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Johnson Holds A Slim Lead

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By CHRISTIAN M. WADE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 5, 2008

TAMPA - With computer glitches delaying Hillsborough County's voting results by hours, Elections Supervisor Buddy Johnson was hanging on to his job Tuesday night by a slim margin.

Results were delayed almost from the very beginning. Students at the University of South Florida were still in line to vote at 10:30 p.m., and elections officials said computer problems were causing delays.

"This is appalling," said Phyllis Busansky, Johnson's Democratic challenger. She said early Wednesday that she remained hopeful, although she was trailing slightly. "He's done it again."

Johnson, 56, attributed the delays to problems with the $6 million elections system purchased from Premier Election Solutions. Among the problems: Elections officials had to break up early voting results into smaller pieces to prevent crashing the computer system, and about 150 optical scanners had trouble transmitting results and had to be manually taken to the elections office.

Elections officials said heavy turnout and last-minute address changes at USF also created problems.

Busansky had based much of her campaign on problems at the election office during Johnson's tenure.

The elections canvassing board would handle a recount, if required.

Reporters John W. Allman and Kathy Steele contributed to this report.

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