MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - No one likes being told how to do their job, but when you have as many problems as the Shelby County Election Commission, you don’t have much of a choice.
A state representative is offering the commission a few pointers that might make for a smooth election.
This comes as FBI agents and lawyers from the Department of Justice get ready to field voter complaints on Election Day.
“When we got to the machine and got to District 93 instead of Mike Kernell coming up as my representative who I contested to vote for, it put me in District 98,” said David Holt.
Days after David Holt was given the wrong ballot during early voting, the problems at the polls persisted.
According to an independent study, the error rate during early voting went from nearly 6 percent on July 19th to just under five percent July 28th.
“There are actually more errors than there are voters with errors,” said State Representative Mike Kernell.
Kernell says the election commission should put a few practices in place for Election Day, such as telling voters what district they're in, stopping the vote if the voting machines say otherwise, and making sure the polls have enough paper ballots for voters to mark.
“We're actually considering those same options ourselves. They're reasonable,” said Shelby County Election Commission Chairman Robert Meyers.
Meyers says the commission has a handle on the problem that led to voters getting the wrong ballots, so it's unlikely they'll supply polling locations with paper ballots. They may provide district maps.
“I think we will have some form of maps,” Meyers said.
State Representative Mike Kernell is still encouraging people to go out and vote on Election Day. Even though there are problems at the polls, those problems only affect a small number of voters.
