid $27,000, which will finance recounting roughly 40 percent of the ballots cast, and all those may be completed by the middle of next week.
Once that's done, Kucinich can ask for, but must pay another $40,000 to have the rest of the ballots recounted.
The recount teams have already recounted the ballots cast in most Nashua wards, plus the towns of Amherst, Brookline, Greenville, Hollis, Hudson, Litchfield, Lyndeborough, Mason, Merrimack, Milford, New Ipswich and Wilton.
A recount of all Republican primary ballots will proceed at the request of Albert Howard, who got only 44 votes on Jan. 8.
Secretary of State Bill Gardner altered earlier plans and decided to give the recount teams the long weekend off.
Link: http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080119/NEWS08/267211607