Photo Slideshow: Pasco Candidate Michael Cox

By Howard Altman
The Tampa Tribune

New Port Richey, Pasco County

Cathi Perry is worried about her fellow voters. So worried that she contacted Election Central to report a problem.
The lines at her Pasco County polling place, on Country Place Boulevard, are glacial, she says.
“I got there at 11:15 a.m.and I left there at 1:30 p.m., says Perry. I just got back to the house. I was told it is because there are only two available machines. They have a third one, but no one is using it. It’s a special machine for the visually impaired.”
The women who were volunteering, she says, called in the problem to election officials this morning, because average wait was 90 minutes, but they were told no other machines were available.

Perry, a retired Verizon worker, says she was able to wait, because she is retired. But one woman who came in before work was allowed to go to front of line. Otherwise she would not have been able to vote.
Perry says she’s also informed officials of the problem.
“I emailed Kurt Browning, supervisor of elections in Dade City,” she says.
Election officials are looking into this, according Melba Hamilton, chief deputy election supervisor for Pasco County.
After receiving a call from Election Central, Hamilton called the precinct and said the voters are taking 10 to 15 minutes each to vote, which is adding to the problem, but they are coming in prepared.
“The poll workers are doing everything they can to appease the people,” she says. “We are sending another machine to alleviate the problem.”

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