New machine to tally votes
By KAYLEIGH KARUTIS, The Leader-HeraldJOHNSTOWN - Fulton County Board of Elections officials said this morning election results in Bleecker, Broadalbin, Northampton and Perth will not be available until next week.
On Tuesday, ballot-scanning machines in those four towns and in Oppenheim malfunctioned. A court order prevented officials from accessing the machines immediately, but it was lifted Wednesday.
The company that makes and programs the machines, Sequoia/Dominion Voting Systems Corp. of Toronto, visited the Board of Elections Thursday and is expected to return today, Deputy Democratic Election Commissioner Linda Coons said.
Sequoia/Dominion officials reprogrammed a functional machine, and officials are now going through the slow process of feeding each ballot from the malfunctioning machine into the new machine individually, Coons said.
"They've redone the memory cards, because we can't touch the machines used in the election," Coons said. "It just takes a lot of time."
Coons said feeding the ballots into the new machine by hand is time-consuming but faster and more accurate than counting the ballots by hand.
After feeding the results from the Oppenheim races into the machine Thursday, the unofficial results of the election there are in, Coons said. Incumbent Town Clerk Gloria Brys, a Republican, appears to have defeated Gean Wall, 221-63.
Results from Bleecker, Broadalbin and Northampton probably will be available sometime next week, Coons said.
Officials said the original glitch appears to have been caused by a computer crash that occurred when Sequoia/Dominion reprogrammed the machines days before the election.
The machines had to be reprogrammed because of late changes to the ballots in several towns. The crash that occurred during the reprogramming is believed to have caused the glitch Tuesday.
Results in Perth were uncertain after election officials there pulled the memory cards from the machines too early, officials said. The results there should be in next week as well, Coons said.
Kayleigh Karutis can be reached at gloversville@leaderherald.com.
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stratford
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11-06-09 8:35 PM
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Hey Editor a democrat won the 23rd!!! Why Don't you run the story!
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Discobulous
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11-06-09 7:50 PM
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Because if you go out to vote, you can get pies and coffee. I'll bet if they offered voters a certificate for a free 6 pack, 98% of the voters would have turned out.
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vilibro
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11-06-09 6:33 PM
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might as well sit at home and vote using our personal computers....why go out in the cold(or rain)...just as reliable vilid
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Knickman
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11-06-09 6:24 PM
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They will probably have the absentee ballots counted before the regular ones in some cases.
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givemeabreak
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11-06-09 3:20 PM
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"They've redone the memory cards, because we can't touch the machines used in the election," ***** said. "It just takes a lot of time" DOES THAT MEAN ALL THE VOTES ON THE MACHINES BEFORE THEY CRASHED ARE NOT GOING TO BE ACCOUNTED FOR??? THAT JUST DOESN'T SOUND LEGAL... WHY VOTE IF IT ISN'T GOING TO COUNT? HUH.....tell me why isn't there a re-vote in these areas??? seems logical.. oh, yeah.. i forgot where we live sorry.
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bluelinefever
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11-06-09 1:28 PM
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Only in Fulton County could you take a process that is supposed to be completed in 24 hours and stretch it into a two week job. Get people in there to count the ballots and then charge Sequoia for the money spent counting the votes. Then when you are done with that send the machines back and get the 100 thousand tax dollars back you spent on each machine. why should we use or pay for machines that don't work.
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Adirondackal
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11-06-09 12:50 PM
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I have faith that the people in the Board of Elections are doing the best they can.
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Discobulous
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11-06-09 12:01 PM
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By next week, only the candidates will still care.
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