Election Results Continue To Puzzle (turnout jumped from 49 percent to 83 percent & one over 100%)

[MelissaB]

Election Results Continue To Puzzle

By Michelle Burhenn
The Morning News

BENTONVILLE -- Unprecedented voter turnout in Benton County has again called into question the results of Tuesday's general election.

After the Election Commission reviewed the votes Wednesday, the turnout jumped from 49 percent to 83 percent. That catapulted Benton County to the top of the turnout heap, according to totals from Secretary of State's Web site on Friday. The county with the second-highest turnout was Madison County with 64 percent.

...snip

Robbyn Tumey, former chairwoman of the Benton County Democratic Party, went to the Election Commission office on Friday to speak with Jim McCarthy, election coordinator. Tumey worked on the media plan for Cheryl Murphy, District 2 justice of the peace candidate. Revised results released Thursday showed Murphy had lost her race to Republican Frank Winscott. Tuesday's results first showed she was winning and later showed she would face a runoff with Winscott.

Tumey said she is prepared to file an injunction to stop the Election Commission from certifying the election. She said she and McCarthy looked over the results together. Some, such as a Rogers precinct with more than 100 percent voter turnout, alarmed both of them. He then gathered the voting system's computer disks and flash drives and told her he was headed to the Election Systems & Software office in Little Rock, she said.

...snip

Murphy said the unprecedented turnout caused her and some others to question the latest election results.

In her district alone, a 92 percent turnout was recorded, she said. That just doesn't happen in District 2, which is rural, divided by Beaver Lake and generally has a lower turnout, she said.


More: http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2006/11/12/news/111106bzelectioncontinued.txt

[applegrove]

1. IF the voter lists in the district were particularly awful....then turnout could

be over 100%. Was that one of the districts where the GOP tried to fool people into not registering to vote?

[philb]

2. You can only vote if registered. more votes than registered implies fraud or glitch

which have the same impact

[rumpel]

4. However, if they are not done with the data entry

as with Los Angeles County, the statement of registered voters is inaccurate and worse unauditable -
Who is to say, they just made a few bags disappear - or possibly received "damaged" as I was told on my daughters' on 11/6.

here is what our registrar reported:

State law that became effective in 2001 now requires counties to accept and
process new voter registrations up to 15 days prior to an election (the
previous deadline was 29 days). This provision makes it impossible to
finalize data entry of tens of thousands of voter registration forms executed
by the deadline but mailed and received up to 10 days prior to the election to
be included on election day precinct rosters of voters. (The 5,000 precinct
rosters must be printed and collated – 500,000 pages – 19 days prior to the
election). This deadline forces supplemental lists of voters to be mailed to
each precinct inspector’s home. Additionally, although voters rejected a
November 2002 ballot proposition that would have required implementation of
election day registration, interest in this daunting prospect continues among
legislators.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x458059

[kster]

3. krnt

[bleever]

5. This remains a grave threat to Democracy, even though we won

the midterms. How much was skimmed off or flipped?

It is highly unlikely that we will be as lucky next time, if things remain as they are.

[nashville_brook]

6. i'd add, we have the "dry powder" to correct this with a WIN under our belt

none of that "sore loser" patina -- we want this fixed b/c it's a threat to Democracy. period.

[bleever]

7. Great point.

Now's the most powerful time to address this.

:thumbsup:

[FernBell]

8. k&r

[texpatriot2004]

9. Welcome to DU

:hi: