Tiny flaw in ballot margins caused delay in Senate recount

RENO, Nev. - Computer software glitches and paper ballot margins skewed by just a faction of an inch caused the month-long delay in the final outcome of Sen. Harry Reid's narrow re-election last year, a special task force has concluded.

Reid, D-Nev., emerged Dec. 10 with a 428-vote victory over former Republican Rep. John Ensign - one-tenth of 1 percent of the 415,000 ballots cast.

A series of recounts ultimately sanctioned by the Nevada Supreme Court focussed on 6,000 mail-in ballots in Washoe County surrounding Reno.

The county registrar of voters, who since has resigned, had ordered a series of absentee and mail-in ballots printed in house in an effort to save county taxpayers $50,000.

The ballots would have been reproduced accurately if counted by a computer. But the skewed margins tripped up the ballot-counting machines used in the recount of paper ballots.

"Failures were the result of both software and mechanical problems," Washoe County's Blue Ribbon Elections Task Force said in the new report.

"The county's computer printer reproduced a narrower-than-original paper copy image that did not meet the specifications necessary for accurate printing of ballots," the report said.

"The task force determined that the ballot artwork was approximately 1/32nd-inch too narrow.

"As such ... the votes cast for candidates names along the right-hand column of the ballot were subject to being misread by the ballot reader."

The task force intends to present its findings to the Washoe County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday.

Among other things, the task force recommends the county budget for an upgrade of all election-related computers and equipment, and develop consistent, standardized training for all election board workers.

It also backs the county's pending request before the secretary of state to allow absentee and mail-in ballots to be counted on a daily basis as they come in, instead of on Election Day, as currently required by state law.

More than 15,000 absentee and mail-in ballots were counted on Election Day last November, adding to the work load for county election officials, the task force said.

The recount ended up adding 27 votes to Reid's earlier 401-vote margin - one of the closest statewide races in Nevada history.

Ensign now is running for the seat to be left vacant by Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., who announced he'll retire when his term expires next year.

Ensign's campaign footed the $59,000 bill for the recount statewide in his loss to Reid.

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