Voter Issues Line the Road to the Election

Also Thursday, civil rights groups sued the Georgia secretary of state in federal court for purging voters from the rolls within 90 days of the election and using a database that is not updated to show that certain people have become naturalized citizens and are now eligible to vote.

In both cases, the problem is apparently not dirty tricks but unfamiliarity with arcane voting laws. The Help America Vote Act of 2002, which was designed to streamline voting records by requiring statewide lists, seems particularly tough to figure out.

Hang On to Your Hat

And finally, Republican elections officials in Pennsylvania have sued to enforce a dress code at the polls.

The concern: Voters coming in with T-shirts or other attire that promotes their candidates might violate the law against partisan electioneering. At least four states ban campaign buttons in polling places, but in September, Pennsylvania elections authorities ruled that clothing doesn't matter, so long as voter advocacy remains "passive."

Democrats praised the ruling as a victory for free speech. But the GOP argued that it would open the door to all kinds of wild stuff. "The first thing would be a button or a shirt," Republican Party chairman Robert Gleason explained to the AP, "and maybe the next thing would be a musical hat."