Election system needs overhaul

The midterm election is history, thank goodness, but the problems that snarled Flathead County's vote count shouldn't be forgotten just yet.

Granted, we weren't the only place where the process was tripped up by computer-software problems and long lines of last-minute voters. With the nation's eyes on Montana, the Big Sky state couldn't deliver final results on key races - the Tester-Burns Senate race in particular - until well into the next day.

There's room for improvement in our own back yard on a couple of levels. Let's start with the counting of absentee ballots.

A record number of 10,089 absentee ballots were cast in Flathead County, yet election judges didn't start counting those ballots until 6 p.m. on election night. State law allows absentee vote counting to start as early as 7 a.m. on Election Day, yet Flathead waited until its resolution board - a panel of representatives from local political parties - could get there late in the day.

With an ever-increasing number of absentee voters, the county must find a way to start counting those votes earlier, even if it means finding new board members who can spend the entire day overseeing the process.

THEN THERE are the glitches with election software that beguiled Flathead election workers at the primary and general elections this year. Primary election results were delayed for many hours because of software issues, so this time around election officials tested the system and thought they had the bugs worked out of the software provided by Omaha-based Election Systems & Software. (Curiously, Election Systems is the only company certified to sell election software in Montana.)

Despite the tests, tabulators found that vote information on computer memory cards for each precinct didn't coincide with the manual reports, so election officials were forced to manually input the results.

An Election Systems onsite representative couldn't correct the problem, nor could a company hot line step officials through it. This raises questions about Election Systems' ability to do the job. A company spokesman said they're working with Flathead election workers to avoid a similar problem in the future.

Earlier this year Election Systems agreed to a $750,000 settlement with the state of Indiana to resolve complaints filed after its software caused delays in that state's primary election. Montana should consider similar action if the company fails to measure up.

For many years, Flathead elections were conducted like clockwork with the old punch-card system, but Florida's "hanging chad" fiasco in 2000 put an end to that. Our "new" optical-scanning of paper ballots that requires voters to fill in the oval circles seems like a giant step backward in efficiency.

MONTANA'S NEW late-voter registration law compounded Flathead County's problems. The election department processed more than 350 last-minute voters on Tuesday at the courthouse, which delayed the setup for vote counting.

Unfortunately, the law mandates that latecomers vote at the county courthouse where the election administrator can use a new statewide voter file to confirm that voters are not otherwise registered and haven't voted elsewhere in the state.

The law is laudable in that it encourages more people to vote, but falls short in its execution. When the polls close, officials need to be ready to process the results; they shouldn't have to register voters until midnight, as was the case in Bozeman. And we agree with Flathead County Election Director Monica Eisenzimer's assessment that the law fosters procrastination.

For Montana Secretary of State Brad Johnson to declare that he was pleased with the mechanics of the midterm election makes us wonder how connected Johnson is with the county departments he ultimately oversees. He was later criticized for failing to adequately prepare local election officials for dealing with the tenets of the new voter registration law. We believe that criticism is justified.

Montana and Flathead County have to do better in 2008, and not just because the rest of the country may be watching. We owe it to our citizens to produce election results accurately and in a timely manner.