A non-partisan coalition monitoring problems at polling sites
has reported failures of electronic voting machines around the United
States - some of which recorded touch screen votes for candidates
voters had not selected. While errors were resolved in the cases
brought to the attention of poll watchers, many voters remain uncertain
whether their proper vote was cast in a bitterly contested election in
which President George Bush has claimed victory. "A number of people
who thought they were voting for Kerry, when the screen came up it
showed they were voting for Bush," said Cindy Cohn, legal director for
the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) which is a member of the
coalition. "We've seen it across several voting systems, not just one
machine." As of November 3rd, members of the Election Protection
Coalition received 4,459 reports of ballot problems, 2,867 calls about
polling place irregularities, and 7,152 complaints regarding voter
registration glitches. Another 1,074 people phoned in to say that they
had witnessed voter intimidation. Unlike the voting problems that
occurred during the 2000 elections, the voting problems reported during
the 2004 election were spread across the entire country and aggravated
the long lines voters endured at polling places. The group Common Cause
also reported 50,000 calls reporting voting problems to its election
hot-line, although not all the complaints were related to e-voting
problems. [more]