Pulaski County Polling Problems Continue

A day after learning they would once again be scrutinized by a grand jury, representatives from the county clerk`s office had to face the county election commission. Last month commissioners asked the clerk for an update on the number of inactive voters in the database and for a timeline for cleaning it up. They`re still waiting. While the clerk`s office has yet to respond to requests made three weeks ago, today it was able to give some answers about the election three days ago. Deputy clerks gave commissioners a thick book about individual voter problems they`ve been able to resolve since Tuesday. Election Commission Chairman Jerry Larkowski was pleased to have the information, but says it still doesn`t give insight into systemic problems. One of those? How voters who were on the rolls correctly in July and haven`t moved, are off the rolls in November. "What was right, how did it become wrong?," asked Commissioner Sally Stevens. Deputy clerk Janice Hay had no answer. Hay was able to promise that the commission would receive a printed timetable for progress in fixing voter problems by November 12th. The Pulaski County prosecutor`s office is being tight-lipped about the call for the grand jury to meet again on the voting issue next week. Back in April the panel issued a report declaring that the clerk`s failure to follow state laws on voter registration had been a big factor in poll problems.