corrente

Reuters

Voters across the United States reported problems with electronic touch-screen systems on Tuesday in what critics said could be a sign that the machines used by one-third of the population were prone to error.

Voters calling in to an election-day hotline reported more than 1,100 problems with the ATM-like machines, from improperly tallied choices to frozen screens that left their votes in limbo.

Machines in New Orleans, Miami and suburban Philadelphia failed to start punctually in the morning, leading to long lines at polling places and prompting some to turn away from the polls, according to activists with the Election Protection Coalition.

The nonpartisan group said it had received 1,166 complaints as of late evening involving a wide array of machines.

"It gives us the uneasy feeling that we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg," said Cindy Cohn, legal director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a technology-policy group involved in the coalition.

Officials with voting-systems companies said most problems could be traced to human error, rather than the equipment.

Great. I'm sure that helps Diebold's stick, but it doesn't really help me as a voter, does it?

Computer scientists say the machines are prone to the glitches and security holes all too familiar to home-computer users.

The most common complaint was that machines had recorded votes improperly. Most said they were able to go back and fix the problem, a feature that ITAA's Cohen said did not exist in paper-based systems.

But Cohn of the EFF said nobody knew how many votes were cast improperly without the voter noticing.

In Palm Beach County, Florida, some voters found that ballots had already been filled out when they logged in, said Matt Zimmerman, an EFF attorney who is observing the election there.

Hmmm... Swing states.

In 2000, the SCLM didn't cover the Florida story until it was too late. Will they repeat their, um, error this time?