Meltdown at the polls in Warren

By Ted Hayes
Posted 11/8/16

Broken polling machines, long lines and reporting delays caused a near meltdown in Warren’s electoral machine Tuesday, leaving candidates and thousands of voters across town wondering in vane …

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Meltdown at the polls in Warren

Posted

Broken polling machines, long lines and reporting delays caused a near meltdown in Warren’s electoral machine Tuesday, leaving candidates and thousands of voters across town wondering in vane how Warren’s vote turned out.

Across town — at The Preppy Pig, where some Democrats gathered; at Warren Town Hall, where Board of Canvassers officials worked to process ballots; and in countless private homes — there was little to do but sit around and wait. And wait.

“It’s a meltdown,” said the Board of Canvassers’ Vincent Calenda. “Ill tell you, we were better off with the mechanical machines.”

Mr. Calenda was referring to the new electronic voting machines used for the first time this year, that experienced crippling problems not just in Warren, but across the state.

At the St. Mary’s polling station, a broken machine early in the day was repaired only to break down again. Meanwhile, the delays caused by the downed machine and confusion by some voters on how to insert Warren’s two page ballot had a domino effect, leading to long lines and delays. At one point, Fire Chief Al Galinelli went to the station to make sure that the church wasn’t over capacity.

“I was afraid we were going to go over,” said Mr. Calenda, who called the chief down.

The delays were exacerbated when voters were given the option of placing their ballots in a blue bin rather than wait in hour-long lines to feed them into the machines.

Long after the polls closed at 8 p.m., Board of Canvassers workers stayed at Warren Town Hall, trying to process the ballots and get them reported.

Across town, voters and candidates waited and waited. Warren Town Council President Joseph DePasquale, who won Libby Lane — the only polling station that had numbers reported with the state by 10 p.m. — was out picking up campaign signs while he waited for the results.

“I’m not waiting” to take them down, he said.

“The work starts now. If the numbers hold up, I’m ready and willing to work with whoever the town’s voters see fit to elect to the council. I’m happy to see the numbers as they are.

Early results from Libby showed Mr. Pasquale in first, followed by Democrat Keri Cronin and Republican Chris Stanley. The results were also a surprise to incumbent Democrats Brandt Heckert and Steve Thompson, who said they were surprised that the amount of campaigning they did hadn’t appeared to pay off with voters at Libby Lane. Both trailed hopefuls Paul Brule and John Hanley in the Libby Lane vote.

“I’m very surprised,” Mr. Heckert said. “I don’t know what else to say. We worked very hard; we did almost the whole town door to door, and I felt like we tried to connect with voters and hear their concerns.”

Mr. Heckert said he was hopeful that the numbers would be better, as the council “put good personnel in place” with Warren Town Manager Jan Reitsma and planner Kate Michaud.

“I think people feel very positive” about the turns Warren has taken over the past two years ago.

If the numbers hold up as they were at Libby Lane, he doesn’t know what will happen with the council.

“It’s hard to say what others will do once they get in office,” he said. “It will certainly be much different than it has been.”

Mr. Stanley, who lost his seat on the council two years ago, watched the numbers come in — or not — at home.

Like Mr. DePasquale, he said he went out to pick up campaign signs, preferring to do that than wait at home for the numbers.

“We’re all in limbo,” he said. “Nobody knows. But at the end of the day that’s what makes American politics fascinating.”

Jan Malik was also waiting. The write-in candidate for House of Representatives, Mr. Malik was serving as a runner, bringing numbers from Kickemuit Middle School to the German Club. At 9:30 p.m., 90 minutes after the polls closed, he was still waiting.

“I’m still here,” he said. “Like I said, I can’t give them any numbers. I’m just waiting.”

And back at town hall, Mr. Calenda said he had no idea how long it would take to finish transmitting voting results to the state:

“We’re here for the duration,” he said at about 10 p.m.

Note: Check back for election results as they become available.

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