Saturday, January 19, 2008

Voting machines malfunction in South Carolina Voting Republican primary

CONWAY, South Carolina (CNN) – Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign called on supporters in South Carolina Saturday to make sure that their votes are counted, as voting machines in an eastern county malfunctioned on primary day.

"We have received reports from Horry County that voters are being turned away from the polls, because electronic voting machines are not working and paper ballots are not available,” Buzz Jacobs, McCain’s South Carolina state director, said in a statement. “Some voters say they are being instructed to return at a later time. We are disturbed by these reports and hope that this issue is resolved immediately. We encourage any voters who were turned away from the polls to return again to their polling place this afternoon to exercise their constitutional right to vote."

Katon Dawson, chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, said that he had confidence the problem was being fixed.

“We expect a full and fair count,” Dawson said in a telephone interview with CNN. “In South Carolina, our citizens take the right to vote very seriously. We have full confidence in our state elections commission, which is running this primary. Any questions that have arisen are being addressed.”

Dawson noted that “there is always a backup in case there is an election machine malfunction and a ballot can’t be cast.”

Lisa Bourcier, public information for Horry County, said that 80 percent of the voting machines were back on-line as of 1:30 p.m. ET.....

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