November 17, 2000
Voting Canvass Complete, All Winners Still Winners
It’s officially over. And the winner is…actually, the same winners as last week. Cabell County Clerk Ben Bagby said the canvass is over and, while some races got a little closer, there were no upsets.
“There were no surprises. Bob Bailey and Arley Johnson are still the winners in their races,” Bagby said.
Bagby also said candidates have 48 hours to contest the election results or ask for a recount. On Monday, the winners will be certified.
The
canvass took a little longer than they had planned, three days instead of four.
Bagby said next time, they will have software available that will help
speed things up. He’s also hoping
for better training of poll workers and said that’s what caused over 500
ballots to be overlooked.
“Poll
workers at precinct 22 simply didn’t do what they were supposed to do and we
didn’t catch it immediately,” Bagby said.
Bagby
also said four of the terminals had not been properly closed and 585 ballots
weren’t downloaded until Wednesday. He
said there were also reports that some poll workers tried to tell people how to
vote.
“If
that did happen, it’s because of poor training,” Bagby said.
“We don’t hire the poll workers out of our office and we have to
train what we get.”
“Everything went smoothly, overall,” said Bagby. “Everyone’s pleased and they love the new (Votronics) system. We had no complaints about it, and that’s very unusual.”
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Brenda Box, HNN Reporter