Computer problems force further delay in Senate recount

Scott Sonner

Tuesday, Nov. 10, 1998 | 4:07 a.m.

RENO, Nev. -- Computer problems Tuesday forced Washoe County officials to postpone again final certification of 6,000 questionable ballots that Republicans say hold the potential to overturn Sen. Harry Reid's narrow victory.

Despite the problems, Reid, D-Nev., remained confident his 459-vote margin would hold up against Republican Rep. John Ensign and the top election official in the county was sticking with her prediction that only a few tallies would change.

"The process has been plagued with software problems which have been adding hours to the process," the county said in a statement late Tuesday.

Laura Dancer, county registrar of voters, said it was highly unlikely the review would threaten Reid's re-election to a third term.

But a GOP leader said late Tuesday the continued delay was raising additional questions about the reliability of the results.

"By their own admission, they are plagued by software problems. That raises more questions than answers about the reliability of this result," former Nevada Gov. Robert List told The Associated Press.

About 200 county workers and volunteers finished counting the questionable ballots by hand about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday - about 30 hours after the effort began Sunday night.

"The slowdown is that the database that contains the ballots is a fairly secure database," said John Byerly, a member of the Washoe County Accuracy Certification Board. "It's very difficult" to access the ballots, he said. "It's supposed to be and it is."

Dancer and Byerly said they were optimistic the certification would be completed on Wednesday, but were making no promises.

"At this point, I've been burned so many times, I won't give you a time line," Byerly told reporters at the registrar's office.

Dancer said the original problem with the ballots was discovered after the recount of the absentee and mail-in ballots began Saturday.

About 6,000 of 95,000 ballots cast by county voters last week had printing errors, and election officials decided Sunday to hand count the bad ballots, she said.

Voting machines were unable to accurately read the 6,000 ballots because of the misplacement of copy and inaccurate cutting along edges, she said. The inaccurate ballots were printed at the county's print shop in a cost-cutting move. Other ballots were sent to an out-of-state firm.

"There was too much margin on one side and not enough on the other side. It caused the ovals to be skewed over a little bit," Dancer said.

She said a technician for the hardware and software manufacturer, Global Election Systems, had been on the site since 4 a.m. Tuesday.

Reid was attending a conference on problem gambling in Las Vegas.

"He just wants the numbers. He's anxiously awaiting the numbers like everybody else," press secretary Jenny Backus said. "He's had confidence in the process all along."