by MELINDA W. BIGELOW, Press Argus-Courier Staff Monday, June 5, 2006 9:14 AM CDT
Voting was back to normal in Crawford County before noon Friday with the electronic voting machine readied for the runoff election and traditional paper ballots on the printer at 9 a.m., despite glitches from the state voting vendor.
Electronic Systems & Software Company, the state's vendor for the federally mandated electronic voting machines, did not supply the Personalized Electronic Ballots (PEBs) for the machines until early Friday.
The persistence of Crawford County Clerk Patti Hill, her staff and Election Commissioner Kenneth Chitwood persevered, providing local voters the opportunity to cast ballots.
"The paper ballots are being printed as we speak. We are clearing up the PEBs and gearing them up. We are just about ready to fly as normal," Chitwood said Friday morning.
The delay has been frustrating for Hill who runs a smooth voting process without glitches.
"We shipped the PEBs back to ES&S overnight. We have confirmation they were received last Thursday. Our documents they requested have been down there for a week," Hill said late Thursday. "All of the (election) commission's work just stopped. We went back to the fact that we have a document prepared by Microsoft Word. At this time, 4:55 p.m. Thursday, this matter with ES&S has not been resolved."
Secretary of State Education Coordinator Ann Clements said election coordinators from the secretary of state's office were at the Little Rock office of the Nebraska-based ES&S throughout Thursday.
Miscommunication was apparently rampant throughout the process. Hill said the matter with ES&S was not resolved. Less than a minute later, a secretary of state spokesman said Mac Beeson of ES&S told her the matter was resolved.
Crawford County has worked with ES&S since 1995, according to Hill.
"We have always had our early voting ballots on time. I think part of the issue on the runoff is that we did not know until Friday who was going to be in the runoff on the lieutenant governor's race. Beginning Tuesday morning, which was after a holiday, I began making calls to the secretary of state's office about that. ES&S is aware we have our ballots printed locally. ES&S provides the template of the ballots which are then forwarded to David King of PAC Printers. David has printed the ballots for the past 11 years. He followed the legacy of his in-laws at the local business. It is important to me that we spend taxpayers' money in Crawford County. David is very accommodating. This delay is not David's fault,"said Hill.
"I would like to see all of us work together. It is does not matter we got the information late on the lieutenant governor's race. We want to make sure the voters in our county are not disenfranchised. We have done that by a paper ballot. It does not matter that ES&S has their plate full,"the county clerk said.
Although voting was to begin at 8 a.m. Tuesday, the word document ballots were readied two hours later. Crawford County Election Commission Chair Kenneth Chitwood approved the ballot. The numbered ballots will require hand counting.
Chitwood also approved the template late Thursday for ballots to be printed by PAC Printers when ES&S did not supply a template in a timely manner, said Hill.
Clements praised the work of Hill and other county clerks who try very hard to ensure voters have the right to vote.
"They have been given the option to print paper ballots in their offices or have ballots printed. Some counties delayed the start of the runoff elections. Because of state law, there is a very short time between the preferential primary and the runoff election. This is an unusual situation this year with the paper ballots and the electronic voting machines. ES&S told us the electronic ballots would not be ready until Thursday or Friday,"said Clements. Early voting for the runoff continues in the county clerk's office, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.. to 5 p.m. T
he runoff election is set for Tuesday, June 13. Crawford County's local race of interest is the Democratic nominee for county judge, a decision between Dennis Gilstrap and John Hall.
The winner will face independent candidate Butch Barnes in the November general election.
