Audio clip
Larry Bates
Hamilton County Elections Administrator Bud Knowles said election officials will work to correct problems from the Feb. 5 primary that voters and officials brought up at the Election Commission’s meeting.
“This was an unexpected large election. We expected 50,000 and we voted 74,000,” Mr. Knowles said Tuesday. “The precinct workers failed in their job.”
Donna Golden, who sometimes volunteers as a poll worker, said she encountered a worker at the precinct at Ooltewah Seventh-day Adventist Church who refused to give her a Democratic ballot.
“I asked, ‘Where is the Democratic table?” she said, adding that the man sitting there told her there wasn’t one. “He took my voting application out of my hand.”
Larry Bates, who said he encountered similar problems at that precinct, said he wants the Election Commission to take action.
“Some of the people working at the precinct were inept,” he said. “This committee has a fiduciary responsibility to make sure that the people at the polls have no bias.”
Mr. Knowles said he has reassigned that worker and would dismiss him if he receives further complaints.
“They should give courteous service at all times,” Mr. Knowles said of poll workers.
Commissioner J. Bartlett Quinn apologized on behalf of the commission but noted that most poll workers “do a great job.”
John Bailes, chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party, said his office had received numerous calls on Super Tuesday from voters who could not get through to the Election Commission. He read a letter which listed three requests:
n More hot lines for poll workers to ask questions and Web access for all browsers.
n Competence and civility training for poll workers.
n For precincts to have 80 percent of ballots ready on election day.
The letter states that “irregularities ranged from voter inaccessibility to voter intimidation to voting machine problems and ballot mix-ups.”
Mr. Knowles said he plans to have eight dedicated phone lines for poll workers and 10 lines for residents ready for the elections on Aug. 7. He also said he would look into further worker training.
As for the Election Commission Web site, Mr. Knowles said he believes it is “up to par.”
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the Election Commission verified the Feb. 5 election results.
Mr. Knowles said he plans to move the precinct at the Brainerd Recreation Center to Brainerd Baptist Church. He said the fact that the recreation center is an early voting site caused too much confusion.
