Poll Screw-Ups: Snow, 'Invisible Ink' and Missing Ballots

 

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Election officials in the six states considered "high-risk" in the report insist that their machines work well and that they don't anticipate any problems.

New York, which still uses old-fashioned lever machines, will provide emergency paper ballots and technicians if the machines break down, according to Lee Daglian, spokesman for the state board of elections.

"I haven't heard from anyone in any county about any problems with the machines," he said, adding that the report's authors "shouldn't be concerned because historically, they work pretty well."

New Jersey was set to switch to paper-based systems by Jan. 1, 2008, but the deadline was extended to June. 'We are confident that every voter's vote will count," said David Wald, spokesman for the state attorney general. "The machines are polished and dusted and ready to go."

In Arkansas, most of the state's 75 counties have a voter-verified paper trail in the machines, but three counties haven't made the change. The state also uses Ivotronic touch screens, the type that didn't work in Sarasota County in 2006.

"They've been tested in five statewide elections with good success and we're not concerned," said a spokesperson for the Arkansas secretary of state. "It's worked for us so far and we're not about to overhaul it in this election year."

In Delaware, the state's electronic voting machines store the results in three places: on a paper tape in the machine, on the machine itself and on a cartridge, all of which allow ballot image retention, says a spokesman for the state's commissioner of elections.

Georgia has one of the strictest levels of requirement for the testing of machines, according to Matt Carruthers, a spokesman for the secretary of state. "In addition to testing procedures, on Election Day, monitors are deployed throughout the state and we have technical support specialists available to respond."

A coordinator for the Tennessee Division of Elections did not return calls seeking comment.

The ABC News Law & Justice Unit's Reynolds Holding and Lauren Pearle and The Associated Press contributed to this report.