Electronic voting starts fairly well

Despite power outages and scattered human-caused errors, the debut of statewide electronic voting went off relatively well Tuesday.

"We've had nothing but very positive responses from the voters, who like the simplicity and that they can verify their vote," said Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert, who oversees elections in the state. "We couldn't have received a better review from the electorate."

There were problems, primarily with voting cards not being programmed correctly, "but you could count those on one hand," according to Joe Demma, Herbert's chief of staff. Their bigger concern was actually the low turnout they saw as they toured voting stations throughout the day.

Technical problems did impact the state's delivery of results through their Web site, as heavy traffic delayed the loading of results onto the Web site, and the display of those results.

There were minor problems reported throughout Utah County, though Clerk/Auditor Kim Jackson said the majority of those issues were procedural, not technical. About 430 of Utah County's nearly 1,100 machines were used in the primary. County elections officials set up enough machines to handle a 20 percent voter turnout.

"We haven't had any major problems," Jackson said late Tuesday afternoon. "They've all been things you might expect as people get used to (the electronic voting machines.)"

Technical issues were limited to a few faulty voting card encoders, which quickly were fixed, Jackson said. A couple of poll workers opened late, resulting in a handful of complaints, he said.

In Weber County, a power outage in the Ogden area around 4:30 p.m. forced the machines to use their backup battery power but resulted in no lost ballots or failed machines, Clerk/Auditor Linda Lunceford said. The battery power is supposed to last at least four hours.

For Salt Lake City voter Laurie Christie, the biggest problem with the machines was their simplicity and, if anything, their silent operation.

"If it is more efficient, great, but aesthetically I really miss punching the ballot," she said, referencing the now obsolete punch card ballots that the ATM-style machines replaced.

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