Errors at polls prompt request for new vote

Ken McCall

Tuesday, Sept. 10, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Another primary election may be about to elbow its way onto Clark County's crowded fall calendar.

Republican Assembly Candidate Anne DiMartini, who lost to Jeff Knight by a six-vote margin in last Tuesday's District 1 race, requested Monday that the County Commission hold a new Republican primary in her district.

The request came after the county elections office announced it found enough polling errors to have affected the outcome of the race.

DiMartini's request must now be approved by the commission. If the commission rejects the request, the candidate has the option of challenging the election in court.

While Kathryn Ferguson, county registrar of voters, told the commission Monday morning that the new electronic voting system performed well, she said there were enough errors committed by elections workers and voters in the district to have changed the outcome.

"We can't say it was affected," Ferguson said. "We can say it was a possibility."

No others affected

None of the other races in the county, she said, were close enough to have been altered by errors. Ferguson promised to reduce the human errors by instituting more stringent training and replacing any workers who "don't get it."

Jerry Carroll, director of the county's internal audit department, said his analysis of the voting in the 29-precinct district uncovered about 40 errors. Although many of those had no impact on the tally, Carroll said he found "more than six" that could have made a difference.

The machines are each set up to handle four precincts and three party affiliations -- 12 different ballots in all. The errors that could have had an impact were caused when elections workers pressed the wrong party affiliation and the voter didn't notice the discrepancy.

Other errors involved selecting the right party but the wrong precinct number. In many of those cases, however, a voter was still able to vote on the District 1 race.

Carroll said he hasn't completed the analysis needed to classify all the errors.

The race for second place in Clark County School District A was also decided by a 6-vote margin, but Carroll said his audit found only two errors, not enough to affect the outcome.

Assembly candidate DiMartini said the thought of requesting a new election hadn't crossed her mind until Ferguson called Sunday night to tell her the results of the analysis.

At the end of the conversation, DiMartini said, Ferguson told her she would "recommend a re-election."

DiMartini said she doesn't know what she will do if her request is turned down by the commission.

"Until the meeting this morning," she said, "I had no plans to do anything. It was recommended to me to request a new election and I'm following those recommendations. Past that, I have no plans."

No recommendation

Ferguson, however, said DiMartini was reading too much into the conversation.

"I told her the option was there, and it would require a candidate request for it to be triggered," Ferguson said.

"I tried to give her a heads up. I do not consider that a recommendation, I just consider it part of my job."

Ferguson said she also called Knight and Democratic candidate Tom Collins to tell them the results.

Knight said he feels the election is "valid" and the results should stand, but he will not protest a new election if one is ordered.

"I want to win this thing based on merit," Knight said. "It's more important to me that the process was fair and open."

Still, he said, a new election held at taxpayers' expense would cause "a lot of negative reaction" and would also detract from preparations for the race against Collins.

"It's going to be difficult to focus on the general (election) until this is past."

But DiMartini said the delay didn't concern her.

"That may be a problem for him," she said. "I'm confident I can beat Tom Collins. I think he knows that he can't."

In any case, said DiMartini's campaign consultant, Keith Lynam, the fact that there were enough errors to alter the outcome convinced them to request a new vote.

It was the campaign's duty, he said "to ensure to our supporters, to Jeff Knight's supporters and to every voter in this valley that this electronic voting system works ... from the human input to the final input."

Ferguson admitted to some technical and human glitches associated with the first full use of the machines, but she asserted the system did work.

These kinds of errors turn up with every system, she said. The electronic machines allowed her office to account for some errors that could not have been traced with the old punch cards.

DiMartini could ask for a recount at her own expense, Ferguson said, but it wouldn't do her any good because the electronic system is "100 percent accurate."

"Every vote that was cast on the system was recorded correctly."