Tuesday, August 28, 2012 5:20 pm

NASHVILLE — Senate Democrats are calling on Secretary of State Tre Hargett to launch a full inquiry into voting irregularities across the state.

"There are a lot of questions about the integrity of the August primaries, and voters deserve answers," said Senate Democratic Leader Jim Kyle. "We didn't have these problems four years ago."

In Shelby and now Davidson County, there have been reports of voters getting the wrong primary ballot and voting in the wrong district. State election officials have admitted that poll worker training was inadequate. Davidson County officials were advised against using electronic poll books, but used them anyway.

"We need to know why the machines defaulted to a particular party's ballot," said Senate Democratic Caucus Chairman Lowe Finney. "We need to know who made that decision, and we need to know whether these machines will be used again."

Democratic leaders called on lawmakers to reconsider the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act, which requires that precincts use optical scanners that produce a paper ballot. The bipartisan law passed unanimously in 2008 but implementation has been delayed.

"People invest considerable time in deciding how to cast their vote, and when they leave the voting booth, they should be confident their vote counted the way they intended," Sen. Finney said. "I hope state election officials will take these irregularities seriously and conduct a thorough review.