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MONDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2004
Hand counting of votes brings citizens together in preserving democracy
From the House
By Bill Herbkersman
Special to the Carolina Morning News
Those of us who were at Town Hall in Bluffton last Tuesday night for the counting of the votes cast in the municipal elections were treated to a rare and vanishing bit of political Americana.
Judge Cecil Reynolds and crew did a creditable job of getting everything ready for the gathering of the folks within minutes of the closing of the polls. As the election commission noted their individual counts, other poll workers marked the individual votes on the chalkboard.
Judge Reynolds called out the votes on each ballot and the appropriate marks were made, with every fifth vote for a candidate causing the crowd to say, in unison, "tally" as the diagonal cross was made over the four vertical marks on the
wall. It was a ritual that may soon be replaced by the soulless efficiency of the electronic voting machine.
It is my hope that we in Bluffton can hold out against this bit of technology, as hand counting, even with all its problems and time constraints, is a fundamental rite of small town democracy. It reinforces the important notion that we are all participants in a process that chooses the leadership that will guide us for the upcoming years.
It also gives us a direct means of overthrowing the local government every couple of years.
This process of continuity with the possibility of dramatic change (if needed) is essential to the genius of democracy.http://www.lowcountrynow.com/stories/121304/LOCherbkersman.shtmlTUESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2004
Hatfield replaced as head of county election board
BY ROBERT SANDLER
Special to The Gazette
BLUFFTON -- Tom Hatfield was replaced Monday as chairman of the Beaufort County Board of Elections and Voter Registration, ending a five-year stint as the group's leader.
During its meeting at Bluffton Town Hall, the Beaufort County Legislative Delegation voted to remove Hatfield as chairman and elevate Jean Sulc of St. Helena Island to lead the panel. Hatfield, a Hilton Head Island resident, will continue to serve on the election board until his term expires in March.
State Rep. Catherine Ceips, R-Beaufort, asked the Legislative Delegation to move Sulc into the panel's top position, saying it was time for change.
(Snip)
Sulc said the major task facing the election board would remain the same: deciding whether to purchase new voting equipment, and if so what technology should be used.
"I don't think you'll see any surprises vis-a-vis the issues," she said. "We'll have at least the next few months to go over details."
She said the panel would look at purchasing voting machines made by Diebold of Ohio, which built the optical scan machines now used by the county. If the panel chooses to buy machines from Diebold, it would receive a $600,000 discount, thanks to an agreement made when the county purchased its current voting machines.link: http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local_news/story/4325339p-4105853c.html
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