World

Election Day Could be a Mess

by Karen Hatter | September 18, 2008 at 05:17 am

458 views | 67 Recommendations | 12 comments

Election officials across the country are anticipating, on Tuesday, November 4, 2008, equipment failure and long lines, with some possible delays being attributed to voters being unfamiliar with voting procedures, reports the Washington Post, due in part, to a rush in voter registration leading to election day.

The article further alleges thousands may lose their ability to cast their ballots.

From the article:

Warning signs

Recent local primaries have offered warning signs.

In the District last week, initial tallies were inflated by thousands of votes, causing chaos that night, and officials have yet to explain the problem.

In Palm Beach County, Fla., more than 3,500 ballots went missing in an August primary, forcing workers to hunt through bins and leaving a judicial election still undecided.

That same day, equipment problems in two other Florida jurisdictions delayed results for hours.

Premier Election Solutions, the company that makes many of the nation's voting machines, last month acknowledged that software used in 34 states, including Virginia and Maryland, could cause votes to be dropped. The company, formerly called Diebold, said it has no fix for the problem now, but election officials can catch the errors and recover the votes through a routine process of double-checking electronic memory cards.

Any weak spots in the process in November, whether poorly trained poll workers, a confusing ballot design or faulty equipment, will be further stressed by turnout, including many first-time voters.

Please click here to read the entire article.

0 See all footage | View Slideshow

Share: email story | add to any | | facebook | stumbleupon

recommend Sign In or Join to post comments

Rhonda J Mangus

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 06:18 on September 18th, 2008

Karen Hatter, I like this story. It's good stuff.

bill hicks

at 06:22 on September 18th, 2008

It will be a mess. The democrats can't cheat on the machines.

dunkelberg

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 06:32 on September 18th, 2008

Some would say the problems in Florida came about as a plot by Republicans. Others say it was Republican incompetence.

Hard choice.

bill hicks

at 09:19 on September 18th, 2008

hahahahaha

henry birkenbine

at 06:35 on September 18th, 2008

There are always equipment problems when you have to deal with 100 million voters. Machines will be more accurate in the counts. Cheating has been widespread and everyone knows who cheats. The cheaters are the ones who are screaming.

Fairbanks

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 08:03 on September 18th, 2008

This story pops out every election. Here in Alaska the system is transparent and the problems are limited to a machine failure here and there. If a machine fails it doesn't matter except the count will be delayed a little. Machine-read paper ballots, voter ID and sign-in, and everybody knows everybody makes vote fraud nearly impossible.

Barbara McPherson

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 09:20 on September 18th, 2008

Karen Hatter, I like this story. It's good stuff. If there is no paper trail, even if the ballots are initially read by machine, how can a judicial recount with scrutineers be held. Any machine can be tampered with given the skill and the will.

Jordan Yerman

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 10:41 on September 18th, 2008

PES's machines are broken, and have been proven so again and again and again, and yet no district has given them up in favor of something that actually works. I'm bemused by the public's lack of giving a crap about this.

integrityforamerica

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 11:19 on September 18th, 2008

Karen Hatter, I like this story. It's good stuff.

The democrats never have a reason to cheat, remember it was us that recieved the popular vote. no need to argue though, we seem to be sealing our own fate in America. Its sad but we are doing all of this to ourselves. WHoever wants Mccain can have him, but if he wins 4 more years of horror no one better cry.