Voter feared fraud, Elections Department blames human error

More than 200,000 voters went to the polls on Election Day, and only a fraction of them experienced problems.

“On Nov. 8, I went to vote but I was listed as ‘voted early’ and that was not the case.” Nancy Green said. “I did not vote early.”

Green was forced to fill out a provisional ballot, not knowing if her vote would count. “When I wasn’t able to vote like a regular voter, I felt disenfranchised.” “I had to wait over 30 days to know that my vote was counted.”

Although her ballot was approved, Green said she still has several questions. “I need to know what happened. Do they monitor any discrepancies that happen at the polling places? Who are these folks that are making decisions on if voters’ votes count?”

Green scheduled a meeting with the Elections Department and spoke with the elections administrator, Nancy White. ABC-7 followed suit to get those questions answered for the public. White said Green’s voting issue was unique and a rarity. “What happened in her situation is one of the poll workers accidently checked her in.” Blaming the incident on human error, White said that’s why provisional ballots exist – to ensure everyone gets the chance to vote when errors occur. White added that historically El Paso has not had an issue with voter fraud. “We have not had an issue with someone pretending to be someone else at a polling site,” she said. She added that monitoring the polls is crucial saying “We do try and instill in [people working at the polls] that obviously you need to pay attention and accuracy is important.”

Provisional ballots are dealt with very carefully. They are hand-checked for signature verification and then run through a machine to validate the ballot.

White went on to say that voter education is the major problem in El Paso. If you have any questions before the May election, visit http://epcountyvotes.com/