Voting Machine

Philadelphia city commissioners are investigating an unusual series of over-votes in last year's primary election - 83 voting divisions citywide where the official vote totals were bigger than the recorded number of voters who showed up. In most locations, the discrepancies were small, just a handful of votes. In many instances, minor procedural mistakes could account for the anomalies. But so far, the bulk of the over-voting has not been explained. Until they understand what happened, the commissioners say, they cannot rule out the possibility of deliberate, illegal efforts to run up votes for favored candidates, with the perpetrators losing count as they tried to cover their tracks.

Weary of long lines at the polls on Election Day, the Montgomery County commissioners are considering replacing the county's lever-pull voting machines with electronic versions. The county's 40-year-old machines proved incapable of handling the lengthy ballots of April's primary. The problem forced election workers to place Republican ballots on separate machines from Democratic ballots, causing many Republicans to wait in long lines to vote, because there are more Republicans in the county than Democrats.

What is believed to be a voting-machine malfunction in a Collingswood school district may require a second vote on the school board's $11 million budget, according to Collingswood School District Superintendent Adam Pfeffer. The budget, approved in Tuesday's election, called for the local tax rate to increase 17 cents, to $1.73 per $100 of assessed valuation. According to Pfeffer, a machine at Sharp Elementary School malfunctioned. He said last night that the election of school-board members Louis Cappelli, Irene Genther and H. Ian Wachstein to three-year terms was not affected.

A day at the voting machine warehouse - designed to settle all doubts about the May 21 primary - has left a few questions after all. Democrat Daniel McElhatton said yesterday his lead over William Stinson for 7th Council District nomination is now 11 votes. Stinson's lawyer says the lead is eight votes. And a source at the Board of Elections, which monitored the process Saturday, said McElhatton's margin appears to be three votes. The Board of Elections - three Common Pleas judges sitting in for the elected commissioners, who are candidates themselves - is due to certify the primary results today.

When the returns came in for the Cumberland County Democratic Committee last summer, Cynthia Zirkle couldn't believe what she was seeing. Only 86 votes were cast in the race to represent her district in Fairfield Township, and despite assurances from dozens of friends, Zirkle and her husband, Ernest, had managed to win just 19 votes between them. "I can't believe that's correct," Zirkle told her husband, a retired veterinarian and the town's deputy mayor. The couple sued the Cumberland County Board of Elections and discovered that due to a programming error, their results had been switched with those of their opponents.

Attorneys for Democratic gubernatorial candidate James J. Florio are challenging the way election officials throughout the state handle voting- machine breakdowns. In a suit filed Wednesday in Burlington County Superior Court, Florio's attorneys contend the state lacks uniform procedures for dealing with emergency ballots, the paper forms that are distributed when a voting machine breaks down. The suit names the superintendents of elections in 17 of the state's 21 counties as defendants.

R. Bruce Downing, who is under investigation by the state Attorney General's Office for possible conflicts involving his position as Delaware County's election chief, resigned Tuesday. "We received a letter from him (Tuesday) . . . a very brief letter which said that he was, with regret, resigning from his position immediately," County Councilman Ward T. Williams said yesterday. "As far as I know, no member of council, or anyone else, urged him to do it," Williams said. "I think it was purely voluntary on his part.

The May 10 primary will mark the last time that every voter who goes to the polls in Montgomery County casts a ballot by pulling a lever on an old, gray 800-pound voting machine. "It is about time we got rid of these dinosaurs," said Michael H. McAdoo, chief clerk of the Montgomery County Board of Elections. At its weekly meeting Thursday, the county Board of Commissioners welcomed a leaner, meaner electronic voting machine, authorizing the $3.9 million purchase of computerized voting equipment.

In last year's general election, Philadelphia voters had little to draw them to the polls. An uninspired state Supreme Court contest, a handful of judgeships, and a single state Senate seat were just about the only races on the ballot. Only one in four voters bothered to show up. Still, Philadelphia managed to spend $184,247 in overtime for the private mechanics who prepared and maintained the voting machines before and on Election Day. Two weeks ago, the stakes were much greater.

When they go to their polling places in May, Chester County residents will wrestle with more than choosing candidates. They will also have to figure out what kind of voting machine to use. In addition to the old punch card system, the county commissioners said yesterday that they will add an electronic machine in each precinct to accommodate voters who may have difficulty using the punch cards because of a handicap. With court decisions pending and more litigation threatened, the commissioners said their decision was being driven by the climate of uncertainty surrounding voting systems in Pennsylvania and the conflicting instructions they are receiving from state and federal officials.

