GALVESTON — City officials say possible malfunctions in a “dinosaur” voting machine, which last week tested fine, delayed election results into this morning.
The malfunction forced election workers to count early voting and mail-in ballots by hand.
The early returns had Lyda Ann Thomas leading in the mayor’s race.
In the council races, the leaders were:
• Patricia Bolton-Legg in District 1.
• Cornelia Harris Banks in District 2.
• Joe Jaworski in District 3.
• Barbara Roberts in District 4.
• Danny Weber in District 5.
• Jackie Cole in District 6.
Only four boxes had been counted by midnight: Precincts 310, city hall; 115, the Galveston Independent School District administration building; 106, the Transitional Learning Center; and 309, the 56th Street fire station.
Because of the problem with the early ballots, the 26 precinct boxes remained untouched until nearly 11 p.m.
At one point, officials thought they might have lost a ballot box, as well. Votes from precinct 313 were missing until nearly 10:30 p.m.
Workers later discovered that that box had come in hours before as part of a combined precinct.
The first indication of a potential problem came an hour and a half after the voting booths closed at 7 p.m.
Barbara Lawrence, city secretary, announced the early returns but said folded mail-in ballots had jammed in the machine and would have to be counted by hand.
When these early return numbers were read, mayoral candidate Johnny Smecca bowed his head. In a row with him was Mayor Roger “Bo” Quiroga. Both hunched over a printed tally of the count.
By their count the total listed votes for mayor were 200 to 300 shy of the total number of votes cast during early voting.
Smecca sent a letter indicating that belief to the election judge.
“The numbers didn’t jive,” he said.
“There seems to be a 200 to 300 vote discrepancies so they are having a hand count,” Quiroga said later.
Over at the VFW Post on 24th Street, with the first numbers suggesting a victory for Thomas, she and supporters had already begun to celebrate. Mariachi music played, and drinks were passed around. Eyes continually passed to the TV screen broadcasting the early vote numbers.
About 9 p.m., though, murmurs began to pass through the room. There were rumors that something was amiss with a voting machine.
As the wait for the hand count vote grew longer, candidates started returning to city hall. Thomas and District 3 incumbent Joe Jaworski came back about 10:30 p.m.
Smecca had gone for pizza, but said he planned to return. In city council chambers, where the vote counts were announced, people had already begun making jokes about Florida elections and hanging chads.
District 5 candidate Danny Weber was out in the hallway, hovering near the door to council meeting room, where the votes were being counted.
“I think it’s pretty unbelievable that we are this deep into it and can’t have any kind of definitive answer, even for early voting,” he said.
Steve LeBlanc, city manager, said nothing like the night’s trouble had ever happened before to his knowledge.
“This is pretty ridiculous for the average citizen that has been waiting,” he said. “They’ve been testing it all week long, and I hear it was operating accurately.
“I think everyone is getting impatient here.”
LeBlanc said the city’s legal department was researching the matter.
