Election officials count votes from balky machines

CANTON — St. Lawrence County election officials focused Thursday on counting ballots from voting machines that malfunctioned Election Day rather than figuring out what caused them to fail.

Candidates in several towns didn't have results of their races because the machines were impounded in case of a close contest in the 23rd Congressional District. The order was lifted late Wednesday afternoon and St. Lawrence County inspectors first opened the machines that had malfunctioned.

The county reported problems with machines in eight districts Tuesday. In some cases, the machines froze and inspectors switched to paper ballots. In others, the machines wouldn't print out results when inspectors tried to close the polls at the end of voting.

At some locations with multiple districts using one scanner, poll workers were unable to break down the votes between the election districts when they pulled the count register out of the machines.

Results from Fowler were unavailable initially because numbers were mistakenly combined.

It may be next week before inspectors begin to trace the root of the machine troubles with Dominion, the company that provided them, Democratic Election Commissioner Jennie H. Morrill said. Dominion also is working with inspectors in Lewis and Fulton counties, where machine problems also were reported.

Ms. Morrill pledged that the next election would run more smoothly.

"I guarantee it will be fixed," she said. "I'm not going through this again."

Results from contested races that weren't previously available follow. Results remain unofficial. Only a few votes separate winners and losers in some races, and results could change when inspectors recanvass and when absentee ballots are opened.

■ Clare: Independent Nicole Dimock won the supervisor's seat 30-27 over Republican Francis W. Sharpstene.

■ Colton: Republican Lawrence C. Patzwald defeated Joseph Zelinski, a Democrat, for supervisor, 389-260

In the three-way race for highway superintendent, Republican Kevin Hawley was the winner with 324 votes. Conservative Harold S. Bush received 207 votes and Democrat Dean Green received 149 votes.

Democrat Donald Shoen and Republican Grace Hawley won the two seats on the town council, with 505 votes and 383 votes, respectively. Democrat Joan Kilroy received 295 votes.

■ Edwards: Republican Emery E. Webb was the top vote-getter in the four-way race for two seats on the Town Council. He received 178 votes. The second seat went to Democrat Amy L. Sykes, with 122 votes. Rita F. Thornton, a Republican, received 114 votes, and Democrat Matthew F. VanBrocklin received 87 votes.

■ Fowler: Democrat Timothy J. Geer was elected assessor over Robert G. Andrews Jr., an independent, 373-228.

Republican Ricky W. Newvine was re-elected to the town board with 440 votes. Randy L. Durham, who was on both the Democratic and Republican lines, was elected to the board with 397 votes. Democrat David L. Spilman received 299 votes.

■ Lawrence: Republican Randall N. Aiken outpolled Democrat Gary Sirles for highway superintendent, 150-149.

■ Massena: Republican Joseph D. Gray defeated Democrat W. Gary Edwards for supervisor. The vote was 1,591 to 1,008.

In the three-way race for two council seats, Democrats Charles A. Raiti and Albert N. Nicola were the winners, receiving 1,916 and 1,804 votes, respectively. Independent candidate Donald J. Lucas received 757 votes.