Minor problems reported with counting machines

Published 1:59 pm Tuesday, November 2, 2010

MINNEAPOLIS — The Republican Party of Minnesota says it has received multiple complaints about failing tabulation machines at polling places around the state.

But the Secretary of State and some local election officials say they haven’t received reports or the issues are minor.

The GOP says there have been complaints about machines in Duluth, Olmsted County, Lakeville, Faribault, Mendota Heights and Eagan.

Lakeville city clerk Char Friedges says she wasn’t aware of any problems with machines in the city. Olmsted County elections manager Pam Fuller says there were no major problems there — just one machine was plugged into a faulty outlet for a while.

Secretary of State spokesman John Aiken says the office received some complaints, but the problem doesn’t appear worse than in most years. He says people can still vote by placing their ballots in a secure slot in the counting machines. The ballots are fed into the machines when they are running again.