Optical Scanners Slow Colo. Vote Count (Musgrave's opponent won't concede) [View All]

DENVER (AP) -- A county that switched this year from voter punch cards to an electronic scanner system still had hundreds of uncounted ballots Friday, holding up a congressional race and the balance of the state legislature.

Boulder County's new optical scanners that read voters' marks on a paper ballot were rejecting improperly marked ballots, slowing the tally.

County officials said they hoped to have final results before the end of the week as three shifts of election judges work almost around-the-clock to feed ballots through eight counting machines. By early Friday, the county had completed counting ballots from 159 of 230 precincts.

The slow pace left the outcome of at least two races in question, at least for the apparent losers: the 4th Congressional District rematch between Republican incumbent Marilyn Musgrave and Stan Matsunaka, a Democrat and former president of the state Senate; and a state Senate race between Democrat Brandon Shaffer and Republican Sandy Hume.
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Musgrave declared victory days ago with overall returns giving her 51 percent to Matsunaka's 44 percent. But results had been posted in only nine of the 57 Boulder County precincts within the sprawling eastern Colorado district.

Matsunaka refused to concede, saying he and his campaign staff were checking in regularly for results.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Slow-Vote-Count.html

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