Cardin Airs Doubts About Voting System

Senate Hopeful Sees November Turnout at Risk Because of Primary Hitches

U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin (D) is seeking to move up to the Senate. (Sarah L. Voisin - The Washington Post)

U.S. Senate candidate Benjamin L. Cardin yesterday voiced a lack of confidence in Maryland's voting system and worried that the problems that plagued the primary election could discourage voters from turning out in November.

"I am not convinced that they know how to run this election so that voters will not be inconvenienced to a point where they don't participate," Cardin (D) said during an interview with Washington Post reporters and editors.

Cardin's comments came on the day that state elections Administrator Linda H. Lamone announced that Maryland would continue using an electronic voter check-in system that repeatedly froze and rebooted without warning on primary day, confusing election judges and delaying voters across the state.

"After rigorous review and testing of the proposed solutions offered by Diebold Election Systems" -- the equipment's manufacturer -- "we are satisfied the issues experienced with the electronic poll books in our primary election have been resolved satisfactorily," Lamone said in a statement.

Cardin blamed the primary day foul-ups less on technology than on human error. Maryland election officials went to the polls without properly testing the machinery, he said.

"When we go to war, we don't try the equipment out for the first time in battle, so why are we surprised when we try voting equipment out for the first time that you have problems?" he asked. "The failure was not doing a full test ahead of time."

He expressed particular concern about how the glitches would affect voter participation next month as he seeks to drive up turnout in his bid to replace retiring Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D). The Baltimore congressman called turnout his "biggest challenge," in particular in heavily Democratic Prince George's and Montgomery counties.

Cardin is trying to overcome disappointment among some black voters who supported former NAACP president Kweisi Mfume overwhelmingly in the Democratic primary. And he is trying to fend off Republican candidate Michael S. Steele, the first African American elected to statewide office, who is seeking to sway black Democrats to cross party lines.

Cardin is counting on help from Prince George's political leaders to build enthusiasm for his candidacy. "By and large, the black leadership are very much energized by this campaign," he said.

Cardin joins a growing number of critics of the state's electronic voting system, including independent Senate candidate Kevin Zeese, who has long advocated a system that produces paper records to verify votes.

Cardin said he would prefer a system with greater verification of votes, but he rejected the call by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) to trade the state's electronic machines for a paper-based system before the general election. Cardin, who has helped monitor elections overseas, blamed Maryland's problems on "bad administration."

Ross Goldstein, State Board of Elections deputy administrator, responded with a pledge: "We're not going to have a repeat of the primary election."