Montgomery forgets to issue vote cards

Thousands of Montgomery County voters were forced to use paper ballots or were turned away from the polls early yesterday because elections officials forgot to deliver electronic voting cards to election judges at the county’s 238 precincts.

Many precincts also quickly ran out of provisional paper ballots — the backup system for the electronic voting machines that were employed yesterday for the first time statewide.

In Baltimore, voting was extended by an hour last night because judges at some polling places did not show up on time. There were scattered reports of polling places opening late in Prince George’s County and the District, but the irregularities were not nearly as prevalent as those in Montgomery.

Within hours of the polls opening at 7 a.m., county elections officials had successfully petitioned the Montgomery County Circuit Court to keep the precincts open an extra hour, to 9 p.m.

They said the electronic voting cards had been delivered to all polling places by 10:30 a.m.

Susan Nakamura returned at 8:15 p.m. to Takoma Park Elementary School in Montgomery County, where she and her father had waited as long as they could in the morning before leaving without voting.

“If it hadn’t been open this evening, we wouldn’t have been able to vote,” she said. “It’s incompetence, really.”

The blunder was an embarrassment for county elections officials. The board had pledged to begin posting election results by 9 p.m. Provisional ballots won’t be counted officially until next week.

“Unfortunately, this morning, voters found their polling places unequipped, and for that I am sincerely sorry,” said Nancy H. Dacek, president of the Montgomery County Board of Elections.

Mrs. Dacek, a Republican, is a former County Council member and appointee of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican seeking re-election.

Officials would not specify who was at fault and what penalties might be meted out.

“We are concerned about what happened in Montgomery County and Baltimore. We’re not interested in assessing blame,” said Ross K. Goldstein, deputy administrator of the State Board of Elections.

“We’re going to use our authority under the elections law to ensure that necessary corrections and adjustments are made prior to the general election.”

Elections officials noticed about 6 a.m. that they had forgotten to include electronic voting cards in supply packets sent to election judges.

“The packets are assembled by permanent Board of Elections staff with assistance from temporary employees. We regret the error,” board spokeswoman Marjorie Roher said.

Story Continues →