Date: Tue, 03 Jul 2001 16:11:37 -0700
From: weavermt@YAHOO.COM (Tim Weaver)
Subject: Glendale initiative would force hand counts of ballots
To: AZRKBA@asu.edu


http://www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/articles/0703Vote-ON.html

Glendale initiative would force hand counts of ballots


By Dennis Godfrey
The Arizona Republic
July 03, 2001 13:10:00

Glendale residents could have a chance to decide if
all city election ballots should be counted by hand.

About 3,000 signatures were filed today with the city
on an initiative that would require the vote on manual
counting of ballots. If 1,102 of those are determined
to be of registered voters living in Glendale, the
measure would qualify for the ballot. The election
would likely be in May.

Ernest Hancock, who organized the Glendale petition
drive, said he also is kicking off an initiative drive
on Wednesday that would force manual counting for
state elections.

Hancock, who is the Libertarian Party chairman for
Maricopa County, makes no bones about his distrust of
the electoral process. Asked if he thought there had
been a fair election in Arizona in recent years, he
said, "No, I do not."

"Ten years ago, (if a person) talked about computers
being just a big, giant cesspool of fraud, they were
like, 'Oh, you're crazy,' " he said. "They don't think
I'm crazy anymore, especially in Glendale."

He was referring to the May 15 referendum election on
zoning for a Wal-Mart. When the ballots were first run
through the tabulating equipment, more than 3,000 were
recorded as not being marked. The problem was blamed
on an overly sensitive optical scanning machine that
was not registering the vote. The ballots were run
through an another machine and were counted.

Hancock said that if the equipment worked during
pre-vote testing but did not work during the counting
then it was obvious that the program had been changed.
He declined to say who he thought had changed the
program.

Glendale election officials said the votes in question
were early ballots that were not boldly marked. None
of the parties involved in the May 15 election has
alleged voter fraud.

The issue is much bigger than Glendale, Hancock said.
"Who do you think my enemy on this is, some little
council member? I've known exactly how they got to do
it and it's through the ballot box. They have to
control it and they don't gamble," he said.

He declined to identify "they."

"I know how to recognize them by their actions and
their biggest action is to control the election
process. Quite honestly, I could give you names
{ellipsis} but every single one of them are just a
front. It goes so much deeper than that," he said.

Reach the reporter at
dennis.godfrey@arizonarepublic.com or (602)444-6921.