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Local Republicans Report Difficulty with Maryland's Voting Machines

Early voters across the state this week have complained that when they tried to cast ballots for Republicans, the machine instead displayed that they had chosen a Democratic candidate.

Jason Laird says he sometimes pushes the wrong letter when he’s writing messages on his smartphone.

We all know the feeling — you aim for one character, the touch screen thinks you’ve pushed a completely different one. It’s annoying and frustrating for sure, but the consequences aren’t particularly dire. The greatest danger is of sending an embarrassing typo.

But the pitfalls of touch-screen technology become a bit more serious when it comes to voting, Laird says.

“It shouldn’t be possible for people to fat-finger it when they’re voting,” he said. “It’s just too important.”

Laird, a member of the Frederick County Republican Central Committee, is one of the state residents who have recently experienced difficulty with voting machine screens. Early voters across Maryland this week have complained that when they tried to cast ballots for Republicans, the voting machine instead displayed that they had chosen a Democratic candidate.

The reports led officials in Frederick County to take one voting machine out of service, and statewide, several units have been decommissioned, according to a press release from the Maryland State Board of Elections.

Laird said he had difficulty Monday while trying to vote for Republican candidates for Frederick County Orphans’ Court. Instead, the machine at the Frederick Senior Center highlighted a Democratic candidate two spots up the list from the Republican he tried to choose. It took him several attempts to correct his selection, he said.

Fortunately, Laird said, youth and sharp eyesight are on his side, and he was able to detect the problem before casting his ballot. For older people with poor eyesight or dexterity, voting for the correct person would be even more challenging, he said.

The following day, Laird told election officials about the issues he’d experienced. Stuart Harvey, the county’s election director, told him a different machine had already been taken out of service because of similar problems.

Complaints about that machine, which was also at the senior center, began soon after the start of early voting Oct. 23, Harvey said. Election officials recalibrated the machine, but when reports of vote switching started up again Saturday, they decided to take it out of service for good.

Harvey said 139 ballots were cast on the machine, but officials don’t believe these votes were inaccurate; to Harvey’s knowledge, all of the incorrect selections were caught before voters completed their ballot.

The state’s board of elections earlier this week indicated that voters have reported trouble with fewer than 20 machines, 12 of which were tested so that the issue would not be replicated. The other units were decommissioned.

Analysis of similar complaints from past elections has found that voters with large fingers or long nails tend to have more trouble making candidate selections. The mistaken selection tends to be of Democratic candidates since their names appear above Republicans on the ballot.

Regis Gamble, another local resident who experienced difficulty with the voting machines, said officials could easily correct the problem by spacing out candidate names on the screen. Gamble, also a member of the local GOP central committee, said his votes registered incorrectly four or five times.

Harvey says to ensure accuracy, before casting their ballots, voters should carefully review the summary screen that shows all of their candidate selections.

The Maryland Republican Party has asked state election officials to investigate the reported vote selection problems.

Delauter calls on Long to reject endorsement

A District 5 County Council candidate has challenged his competitor to reject an endorsement from a Republican state senator.

Mark Long, a Democrat, announced this week that he had picked up support from Sen. David Brinkley, a GOP leader in the Maryland State House. The endorsement adds to the list of Republican officials who have crossed party lines to back Long instead of the GOP nominee, Kirby Delauter.

However, Delauter on Wednesday called on Long to refuse the endorsement from Brinkley, citing the senator’s past marital difficulties. In 2008, police responded to Brinkley’s home during an argument between him and his then-wife. No arrests were made, but Brinkley’s wife filed for a protective order. Brinkley signed an agreement for the protective order.

The couple’s marriage ended in divorce.

“Mark Long shows a complete lack of good judgment by bragging about the support of a known spousal abuser,” Delauter said in his press release.

In an email, Delauter indicated that Brinkley’s ex-wife has endorsed him.

Brinkley said it was disappointing that Delauter is resorting to personal attacks rather than sticking to campaign issues.

“Kirby is going on a personal attack that has nothing to do with this election. I’m out of the race. I’m not a candidate,” said Brinkley, who lost his re-election bid in the Republican primary.

Brinkley’s name appeared on Delauter’s list of campaign endorsements, the senator said, until he asked to be removed from the website.

Delauter says the company that launched his County Council website simply copied his 2010 endorsements from his old commissioner campaign website.

Brinkley did ask to have his name removed, and Delauter said he took it down right away.

©2014 The Frederick News-Post (Frederick, Md.)