Election night it appears that some ranking GOP officials mostly to themselves but some comments were made to the press having fun blaming Ms. Popp for the computer snafu involving the counting of the absentee ballots.
A new system was in place this year and for the 1st time absentee ballots were counted at the central count location at the county courthouse. A computer programming error caused the problem, but on a night when all was going well, the GOP bigwigs thought it hilarious a Dem. might have screwed up...
That BatBlog's message....Ms. Popp is one of the good people in office. The problem had nothing to do with politics and Susan was free from blame. Be humble in victory as well as defeat because every dog has his day......
She should have thoroughly tested the process before election day.
ReplyDeleteGOP officials signed off and agreed to this new procedure it was not Ms.Popp's decision alone. As well the company hired should have tested the procedure and reported back to her.
ReplyDeleteMy main message was though... don't laugh at your opponent too hard in good times as the next time it might be you on the butt end of the joke...
Anon,
ReplyDeleteFirst off, this was a new procedure and a new machine that the Commissioners bought to centralize the absentee ballots that have been such a pain in the past. All the equipment was tested and the employees where trained. It was just a few little fine tuning calculation on the ballots that needed to be done. Spacing on the ballots was corrected and the machine ran perfectly.
Secondly, the Commissioners as the county executives are responsible for smooth running of the elections. If there is any blame to be placed on anyone, place it on me and the other Commissioners.
In this society of instant gratification we want everything now. Think of just a few years back when it would be the next morning until anyone knew the results. I am satisfied that the new process was a success, even with this minor snafu.
"She should have thoroughly tested the process before election day."
ReplyDeleteShe did.
The company writing and supplying the software did as well.
The problem was in the software's inability to read
some of the ballots. The software read most of them.
The tech had to apply a new code to the machine
to read the ballots because the printer
had lowered a circle into a different spot on a small number of the ballots.
No one knew that and no one knew that the software would not read a ballot
that was printed accurately but somewhat differently.
The machine then read the remaining the ballots.
The problem was solved quickly and properly.
Susan Popp has also correctly insisted
upon maintaining the back up system where
each voter's paper ballot is preserved.
All ballots will be recounted by machine or by hand if needed.
Each ballot will be looked at by representatives
of the candidates if necessary.
Susan Popp displayed the ability
to correctly operate 65 polling places on election day,
properly count the ballots,
properly conduct the tally of the absentees,
and adjust and quickly solve the unforeseen inability
of the software to read some absentee ballots.
The problem was corrected very quickly and the totals were completed.
The next step is a simple recount.
The machine should be able
to read all of the ballots correctly
a second time as well.
If some ballots cannot be read by the machine,
they may have to be looked at individually
and voter intent determined
by the election board with reps from both sides present.
All of the ballots could be hand counted as well.
It is possible that some of the ballots
may be marked so that the intent of the voter
may not be able to be easily determined.
People do strange things.
Susan Popp has proven that she has the ability
to conduct a fair and accurate election
and quickly solve a software problem.
The entire count has been done properly,
the recount will be done properly,
and the final result will be accurate.
She has very good management skills.
She should be commended.
I totally agree with farm post hole digger and RS. She did the best she could under the circumstances.
ReplyDeleteI concur. Our Clerks office is a very well run office. They normally have everything in order and are quick to help. Problems occur, especially when dealing with new systems. What's telling is how those problems are handled. I believe Ms. Popp handled the election night problem very well. Every vote was counted. I would rather have an accurate as opposed to a quick count. Well done.
ReplyDeleteA big shout out to Susan Popp. The citizens of Clark County are fortunate to have such a conscientious public servant.
ReplyDeleteKelly Khuri
Ms. Popp is a professional and no one I've spoken to blames her or anyone else for the computer glitch. It's just one of those unfortunate things that happen in the tech world, that's why the offhanded remarks were uncalled for IMO.....
ReplyDelete