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Hernando Today

Counting The Vote Goes As Easy As 1-2-3

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By MICHAEL D. BATES

Hernando Today

Published: August 28, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - At 9:40 p.m., the final precinct numbers for the Hernando County primary election flashed on the government broadcast channel.

Two hours and 40 minutes after polls closed, local residents had the complete voting count for all 56 precincts.

Supervisor of Elections Annie Williams said she got the final unofficial election results posted on the Florida Division of Elections Web site at 10:36 p.m.

Williams said she thinks her office did a great job getting the results out to the people.

"I know people want to get the results fast," she said. "They want them as early as possible. But we must remember one thing: Accuracy is the key. If it would be up to me, they'd have them at 7:30 p.m."

Williams said the results are transmitted via modem from the polling places to the central system at the courthouse, where staffers upload the results.

Sometimes glitches occur, she said.

For example, some of the lines went down at a few precincts Thursday and supervisor of elections staffers at the two central locations had to upload the results directly to the system. That took time, she said.

Overall, 40 of the state's 66 counties posted their final unofficial results on the Florida Division of Elections Web site before Hernando County.

Here's how Hernando County stacked up to surrounding counties in speediness:

•Citrus County Supervisor of Elections Susan Gill said she had election results coming within 10 minutes of poll closing.

The final results from all 41 of her county's precincts were done and tabulated at 8:56 p.m.

•Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley said he had 100 percent of his 154 precincts counted by 11:04 p.m. Poll worker error and computer glitches associated with the county's first-time use of the optical scan system contributed to the delay, Corley said.

However, Corley said Pasco was the first of 67 counties in the state to get its initial unofficial absentee and early voter turnout results to the Florida Division of Elections. They were in by 7:04, he said.

"We beat Orange County by three minutes," Corley said.

•Pinellas County Communications Director Nancy Whitlock said the results from her 376 precincts started coming in just after 7:30 p.m. By 8:30 p.m., all but about 25 precincts were tabulated.

The final results for the public came out at 9:51 p.m., she said.

•Belinda Chavez, operations manager for the Sumter County Supervisor of Elections Office, said 100 percent of the votes were counted from all 44 precincts at 9:58 p.m.

Reporter Michael D. Bates can be reached at 352-544-5290 or mbates@hernandotoday.com.

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