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In Pinellas, A Few Absentee Votes Disqualified, A Few Machines Broken

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 4, 2008

3:49 p.m.: In Pinellas County, six optical scanning machines had to be replaced by noon today, while 439 absentee ballots have had to be discounted thus far because of signature irregularities on the part of the voters, according to a spokeswoman with the Supervisor of Elections Office.

Even so, the figures – both of discounted votes and inoperable machines – are miniscule when compared with their respective totals.

As of yesterday, 172,857 absentee ballots had been received, said spokeswoman Nancy Whitlock. Of those, 439 had to be discounted because the voter forgot to sign it, or the signature didn't match the one on file, she said. In one case, a person other than the registered voter signed the absentee ballot.

That means, as of now, less than one percent of the absentee ballots submitted by yesterday were disqualified because of problems caused by the voters themselves, Whitlock said.

The issue surrounding the optical scanning machines is similarly par for the course.

As of noon, six optical scanning machines had to be replaced, Whitlock said. There are 255 polling locations, and of those, 87 get two optical scanning devices, for a total countywide of 342 machines. The six that needed to be replaced constitute less than two percent of the total.

When a machine breaks down, there is an equipment manager on site who can troubleshoot the problem, Whitlock said. She acknowledged the six that had to be replaced don't include those that might have broken down on site but were then fixed.

In any event, there is a special protocol whenever an optical scanning device breaks down, Whitlock said. The filled-in paper ballots are locked in an emergency bin and, at the end of the day, a poll worker takes them out and runs them through the optical scanning device.

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