TRUMBULL COUNTY The end is near for ballot machine

Vote recounts confirmed the winners in several races.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Trumbull County's antiquated ballot counting machine buzzed and rattled through thick stacks of punchcard ballots Tuesday morning, drawing an era toward its close.
Although local officials swear by the machine's accuracy, results from the automatic recounts Tuesday did not inspire faith.
The big, beige Documation reader got stuck on a Southington ballot that had apparently been inserted backward into a voting machine by a voter at the polls. Although the card made it through the machine on election night, none of its votes registered.
So, removing it from the stack Tuesday did not affect Albert Haberstroh's victory by two votes over Frances Harshman.
But some other, unperceived change in the cards altered the count by a single vote in the Niles Board of Education race, not enough to change the outcome.
The extra vote went to top vote-getter John Tricomi. After the recount, as before, Marlene Rhodes edged out Terry Swauger by nine votes for a seat on the board.
It was only the second time a recount has changed vote totals since 1979, when Trumbull County retired a fleet of mechanical voting booths in favor of punch card ballots.
Replacements
By the March primary, board of elections officials plan to replace punchcards in every Trumbull County precinct with touchscreen computers that makes voting like taking money from an ATM.
With the new machines, poll workers will end election day by delivering memory cards to board offices, rather than suitcases full of paper cards.
The mechanized clatter and shuffling of cards will be replaced by the hum of a computer. Punchcards -- and the controversial hanging, dimpled and pregnant chads that marred the 2000 presidential election -- will become a thing of the past.
The vote count in the Niles school board race was probably changed because handling cause a small piece, or chad, on a punchcard ballot to fall out, said board of elections director Norma Williams.
Two other recounts Tuesday confirmed the victories of Hubbard City Council at-large candidate Patton Gilliland by eight votes, and Bloomfield-Mespotamia school board candidate Jack Knight by four votes.
Ohio law automatically triggers a recount when less than half a percent of the total votes cast separates winner and loser.
One last time
Tuesday would have been the last day for the Documation machine. It's twin was retired after developing problems on election night last month.
But it will have one last go next week. Fowler Township Clerk candidate Diane Carpenter and Mecca Trustee candidate John Smith are both paying for recounts of their races.
Carpenter lost by 18 votes in the official count, Smith by 24.
siff@vindy.com