Voting Problems Minimal on Election Day
For all of the worrying over voter fraud, voter suppression, and voting machine meltdowns, this year's presidential election went surprisingly smoothly. That's not to say that there weren't any problems, but that simply problems weren't widespread or severe enough to cause any doubt about the winner of the election.AccuVote machines from Premier Election Systems (we warned you about the renamed Diebold) in Pennsylvania's Northumberland County were ordered to be impounded by a judge after voters complained of issues with voting a straight party line. A similar problem occurred with eSlate machines in Kenton County, Kentucky, where a judge ordered that 108 voting machines be shutdown after they exhibited issues with recording straight party votes.
There were early reports of issues in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Florida, beyond just long lines. But it would appear that the problems were dealt with effectively, as the din over voting trouble had become only a whisper by the time the polls had closed.
There was one high-profile issue at the polls in New York. Actor and liberal activist Tim Robbins was scrubbed from the registered voter rolls at the precinct where he voted the last several elections. This was the exception rather than the rule, though. Election Protection, the coalition of non-profits we encouraged you to contact for any issues, said there were still plenty of problems to iron out by 2012, but the day was quiet enough that they canceled an end-of-day press conference.
Tight monitoring of problems and swift reactions aided by technology (as well as a growing familiarity with electronic voting machines) limited the impact of any problems that did arise. Had the election been closer, these problems at the polls might have garnered more attention, so there is still a need to work towards eliminating calibration, stability, and security issues with electronic voting machines, which will only become more prevalent in elections to come. [From: BetaNews, CNN, Chicago Tribune, CBS News]
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