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County Voters Reject Propositions In Last Election Without Paper Trail By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Friday November 11, 2005

In the last use of non-paper trail electronic voting machines in Alameda County before new state standards kick in next year, voting reportedly went smoothly in last Tuesday’s special election, but the vote tallying trailed behind counting in other parts of the state. 

Alameda County returns did not finish coming in until 2 a.m., which Acting Registrar of Voters Elaine Ginnold said was normal for county elections. 

But most returns for the special election Tuesday night had been posted on the secretary of state’s website by midnight, with only Los Angeles and Alameda counties showing significant votes still uncounted. Alameda County had only 30 percent of its vote counted by midnight. 

When the Alameda votes did finally come in, they showed county voters in step with the trend in the rest of the state, rejecting all of the initiatives and constitutional amendments on the ballot. Alameda County voted no on Prop. 73 (parental notification on abortion) with 69 percent rejecting the measure, on Prop. 74 (public school teacher tenure) with 72 percent against, on Prop. 75 (union dues for political purposes) with 70 percent against, and on Prop. 76 (state spending and school funding limits) with 79 percent against. 

On Prop. 77 (redistricting), 74 percent of the county voters rejected the measure; on Prop. 78 (prescription drug discounts no. 1), 68 percent voted no; on Prop. 79 (prescription drugs discounts no. 2), 52 percent voted no; and on Prop. 80 (regulation of electric service providers), 61 percent voted no. 

Ginnold said that there was “no systemic failure” during Tuesday’s election, and blamed the delay on a number of factors, including the fact that Alameda County had a large number of election inspectors working the polls for the first time. 

“They had to ask a lot of questions,” she said. 

Several days before the election, the Alameda County administrator put out an emergency call for workers after election officials reported they were 90 poll workers short and did not have enough staff to open three separate polling places. Those positions were filled by election day. 

Ginnold said that another problem which slowed up Tuesday’s vote count was what she called an “additional step” in the counting procedure in which inspectors were required to count out the number of paper ballots cast at the precinct, add it to the total of electronic votes, and then balance it with the number of voters who had come to the poll. 

Next Monday, Alameda County citizens will get their first look at the electronic machines the county is considering to replace the Diebold machines. The County Registrar of Voters office is holding an all-day demonstration of the four electronic systems under consideration to provide state-mandated paper-trail machines. Ginnold said four companies will be represented at the demonstration: Diebold, Sequoia, Hart, and Election Systems & Software. The demonstration, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., will be at the Alameda County Conference Center, 125 12th St., 4th floor, in Oakland. 

In other election news, voters in two East Bay communities went in opposite directions on tax increase measures on Tuesday’s ballot. 

In the Albany Unified School District, voters approved Measure A by a 67.8 percent margin, 3,301 to 1,564. Measure A was a seven-year, $250-per-residential-unit parcel tax proposal as well as authorization for a 5-cent-per-square-foot non-residential parcel tax. Money from the tax will be used to raise teacher salaries, reduce class size, hire student support workers such as librarians and mental health counselors, and support student extra-curricular activities. 

But in Richmond, voters just as decisively defeated Measure Q, a proposed 1/2 percent tax increase for retail sales within the city. Measure Q gained only 35 percent of the vote, losing 6,274 to 11,886.e