News > Election 2008 > Local & State Elections

Posted on Sat, Nov. 08, 2008

e-mail	print	RSS	reprint
AIM	Digg it	del.icio.us	Facebook

Errors delay Crawford County voting results

Associated Press

PITTSBURG - Problems with a vote-reading machine and a significant number of provisional ballots have made the race for Crawford County attorney too close to call.

The problem occurred when a scanner that read ballots from three precincts at one polling place in the southeast Kansas county was improperly programmed. Crawford County Clerk Don Pyle said the machines switched votes in a total of four races Tuesday.

"They were taking results to a different candidate," he said. "They were counting the numbers right. They just got crossed over to a different candidate."

The biggest impact is on the county attorney race between Republican Michael Gayoso Jr. and Democratic incumbent John Gutierrez.

Gayoso leads by fewer than 100 votes, with more than 800 provisional ballots remaining to be counted. About 15,000 votes were cast in the county attorney's race.

The malfunction also affected two other local races and the race in which Republican Lynn Jenkins defeated incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda. However, because of the margin between the candidates, officials say the malfunction did not change the overall outcome of those races.

Boyda carried Crawford County, but lost to Jenkins in the district by more than 14,000 votes.

Pyle said the clerk's office became aware of the error when workers noticed that a disproportionate number of votes from the polling place in question were cast for Libertarian Robert Garrard, who ran against Boyda and Jenkins.

Pyle is reviewing the results and the machines to determine whether the election should be recounted, perhaps as early as next week. A recount would happen after the county finishes counting provisional ballots.