Overlooked Candidate Caused Ballot Delays

BENTONVILLE — An overlooked write-in candidate for a constable post created a delay in ballot preparation that ultimately led the Benton County Election Commission to charter a $1,100 airplane flight to Omaha, Neb. The trip was made to fetch the software needed to program the county's voting machines.

John Groh, senior vice president of Election Systems & Software in Omaha, said the company, which works with election officials in most states, has a process for each election. That includes a schedule for the agency responsible for the election to send needed information to the company. ES&S also has a schedule for providing those agencies with the services and materials they need.

A delay anywhere in the process, Groh said, leads to a delay at the end of the schedule. Groh said Benton County notified ES&S of a problem via e-mail on Oct. 1. On Oct. 4, he said, the county told the company a race had to be added and submitted a list of 17 ballots that had to be adjusted or changed.

"At that point, on that Monday, we started their whole process over," Groh said.

Groh said fixing Benton County's problem meant the entire database for the election had to be altered.

"You can't go in and just fix pieces," Groh said.

Groh said the time lag from Oct. 1 to Oct. 4 pushed completion of the work past the time Benton County officials were willing to wait for normal delivery. Getting that information on Oct. 1 would have put the company on track to finish the correction by Oct. 5, 6, or 7, he said, and it would have been shipped accordingly.

Bill Williams, Election Commission chairman, acknowledged the county made the error, but said the company made other errors that delayed the process as well. Williams defended the commission staff, its processes and the decision to fly to Omaha.

"That's correct," Williams said when asked about the error of omission being the fault of the county. "The preceding four were errors from ES&S. We did miss the fact there is a write-in candidate for one of the constables. We were able to catch it. That tells me our processes are actually working. I'm not happy with any errors, but I am pleased we were able to catch it."

Williams said he began considering a flight to Omaha early in the week of Oct. 4 and raised the prospect at that Friday's meeting of the Election Commission. Williams told the commission ES&S was working on the county's software and would notify them if the work was done in time for next-day delivery by a commercial service. If that was not possible, Williams said, he planned to charter a flight to Omaha to pick up the materials. The commission approved Williams' request, with commissioners E.J. Miller and Bob Balfe adding the provision that if ES&S was responsible for the delay, it should be asked to pay any additional costs.

Richard McComas, Benton County comptroller, said the commission had enough money in its travel budget to cover the cost of the flight. McComas said the $1,100 charge did not reach the $20,000 level that would have required bids for the service.

Williams chartered a flight with Summit Aviation of Bentonville. Dave Powell, owner of the air service, said the charter was for a Cessna 182RG, a four-place, single-engine aircraft. Powell said he'd never met Williams before their flight.

Powell said the Cessna is the least expensive charter aircraft he is familiar with in the four-state area. The flight to and from Omaha lasted about five hours, with about 30 minutes on the ground to load the software, which Williams said came in five or six boxes weighing a total of about 150 pounds. Summit Aviation billed the commission $1,100 for the flight.

Powell said most charters are typically twin-engine aircraft, which are more expensive. For a corporate jet charter flight, he said, the going rate begins about $2,500 to $3,500, plus pilot fees and other costs.

"This is a pretty basic charter," Powell said of the commission's flight.

Williams said the flight to Omaha cost the county between $300 and $400 more than overnight shipping of the software and said he understood that delivery could not be guaranteed before Oct. 12. He said that left too little time for testing and possible correction.

Williams said the election commission staff worked Oct. 9 and 10 testing the software in the county's voting machines. He said the software for the machines used in the early voting period, which began Oct. 18, worked properly but errors were found in some of the "Personal Electronic Ballots" that were meant for use in the Nov. 2 general election. Those faulty devices were returned to ES&S for correction, Williams said.

"It wasn't that the flight was justified, it was required," Williams said. "We can't miss the start of early voting. It's just that simple."

Another potential election flap surfaced this week when Williams suggested eliminating the traditional election night updates of voting results. Williams said he will propose the change to the commission when it meets at 9:30 a.m. today.

Williams said giving out periodic updates of partial vote totals interrupts the operation of the vote-counting system in use by the county.

"We have a standard that our first goal is accuracy," Williams said. "There is a substantial interruption in processing of our election report manager every time you want to do an update. I understand the Republican Party is particularly upset. I understand why and I'm sympathetic. We have two very important races -- for the Senate and the House -- and people want to know how the vote is going. But that's exactly why we have to have them right."

Officials with both political parties in Benton County said they object to the change.

Balfe said he understands the technical problems, but he also understands the tradition involved in election night vote updates.

Miller said he would oppose the plan. He said the commission was able to provide updates during the May primary and he sees no reason for change.

"We have done this and I don't know why we would change," Miller said. "I don't see any reason to change what we've done in our past practices."