http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/42555-1.htmlElectronic voting systems, which have attracted widespread criticism and suspicion, appeared to generally perform well in yesterday’s elections, according to firsthand accounts by specialists who checked polls in several states.
Hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of voters did contact voter assistance hotlines to report problems, but the problems they encountered appeared to stem overwhelmingly from difficulties with training and procedures rather than systems security or other technology flaws, observers said.
Activist organizations gathered under the umbrella of the Election Protection Commission, a coalition that includes the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and united to collect and publicize voting technlogy complaints. EFF said it had received more than 17,000 calls to its election protection hotline (66-OUR-VOTE) stemming not only from voter confusion but also from poor election worker training and faulty equipment.
"If election officials insist on depending on this unreliable technology, they should be prepared to react appropriately when things go wrong," EFF legal director Cindy Cohn said in a statement. "Voters should not have to bear the brunt of this poor planning.â€
Despite the various reports of voting problems and delays in several states, no reports surfaced of any elections being substantially affected by the difficulties.
Wendy Weiser, deputy director of the Democracy Program at New York University Law School’s Brennan Center, yesterday worked in a call center fielding complaints from voters in about a dozen states. “A lot of the problems we saw were administrative problems, resulting from insufficient planning, preparation and training,†Weiser said.
