Spanish-language prompts and undervoting create some
problems
Morgan Hill – Adam Frizzell flipped through his election officer manual, and tried not to panic. It was 7am at Morgan Hill City Hall, and every voting machine had spit back voters’ electronic cards, declaring them invalid. The help line, 299-POLL, had left him on hold. Six voters idled as the 17-year-old poll worker scanned the troubleshooting section, and fended off thoughts of aggravated voters turning from the polls.
“I consider myself a nerd,” said Frizzell, a senior at Gilroy High School. “So my first reaction to electronics being defective is, just look in the manual.”
Frizzell realized that the card activator battery had run low, and reset the date. Voters’ cards were dated Jan. 1, 1980; the machines read Nov. 7, 2006.
From there, he said, everything went smoothly.
The machine meltdowns some predicted didn’t materialize in South County. Still, glitches slowed some voters. At South Valley Community Church, one voting machine went on the fritz, was fixed, and then failed again; at South Valley Middle School, one machine retained votes from a final testing on Monday, and had to be removed. By 5pm, with only four machines operating, more than 20 people were waiting in line.
“Cards get stuck in the machines, and people don’t understand some of the prompts,” said Audrey Becerra, a poll inspector working at Gilroy High School. “If you don’t want to review your ballot, it makes you start over.”
Spanish and Tagalog speakers were flustered by incompletely translated screens. Phrases like ‘Please Review This Page of Your Paper Record of Your Ballot’ and the simpler ‘Cast Ballot’ and ‘Continue’ came up incorrect, according to a notice issued by Elaine Larson, assistant registrar of voters. Larson said the registrar hoped to have the issue resolved before the next election.
Even when translated, some Spanish-language prompts baffled voters, said Becerra.
“They’re terms that aren’t used regularly, and people don’t understand what they mean,” she said.
But ballot language was puzzling to English speakers, as well. Some were confused by instructions to “Vote for no more than 2” or “Vote for no more than 4,” as in the board races for Morgan Hill School trustee and Gavilan College.
“Undervoting” generally posed problems for some voters, who found that machines wouldn’t allow them to cast fewer than the maximum number of votes allowed.
Others said they hadn’t had problems, and were happy with the machines.
“I told voters, it’s just like an ATM,” said Elisa Martinez, a poll worker at Brownell Middle School. “They slide their card in, but unfortunately, it doesn’t give you money back.”
Emily Alpert covers public safety issues for The Dispatch. She can be reached at 847-7158 or at ea*****@************ch.com.
