It's been a mess for counting some ballots

One ballot has chicken-grease stains.

Chocolate stains another.

Still another is spattered with orange juice and coffee.

Fifteen ballots didn't scan properly in Wake County on Election Day because they had food stains or were damp from voters who had just come in from the rain, election officials said Friday.

On Election Day, the ballots went into an "emergency bin" to be counted Friday, along with more than 200 ballots faxed from members of the military and Wake residents living overseas.

Hand-counting ballots is tedious, said Wake elections director Cherie Poucher, adding that she'd rather be accurate than speedy. Hand counting means that each ballot is read aloud by one board member, while another tallies the vote.

The board will begin counting 4,100 provisional ballots next week, Poucher said. Provisional ballots are given to voters who think they are registered but are not listed at the polling place where they voted. In many cases, voters went to the wrong polling places, Poucher said.

Each provisional ballot has to be entered into the election computer system. Staffers then research each voter to make sure he or she is registered.

Ballots cast by voters who went to the wrong polling places are examined to see whether the voters marked choices in district races for which they were not eligible to vote. Such votes are disqualified, Poucher said, but everything else on the ballot counts.

West: A day fit for King

On Wednesday, Raleigh City Council member James West was among the many black leaders trying to put into words what Barack Obama's historic victory meant to them.

West, 64, grew up on a farm in Sampson County while segregation was widespread.

"You had to go to the back of the restaurant and get your food out of the window," he said. "We had colored and white water fountains and restrooms."

West went on to attend N.C A&T in the early 1960s. He was in the same economics class as future civil rights activist and presidential candidate Jesse Jackson. The two were among thousands of students who marched in downtown Greensboro to desegregate the city's theater.

West said he was overwhelmed watching Americans gather across the nation, including a teary-eyed Jackson in Chicago, to celebrate Obama's victory. Obama's win, West said, represents a validation for the kind of grassroots community organizing that he himself has long promoted in Southeast Raleigh.

"He has conveyed that personal responsibility is a key part of this country and our communities getting back to a place that we would like," West said. "I've never seen this kind of excitement."

Asked if anything in his life compared to Tuesday night, West mentioned the civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He called Tuesday's election the capstone of everything King worked for.

"I can say Dr. King's dream has become a reality," West said. "We're getting closer to the promised land. I'm talking everybody."

Where's the airport?

The discussion surrounding a possible new airport in Orange County has made local headlines for months, so long in fact that some voters Tuesday apparently expected to see it on the ballot.

Former Orange County Commissioner Don Willhoit was working a precinct on Election Day tending the ballot tabulator.

"On at least two occasions, a voter told me they could not find the airport issue on the ballot and asked why," he said.

"Some folks are ready to vote and get it over with."

Minutes madness

Orange County Commissioner Mike Nelson is tired of waiting for copies of his board's minutes.

At a meeting Thursday night, Nelson asked why it can take a month or more to get the official notes of the commissioners' meetings.

"Y'all have a lot of meetings," County Clerk Donna Baker said. "You've got to look at the minutes. Sometimes your minutes are 14, 15, 18 pages long and almost verbatim."

The board asked for future minutes within two weeks of its meetings.

Political trail

* THE ORANGE COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY and the Orange County Democratic Women will co-sponsor a 2008 election analysis event on Nov. 20 from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. The event will be held at the Carrboro Century Center, 100 N. Greensboro St. Speakers will include Hodding Carter III, Rob Christensen and Ferrell Guillory. The event is open to the public. For more information, contact Anne Thomas at 929-0547.