This is unbelievable, atrocious, outrageous, frightening, illegal...
Kolbe was one of 22 people in Howard County who filled out a paper ballot in the March 2 primary election rather than use the new touch-screen voting machines, and whose votes were thrown out.
Under the touch-screen system, those 22 paper votes didn't count, county elections officials said.
Kolbe, who voted at Bryant Woods Elementary School in Columbia, said she requested a paper ballot on election day because she did not trust the electronic system.
Although an elections official handed her a paper ballot, told her how to fill it out, and even placed her finished ballot in an official-looking "lockbox," nobody told her that the ballot didn't count, Kolbe said.
"I did not vote with the intention of not voting," she added.
Kolbe has appealed the decision to discount her vote to the state board of elections.
Elections officials said they allowed people to use the paper ballots because they wanted to ensure that everyone who wanted to cast a ballot did so. However, state regulations barred them from counting those votes, the officials said.
"...officials said."
Hey buddy, couldn't you have checked the "unnamed election officials" claim that they were legally bound to not count the paper ballots?
It sounds highly dubious. Surely it's an important element to the story? Nah, better just to stick to he said she said. It's much easier than actually doing any research.