Elections worker fired

Clay County’s canvassing board reported to state officials that one elections worker has been terminated after the worker failed to follow procedures for paper jams in a tabulation machine.

The mistakes allowed 12 voters in the Nov. 8 general election to cast two ballots each.

The board made the disclosure on its Conduct of Election Report, which must be filed with the state after every election.

In a telephone interview about the filing, Supervisor of Elections Chris Chambless said that when a paper jam occurs while a voter puts his or her ballot into a tabulation machine, the elections worker should first verify whether or not the machine counted the votes on the jammed ballot.

“If it did, the ballot gets dropped into the receptacle, the voter gets a sticker, and is sent on his way,” Chambless said.  “If not, then the ballot is returned to the voter to be sent through the tabulation machine again.”

The elections chief said that instead, the seasonal contract employee sent the voters back in line to get a second ballot. The voters then filled out the ballots and ran them through the tabulation machine.

At the end of the day, workers discovered 12 additional ballots in the receptacle than the number of voters who went through the precinct.

“This individual made multiple mistakes,” Chambless said, “and there is very little room for error here. The individual did not adhere to the training we provided.”

Chambless said that, at a minimum, the worker should have checked with a supervisor when the paper jams occurred.

In other events reported to state elections officials:

Public denied access to opening and closing procedures

The Conduct of Election Report stated that the public was denied access to opening and closing procedures at a precinct in one instance.

Chambless said that at one polling location, a person representing the Honor Your Oath YouTube channel appeared at 6 a.m. to record the opening procedures of elections workers.

The Honor Your Oath YouTube channel was founded by St. Augustine resident Jeff Gray and has gained notoriety by filming traffic stops by Lawtey Police and recording public records requests from government officials.

Chambless said the elections worker preparing for the 7 a.m. opening alone was surprised by the YouTuber’s appearance at the precinct and was concerned about her safety if she let the man in.

The elections chief added that the public is allowed to observe the opening and closing procedures by elections workers and that the man should have been allowed to watch but not record the preparations.

“Videotaping is not allowed in any polling location,” Chambless said, adding that the YouTuber did not explain his intentions to the elections worker.

“She should have called the office,” Chambless said of the worker.

He added that the office would provide additional training to avoid repeat occurrences.

Equipment malfunctions

The Conduct of Election Report described several instances of equipment malfunctions during the election.

In one case, an ExpressVote machine’s video screen stopped working. ExpressVote devices are used chiefly by voters with disabilities. The machines allow voting by touchscreen and are also equipped with headphones and a tactile keypad for voters who require an audio ballot.

During voting, one ExpressVote machine’s video screen went out, and the machine was replaced.

The elections office uses an EViD poll book to record and track voters arriving at precincts. The electronic tablet devices allow election workers to check voters in and verify their identities. 

The Conduct of Election Report stated that one of the tablets failed to communicate with the elections office and was replaced.

Other EViD poll books suffered from a software bug introduced between the primary and general elections.

“Sometimes when attempting to reprint a ballot on the EViD compact,” the report states, “the print spooler would enter into an errant condition, the ballot would not print, and the EViD was nonresponsive. The solution was to power cycle the EViD. This occurred intermittently throughout most all of the precincts.”

Problems with mail-in ballots

 The canvassing board’s Mail Ballot Reconciliation Sheet reported several problems with mail-in ballots, including 20 that had no signatures, 101 where the signatures did not match signatures on file with the elections office and 154 which were returned too late to the elections office.

Fifty-four mail-in ballots were rejected because the ballots sent in for the Nov. 8 general election were for other elections, such as ballots from the Aug. 23 primary.

The canvassing board said eight mail-in ballots were received from voters who had moved out of the county before Nov. 8 and were therefore rejected.

Another five mail-ins were rejected because the voter sending in the mail-in also voted in person.

The canvassing board, consisting of Chambless, Board of County Commissioners Chair Wayne Bolla and County Judge Timothy Collins, rejected 370 of the 22,199 mail-in ballots presented for the Nov. 8 general election.

County Judge Kristina Mobley and Commissioner Jim Renninger served as alternates on the canvassing board.