& Albany County Post - The Altamont Enterprise

The Altamont Enterprise – Thursday, May 17, 2012 11Electronic voting leads to day of counting mismarked ballotsBy Melissa Hale-SpencerGUILDERLAND — Guilderlandwas the first schooldistrict in Albany County to useelectronic voting rather thanthe old lever machines, whichcaused problems in tallying thevotes for school-board candidatesthis week.A handful of school workersspent the day Wednesday sortingand tallying piles of paperballots in consultation with thedistrict’s lawyer.In the end, the results werethe same as those announced onTuesday night in the four-wayrace for three seats: ChristinaHayes won followed closely byCatherine Barber while JenniferCharron came in several hundredvotes behind at third and EmilioGenzano trailed by 24 votes, losinghis seat.“I’m not at all uncomfortablethat there are any flawsin the process,” said AssistantSuperintendent Neil Sanders onWednesday evening; he oversawthe tallying process. “I’m verycomfortable on the outcome ofthe election,” he concluded.Voters were required to fill inbubbles on paper ballots next tothree of the school-board candidates’names, which were listedon a grid. Below the four nameswere four blank spaces, each witha blank bubble, where voterscould write in other names.Many voters wrote in namesof candidates that were alreadyprinted on the ballot. Many othersfilled in the bubbles beneaththe candidates’ names, whichwere actually in the write-inslots.Still others, said Sanders,put “X” marks or circles for thecandidates of their choice ratherthan filling in the bubbles.The machines automaticallytook care of many of the inconsistencies,said Sanders. “If peopleover-voted,” he said, meaningthey voted for more than threecandidates, “the machine wouldtell them. They would have achoice to vote again.”Some people, said Sanders,filled in a bubble for a particularcandidate and then, filled inanother bubble for that samecandidate below the name. “Youcan’t get two votes,” said Sanders.In those cases, one vote wascounted for the double-bubbledcandidate.Still others, said Sanders,didn’t fill in a bubble at all, butjust wrote a candidate’s name inthe write-in spot. “We countedthose,” said Sanders.Altamont Principal Peter Brabantsaid on Tuesday night thatthere were 120 write-in votesat the Altamont polling place.Sanders explained yesterdaythat number would include severalerrors on the same ballot,so it didn’t mean that 120 peoplehad made mistakes; rather 120mistakes were made.Matthew Clyne, the Democraticcommissioner for the AlbanyCounty Board of Elections,when informed of the problemyesterday, told The Enterprise,“We’d have to look at it to seewhat kind of a pattern there was.We ran into that in 2010 with theSurrogate Court race.”Clyne stressed that the instructionson the ballot are clear.“To vote, completely fill in theoval in the upper right of the boxcontaining your choice,” say theinstructions. “To cast a write-invote, completely fill in the ovalin the upper right of the boxand print the complete name ofthe candidate you wish to votefor in that box above the words‘write-in.’”Clyne said that what happensnext would depend on “if it wasa systemic problem or if it wasa user issue.”If it’s a user issue, “The votewon’t count,” he said. “If it’ssystemic, remedial action couldbe anything — a new election,anything.”Asked when such a decisionwould be made, Clyne said, “We’llbe reviewing it forthwith.”Sanders noted that New YorkState Election Law is differentthan State Education Law, andthat the district’s lawyer was infrequent consultation with theState Education Department onWednesday as the ballots werebeing tallied.“They looked at the case law,”he said, in determining whichvotes would count.Sanders said he did not regretthe district’s decision to use theelectronic voting machines. “Wehad issues with the old levermachines breaking down duringelections,” he said.And, Sanders said, it is hardto write in names in the oldmachines. The new system ledto many more write-in votes —25 people received one or twovotes each.The Enterprise — Melissa Hale-SpencerReacting to the announcement of a landslide budget victory,Catherine Barber looks happy. Moments later, Barber heard thatshe had come in a close second in a four-way race for three schoolboard seats.Election resultsAll four of the candidates supportedthe $89 million budgetproposition, but their views variedon other issues. The teachers’union made no endorsementsthis year, according to MaceoDubose, president of the GuilderlandTeachers’ Association. Theunpaid posts start in July.The following results are fromthe unofficial tallies reported toThe Enterprise by Sanders onWednesday evening.