Maryland machine voting

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32425, 12 October 1970, Page 11

Maryland machine voting

(By

BRUCE KOHN.

N.Z.P.A. stag correspondent)

WASHINGTON, October 11. Maryland County officials have admitted that at one point during the September 15 primary elections 25 per cent of the voting machines were not working.

Electors were told at several polling places to “come back later, the machines may be working then.”

Just how many did come back is a moot point For voting to choose the Democratic candidate to stand in the Maryland Congressional election on November 3 was extremely close. The district’s current representative, Mr Samuel N. Friedel, found his strongest challenger, Mr Parren J. Mitchell, a Negro, demanding a recount. Mr Mitchell even goes so far as to claim victory, but the claim is disputed and a law suit is pending to declare the voting void and have another held. On election night Mr Friedel claimed he had won.

Mr Mitchell is trying to become Maryland’s first black Congressman. And questions are being asked as to whether it was simply co-incidence that the worst mechanical problems with voting machines occurred in black areas from which he could expect to draw strong support.

Polls in one predominantly black district opened five hours late because of machine breakdowns and a

failure to deliver some machines to the right place. At some booths officials kept voting two hours beyond normal time in a bid to accommodate voters who had earlier been turned away. . Governor Marvin Mandel, a Democrat, echoed the concern of political commentators at the situation. He

called this week for the establishment of more efficient procedures for the main elections to be held on November 3. Baltimore’s election

board chief, Mrs Betty Silbert, resigned amid claims that a prime reason for the problems was the lack of interest shown by politicallyappointed board members. The machines used by Americans to record their votes stand about 7ft high. They have a faster master lever which when pulled releases a fabric round the voter so that his votes are recorded in secret. Small levers, each marked for a particular candidate, are then pulled according to

the voter’s choice. When he has completed his voting the elector again pulls the master lever, raising the fabric around him. It is said the system allows for quicker tallying of results; the machines keep running totals of the votes cast for each candidate. But if the machines break down the whole electoral system is cast in doubt, as Maryland Democrats are now only too well aware.