During the May 2006 primary, poll workers swamped the Board of Election's phone lines trying to troubleshoot new electronic voting machines. Memory cards were lost and the final vote took six days to count when scanning equipment failed to read absentee ballots. Elections Director Michael Vu managed to turn it around six months later with a smoother performance during last November's election. But the bungled primary sealed his fate - Vu resigned last month. County Elections spokesman Alan Melamed says the Board decided Jane Platten has the experience needed while Vu's replacement is found.
Alan Melamed: During the November election she also took on the job for poll worker recruitment and received very positive appraisals in turning things around from the problems that occurred in May.
Melamed says Platten has not applied for the permanent position. There are currently 90 applications for the job. Platten is set to run the agency through the upcoming May primary. I'm Mhari Saito, 90.3.