TEXAS - 1,243 Vote Error Detected...Kleberg to Recount Ballots

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Thursday, March 30, 2000

1,343-vote error detected

Kleberg to recount ballots

By Jeremy Schwartz Caller-Times

Vote counting machines apparently tallied 1,343 more ballots than were cast in Kleberg County's Democratic primary, jeopardizing the results of many of the local contested races.

Two electronic scanners counted 5,149 ballots on election night, but when officials checked stamped voter registration lists two weeks later they found only 3,806 ballots were cast, county election officals said. That discrepancy could jeopardize six local races including county commission races in precincts 1 and 3, constable races in precinct 1, 2 and 4 and the race for sheriff. "It's somewhat distressing to hear that this has happened since it's about two weeks since the election," said Sheriff Tony Gonzalez, who according to election night counts avoided a runoff election by taking 51 percent of the vote. "But you have to give them credit for speaking up about finding the discrepancy."

Officials are in the process of obtaining a court order to reopen the ballot boxes to recount the ballots cast March 14 and hopefully determine where and how the error occurred, a spokeswoman with the county clerk's office said.

Of the county's 30 precincts, 21 had ballot numbers that did not match. Democrat Party Chair Roberto Moreno said he is convinced the error was mechanical.

"This error does not reflect on the staff and workers ... that conducted the early vote and election night count," said Moreno, who contracted with the county clerk's office to count the vote. Moreno said he hopes to get the court order to reopen the ballots today and have a recount by Friday.

On election night, ballots were counted by two electronic scanners at the county clerk's office, Moreno said. Ballots were fed into two machines that count at a rate of about 70 to 80 ballots per minute, he said. The scanners read the ballots in four batches, beginning with the early votes and then 10 precincts at a time.

Officials say they haven't determined what caused the problem. Moreno said he thinks it's unlikely the recount will affect the outcomes of the two two-candidate races, or change the top vote-getters in the county's two runoff elections for county commissioner Precinct 1 and constable Precinct 3. But the second- and third-place candidates in those races could change, putting different candidates in the runoff on April 11, he said. That could cost thousands of dollars if changes must be made and new ballots need to be printed. If a countywide race such as sheriff has to be added to the runoff ballot, Moreno estimated it would cost about $4,000. Such a change also could mean additional polling places, he said. It also could put some candidates in a race for which they have less than two weeks to campaign.

"Of course we are hoping that all of the percentages remain the same," he said.

Moreno said he is not sure if the runoff election date can be postponed. Officials with the Secretary of State's office could not be reached Wednesday night.

Gonzalez said he didn't think the recount would change the outcome of the sheriff's race. "A runoff is always possible, but I don't think (the recount) will impact any one particular candidate in our particular race," he said. For one of Gonzalez's opponent, Rene Gonzales Villarreal, news of the recount created at least a glimmer of hope for his candidacy. "This could force the race into a runoff or maybe even cause a new election," said Villarreal, who took 19 percent of the vote coming in behind Sheriff Gonzalez and Severo Garcia in the three-candidate race. "It puts a little bit of life back into it."

Villarreal said he was surprised when officials originally announced that more than 5,000 people had voted because the numbers were low at the precincts he visited on election day. "I thought that a lot of people must have come out to vote in the last hour," he said.

http://www.caller.com/2000/march/30/today/local_ne/3812.html

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-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), March 30, 2000


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