NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) -
There's more fallout from Davidson County's use of new electronic poll books.
Metro council members said they are alarmed by some of the issues raised by using the electronic poll books in the August primary.
Before the council members give the election commission the money they need to buy more electronic poll books, they want an independent audit and any problems fixed.
Several Metro council members filled the legislation on Thursday to withhold $400,000 from the Davidson County election commission intended to buy electronic poll books.
"I think there is a definitely a perception that there were some serious mistakes that were made during the primary," said Metro Council member Megan Barry.
Earlier during the week, three Democratic public officials came forward saying they were mistakenly given a Republican primary ballot.
What was the reason for the mix-up? The new electronic poll books default to the Republican ballot if a poll worker didn't choose otherwise.
"I think there's a huge problem, and I think that it's being minimized by the Davidson County election commission and the state election commission," said Tennessee local Mary Mancini.
Democrats have asked the state election commissioner to delay certification of the primary amid numbers that showed a staggering 350 percent increase in Republican turnout from the 2008 primary.
But Davidson County Election Administrator Albert Teiche says only 5,000 Republican ballots were cast using the electronic poll books.
Teiche is standing by the technology and said the software issue that mistakenly gave voters a Republican ballot has been fixed.
"Electronic poll books are a good piece of equipment," said Teiche. "They save time and money and they reduce opportunities for human error."
Barry says she's not opposed to the books in general, but she says there needs to be an independent audit and the problems need to be addressed before moving forward.
"We need to make sure from a Metro council perspective that we're doing what we can on our end," said Barry.
The state election commission says all of the counties have already certified the August primary so there can be no delay. They say the investigation into the poll books has been going on for weeks and the investigation continues.
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