Nebraska paper owns part of ES&S, downplays voting problems

[Aries]

High Stakes

http://www.campaigndesk.org/archives/001140.asp

On Nov. 4, The Lincoln Journal Star ran a story about Nebraska Democrats calling for a ballot recount in Lancaster County. Voting machines there had broken down on election night, prompting the county election commissioner to stop counting until technicians from Election Systems & Software (ES&S), the Omaha-based company that provided the machines, could be brought in to fix them.

The election commissioner and deputy secretary of state determined that, despite the problems, an accurate tally had been recorded. But the Democrats were skeptical. The Journal Star ran the story on the front of its local section, and followed up with another a few days later.

The Journal Star isn’t the biggest paper in Nebraska. That distinction belongs to the Omaha World-Herald, which has a daily circulation of roughly 200,000, nearly three times that of the Journal Star. While the World-Herald made a passing mention of the problems in Lancaster County as part of an election roundup, it didn’t run a stand-alone story. “There are always conflicts and controversies over elections,” says Larry King, editor of the World-Herald. “A two-hour delay with voting machines is a pretty minor story.”

What isn’t minor, however, is the fact that the World-Herald owns part of ES&S, an arrangement that thrusts the objectivity of all its voting machine coverage into the spotlight.

[Omaha Steve]

1. Omaha had a 10 minute lock down of the election office too

The story was somebody smelled natural gas. They emptied the office except for a few select people that could have done anything. No gas leak was found. I'm quoting the entire story as the link will die tonight with the 3 week mark.

WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Workers at the Douglas County Election Commissioner's Office were struggling to cope with a huge tide of ballots Tuesday night when they were interrupted by the smell of gas.

Douglas County sheriff's deputies told everyone to evacuate the building at 115th and Davenport Streets shortly after 10 p.m.

Ballot counters stood in the parking lot, shivering, while maintenance staff checked out the office's gas-powered generator.

Some took advantage of the break to grab a smoke.

Workers were allowed back inside to resume counting after about 10 minutes because maintenance workers could not find a leak.

Said elections manager Mike Scarpello: "When it rains, it pours."

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=1673&u_sid=1...

[Not_Giving_Up]

2. OK, wait a minute...

"Some took advantage of the break to grab a smoke."

Are they kidding?? You get told that there's a possible gas leak, so you have a cigarette? I'm a smoker, and I'm telling you there's no WAY.