Votes Not Counted Until Next Week?

The Montgomery County Board of Elections voted 3-0 earlier today to petition the circuit court to allow the polls to stay open an extra hour this evening in response to this morning's problems. The court has agreed and ordered Montgomery County polls to stay open until 9:00pm.

The Washington Post is also reporting that county election officials fear it may take until next Monday to count all the provisional ballots cast by voters early this morning while the electronic machines were inoperable. The reason: "lack of available staff."

Huh?!? Someone please tell me that won't be the case!

Hire more people, pull them from other county jobs, whatever it takes, but don't make us wait nearly a week to find out the election results! Too much hangs in the balance, with the possibility of several close races (US Senate, Montgomery County Executive, County Council, various Delegates, etc).

Time for the County government to step up to the plate, take responsibility and get the job done! What an embarrassment.

Tags: electronic voting; 2006 elections; MoCo government