CLEARFIELD – Election day in Clearfield County had a few hitches to start, including several people who were not able to vote at polling locations first thing in the morning. But, the Clearfield County Commissioners and the staffs of the election office and information technology department have been reviewing the events of Nov. 7.
What they found were that many things that went right, and only a few things went wrong.
Clearfield County experienced a higher voter turnout than expected last week, a non-presidential election. Voter turnout was 52 percent with 26,202 Clearfield Countians exercising their right to vote.
A little more than 1,500 of the votes cast were submitted via absentee ballots.
Clearfield County Commissioner Chairman Mark McCracken read a statement at Tuesday’s commissioners’ work session and said, “The 69 precinct boards (two precincts share boards) performed very well working with the new voting equipment. Their time, patience and commitment to learn and understand the new I-Votronic voting system were key to the overall success on election day.”
As many know, eight of the 71 precincts did not open on time due to the startup failure of one machine at each of the polling places. Election boards, Clearfield County Commissioner Rex Read said, followed directions “to a T.” However, part of their directions included that they were not to open for voters until all machines were set up. In the future, McCracken said, boards will be given the instruction to allow voters to begin voting on the machines that are working and to have those that are not functioning repaired or replaced as soon as possible.
Also, a backup paper ballot will be provided in the event of a failure of all I-Votronic machines at a polling location.
Clearfield County Solicitor clarified that no paper backup system has been certified by the state to date, so the law has left voters and county officials in a legal “no-man’s land.”
Kesner said the county is left to decide whether the election board should wait or use paper ballots. He said that if the situation were to arise, the election board would use their common sense and then wait to see what happens. Kesner said that the current election code does not provide for any type of backup system.
“We would be in uncharted waters by prescribing use of paper ballots in any circumstances,” Kesner said.
Still, the plan for the next election is to have a few paper ballots available for an absolute emergency.
As part of its investigation, the county examined the eight places that did not open on time. What was found there was that at one of the eight polling locations, seven voters were unable to vote when they arrived due to equipment problems. Of those seven, four returned later in the day, and three did not.
McCracken said he heard a report that 30 voters were not able to vote when they arrived at the polls on the morning of Nov. 7.
“We want to stress that in no precinct were 30 voters turned away or denied their right to vote,” McCracken said.
Other problems found in the study including issues with getting through on the telephone to the election office. That will be remedied through staffing an operator to prioritize and direct calls. Also, the scanning of absentee ballots was slow due to machinery that requires envelopes to be opened manually and scanned one at a time. The county will look into purchasing a faster scanner.
Now that the election is over, Clearfield County Commissioner Mike Lytle — one of the people who opposed the ballot change from the beginning — said the I-Votronic machines have been seen to be unreliable.
Lytle said, “We should have had some input from the voter before we switched to this system.”
Read said that all of the commissioners agree that if one person wanted to vote and could not, it was unaccceptable. Read also took exception to Lytle’s comments.
“After investigation it was found that we had operating machines in each of the precincts.”
No problems were reported with closing of the polls after the election.
“It wasn’t perfect, but I didn’t think we’d expect it to be,” McCracken said of the process.