Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Nye County clerk
says no early votes lost
By HENRY BREAN
REVIEW-JOURNAL
A few voting-booth printers have malfunctioned, but Nye County Clerk Sam Merlino insists no marked ballots have been lost during early voting in the rural county.
So far, Merlino said her office has received a handful of complaints about the touch-screen voting machines that are being used there for the first time in a general election.
Most of the complaints have concerned the printers attached to the voting machines, Merlino said.
During early voting at the community center in Pahrump last week, election workers incorrectly loaded some printers, causing them to misfeed and jam. As a result, some voters were not able to refer to the receipt tape to check their votes, Merlino said.
Kathleen Church was one such voter.
"I'm very upset about it," Church, 57, said. "Out of all the times I've voted I think this is the most important. Now I'm afraid my vote for president wasn't counted."
Several other people at the polling station seemed to have the same problem, she said.
But Merlino said Church and others have nothing to worry about. The printer tape merely serves as a back-up. The votes themselves are stored electronically in the same kind of machines that Clark County has been using without the printers attached for years, Merlino said.
As of Monday, about 3,600 of Nye County's 19,200 registered voters already had cast their ballots, not including absentees.
Early voting began in the Nye County seat of Tonopah on Oct. 16 and continues there through Thursday.
Just four days of early voting were offered in Pahrump, which is home to about 30,000 people, roughly three-quarters of the county's total population.
Merlino received some complaints about the early voting schedule, but she said four days were the most that could be offered in Pahrump, 60 miles west of Las Vegas, because of staffing problems and the availability of the community center.
Despite Merlino's assurances, Church remains worried about what became of the ballot she cast for President Bush.
"If the candidate I didn't vote for wins in Nevada, I'll raise a much bigger stink. I'll ask for a recount," she said. "If Kerry wins legitimately, fine, but I want to know my vote counted."
