Write-Ins Expected To Slow Ballot Counting Despite New Technology, Results May Be Slow In Coming Tuesday

Dan English has some advice for local candidates planning their Election Day victory parties - rent the room for the night.

English, the Kootenai County clerk, is anticipating a slow and complex count of the ballots after the polls close Tuesday.

A high voter turnout, a two-page ballot and a popular write-in candidate all promise to slacken the pace.

County Commissioner Bob Macdonald is running for re-election as a write-in candidate, as are a few virtually unknown presidential candidates, such as Rev. Msmere and Debra L. Axtell Schultz, aka Mom.

“Every time one of those (write-ins) goes through the machine, it stops the machine,” English explained. “Even if it stops for five seconds, if we have 12,000 ballots, that’s still a lot of time.”

Prominent write-in campaigns in the sheriff’s and commissioner’s race in Shoshone County also will slow the tallying process, said Marsha Wingfield, Shoshone County clerk. Each write-in vote has to be counted by hand.

Although the ballot-counting technology was improved in Kootenai County this year with a new $80,000 system, the increased efficiency might not make up for the doubling of the ballot size or the write-in delays.

Instead of sending about 44,000 pieces of paper through the computer, the number will double.

Elections chief DeeDee Beard arranged to have American Information Systems provide a second tallying machine, with one caveat. If another one of their machines breaks down in the Northwest on election night, the company will fly the spare machine to the county in need.

Beard admits she’s been stressed in preparing for this election.

“One of my biggest concerns is getting out the results in a timely manner for everybody,” she said. “It’s one of the those things you pride yourself in doing.”

The county will have more results than usual shortly after the polls close, however.

This election already has set a record for absentee ballots, which are the first to be counted on election night. With five days to go before the election, the county already had collected 5,426 absentee ballots.

The historic record for absentee ballots was 3,699 in 1992’s general election.

But the early results may not be representative of the final outcome. One reason for the increase in absentee voters was a state Republican Party campaign to get out the vote.

The state party has mailed out 60,000 absentee ballot requests to residents who were identified as loyal Republican voters through phone polls.

The request forms were accompanied by a request to vote Republican and a slate of Republican candidates, said Andrew Arulananbam, director of the state Republican Party.

Kootenai County also tried to make the election more convenient by increasing the number of polling places from 33 to 49, which should shorten the lines at busy precincts.

All registered voters were mailed a notice months ago if their polling place changed.

Voters reportedly had little problem finding their polling place during the primary election, but that election only had a 15 percent turnout. Beard and English are anticipating an 80 percent turnout Tuesday.

Residents can register to vote at the polls, as long as they bring proof of residency.

To handle the increased number of polling places and voters, the county has hired and is training 350 poll workers, and Beard has had 10 extra employees helping with preparations.

Kootenai County’s Kids Voting director, Paula Davis, and a host of volunteers are making parallel preparations for those too young to vote.

This will be the first general election for the Kids Voting program, which is designed to teach school children about citizenship.

Of the 49 county precincts, 44 will have voting booths and ballot boxes for children who will vote on the same races and issues as their parents.

Although the youth vote is not official, it will be tallied election night and broadcast on cable Channel 13 as results become available. A North Idaho College computer will automate the counting, Davis said.

She expects 12,000 students to vote, if their parents take them to the polls.

Aside from teaching children about the election process, Kids Voting is designed to get their parents to the polls, too.

The county will attempt to provide up-to-date results election night on its Internet web page, www.nidlink.com/kcgov/ckelect.html

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: VOTING TIMES Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday