Election cliffhanger: Will it all work?

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http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-10-26-voting-machines_x.htm

Election cliffhanger: Will it all work?


PROBLEMS TROUBLE OFFICIALS
By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY

Eleven days before voters go to the polls, problems from delayed absentee ballots to names being chopped off on voting machines are hampering elections officials.

The problems are not unusual, officials say. But coming after a primary election season in which new electronic machines and state laws confounded poll workers, they are making officials nervous.

The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners has withheld payments to equipment vendor Sequoia Voting Systems until the results are in. In Los Angeles County, officials will conduct a random audit of 5% of the machines used in early voting following questions about their security and accuracy.

"It points to the increased agony being felt around the country by election administrators," says Kimball Brace of Election Data Systems.

Among the problems:

• In parts of Virginia and Texas, some candidates' names have been cut off on summary pages that confirm voters' selections. Democratic Senate challenger Jim Webb in Virginia is affected. In Austin, Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison appears as "Kay Bailey Hutch."

• Absentee and provisional ballots have been slow to arrive in Maryland, California, Ohio and Arkansas, among other states. The delays could threaten officials' ability to get absentee ballots out on time or to have enough provisional ballots at polling places for voters whose registrations are contested.


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