Metro Briefs

REGION

Area returns to paper ballots

After Tuesday’s election, Maryland and Virginia will return to paper ballots, scrapping or phasing out electronic voting machines that were once considered state of the art.

Maryland will get rid of its $65 million electronic system and return to paper ballots for the 2010 midterm elections - and will still be paying for the trashed system until 2014.

In Virginia, jurisdictions will ease toward paper after the General Assembly voted last year to phase out electronic voting machines as they wear out.

The two states say paper ballots filled out by hand are more reliable, especially in a recount.

It was not long ago that electronic voting machines were called a computerized panacea to the hanging chad, a system unaffected by things that some say make paper ballots vulnerable.

But concerns arose that the electronic voting machines could crash or be hacked.

The District has one electronic machine in every precinct, but most people vote on paper ballots, according Dan Murphy, a spokesman for the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics.

In Virginia, the law passed last year bars localities from buying more electronic machines, also known as direct-recording election machines. It could take years to complete the switch to paper.

DISTRICT

Federal prosecutor to oversee voting

Howard Sklamberg, a deputy chief in the U.S. attorney’s fraud and public corruption section, will oversee activities during voting Tuesday in the District, said U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor. Mr. Sklamberg will oversee D.C.’s handling of complaints of election fraud and voting-rights abuses.

Mr. Sklamberg will be part of a team of officials working nationwide in the Justice Department’s program to thwart fraud and discrimination at the polls. He will be on duty while polls are open Tuesday. The FBI also will have agents available to assist in investigations.

VIRGINIA

RICHMOND

Bogus lottery stubs draw compensation

Players who bought Fast Play Super 7’s lottery tickets will be compensated for a technical problem that erroneously led them to think they won cash prizes.

The Virginia Lottery said Thursday that a programming error by GTECH, the game’s vendor, incorrectly printed 609 tickets showing prizes ranging from $2 to $7,777 on Oct. 19, the first day of ticket sales.

Lottery officials say that under lottery rules and state law, players can’t redeem prizes that appeared on misprinted tickets. But players who bought what appeared to be tickets can apply for cash payments ranging from about $2,000 for tickets reflecting a $7,777 prize to about $100 for a $277 prize - paid out from GTECH’s settlement with the lottery.

ARLINGTON

Driver in custody after wild chase

A man driving a stolen truck with a suspended license was in custody after causing several accidents and stealing another vehicle during a wild, rush-hour chase, police said.

The 25-year-old Maryland man was spotted Thursday morning by state troopers at an HOV entrance ramp on Interstate 395, Detective Crystal Nosal said. He tried to back up the ramp, but couldn’t go anywhere.

Detective Nosal said the man drove away after being asked to come with the troopers. He pulled off I-395 at Shirlington and collided with a trooper’s car, another vehicle and a Metro bus. No one on the bus was hurt.

The man then fled on foot and attempted to carjack a woman, but she fought him off, Detective Nosal said. He then stole another vehicle, and drove back onto I-395. The chase ended at Reagan National Airport, where he got into another accident with a trooper.

MARYLAND

OWINGS MILLS

Wife’s body found in crawl space

An Owings Mills man has been charged with strangling his wife after the couple’s daughter found the body stuffed in a crawl space under the family’s home.

Baltimore County police said 54-year-old Nankisoor Ramnath was charged Wednesday night with first-degree murder.

Police went to Mr. Ramnath’s home after the daughter called police about 6:30 p.m., saying she’d found the body. The medical examiner said 50-year-old Nirmala Maharaj died of strangulation.

The couple’s 19-year-old daughter and 29-year-old son told police that their parents had an argument Wednesday morning. Later, the daughter couldn’t reach her mother and became concerned because of a history of domestic disputes.

BALTIMORE

First hypothermia deaths reported

The Maryland Medical Examiner’s office reported the state’s first two cold weather deaths of the season.

Hypothermia was blamed for the death of a man in Prince George’s County on Saturday and the death of a man in Anne Arundel County on Sunday.

Nearly 600 people die nationwide each year from hypothermia.

• From wire dispatches and staff reports