Gets bettter the former sheriff, who now the states attorney general was turned away from voting also. Somebody is in trouble. Big trouble.
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Voting machines are no-shows at 52 polls
Sunday, September 19, 2004
By Joan Treadway
Staff writer
Hundreds, and possibly thousands, of Orleans Parish voters were prevented from voting or were delayed Saturday when about 15 percent to 20 percent of the parish's polling places failed to open on time, raising the possibility Saturday's results will be challenged.
At least one polling site had not yet opened by 3 p.m., but voting was not extended beyond the normal 8 p.m. closing time.
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The delays occurred when 52 voting machines failed to arrive on time or when no one was at a polling site to accept the machines, said Kimberly Williamson Butler, clerk of Orleans Parish Criminal District Court, who is in charge of getting machines to polling sites.
"People are walking away (from the polling places) in disgust," said Beth Butler, a community organizer with ACORN. She said that by about 11:30 a.m., her community group had logged hundreds of calls from irate people citywide who had been unable to vote.
Kimberly Williamson Butler blamed the problems on Hurricane Ivan. On Friday, when drivers were to deliver the machines, there was no one to receive the equipment, presumably because people had not returned from evacuating when Ivan threatened, she said.
"Schools were locked up, and some houses were still boarded up," she said. Thirteen private homes were among the sites with polling problems.
Pat Bowers, spokeswoman for the Orleans Parish school system, said that all day Friday custodians and principals were in schools, many of which are designated polling places, but that the district wasn't told of access problems until Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Then on Saturday, when the voting machines were scheduled to be redelivered, state-contracted drivers didn't show up, Butler said. Scott Madere, spokesman for Secretary of State Fox McKeithen, conceded there were some problems with the drivers Saturday.
Butler said she had discussed with McKeithen the possibility of postponing the elections because of the hurricane. But McKeithen said Louisiana law calls for scheduled elections to be held "if at all possible," and he said it was possible to hold Saturday's election.
Only in Orleans
No other parishes had problems with elections, McKeithen said, adding that he and Attorney General Charles Foti would launch an inquiry Monday into the incident.
Foti himself was turned away from voting because the machines at his precinct had not arrived, Foti spokeswoman Kris Wartelle said. She said Foti, the former longtime Orleans Parish criminal sheriff, "immediately got with Fox McKeithen and started working on the problem."
In his 16 years in office, McKeithen said, "I've never been to a rodeo like this one."
Fifty-two polling places had no machines when voting officially started at 6 a.m., but the vast majority had them by midday, and at 3 p.m., a truck was en route to deliver some to last polling place without a machine, Gregory Junior High School on Pratt Drive in Gentilly, Butler said.
Orleans Parish has 442 precincts and 327 polling places, with multiple precincts in some places, Butler said.
State Commissioner of Elections Wade Martin III, who works for McKeithen, said 90 precincts were affected which combined have 58,134 registered voters.
The statewide election Saturday was "very smooth, except in Orleans Parish," Martin said. "In no way is it smooth in New Orleans. A number of people in New Orleans are livid."
Uncast ballots
Orleans Parish Registrar of Voters Louis Keller had estimated that voter turnout Saturday would be only about 25 percent of eligible voters, so it was unclear how many votes may have been lost.
Although there were a larger number of delays in the 9th Ward, problems were reported throughout the city, from Old Hammond Highway on the western edge of the city to St. Mark's Community Center on Rampart Street to Paris Avenue near the lakefront.
Rahsaan Parker, 33, who lives in the Lower 9th Ward, said he went to vote at 8:30 a.m. at Philadelphia Episcopal Church on St. Claude Avenue, only to be told there were no machines and that no one knew when they would arrive.
Parker returned at 2 p.m., and he was able to vote before leaving for work at his job as a waiter downtown. But not everyone had the time to try twice, he said: "They ought to scrap the election. It doesn't matter who wins today. None of the candidates are getting a fair shake, and it's not fair to the people of New Orleans."
Hand-delivered
On Saturday, McKeithen and Butler both pitched in to help deliver machines. McKeithen, who has a commercial truck driver's license, drove a truck to deliver some of the machines.
Butler rode along on a truck and helped put voting machines into place at some sites.
McKeithen said he expects some losing candidates to challenge the elections in Orleans Parish. They are entitled to file suit in state court in New Orleans or Baton Rouge, he said.
If there are any post-election lawsuits challenging the results, lawyers will have to file within nine days of the election, said First Assistant Secretary of State Renee' Free.
In addition to schools, churches and private homes, the polling places that received late deliveries of machines included community centers and firehouses, elections official Martin said.
The problems prompted skepticism from some voters. At St. Mark's Community Center, aggravated voter Mike Schmidt said, "I have some serious doubt that this is an accident. I think people are up to some shenanigans."
Mark Perron, a lawyer and Faubourg Marigny resident, said that, on his third try, he finally managed to vote at Colton School. But two of his neighbors tried once, failed, then had to leave town to visit relatives, he said.
. . . . . . .
Staff writers Ed Anderson and Coleman Warner contributed to this story.
Joan Treadway can be reached at
jtreadway@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3305.
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