Friday, October 31, 2008
News Voting problems hit Atlanta's Adamsville Rec Center
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 4:46 AM
Georgia Democrats are calling for Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel to extend advanced voting on Saturday and Sunday after computer glitches caused a reported 500 people to wait two hours in line at a Fulton County polling place.
State Rep.-elect Rashad Taylor, D-Atlanta, says he received a call from a poll worker at the Adamsville Recreation Center in Southwest Atlanta on Thursday night who said the voter check-in machines couldn't access the Secretary of State's system shortly after 7 p.m. When he arrived at the rec center to assist poll workers, Taylor — who was joined by Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders, Councilmember C.T. Martin and City Council Clerk Rhonda Johnson — says he saw an estimated 500 still waiting to cast ballots.
"A few days ago, there was a problem connecting to the system," the representative-elect says. "This time, there was a problem with the system."
The AJC's Marcus Garner talked with Handel spokesman Matt Carrothers:
“What appears to have caused this was when one of the computers at the location would time out, it would have problems reconnecting with the state voter registration system,” Carrothers said. “We’re not sure why the computers would’ve been timing out when there were people still in line.”
Around 9 p.m., Taylor says, workers were again able to log in. But that didn't happen without causing 10-15 people who'd waited in line for two hours to give up and leave.
"I asked people who were leaving if they had the opportunity to vote," he says. "And they said they didn't but they couldn't wait any longer. They had to get home."
In addition to opening polling locations this weekend, Taylor requests the secretary of state provide more check-in machines in order to speed up lines.
"I applaud everyone who stands in these lines," says Taylor. "But when you have people taking time off work and out of their day to come and vote, and then you have these problems, it undermines our election system."
The AJC's Marcus Garner has more on the snafu here. (The paper reports 1,000 people waited in line — I spoke with Taylor on Thursday night by phone so I can only report what he told me.)
Comments (1)
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This is so untrue! I was a poll monitor at the Admamsille Center and when the police closed that location at 7 pm there were no lines outside - there were a few people who made it inside and were finishing up.Close to 1000 people went thru that day to vote.
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