North Texans Report Minor Problems At Polls
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - Across North Texas, a handful of problems plagued voters on Election Day 2012. Some of them showed up to the polls, ready to vote, only to find out their names were not on the list of registered voters. According to the Texas Secretary of State's Office, it's affecting people who tried to register when they renewed their driver's license.
"We are aware in some instances, individual instances, of issues that are perhaps related to human error where it might be a clerical error or it might be an error in the voter applicant in filling out their form," said Rich Parsons.
Those voters were allowed to fill out provisional ballots, along with a form explaining when and where they were registered. Election officials will determine if they are registered properly and if their vote will be counted.
"This is the same case that we had at the early voting process," says Dallas County Elections Administrator Toni Pippins Poole. "We've had those same type of calls and people are really frustrated they get there and they find out that we have not received that information from the DPS office. I think it has been statewide because we did receive a broadcast email from the secretary of state advising everyone how to handle this particular issue."
Also, in Dallas County, some voters were given provisional ballots because of a mistake by an election judge over their eligibility. That issue has been corrected and those votes will be accepted.
In Collin County, a high tech system intended to help voters find shorter lines, did not work as advertised for all those who tried to use it.
Chris Novembrino showed up at a West Plano polling site after checking online for the shortest lines.
"I went to the CollinCounty.com website and got told that this place had 20 minutes or less waiting and that's what I based my decision on going here."
But once he arrived, he found hundreds of people waiting to vote.
Collin County voters have the option to cast ballots anywhere. However, the smartphone accessible system designed to spread voters around led to congestion at some polling sites and inactivity at others.
"I think they need to be aware it's not working," says Plano resident Corinne Whitis. "They're not updating it properly. There is an issue there of some sort because that's not green. That's red."
In Carrollton, one polling site opened 45 minutes late because of computerized check in problems.
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