Williamson County election update

Eye on Williamson brings the latest news about the major voting problems they had in that county this year.

Williamson County officials took a major step Thursday to restore residents' trust in the voting system after numerous problems in the November election led to a partial recount and the resignation of the county elections administrator.

At least 100 election workers and staff members voiced concerns Thursday at a meeting called by the county's elections commission.

"This election did not go as smoothly as previous elections had gone when I had been a judge," election judge Eric Whitfield said after the hearing. "We need a way to make sure that people who move here and are interested enough in voting, that they can do that."

After the hearing, acting Elections Administrator John Willingham said the main complaints were about staffing, training and technical support. He will make recommendations to officials in the next six to eight weeks, including calling for the formation of a panel of election workers that will regularly report to the commission.

"I think it's difficult for someone who's not involved in elections every day . . . to hold the officials and staff accountable," he said. "I think election judges do have that opportunity, and they can see things that are going wrong."

[...]

Several workers said Thursday that staffing was inadequate and that their requests for additional help weren't met.

"If you don't have enough clerks at a polling place, voters are going to leave," Willingham said. "We need to make sure there are procedures in place (so) that staffing concerns won't be ignored. It's something that could have been handled fairly easily."

Workers also repeated complaints that they did not receive proper training in handling electronic voting machines and what election judge Betty Brown called "problem citizens," who disturb the voting process in some way.

I'd like to know more about what Ms. Brown meant by "problem citizens". Maybe there's a law enforcement issue in here as well.

EoW thinks Willingham did a good job when he was elections supervisor and has hope that he can get things straightened out. We'll see. There's some video of the meeting as well. Check it out.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on December 16, 2006 to Election 2006 | TrackBack