An election in crisis

We know voting is not an exact science given the technological shifts from the old curtained voting booths with pull-down levers to relatively new card-reading computers. Until all the bugs are winnowed out of the system, there are bound to be gremlins.

But when the Columbia County Board of Elections can’t release results three days after the election (as of Friday) and offers an apology to voters yet doesn’t cite, on the record, a single possible cause for such a long delay, something is clearly wrong.

One theory is that the board was unprepared for the early voting period Oct. 6 to Nov. 2. Election results from 3,371 early voters, which will likely affect at least some local races, were not released as of Friday’s print deadline. Election officials said they were close to reaching a final tally Friday afternoon. No final tallies materialized.

Early voting results were posted on Election Day. Twice, they were kept separate from Tuesday’s votes on the Columbia County Board of Elections’ website, on Tuesday and Wednesday, but were later taken down with no explanation from the board.

Election officials did not answer questions Friday about what specifically caused the delay in releasing the results. But they issued a public apology on the board’s website:

“We know people are eager to get the results from the election, and all of us — staff and additional part time staff — are working as hard as we can to get those results to you. We have very strict controls over the counting and reporting processes, requiring bipartisan signoff each step along the way to ensure the integrity of the ballot count. This takes extra time, and it’s worth it to make sure we get it right.

“We’re sorry it’s taking longer than usual; we’re making steady progress and will release the results as soon as possible.”

We’re all for integrity in any election and we want counting and reporting to be accurate. But it’s hard to accept that all counties don’t have the same strict controls and desire for integrity.

Greene County added early voting results to its tabulations in the middle of last week. In Dutchess County, the counting and reporting process was much like in years past even with the addition of early voting. Early votes were secured in bipartisan fashion. Memory cards containing the votes were reviewed and posted on Election Night before Tuesday’s results were posted. Early voting results appeared on the Dutchess County Board of Elections website shortly after 9 p.m. last Tuesday. Election Day results, similar to previous years, were delivered by couriers on memory cards from all polling places in the county. Officials were able to post full results by 11:30 p.m.

Whatever the cause of this delay, the Columbia County Board of Elections has to own up to this error, technical or otherwise, and do it soon. The public has been in the dark too long. Voters and nonvoters alike deserve to know the nature of the problem, how it is being fixed and, finally, who won and who lost on Nov. 5.