more Kiffmeyer shinnanigans

[GAspnes]

http://startribune.com/stories/587/5009087.html

Voting supervisors worried about trouble on Election Day

Associated Press

October 1, 2004 REGISTER1001

Thirty-two days before Election Day, local voting supervisors in Minnesota on Thursday detailed programming glitches in a new state computer system that they say are slowing data entry, eating up overtime budgets and stressing workers.

The concerns, some of which have been voiced before, were aired during an often-tense hearing of the Senate Elections Committee that put Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer on the defensive.

Kiffmeyer, a Republican, pushed to install the so-called Statewide Voter Registration System in time for the November election, choosing not to seek a waiver as most states did. Under the changes, which grew out of the federal Help America Vote Act, voter verification procedures were revamped and more administrative functions were automated.

County elections officials told the DFL-led panel of being frequently knocked off the system during peak periods, losing information they'd entered and struggling to update voter histories.

A county officers group sampled opinions of election supervisors in 27 of 87 counties and found all but a couple were having problems. Two left-leaning interest groups produced their own survey, in which 50 county auditors said they were booted from the system at least once.

If you absolutely *have* to register 'em, then make sure the registration system gets in the way. Sigh, sigh, sigh.