04/07/06
By Bryan P. Sears

A voting watchdog group says some county voters may not have had their votes in the 2004 election counted because of problems with electronic voting machines.

But county Board of Elections officials said those assertions are based on an inaccurate interpretation of documents obtained in the course of an ongoing lawsuit.

Linda Schade, co-founder of Takoma Park-based TrueVoteMD.org, says an e-mail report sent from one county Board of Elections official to the state board shows nearly 50 instances of problems with the electronic voting machines.

The list includes as many as 11 machines that did not register any votes and another seven that recorded "suspiciously low vote totals," according to the report and Schade.

"It looks to me like votes were lost," Schade said.

The e-mail and attached report was obtained by Schade's organization as part of a lawsuit against the state to force the use of machines that offer a verified paper trail. The e-mail and the report are available on the organization's Web site.

Jacqueline McDaniel, director of the county's Board of Elections, said Schade is misinterpreting the report.

"As far as I'm concerned, we counted every vote that came in," McDaniel said. "I feel very confident in the machines."

McDaniel said the report is part of a log that is kept on all of nearly 2,200 touch screen voting machines the county uses. Entries are recorded any time someone "touches the machines," which includes problems or regular maintenance throughout the year.

But McDaniel's explanation rings hollow with Schade.

"I think it's total crap," Schade said. "This is (state Board of Elections Director) Linda Lamone speaking. These are her talking points."

The alleged problems with touch screen voting machines in the county is part of larger ongoing debate about the overall security and accuracy of the state's voting system.

Last week, Gov. Robert Ehrlich joined the growing chorus of legislators and citizens in calling for voting machines that offer a paper trail verification.

He proposed $28.5 million in additional spending in a supplemental budget released March 24. The money would go to paying for new equipment capable of providing a paper backup of votes cast. That is in addition to the nearly $22 million he proposed earlier in the current legislative session.

Those supplemental budgets are under consideration by the legislature, which has until midnight, April 10 to vote.

With just about six months until the primary election, however, it may be too late to purchase the machines and train poll workers and voters on the new equipment, according to McDaniel.

"The biggest thing to me is voter outreach," McDaniel said. "We have to be able to teach (voters) how to use whatever the hell it is we're told to use."

E-mail political editor Bryan P. Sears at political editor Bryan P. Sears@patuxent.com