Long delays reported in primary election

Polling places open late in city, Anne Arundel, Montgomery; new voting equipment, lack of judges blamed; some candidates call for extended hours

By Melissa Harris
Sun Reporter

September 12, 2006, 2:27 PM EDT

Tardy election judges in Baltimore caused delays at dozens of polling places this morning, and polling problems prompted Montgomery County to extend voting hours until 9 p.m.

Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Eric M. Johnson approved the one-hour extension early this afternoon. Baltimore election officials are meeting right now to decide whether they will follow.

In Montgomery County, electronic voting at most polling locations did not start until after 8 a.m. because local election organizers forgot to include a critical start-up card for the machines in precinct supply kits, said Margaret A. Jurgensen, the county’s election director.

In Baltimore, voters described long lines, locked doors and absentee workers at locations from Highlandtown to Mount Washington.

“I left my house at 7:30 and the door to the polling place was locked and somebody told me that it wouldn’t open until 8,” said Ben Shaberman, 45, who votes at Elderslie Methodist Church on Pimlico Road. “They told me they didn’t have enough staff. So I had breakfast, got my coffee and came back at 8:10. They still weren’t open. I’ve voted for decades and never had that kind of experience.”

At the Keswick Multi-Care Center in North Baltimore, election judges Linda Clark and Harriet Kahn said the problem wasn’t with the voting machines but with a shortage of judges.

Both said six judges were supposed to have been at the polling place, but by shortly after 9 a.m., they were the only ones there. As a result, there was only person to check in voters, resulting in frustrating delays even though the line was short.

“It slowed up the opening process,” Clark said of the shortage of officials. “It’s sorting out. We really need some help.”

Kahn said that the machines “have not been a problem. They’re working fine.”

Asked where the rest of the judges were, she said, “Who knows?”

Kahn also said the phone at the polling place was not hooked up properly and that all calls had to go through the nursing facility’s switchboard.

“We don’t even have a phone where we can call out directly,” she said.

Armstead B.C. Jones Sr., president of the Baltimore Board of Elections, said that in addition to late arrivals, poll workers are unfamiliar with several pieces of new voting equipment debuting today, which is causing additional delays.

“Poll workers go through a class that’s three hours long, but some of the technology wasn’t available to us in time for everyone to be trained on it,” Jones said, referring to the new electronic check-in system, called e-poll books. “This is not unusual for an election morning when you’re dealing with brand new equipment.”

Poll workers in Baltimore are paid $20 to attend training and $150 to work on election day.

Nicky Penttila, a former Sun reporter, of Highlandtown, said that as of 8:10 a.m., machines at her precinct on Eaton Street were not ready and that she had to leave to catch an 8:45 a.m. train to New York for work.

“I had arranged with work to come in two hours late to vote,” she said, adding that she did not succeed.

Carroll County experienced problems with the new check-in machines freezing early this morning, but election director Patricia Matsko said that “things are now running very smoothly.” She also said all polls there opened on time.

Jones said that as of 9:30 a.m. lines in Baltimore were beginning to dwindle, but some candidates expressed concerns over the early problems.

Kevin Enright, a spokesman for the state attorney general’s office, said that to extend voting hours beyond the scheduled 8 p.m. close, local election boards, in consultation with the state board, must ask a Circuit Court judge in their jurisdiction for an extension. That means extensions can only be granted on a county-by-county basis. During a morning news conference, many candidates in Montgomery County expressed concern that voters had been disenfranchised. Douglas F. Gansler, a Democratic candidate for attorney general, said that at least 35 people had left his polling place because of long lines.

Sun reporters Andrea F. Siegel and Eric Siegel contributed to this article. Melissa Harris can be reached at

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