Voting Snafus Across the Nation

A non-partisan coalition monitoring problems at polling sites has reported failures of electronic voting machines around the United States - some of which recorded touch screen votes for candidates voters had not selected. While errors were resolved in the cases brought to the attention of poll watchers, many voters remain uncertain whether their proper vote was cast in a bitterly contested election in which President George Bush has claimed victory. "A number of people who thought they were voting for Kerry, when the screen came up it showed they were voting for Bush," said Cindy Cohn, legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) which is a member of the coalition. "We've seen it across several voting systems, not just one machine." As of November 3rd, members of the Election Protection Coalition received 4,459 reports of ballot problems, 2,867 calls about polling place irregularities, and 7,152 complaints regarding voter registration glitches. Another 1,074 people phoned in to say that they had witnessed voter intimidation. Unlike the voting problems that occurred during the 2000 elections, the voting problems reported during the 2004 election were spread across the entire country and aggravated the long lines voters endured at polling places. The group Common Cause also reported 50,000 calls reporting voting problems to its election hot-line, although not all the complaints were related to e-voting problems. [more]