Ballot error
isolated, says company

Election Systems, which
wants the job in 2000, says
the fault was a first

By Rod Ohira
Star-Bulletin

A technical breakdown which led to a recount in the Waianae House race was an isolated incident that did not compromise the general election as a whole, says the head of Election Systems and Software Inc.

Despite the well-publicized issue involving the District 44 race, "the elections were accurately counted and reported," said William F. Welsh II, president and chief executive officer of the company contracted by the state in last year's primary and general elections.

"This was an unfortunate episode with one particular counter. It was not a virus that spread through the system."

The Hawaii Supreme Court ordered a manual recount of the close House race because of the abnormally high number of disqualified votes.

The recount, however, did not affect the outcome of Republican challenger Emily Auwae's victory over Democratic incumbent Rep. Merwyn Jones.

"It was determined that a faulty CIS (contact image sensor) was creating false overvotes in column C on ballots inserted in one specific orientation," Welsh said.

Welsh said the counter performs checks automatically to ensure accurate ballot counting, and shuts down if there is an error.

With the machine in Waianae, the CIS sensor "was not operating consistently but never reached a threshold for shutdown," resulting in the continued overvotes and disqualification of ballots, Welsh said.

"The majority of the ballots processed through the machine were counted correctly, as determined by the recount," he said.

Welsh said company officials knew of the Waianae precinct problem but state law prohibited them from doing anything about it.

"(Hawaii) laws specifically state the only way that issue could be addressed is through an appeal to the Supreme Court," he added.

Election Systems' machines are all certified by the National Association of State Election Directors after rigorous testing, and what occurred at Waianae has never happened before, Welsh said.

To further ensure accuracy, the state Elections Office conducts manual audits of random precinct results on election night.

"The fact that there were no issues should indicate to all concerned that the counts were accurate, except for that known exception," he said.

Welsh rated his company's performance a B+ in the general election and C+ in the primary.

The state currently is preparing requests for proposals for next year's elections, and Election Systems would like another shot.

"One thing is true though, and I can say this with a fair degree of grasp, that any time a jurisdiction makes a change in the way people vote, I guarantee you the first election is difficult," Welsh said.

"The second election is always better. And typically by the third or fourth time the system is used, it goes fairly smoothly."