Edwards, Baker want investigation of Prince George’s voting process

Friday, Sept. 15, 2006

Candidate Donna Edwards, who is locked in a tight race with Rep. Albert Wynn for the Democratic nomination in district four, today said she intends to challenge returns from two or three precincts where voting cards were allegedly left unsecured overnight.

Edwards says Prince George’s County voting officials who did not complete the ballot count on Tuesday night, left electronic voters cards in a truck overnight without security.

The Prince George’s Board of Elections stopped counting votes around 2;30 Wednesday morning and resumed around 9:30 a.m. Results from more than 130 precincts were input using computer cards that election officials hand-carried to the board’s office after equipment malfunctions.

Edwards isn’t sure whether the complaint will be filed in state or federal court, but said she intends to take action by Monday.

‘‘I’m really concerned, deeply concerned, about the integrity of the election,” Edwards said.Thousands of provisional ballots, which could determine the outcome of the election are to be counted on Monday.

The legal action is being taken because, ‘‘When the [voter] cards were entered, we saw some troubling shifts in the vote count,” Edwards said.

Separately, attorney Chuck Perry and spokesman Alexander Krughoff, both from the campaign of defeated county executive candidate Rushern Baker, called for an investigation of the election process in Prince George’s on behalf of Baker.

They said more than half of the precincts were unable to transmit their results electronically. There also were complaints that voters’ party affiliations were incorrectly registered at some polling stations, forcing some voters to use provisional ballots. In addition, there were reports that some polls opened late.

‘‘This isn’t about whether Baker won or lost,” said Perry. ‘‘This is about disenfranchisement of people’s right to vote.”

Krughoff stressed that Baker was not accusing anybody of voter fraud.

‘‘We just think the integrity of the entire process fell apart,” he said.

Staff Writer Guy Leonard contributed to this article.