Ballot machinery malfunction won't alter Cape County vote

JACKSON, Mo. -- As Cape Girardeau County's ballots were run through a counting machine again Wednesday, Al Gore jokes and dimpled-chad references were bantered about. The county's voting machinery had experienced some technical difficulties Tuesday night, so the ballots were getting another look.

State representative hopeful Scott Lipke watched the process, kept his sense of humor, but paced, often talking on his cell phone. He appeared nervous as his lead over Donna Lichtenegger slimmed, eventually, to 24 votes.

He could've done without Wednesday's two-and-a-half hour recount drama, but Cape Girardeau County Clerk Rodney Miller could not.

An unusual double dose of equipment misfortune Tuesday night forced Miller to seal up the doors and count the votes over again in the morning.

Although the numbers changed, the results stayed the same.

Lipke still won the primary.

"It's crazy," Lipke said while waiting for the results. "Last night was a close election and I didn't know what would happen today."

Later, with just a few more ballots remaining, he was asked how he was doing.

"They're running out of things to count, so that's good," he said.

Bad luck

It seems a run of bad luck led to Wednesday's recount.

The county had two working machines as of Friday, a newer one that counted 1,000 ballots per minute and a backup that tallied 300 per minute. The state mandates that the machines be tested with dummy ballots to ensure accuracy. Both counters ran fine on Friday, Miller said.

Tuesday night, both machines locked up sporadically.

Miller was not confident in the count.

"It was not acceptable," he said. "We've got to believe it's right."

Wednesday morning, the county borrowed a counting machine from Perry County, a 300-ballot-per-minute machine that worked flawlessly.

Bill Vanderburg, vice president of the company that distributes and provides technical support for the Documation Card Readers, said he didn't know what was wrong with the two machines and wouldn't know until he took them apart.

He said the machines would likely be replaced instead of repaired.

Lipke ended up with 1,504 votes in Cape Girardeau County and 1,802 overall. Lichtenegger had 1,265 Cape Girardeau County votes and 1,778 overall. The 157th District covers parts of Cape Girardeau and Perry counties.

Two election judges -- one Democrat and one Republican -- did the counting Wednesday. Four were there Tuesday night, but two is all that is required by law.

Because Lichtenegger lost the race by less than 1 percent, she may petition the secretary of state for a recount within seven days after the votes are certified by the county.

Lichtenegger could not be reached for comment at her home Wednesday.

bmiller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127

CAPE COUNTY RECOUNT

A recount of all Cape Girardeau County ballots cast for Tuesday's primary election didn't change any outcomes but did change vote totals. Here is a comparison of the unofficial counts from Tuesday just after the election and the official counts released Wednesday. All the contested primary races were Republican. Unofficial Final

157TH DISTRICT STATE REP

Donna Lichtenegger 1,206 1,265

Gerald Adams 1,092 1,137

Tom Sachse 647 661

4 Scott A. Lipke 1,478 1,50432ND CIRCUIT JUDGE

4 William L. Syler 6,537 6,573

Bryan Keller 2,967 2,98032ND CIRCUIT ASSOC. JUDGE

4 Gary A. Kamp 5,373 5,408

Lawrence C. Kasten 4,146 4,165PRESIDING COMMISSIONER

Douglas Flannery 2,901 2,911

4 Gerald W. Jones 6,432 6,447COUNTY AUDITOR

4 David Ludwig 4,719 4,857

Matt Hopkins 4,016 4,123

SOURCE:Cape Girardeau County clerk