Neighbor said results that will be tabulated and added to the memory cards today--when commissioners evaluate ballots that did not register when scanned--will "balance the numbers out a little more," decreasing the disparity between leading candidates.
At 10 a.m. today commissioners will gather once again at the Senior Center to evaluate City Council ballots and add those not recorded correctly to memory cards for respective polling stations.
The memory-card information will then be run through the PRMaster proportional-voting software system provided for the election by Jerel Software of Albany, Calif. Within moments, official results will be available. School Committee ballots will then be similarly tabulated.
Although last night's results were not final, Election Commission officials were quick to note that much can be determined from current numbers.
"That's partly why some candidates are so thrilled," Election Commission member Lynne Molnar said.
"It's because they know their precincts are in."
The main variable in question in the vote tabulation last night was the number of "spoiled" ballots--those that did not register in the new scanning system at local polling stations.
"They're not really 'spoiled'--voters may have written a number next to the [candidate's] name or something but they're not 'spoiled' in that sense," said Lee Valentine '93, a consultant working in the election with both Jerel Software and with the city.
"They have voter intent," he said last night. "It just needs to be correctly tabulated tomorrow."
The number of ballots to be tabulated today remained unclear last night.
"We haven't heard complaints from those bringing in the results," said Molnar. However, Molnar did say the new ballots confused some, despite demonstrations of the new ballot procedure at all polling precincts.
"If people paid more attention instead of just doing it and saying they understand, this wouldn't have happened," said Sharon Freeman, a Cambridge pollster.
"I told them to play it like you play the Lotto--just fill in the blanks--but a lot of them just wrote in the numbers anyway."