The Voting Machine Blues

Posted on November 7, 2006

As Americans head to the polls today, many people will be focusing on the inevitable voting booth problems. So far, today, there have been some really bizarre voting booth events. Here are a few so far:

Chelsea Clinton, daughter of President and Senator Clinton, had trouble voting today. The registration book for her entire district were sent to the wrong location. She filed an affidavit, and then presumably voted for her Mom.

A poll worker in Kentucky went nuts and attacked a voter.

In Pennsylvania, one voter viciously assaulted an electronic voting machine with a paperweight shaped like a cat. Really.

In Missouri, which has a crucial Senate race going on, there have been reports of "vote-flipping' -- e.g., where you vote for Candidate X, but the machine records your vote as for Candidate Y.

USA Today reports various problems with electronic voting machines:

� A federal judge ordered an Ohio county to keep 16 Cleveland-area polling locations open until 9 p.m. ET because of long lines and earlier problems with voting machines.There were reports some machines wouldn't function. "We got five machines � one of them's got to work," said Willette Scullank, a troubleshooter from the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, elections board.
�In Indiana's Marion County, about 175 of 914 precincts turned to paper because poll workers didn't know how to run the machines, said Marion County Clerk Doris Ann Sadler. Election officials in Delaware County, planned to seek a court order to extend voting after an apparent computer error prevented voters from casting ballots in 75 precincts.
� In Florida, voting was briefly delayed at four districts because of either mixed up ballots or electronic activators being unintentionally wiped out, according to Mary Cooney, spokeswoman for the Broward County Supervisor of Elections. Voters were forced to use paper ballots after an electronic machine broke in the Jacksonville suburb of Orange Park.
� In suburban Pittsburgh, some precincts opened late because workers couldn't zero out voting machines, raising concern that votes from previous elections had not been purged.

The L.A. Times reports more voting snafus:

In Indiana, electronic voting machine problems delayed the opening of polls in at least two counties. Local officials compensated by arranging to keep precincts open three additional hours.
In Pennsylvania, there were reports of voting machine failures in several jurisdictions, particularly in western Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh.
In Florida, some precincts in Democratic Broward County, north of Miami, were unable to open on time because of voting machine problems and an election worker who failed to show up. In Colorado, a power outage knocked out laptops that were supposed to be used to verify voter registration. And in Missouri, where a tight Senate race and stem cell research initiative dominated the news, polling places ran out of ballots.
In some places, confusion over new laws requiring voters to provide identification prompted complaints and a few embarrassments. Missouri's top election official was prevented from voting Monday when poll workers mistakenly demanded she present a photo ID.
In University City, Mo., a largely African American suburb of St. Louis, Jacqueline Judie said she was confronted by a sign that seemed to suggest voters needed some form of identification with a signature in order to vote. In fact, Missouri requires only proof of residency, such as a utility bill. When Judie complained, she said poll workers refused to take down the sign.
"I was very surprised," Judie said. "It's really disappointing that in this day and age you still have this kind of impediment to voting. That's just ridiculous."

A remarkably high voter turnout is merely exacerbating the problems with the new machines.

You can see all the projected winners as the night goes on at CNN.com. You can see the projected winners in the key Senate races here.