June 16th, 2006 11:18 AM
By Will Lester / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Memo to election supervisors: Make sure the voting machines are set at zero before sending them to polling places.
That's the kind of simple but critical advice federal officials are offering local election supervisors as they prepare for the midterm elections in November.
With memories of the disputed 2000 presidential election still fresh, the Election Assistance Commission is encouraging careful preparation by election supervisors, aggressive recruitment of new poll workers and thorough education of voters.
Another tip: "If election officials just proofread all ballots, it'll save them a lot of headaches, because they'll find mistakes and they'll fix them," commission chairman Paul DeGregorio said Thursday.
The Election Assistance Commission is sending out a "Quick Start Management Guide for New Voting Systems" to 6,700 local election officials around the country. The guide is necessary as about a third of voters will be using new machines this year and many longtime poll workers have retired because the punch-card and lever voting machines have been replaced.
"Chicago experienced significant problems during the elections in March because of new equipment, new Illinois laws and new federal requirements," said DeGregorio, who added the city should be ready for November.
The 2002 law required improvements to voting systems and voter access after the problems in 2000. States were required to improve their voter information, replace outdated voting equipment and allow provisional voting, which means questionable votes can be verified later.
The commission heard Thursday from several experienced local election officials, who offered suggestions on how the nation could be prepared to run smooth elections.
Connie Schmidt, a retired election commissioner from Kansas, said the election system is undergoing dramatic changes and — "there's no dry run, no practice, no dress rehearsal."
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