Voting Problems 2010: How to Report Voting Problems in 2010

by Amy Judd | November 2, 2010 at 08:20 am

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Now the Midterm Elections 2010 Are Upon Us Some Problems Are Expected at the Voting Stations

Some races are expected to be so close that any problems with voting machines could significantly the outcome of the elections, so it is important any problems are reported and dealt with as quickly as possible.

If you encounter any problems voting today there are a number of ways you can report what happened.

OurVoteLive is a website that keeps track of all the problems reported around the country so you can check to see if there are any reports in your area before heading down to the polling station.

There have been a number of reports so far, but not as many as were expected, although voting is still ongoing.

In Utah County there are reports of problems at 250 polling stations, with machines displaying the wrong ballot or a blank screen.

In Surry County, North Carolina, some voters have reported trouble voting electronically because the wrong voter registries were printed.

In Racine Wisconsin, the wrong ballots were put into the vote counting machine at the Humble Park Community Center, but it was corrected within the hour.

Initially it was thought as many as 25 voters had filled out the wrong ballots, but after Johnson-Martin went through all of them, she found only six that had to be redone. Johnson-Martin filled out the correct ballots as poll workers watched.

In Corpus Christi Texas, one precinct experienced voting machine problems and another improperly placed campaign signs at the voting locations.

So far the biggest problem across the country seems to be reports of electronic-touch-screen voting machines entering the wrong candidate when you are trying to cast a vote for another candidate. This is usually due to the machine being miscalibrated and some stations are take precautions by handing out cotton swabs for people to use to vote with as that is more accurate than your finger.

"Vote very carefully!" advised David L. Dill, a Stanford University computer science professor and electronic voting expert. "Whatever you do, take a moment to look at your ballot, and make sure you've filled it out properly." If the scanner rejects your optical-scan ballot, "try to figure out what's wrong," he said.

Another problem is long lines at the polling stations, so make sure you allow for extra time to vote as you may have to wait, especially if there are voting machine problems.