NYT/AP: ID Rules, Machines Early Voting Problems
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 7, 2006
Filed at 9:23 a.m. ET
Electronic voting machine problems frazzled voters and election workers in dozens of precincts as the polls opened Tuesday, delaying voters in Indiana and Ohio and leaving some in Florida with little choice but turn to paper ballots instead.
In Cleveland, voters rolled their eyes as poll workers fumbled with new voting machines that they couldn't get to start properly.
''We got five machines -- one of them's got to work,'' said Willette Scullank, a trouble shooter from the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, elections board.
Election officials in Delaware County, Ind., planned to seek a court order to extend voting after an apparent computer error prevented voters from casting ballots in 75 precincts. Delaware County Clerk Karen Wenger said the cards that activate the machines were programmed incorrectly.
''We are working with precincts one-by-one over the telephone to get the problem fixed,'' Wenger said.
With a third of Americans voting on new equipment and voters navigating new registration databases and changing ID rules, election watchdogs worried about polling problems even before the voting began Tuesday....
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-ELN-Voting-Problems.html