Election uproar-Webb County Commissioners let ES&S have it

[sonias]

http://www.zwire.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=16299334&BRD=2290&PAG=461&dept_id=473478&rfi=8">Laredo Morning Times article 3/14
Election uproar; County officials say there were plenty of red flags
A representative of Election Systems and Software was blasted Monday at Webb County Commissioners Court for errors in programming and inadequately training county staff.
The county paid almost $900,000 in federal grant money for the electronic machines, and officials fear that problems in the March 7 election could lead to more voter apathy and distrust.

"Someone needs to be held accountable," said Commissioner Jerry Garza. "We, here in Webb County, have an apathy problem. We stand to lose more voters and that certainly does not help the democratic process."

Garza added that he's heard talk that the City of Laredo and the Laredo Independent School District don't want the machines used in their elections.
More than 9,000 of the 33,640 votes cast during the primaries were cast electronically.

When Chris Moody, the Texas director for Election Systems and Software, came to the podium to offer an explanation, he simply stated that they had not expected to use flash cards to record the votes. The plan was to use the personal electronic ballots (PEBs) that they trained county officials to use.

Someone does need to be held accountable, I say Roger Williams the SOS needs to be held accountable too. And I applaud Webb for discussing getting rid of the machines.

Sonia

[Czolgosz]

1. After the primary vote, I wonder if Webb County has bigger problems than

an "apathy problem."

[WolverineDG]

2. Unless you want to move down here

& work on whatever "problem" you think Webb County has, I would kindly ask you to cut out the smart-ass remarks. Ciro lost, this time due to his own fault. He KNEW he had to get the turn-out in Bexar County way up & he DIDN'T. Further, while he lost about 500 votes in Webb County between 2004 & 2006, Cuellar lost almost 1000. Ciro could have picked up some more votes in Webb County had he only bothered to CAMPAIGN LIKE HE WANTED THE JOB! But, I suppose it's much easier to blame Webb County than it is to look at what really happened.

dg

[Czolgosz]

4. Sorry. Heaven forbid we question the wisdom of the voters in Webb County.

If I look at "what really happened" as you suggest, will I learn something other than the voters of Webb County overwhelmingly voted for a turd that wouldn't even flush in many Republican districts?

[WolverineDG]

6. Keep your head in the sand then

Find the easy way out. It's always easy to blame Webb County or South Texas for being corrupt. God knows no other county in Texas or state in this nation is tarnished by corruption! :sarcasm:

And lest you think I'm speaking as a Cuellar supporter, perhaps you should use the "Search" function in this forum.

dg

[Czolgosz]

7. I know you didn't support Cuellar. I'm also not saying the election was

corrupt (although it may have been for all I know). What I am saying is that either the election was corrupt or, in the alternative, an outrageously large percentage of Webb County voters turned out to elect a scumbag. Actually, I might think better of those voters if someone could prove to me that the election was corrupted. My disdain for those Webb County voters who supported Cuellar does not extent to you or to anyone else who voted for Ciro.

[sonias]

3. Corrected story link below

Laredo Morning Times article 3/14

Sorry

Sonia

[crispini]

5. It goes to show that you have to be clear and aggressive

with your technology vendors. We also have ES&S but we had no problems. Of course we used optical scanners and had no surprises.