Va. elections officials say they’re prepared to handle huge turnout

Tyler Whitley and Jim Nolan
Media General News Service

Published: October 28, 2008

The State Board of Elections today adopted a proposal to allow absentee ballots filed by overseas military voters to be counted if state law is not followed.

This follows an Attorney General’s opinion that federal law supersedes state law. About 130 absentee ballots had been rejected in Fairfax County.

Also today, the board vigorously defended itself against an 11th hour lawsuit charging that the state is not prepared in minority precincts to handle the large number of voters expected on election day.

Jean Cunningham, chairwoman of the board, said every precinct in the state meets the statutory requirements of registered voter per voting machine.

She said the information on which the lawsuit is based is dated and incorrect.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said Virginia is “extremely well-prepared” to handle the long lines and historic turnout expected at the polls across the commonwealth.
“We have a good history of doing it in a clean way,“ Kaine told listeners on his monthly radio call-in show on WTOP in Northern Virginia. “My State Board of Elections is very focused on making sure everybody votes.“
Kaine was responding to questions regarding a lawsuit filed Monday by the Virignia chapter of the NAACP, which alleges, in part, that election facilities and staffing is inadequate in a number of the 134 voting jurisdictions in the state.
The governor cited several “dramatic increases” in resources that have been instituted since the record turnout for the 2004 presidential election that boost his confidence tyhat things will go smoothly on Nov. 4. Among them:
*Nearly doubling the number of voting machines in use from 5,900 to 10,600.
*Adding 300 additional polling places.
*Increasing the number of election day workers from 19,000 to 30,000.
“Every precinct in Virginia meets the legal standard,“ Kaine said. Many polling places, he said, have not only the minimum standard number of machines and workers, but “two to three times”  the equipment required to handle the influx of voters.
“We’re going to have a good Election Day,“ said Kaine, acknowledging that anticipated record turnout will mean long lines at certain times of the day in some polling places.