Philadelphia city commissioners are investigating an unusual series of over-votes in last year's primary election - 83 voting divisions citywide where the official vote totals were bigger than the recorded number of voters who showed up. In most locations, the discrepancies were small, just a handful of votes. In many instances, minor procedural mistakes could account for the anomalies. But so far, the bulk of the over-voting has not been explained. Until they understand what happened, the commissioners say, they cannot rule out the possibility of deliberate, illegal efforts to run up votes for favored candidates, with the perpetrators losing count as they tried to cover their tracks.

UNITED NATIONS - The General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Thursday for a resolution backing an Arab League plan calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down and condemning human-rights violations by his regime. The vote in the 193-member world body on the Arab-sponsored resolution was 137-12 with 17 abstentions. Several countries complained afterward that they were unable to vote due to problems with the voting machine. Supporters were hoping for a high "yes" vote to deliver a strong message to Assad to immediately stop the bloody crackdown that has killed more than 5,400 people and to hand power to his vice president.

When the returns came in for the Cumberland County Democratic Committee last summer, Cynthia Zirkle couldn't believe what she was seeing. Only 86 votes were cast in the race to represent her district in Fairfield Township, and despite assurances from dozens of friends, Zirkle and her husband, Ernest, had managed to win just 19 votes between them. "I can't believe that's correct," Zirkle told her husband, a retired veterinarian and the town's deputy mayor. The couple sued the Cumberland County Board of Elections and discovered that due to a programming error, their results had been switched with those of their opponents.

New Jersey officials promised years ago to retrofit the state's beleaguered electronic voting machines with verifiable paper records. But now that lawmakers have put off the implausible project for a third time, it looks more than ever like a figment of the political imagination. State officials say they don't have the roughly $20 million needed to fix the machines in the current climate. They're probably right. But if they ever do come up with the money, they should use it to buy new machines instead.

MANY POLITICAL and election experts say that today's vote will be the most important in decades. And they acknowledge that Pennsylvania is a pivotal state, and so may be the target of dirty tricks designed to depress turnout, misdirect and harass voters, or otherwise deny us our right to vote. The key is to be an informed voter. Know your rights, and defend them. Report abuses. The 1-866-OUR-VOTE hot line will be available throughout Election Day to advise you and, if necessary, provide lawyers to defend you. It also will help detect problem trends around the state.

An onslaught of queries about registering to vote in Pennsylvania swamped suburban election boards yesterday as the nation's attention turned to the state's April 22 Democratic primary to settle a nomination fight that Texas and Ohio could not. "The phone's been ringing off the hook," said Patti Allen, assistant director of the Montgomery County Board of Elections. The sudden tide of suburban interest in the primary had two consequences yesterday. First was the surge.

An onslaught of queries about registering to vote in Pennsylvania swamped suburban election boards yesterday as the nation's attention turned to the state's April 22 Democratic primary to settle a nomination fight that Texas and Ohio could not. "The phone's been ringing off the hook," said Patti Allen, assistant director of the Montgomery County Board of Elections. The sudden tide of suburban interest in the primary had two consequences yesterday. First was the surge. "The day after a caucus or a primary, we typically see a surge in telephone calls, e-mails and people coming in. Well, this is to the extreme today," said Deena K. Dean, director of the Bucks County Board of Elections.

A Superior Court judge yesterday ordered eight Camden County voting machines whose totals were not counted on Election Day to be opened and the computer cartridges that record votes to be removed. County elections officials said the votes would be counted next week, with revised totals expected on Tuesday. The uncounted votes are not expected to change the results of any election, officials said. The voting machine cartridges - from Camden, Gloucester City, Winslow Township, Cherry Hill and Pennsauken - are impounded for 15 days after an election, said Elections Superintendent Phyllis Pearl.

New Jersey's attorney general yesterday asked a judge to open eight Camden County voting machines whose votes were not retrieved by poll workers after the election Tuesday. Camden County election officials had said they would ignore any votes cast on the machines, which poll workers mishandled on election night, for now. But after The Inquirer raised questions about that decision, Attorney General Anne Milgram's office yesterday petitioned Superior Court to open the machines and keep any votes from being disregarded.