2 Candidates Question Vote In Pr. George's

By Ovetta Wiggins, Eric Rich and Hamil R. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, September 16, 2006

Congressional candidate Donna Edwards announced plans yesterday to file a lawsuit over apparent voting irregularities in Tuesday's primary election in Prince George's County, while defeated county executive challenger Rushern L. Baker III demanded an independent investigation of the process.

The separate announcements signaled that Tuesday's voting, a flawed process by many accounts, may not conclude the close primary contests for a seat in Congress and the county executive's office. The election itself was "horrendous," the Prince George's elections administrator said yesterday. And the victorious Democratic county executive candidate, incumbent Jack B. Johnson, said it warranted investigation.

"The integrity of the election is at stake," said Edwards, who ran against Rep. Albert R. Wynn in the 4th District Democratic primary and is waiting for the race to be decided when provisional ballots are counted next week in Montgomery and Prince George's counties.

Jonathan S. Shurberg, a lawyer working with Edwards, said they will ask a judge to take possession of voting machine memory cards in two, possibly three, precincts in Chillum. The request will be made either in Prince George's Circuit Court in Upper Marlboro or U.S. District Court in Greenbelt over the next several days.

Edwards said her legal complaint will focus on the security of voting machines that contained voting cards and were not delivered to the county Board of Elections until late Wednesday. "When we read reports about how easy it is to hack into these machines, there has to be concern," Edwards said.

Wynn lashed out at her over the decision to sue, accusing her of "trying to throw out votes in certain jurisdictions."

Chuck Perry, a lawyer who advised Baker's campaign, said at a news conference yesterday that there is "ample evidence" to warrant an investigation.

Widespread problems occurred throughout the county, Perry said: Numerous polling places did not open as required at 7 a.m. Computers misidentified the party affiliation of voters. And voting machines failed to electronically transmit data to the county's central office.

"We're not doing this for the campaign," Perry said. "We're doing this as a duty. Voters have been disenfranchised."

A spokesman for Johnson, who had called Tuesday's voting process "abysmal," said the county executive agrees that there should be an inquiry.

"We join Mr. Baker in his request . . . to find out what happened and avoid problems like this in the future," said the spokesman, Jim Keary.

Electronic voting machine malfunctions were reported across the region Tuesday. Machines froze, access cards stopped working and computerized voter lists crashed. The glitches renewed fears about the vulnerability of electronic machines used in the electoral process.

Perry said it is unclear whether an investigation would change the outcome of the race for county executive. For now, said Alexander Krughoff, a campaign spokesman, "Mr. Baker has issued his concession, and he stands by that."

A delay in counting votes left the winner of the surprisingly close county executive race undecided until late Wednesday, when Baker accepted defeat. Johnson had 52 percent of the vote to Baker's 48 percent. In the congressional race, Wynn leads by fewer than 3,000 votes, and Edwards has said she will not consider the election over until provisional ballots are counted.

Results trickled in Tuesday night because election workers said they had trouble transmitting data electronically from precincts to the county's central tabulating office.

According to Baker's campaign, only 60 of 206 precincts managed to transmit their results electronically. Election workers at the remaining polling places had to remove voter memory cards from each machine and drive them to Board of Elections headquarters in Upper Marlboro.

The county's interim election administrator, Robert J. Antonetti Sr., acknowledged yesterday that the primary was the most troubled election he has overseen during 34 years in the field. "This was horrendous," Antonetti said.

Antonetti, the longtime head of the Prince George's election office, served as election director in Howard County for four years after leaving Prince George's and then retired. He said he was called back after his predecessor left the area.

Before he retired, Antonetti's long career was marked by turbulence. He was ordered to pay a $7,500 ethics fine for hiring family members as part-time workers in Prince George's, and he sued the Howard County Elections Board for more pay -- a case that was settled with undisclosed terms.

Yesterday, Antonetti did not dispute Baker's statements about the electronic transmissions, and he conceded that 15 polling sites opened late because, he said, technicians he had hired did not show up.

Yet Antonetti flatly rejected any suggestion that the results were compromised. "There is no fraud in this county," he said. "That's a very bad accusation, and it's usually sour grapes."

Antonetti said election judges had been instructed to have the cards delivered to his office if they were unsuccessful after two attempts to transmit electronically. According to the directions, the cards were to be secured in locked bags and driven to the office by technicians who did not have a key.

Oliver Smith, a chief election judge in Cheverly, said that after a day with frustrating electronic equipment, he ordered the cards delivered to the office without even trying to transmit electronically. "Considering that we had some problems with our voter access cards, we had two machines that had failed and it was getting late, I wasn't going to take any more chances," he said.

Still, because of the security precautions, Smith said he was certain the results were not compromised.

Antonetti said that a number of cards were accidentally left in voting machines and that the last of those cards -- close to three dozen in as many machines -- were expected to be delivered to his office late yesterday. On Wednesday, election officials said data were not received from 81 of the county's 2,056 voting machines. The numbers represented two whole precincts -- in Chillum and Landover -- as well as cards from machines at 34 polling stations.

Although the machines have not been under guard, Antonetti said he is confident the cards have not been tampered with. The machines are kept in locked cases, he said, and security tape ensures that any tampering with a machine would be evident.

Edwards described the delay in reporting as "very suspicious." "I don't want to rush to judgment," she said. "I'm still trying to figure out what is going on."

Edwards has asked not only for data from each precinct, but also for "machine-by-machine data."

"They need to verify the chain of custody of these machines," she said.

Antonetti blamed the problems in part on the rapid pace of technological change, which he said was driven by Linda H. Lamone, the state elections administrator. He also accused her office of missing delivery deadlines, leaving the county short on materials needed to train 3,000 election workers, and altering procedures belatedly.

Lamone rejected the allegations, saying that older equipment Antonetti had on hand for training purposes did not differ significantly from the equipment used in the primary.

She noted that Antonetti, unlike many other elections administrators, declined to hire technical support workers from Diebold Inc., manufacturer of the voting machines.

Antonetti said the workers were too expensive and, in his view, no better trained than the less-well-paid technical staff he hired after advertising in newspapers.

Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey (D) said yesterday that he was concerned enough about the balloting to call the state prosecutor's office, which, he said, has jurisdiction over election issues.

Ivey said that even if voter irregularities were within his purview, he would have to refer the matter to another authority because of his endorsement of Baker.