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Bloated Voter Database Causing Registration Delays April-29-07
TEXAS -- Lamar County
Clerk Kathy Marlowe told the Paris News Friday she does not
have complete voter registration lists for city, county and school
entities. Voters who registered after April 7 may not be on the
voter list as early balloting begins Monday. Voter registration
deadline for the May 12 election was April 12, a required 30 days
before the election. “This is a statewide problem, and an inexcusable one at that, because the system we had before worked perfectly,” Marlowe said.
The dilemma, at best a source of confusion for election workers and early voters, affects early voting for a Texas Constitutional Amendment as well as city, county and school district elections.
Tricia Johnson, a deputy
clerk in charge of elections said she entered at least 60
registration cards collected from the local Texas Department of
Public Safety office following the April 12 deadline.
“We are seeing an improvement in the time it takes to get information,” Burton said. “But county officials are just going to have to bear with us because we are doing the best we can.”
“Before, each county was responsible for its own database, but HAVA required a statewide system,” Burton said. “Texas is a big state with many counties, and the new statewide system was a mammoth undertaking.”
“The first plan was to
have the new system in place for November 2006 elections, but the
state postponed it until January because of problems with the
system,” Marlowe said. “We’ve been having trouble ever since.” “Hart tried to sell me voting machines, but I did not feel comfortable with them because in my mind they are mainly a printing company and had never done that kind of programming,” Marlowe said. Hart Intercivic prints election ballots, Marlowe said. “I don’t know whose fault it is,” the county clerk said of the system. “But it looks like they didn’t have the full concept of voter registration, and the system is not working.” According to an on-line Texas Association of Counties report, Secretary of State Roger Williams is in agreement. “The truth is that TEAM isn’t worth a darn,” the report quotes Williams as saying at a Texas Association of Counties meeting April 17 about the new Texas Election Administration Management system. The report states Williams said his office is working hard to help county election officials get through the May 12 special election first and then will work on permanent solutions to TEAM problems. Are You Eligible for Economic Recovery Money?
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