August 27, 2012

There are new concerns and serious allegations about voting problems in Davidson County.

Some voters may have been given the wrong ballot during the August primary.
      
Even a well known elected official was caught up in the problem.

"Our turnout is not fantastic anyway, we need them to trust the system," says Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall.

Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall is a loyal Democrat, but somehow he was given a Republican ballot during the August 2nd primary.

"That's not what I intended to do, and it's surely not what I want to be recorded as, given I'm a democratically elected official," says Hall.

The problem stems from the county's new electronic poll books.
    
The new technology was used at 60 precincts.

Sheriff Hall says he was never asked which primary he wanted to vote in.  Instead, he was told the system automatically defaults to the Republican ballot.

"The problem, became the system is set up that if someone doesn't go flip it to something else, it's going to record it as Republican, that's not good," says Sheriff Hall.

"We need answers, and we need accountability," says Mary Mancini with Tennessee Citizen Action.

Now, voter advocates from Tennessee Citizen Action are calling for a full audit after uncovering several more irregularities with primary ballots.

"For any official ballot or any machine to default to any party is completely inexcusable," says Mancini.

Election Administrator Albert Tieche was unavailable to speak on camera, but his office did send a letter which addresses several of these issues.

Tieche writes the new machines were "successful," however he does acknowledge an issue with an "improper primary ballot."
    
The Election Commission plans to use the electronic poll books in all 160 precincts in November.
 
Sheriff Daron Hall hopes problems will be fixed.

"The technology seems pretty sophisticated, but let's make sure it doesn't default and that the voter is more in charge of what is actually being put in that," says Sheriff Hall.

The state election coordinator is also looking into the problems with the new electronic poll books in Davidson County.
    
The machines cost the county $777,000 dollars to purchase.

For news updates follow John Dunn on twitter @WZTVJohnDunnNew Concerns About Davidson County Election - John Dunn