Following e-voting glitches

[Joanne98]

In any election, voting problems are bound to crop up--whether it's miscalibrated electronic machines or a lack of pencils to fill out paper ballots. In such a highly anticipated election, the sheer number of people expected to vote today will likely add to the problems. CNET News will be keeping track of e-voting glitches and problems as they arise.

By 9 a.m. ET, the Electronic Frontier Foundation site OurVoteLive.org, which is recording complaints from voters across the country, had more than 9,000 complaints of voting problems, including at least 500 reports with voting equipment.

A few problems have been reported in Virginia, which became a surprise battleground state this year. In Northern Virginia, where many follow politics closely due to the region's proximity to Washington, people started lining up--at one voting precinct, at least--as early as 4:30 a.m., CNN reports.

According to reports from OurVoteLive, some precincts in Virginia are equipped with fewer voting machines than expected, while many voters are simply reporting that voting machines are "not working." In Reston, there have been reports of paper ballot scanners malfunctioning. A few voters in Richmond report that the electronic machines in use told the voters their votes for president had been recored when, in fact, the voters had not voted for president yet.

Even though nearly 40 percent of voters in Florida cast their votes early, lines formed before precincts even opened in Miami-Dade County and elsewhere around the state. The St. Petersburg Times reports a paper jam in the ballot scanners held up about 200 people in line to vote in St. Petersburg. The problem, though, was resolved after about 45 minutes.

In Duval County, a few optical scanners malfunctioned but were fixed within a couple hours, the Florida Times-Union reports. Otherwise, voting in Duval County was reported to be going smoothly.
Stephanie Condon is a staff writer for CNET News focused on the intersection of technology and politics. She is based in Washington, D.C., and can be reached at [e-mail].

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