A task force designed to fix problems with East Lansing’s voting system met for the second time Tuesday to discuss revisions.

After a hazardous election in November, city officials who are anxious to correct errors and residents frustrated at the process joined together to make improvements.

East Lansing city officials appointed nine members to the task force in hopes that the next election will not be as traumatic.

Bill Hollister, a member of the task force, was also a candidate for a state House seat in the November election.

“We have to make sure that any system is as near perfect as we can get it,” Hollister said at the meeting.

Over the course of the two-hour session, members discussed proposals regarding voter registration and renovations at the polls.

High on the list was voter registration concerns. Because of the implementation of a qualified voter file in 1998, a number of voters were eliminated due to being registered in two locations within Michigan.

Because of the highly mobile state of the East Lansing student population, some members were concerned that mistakes of those registering could leave them with nowhere to vote.

Some of the problems surrounding the registration process were a result of voter mistakes, such as incomplete addresses and missing apartment numbers. The problem is even more convoluted due to the duplication of certain road and residence hall names. Halls such as Butterfield also have roads with the same name, an incident that led to an example of area voters showing up at the wrong polls to cast their vote.

“The thing ought to be run not to have lines and not to have confusion,” said task force member Mark Grebner.

Grebner is also a political analyst at the East Lansing business Practical Political Consulting and an Ingham County Commissioner.

Another key concern was staffing on Election Day. City hall found itself flooded with phone calls from people questioning their registration status and where they were supposed to vote. Questions also were raised regarding the payment of election staff, which some thought was much lower than the state average.

Also discussed was the possibility of putting up a voter’s registration information on the Web, allowing people to access their file through their computer and check their voting location, as well as any other pertinent facts. The group wondered if it would be possible to make copies of the state qualified voter file available, believing some students may not even be registered in East Lansing.

Jeff Ziarko, director of university, governmental and budgetary affairs for ASMSU, MSU’s undergraduate student government, and a task force member, thinks the group should be able to provide some adequate changes to East Lansing’s voting system.

“I think we have some very talented and experienced people who are working very hard to make sure everyone in East Lansing has a very pleasant voting experience,” Ziarko said.