Problems Anticipated at Polls

According to a new article posted by The New York Times this morning, the unprecedented amount of voters turning out for this election may encounter problems at the polls due to faulty machines or a lack of knowledge on how to vote using paper ballots.В Times reporter Ian Urbina writes:

“Millions of voters will encounter an unfamiliar low-tech landscape at the polls on Tuesday. About half of all voters will vote in a way that is different from what they did in the last presidential election, and most will use paper ballots rather than the touch-screen machines that have caused concern among voting experts.

But the change does not guarantee a smooth election day, as the nation’s voting system remains untested for what is expected to be an unprecedented turnout. Six years after the largest federal overhaul in how elections are run, voting experts are still predicting machine and ballot shortages in several swing states and late tallies on election night.

Two-thirds of voters will mark their choice with a pencil on a paper ballot that is counted by an optical scanning machine, a method considered far more reliable and verifiable than touch screens. But paper ballots bring their own potential problems, voting experts say.

The scanners can break down, leading to delays and confusion for poll workers and voters. And the paper ballots of about a third of all voters will be counted not at the polling place but later at a central county location. That means that if a voter has made an error — not filling in an oval properly, for example, a mistake often made by the kind of novice voters who will be flocking to the polls — it will not be caught until it is too late. As a result, those ballots will be disqualified…”

To read the rest of this article,В click here.

3 thoughts on “Problems Anticipated at Polls”

  1. Peace Mystes!
    LOL! “… some really nice underwear . . .” I love it. You could roll like Lil’Wayne and wear your pants low enough to show red undies with just a big O at the top . . .

    No Matter What!

  2. Hi Rahmana… Great to read from you! This :: In other words, don’t wear any Obama t-shirts, hats, buttons–nothing with his name on it.

    …is kind of inspiring. Think I’ll wear some *really* nice underwear just in case I have to leave my t-shirt hanging on a nearby lamppost.

    (I may be a fifterian, but my breasts don’t think so. )

    Voting, no matter what.

    M

  3. Dear voters,
    Another tid-bit of information i have received is that among the many reasons to find excuses to turn voters away is another tactic about “illegal campaigning”–which you will be doing according to this law if you wear ANY CAMPAIGN PARAPHERNALIA. In other words, don’t wear any Obama t-shirts, hats, buttons–nothing with his name on it.
    Rahmana

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