Voting Machine Error for Bush Computer error at voting machine gives Bush 3,893 extra votes

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A computer error with a voting machine cartridge gave President Bush 3,893 extra votes in a Gahanna precinct. Franklin County’s unofficial results gave Bush 4,258 votes to Democratic challenger John Kerry’s 260 votes in Precinct 1-B. Records show only 638 voters cast ballots in that precinct. Matthew Damschroder, director of the Franklin County Board of Elections, says Bush received 365 votes there. Damschroder says he received some calls yesterday from people who saw the error when reading the list of poll results on the election board’s Web site. Damschroder says after Precinct 1-B closed, a cartridge from one of three voting machines at the polling place generated a faulty number at a computerized reading station.

Nationwide, only scattered problems were reported in electronic voting, though roughly 40 million people cast digital ballots, voting equipment company executives had said.