Chad concerns expressed in bill

Monday, March 12, 2001 | 10:10 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A bill has been introduced in the Senate in an attempt to avoid the controversy that hit Florida over which ballots should be counted in the presidential election.

Sen. Ann O'Connell, R-Las Vegas, said Thursday Senate Bill 297 is to address "all of the Florida problems and far more."

Carson City Clerk Alan Glover said regulations take care of the vote counting, but he said some people feel the guidelines should be put into law.

For example, Florida had its "chad" furor over whether to count ballots which had not been punched all the way through, leaving a hanging chad.

Six counties in Nevada have punch card ballots. And Clark County uses punch cards on its absentee ballots, Glover said. The regulations say that "dimpled" ballots should not be counted. These are the ballots on which a mark is made but a hole wasn't punched.

The present regulation requires a ballot to be counted if light can be seen through the marked place on the ballot, Glover said.

"If the bill doesn't do anything else, it gives the Legislature an opportunity to decide what we count," Glover said. If two holes are punched for a single race, the ballot is not counted, under SB 297.

Glover said the state lacks standards in a recount for optic scan ballots, which are used by eight counties.

Glover said there were no problems associated with the recount two years ago in Washoe County in the race between Sen. Harry Reid and John Ensign.

The county clerks also want it clarified that in the event of a close election, the ballots of the top two finishers would be counted. This would mean the clerks would not have to recount all of the third party candidates.