****Christina Hayes garnered1,855 votes, or 27.1 percent, theThe Enterprise — Melissa Hale-SpencerScores of voters wrote in names of Guilderland School Board candidatesalready printed on the paper ballots in the blank squaresbeneath the names. The proper way to vote for those candidateswould have been to fill in the ovals next to their names. The blanksquares were meant for write-in votes for unlisted candidates.most, coming in first in Guilderland,Lynnwood, and Westmere,and second in Altamont andPine Bush.She waited for election resultswith her mother, a special-educationteacher, and they talkedabout how her grandmother,Stefana Fiordilino, who turned89 on Tuesday, was eager tovote for her granddaughter. “Shenever misses an election,” saidHayes.After the results were announced,Hayes said, “I will domy best job. I’m very excited. I’dlike to say thank you to each andevery one who came out.”Hayes, who graduated fromGuilderland High School in1999, said during the campaign,“I think teaching is my calling.”After working as a lawyer, shewent back to school to becomea teacher and recently did herstudent teaching at FarnsworthMiddle School.People have asked her, shesaid, why she was running ifshe doesn’t have children. “Youdon’t have to have kids to careabout the schools,” she said. “Icare about my community and Iwant to give kids a voice. I won’thave allegiance to any one schoolor any grade level. I’ll speak forthem all, from the littlest to thebiggest.”Hayes supported keeping thenine-period day at the middleschool, which became controversialafter the superintendent proposedcreating an eight-periodday to cut costs so programscould be saved. That would havesacrificed the tutorial period,which Hayes said is valuable forsupplementing learning.Hayes also said she’d like tostay under the tax levy limitwhile rewarding deserving teacherswith raises “to keep hardworkingteachers, and to attractnew, bright minds.”****Catherine Barber garnered1,843 votes, or 26.9 percent, comingin first in Altamont and PineBush and second in Guilderland,Lynnwood, and Westmere. Just12 votes behind Hayes, she camein a close second after beingthe top vote-getter in her otherelections.“I’m looking forward to it,”Barber said of serving her fourthterm after a one-year hiatus. “I’mhappy people still have faith inme,” she said on Tuesday night.“I’ll do the best job I can. I missedit while I was away.”She also said, “I’m just thankfulthe budget passed by such alarge margin.”Barber, a lawyer and a musician,had retired after nineyears on the board since her twochildren had graduated but shemissed being on the board.During her campaign, Barbersaid, “I get concerned the educationavailable to the kids now andin the future might not be thesame as it was for my kids.”She also said she was disappointedin the Community Conversationformat as a substitutefor the Citizens’ Budget AdvisoryCommittee.On negotiating contracts,Barber said, “It’s hard to justifyraises…If you give a raise, themoney has to come from somewhere.With the tax cap, it meanslay-offs…You don’t want to laypeople off.”She also said she was disappointedwith “the 11 th -houropposition” by the teachers’union to the restructuring of themiddle-school day, which causeda scramble that created largerclasses.Barber believes there is “waytoo much emphasis” on statetests which “has the unfortunateconsequence of narrowing curriculum.”****Jennifer Charron got 1,574votes, or 23 percent, coming inthird in Guilderland, Lynnwood,and Pine Bush, and fourth inAltamont and Westmere. Shewas third overall, having 24 votesover Genzano.Charron, who has two childrenin Guilderland schools, said duringthe campaign that she wouldlike to use her business acumento reduce the budget withoutcutting teachers.Charron is the owner of HelderbergPartners, Ltd., a nationwideenergy research websitethat she designed and launchedand referred to as “a labor oflove”“There might be a couple of $20million hammers in the budget…things in the budget that mightnot need to be there,” Charronsaid.Charron, who liked serving onthe Citizens’ Budget AdvisoryCommittee, said she found thetopics discussed at the recentbudget forums to be limited.She would like to stay underthe tax-levy limit in the futureand would like to see a year withno tax increase. Charron alsosaid she’d like to see the ruleson seniority changed so that newteachers aren’t fired.****Emilio Genzano received 1,550votes, finishing last with 22.7percent of the vote. He came inthird in Altamont and Westmereand fourth in Guilderland, Lynnwood,and Pine Bush.“My only thought is the budgethas got to pass,” said Genzano onTuesday night as he waited forelection results. “That’s got to befirst and foremost.”After the election results wereannounced, he was stoic. “Thebudget passed. That’s good; that’swhat counts,” he said. “We accomplishedour goal.”Asked for his reaction to hisdefeat, Genzano said, “We just dowhat we have to do and never failto keep doing the best we can.”Genzano has served on theschool board for three yearsbecause of two separate appointmentsand an election lastyear.He said during his campaignthat one of his goals, if re-elected,was “to subsidize whatever wecan to keep kids in extra-curricularsand athletics.” Genzanoheads the Friends of GuilderlandAthletics, which raises fundsfrom the community to pay forpart of the freshman sportsprogram, which otherwise wouldhave been cut.Genzano, a father of three,works as the assistant vicepresident for engineering andconstruction at Albany MedicalCenter and prides himself inbringing “a private-sector influence”to the board.On giving raises, Genzano said,“When the money’s there, we allshould benefit. When the moneyis not there, we have to give backand take less,” he said of schoolemployees. “The bottom line is,we have to tighten our belts.”On restructuring the schoolday, he said, “I am for changebecause I think we have to….We have to start becoming flexible.”