Enough people have called and e-mailed at me at this point regarding my reporting of a scuffle at Adam Smith's Aug. 25 town hall meeting that I'm convinced I got it wrong.

I had reported that a man holding a sign depicting President Obama with a Hitler mustache was taken to the ground by bystanders, who crumpled up the sign and threw it away.

That's what I thought I saw and a few witnesses said they saw, but at this point more than a handful of people have disputed that account. They all concur that the man with the sign wasn't touched, and that he actually pushed another man to the ground when the second man tried to take his sign. More people told me the same thing after I wrote a blog post Monday asking for additional information.

We'll be running a correction in tomorrow's paper.

Here's what happened: From several rows up, I saw someone pushed to the ground amid a swarm of people. I was sure the man who fell on the ground was the same man who was holding the sign, but I asked around to double-check. A few people who I questioned nearby said they saw the same think I did.

I didn't have a great view of the incident, as it turns out.

I wasn't the only one -- neither representatives from Adam Smith's office nor the Lakewood Police Department could confirm who pushed who in the midst of the crowd.

Our partners at KIRO-TV didn't have any video footage that could confirm it one way or another.

That's why it's taken so long for this correction to get in the paper. Barring a police statement or video footage, it was difficult for me to confirm what actually happened one way or the other. I didn't want to write an incorrect correction that I might later have to amend a second time.

At this point, so many people have given me an account of what happened that varies from my own that I believe a correction is needed. Look for it in Thursday's News Tribune.

Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy’s search for budget savings has found a controversial target: poll voting.

County Auditor Jan Shabro told me she met with

McCarthy yesterday to discuss the auditor’s 2010 budget. The executive said in that meeting that her 2010 budget plan – due later this month – will not include $150,000 needed to keep Pierce County polls open next year.

It’s far from certain the polls will close. The County Council will have the final say over the budget and funding for the polls. And Council members have repeatedly expressed their support for poll voting.

In May the council declined Shabro’s request to conduct this year’s August and November elections exclusively by mail to save money. And in July the council approved a list of budget priorities that included keeping the polls open.

But McCarthy’s plan – first floated in May – shows the county’s budget troubles are serious enough that she’s willing to propose a cut that will be extremely unpopular with many voters. It also shows just how tenuous is Pierce County’s position as the only county in the state that still allows some voters to cast their ballots at the polls.

Earlier this year the Legislature considered – but did not pass – a proposal that would have forced the county to close its polling places.

Unless the Legislature or the council changes the law, Shabro said she’s obligated to keep the polls open. Shabro said McCarthy wants to start a conversation about poll voting.

After yesterday’s meeting with the executive, Shabro attended a County Council study session, where she asked council members to restore the $150,000 for poll voting in the 2010 budget.

Consider the conversation started.

Update: I talked to Pat McCarthy a while ago. She said it’s hard to justify spending money to keep

the polls open when so few people use them and there are other ways for people to vote. In last month’s primary election, she said about 3 percent of voters who were eligible to vote at the polls did so.

(I pointed out last November's polling place turnout was much higher – about 56 percent. McCarthy thinks the turnout for that election was an anomaly brought about by what many sensed was a historic presidential race.)

McCarthy said paying for that is a hard sell at a time when she’s telling the sheriff’s department and other county departments they’ll have to cut staff next year. The $150,000 for polling places is enough to pay for a sheriff’s deputy or prosecuting attorney, she said.

“It’s very costly,” she said of poll voting. “It just is not justifiable when you have such a low percentage of people who are accessing this option.”

McCarthy acknowledged the council may find $150,000 elsewhere in the budget to keep the polls open. But she said she’ll submit a budget based on priorities she can justify.

“People elected me to make good, well-though-out decisions,” she said. “Not everyone will agree with those.”