Reply #3: MSNBC: Optimism about voting reform wanes [View All]

[FogerRox]

Optimism about voting reform wanes
New machines and procedures have been introduced, but problems persist

Updated: 2:18 p.m. ET May 25, 2006
WASHINGTON - The current and future state of election reform depends on which expert or official you ask. Six years after the most controversial presidential election in modern history and a federally mandated overhaul of the voting process, a group of experts and election officials from around the country gathered in Washington to discuss reform efforts last month. The picture most of them painted wasn't very optimistic. But the first real test of the new system, they all agree, will come as states hold their primaries this year. Elections administrators hope that the primaries will be an opportunity identify and correct problems before the Nov. 7 general election.
Almost a dozen states that have already held primaries this year have experienced problems. In Pennsylvania's Allegheny County last week, officials found 750 uncounted absentee ballots. Apparently poll workers, using new equipment and procedures, mistakenly put the ballots in the wrong place.
In another Pennsylvania county, a local race was overturned because a worker's error while operating new machines resulted in a miscount. In Tuesday's Arkansas primary, officials in more than a dozen counties reported problems with new machines, necessitating a ballot count that stretched into the middle of the night. Election officials in some Arkansas counties told the Associated Press that the manufacturer of new electronic voting machines didn't provide programming equipment in time to adequately train poll workers.

More-

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12972404/