|
 |
 |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Missteps make it hard to vote in personBy REGINE LABOSSIERE Monitor Staff Lack of coordination, computer glitches and miscommunication over membership deadlines were a few of the complaints characterizing Friday's balloting in NABJ's 2003 election. Many potential voters were turned away after being told that NABJ had no record that they had renewed membership. However, some would-be voters said they were turned away despite having paid their membership dues before a July 30 cutoff printed in a letter mailed to the membership. To be eligible to cast ballots, voters should have been members in good standing by July 3, according to NABJ's Web site. Repeated attempts to obtain a comment about membership problems from NABJ officials were unsuccessful Friday. In addition, many voters said they were frustrated by the long waits to cast ballots. Sharon Stevens, election committee chairwoman, said only three of six computers were running -- a problem identified an hour before the start of voting. She said the computers wouldn't accept members' identification numbers and after the initial step, the computers showed members had voted when they had not. Eventually, the computers were fixed, but the long wait to vote continued throughout the day. Others complained of the shortage of signs directing voters to the polling site. And they grew frustrated in the narrow hallway where voters were forced to wait as hotel workers squeezed by carrying large trays. The wait in line to vote was 34 minutes for Douglas Backstrom, a copy editor for the Miami Herald. He spent the time chatting with a colleague. "If I hadn't, it would be rather irritating," he said. But Lisa Harrison Rivas, a San Antonio Express-News reporter, risked missing her flight. "I got up early thinking it would be an easy process, in and out, but it's not," said Rivas, a religion reporter. "I feel like someone should have gone through a test run last night to make sure everything was working." Even candidates complained. "It would be nice if the location was a little more prominent, but it's still early in the process," said Barbara Ciara, candidate for broadcast-vice president. This is NABJ's first time using an online computer system to tally votes. "This is a new process. So there were errors and all of us were unaware of how to work the computer," Stevens said. Casting a ballot was a five-step procedure that required members to key in an identification number, read instructions and evaluate candidate biographies before voting. Some members managed to avoid the crush by voting online or via mail before the convention - 197 votes were collected online through pre-convention balloting. Aissatou Sidime'-David voted online two weeks ago after getting an e-mail message notifying her that she could vote via absentee ballot online. "I enjoyed the experience because you can read their bios and then jump back (to the voting Web page) and vote. It worked really well," said Sidime'-David, a business reporter at the San Antonio Express-News. Nell Bradley, Levi J. Long and Sara Hoye contributed to this report. Regine Labossiere can be reached at reginelabossiere@hotmail.com |
| |
|
|
|
| ||