Polls staying open due to machine problems? You get provisional ballots!

[IndyOp]

Keeping in mind that provisional ballots = toilet paper, I cannot believe what I just learned.

HAVA (Sec 302(c)) says that if there is a court-ordered extention to voting hours, and someone votes after the normal time which polls would close, then they must vote using a provisional ballot. In other words, the machines must be turned off at the regular closing time. http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/hava/HAVA_2002.html

The start cards were programmed wrong in Delaware County Indiana and the voters will suffer... :grr:


Democrats Want Regular Ballots During Extended Hours

A judicial order is allowing polls in Delaware County to stay open until 8:40 p.m. tonight. However, according to the Delaware County clerk, while a Delaware County judge says the county can keep polls open until 8:40 p.m., federal law may not allow the voting machines to operate beyond 6:00 p.m.

So Indiana Democratic Party Chair Dan Parker will ask that voters in Delaware County be allowed to cast regular ballots during the extended hours from 6:00 p.m. to 8:40 p.m.

The Republican attorney for the Indiana Election Division has argued that voters in Delaware County must use provisional ballots after the polls close. Democrats says provisional ballots are not initially factored into vote totals and often do not count. Democrats are arguing that Indiana law does not explicitly prohibit using regular ballots after an extension of the poll hours.

This morning a problem occurred in Delaware County when an apparent computer error prevented voters from casting ballots in 75 precincts. Delaware County Clerk Karen Wenger says start cards that activate the machines for voters were programmed incorrectly by the company that installed the software, MicroVote. Wegner says technicians worked with precincts one-by-one over the telephone to get the problem fixed.

more: http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5643756&nav=menu35_1