Document text
Local money measures passing Jackson County voters were in a generous mood Tuesday, apparently backing school bond measures, approving money for a new county juvenile center and endorsing a city of Medford hotel-motel tax increase. The county�s voters also followed the lead of the state and the nation, backing Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush by 55.6 percent to Democrat Al Gore�s 39.4 percent. Ralph Nader claimed 3.4 percent of the county vote. All Jackson County results are preliminary, because so few ballots were actually tabulated Tuesday night. The count was delayed by a number of factors, including last-minute voters crowding into the elections office. As long as voters arrived before 8 p.m., they could fill out their ballots past the deadline � and elections officials had to wait before releasing results. Several were still weighing choices at 8:20. A backlog in ballot processing and computer problems further slowed the counting. Just 18.3 percent of the vote � 20,126 of the county�s more than 109,000 � were tallied late Tuesday night. The counting will resume this morning. Upgraded software was to blame for much of the delay Tuesday night, according to County Administrator Sue Slack. "We�re not able to produce additional tallies at this point," Slack said at about 10:30. "We�ve got computer problems. It has been a really bizarre evening." Although the county has been using its current computer elections software for more than a year, new upgrades caused new troubles, she said. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.