Voting Irregularity Tracking Thread - Volunteers Needed

[CCUSA]

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/43991/

Voting means voting problems

Posted by Melissa McEwan at 6:48 AM on November 7, 2006.


Poll worker assaults voter
Melissa McEwan

Bruising Vets Ad on Fox [VIDEO]
Evan Derkacz

FBI investigating Allen-Webb race
Melissa McEwan
Ohio: "Reporting from Summit County, where we use optical scan machines: my husband and I were in line at 6:30 a.m. when the polls opened so we were the 14th & 15th people in our precinct (8-C) to vote. Unfortunately, the optical scanner wouldn't accept any ballots. I hung around until 7:30 a.m. to see if they got it working and when I left it was still down. Of course, it took all 4 of the octogenarians staffing the precinct table to try to 'fix' the problem so the line was backed up out the door & into the parking lot, where voters were treated to a light morning drizzle. Sure hope my vote gets counted. And I hope not too many people had to bail out of the line in order to make it to their jobs on time."

Missouri: "Secretary of State Robin Carnahan raised concerns about potential voter confusion in Tuesday's elections, citing her own experience casting an absentee ballot as an indication that some poll workers may wrongly be asking voters for a photo identification. Carnahan told The Associated Press on Monday that a worker at the St. Louis Election Board asked her three times to show a photo identification when she voted absentee last Friday -- despite a Missouri Supreme Court ruling striking down the photo requirement"

Ohio again: "Similar problems in Hamilton County to those reported in Summit County. Even though my partner changed his registration to our new address and even though he voted in the same precinct last election with no problem, because his driver's license had our old address, the pollworkers forced him to vote a provisional ballot. This precinct is smack dab in the middle of the congressional district where . . . Jean Schmidt should lose to Victoria Wulsin, but turnout will matter. The lines were long, with people standing in the rain, and the pollworkers seemed ill equipped to handle the process. Could be a long day in Ohio again."

Florida: "Just in case you're keeping tabs, I wanted to tell you that my wife tried to vote in our precinct in Tampa and was not on the list. After several tries to find out why, she was told that the voter database was 'cleaned' and there must have been a mistake. I'm trying to find out who 'cleaned' it."

Tennessee: "Went to my precinct to vote and all 3 machines were not working. This precinct has a lot of lower-income families and public housing. They finally got one of the machines going, but the lines were out the door - I waited close to an hour and had to get to work. I wasn't the only one -- most of those leaving were young(er) working people more likely to vote Democratic. I'll be coming back later to vote, but how many of those that left will be able to do that? You would think the machines would have at least been tested and working before the actual election day."

Illinois: "I live in Arlington Heights, IL, outside of Chicago. I'm in Mark Kirk's House District. This morning none of the electronic voting machines were working. Therefore the wait to vote was around 30 minutes, since they were using paper ballots. As an aside, on the table next to the election judges was a box of donuts from the Republican Party of Wheeling Township, thanking the election judges for their service. Democray [sic] (and bribery) in action!"

Compiled from Talking Points Memo, where TPM Reader DK says: "We're not going to be able to post every anecdote like this that we receive today. It would be beside the point. We'll be looking for trends and patterns. But regardless of whether you subscribe to deep, dark conspiracy theories of GOP election trickery, voting should be easy, accurate, and fair. It's not. The system is broken."



Tagged as: election

Melissa McEwan writes and edits the blog Shakespeare's Sister.

[UB]

Voting problems reported in NJ By Dave Evans
(New Jersey - WABC, November 7, 2006) - The US Attorney for New Jersey has dispatched investigators to run down complaints of voting machine problems which are preventing voters from casting ballots for GOP Senate hopeful Tom Kean, Jr.

The counsel for the NJ Republican State Committee, Mark Sheridan, says he has four sworn affidavits and has received more than two dozen calls alleging that some of New Jersey's electronic voting machines were either "pre-voted" for Democratic incumbant Bob Menendez, or were otherwise inoperable when voters sought to cast votes for Kean.
Sheridan says complaints had come in from five NJ counties, some of the polling places affected are in Passaic, Paterson, Scotch Plains and North Bergen, though Sheridan refused to be more specific, citing a fear of depressing voter turnout in the affected locations.

Sheridan called the complaints a "disturbing" trend and threatened court action if election officials were unable to correct the problem and prevent its recurrence.

Sheridan said he'd received complaints of problems at more than seven locations affecting multiple voters at multiple and identical locations.

One problem, says Sheridan, is that voters apparently don't realize that in order to deselect a vote for a candidate on the new machines, they need to touch the icon for that candidate, and then touch the screen again to select the icon of the candidate for which they want to cast a vote.

Even so, Sheridan says that does not explain how the Menendez icon was selected on the affected machines, even before the voters attempted to use the machines to cast their ballots.

Voters do need to affirmatively lock in their votes on the machines before they reset, and there is a possibility that some voters aren't doing that, which could account for the problem, at least in some cases. However, Sheridan points out that if that were the case here, all of the icons for which a voter had cast ballots would be lit and the problem seems to be that only the Menendez icon remains selected.

Sheridan says there is no provision which would allow a poll worker to void an erroneously cast vote.

The counties in which machine problems have been reported include Middlesex, Hudson, Camden, Passaic and Union Counties.

Sheridan says the machines mentioned in the complaints are all Sequoia voting machines.

All four voters who swore out affidavits allege they voted for Menendez when they intended to vote for Kean.

The problems were first reported starting at about 7 a.m



http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?secti ... id=4737362

[CCUSA]

http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/art ... 1003353389
Papers Cover Voting Problems in Early Web Stories



By Joe Strupp

Published: November 07, 2006 1:45 PM ET

NEW YORK With memories still fresh of alleged voting glitches, fraud and long lines just two years ago in many locations, numerous newspapers are making coverage of problems with today's vote a top issue on Web sites today.

As voters go to the polls to cast ballots in what may be the most significant mid-year elections in a dozen years, new concerns about the use of electronic voting machines and uncertainty over the experience of poll workers have made the focus on potential problems, and delays, more relevant than ever.

USA Today appeared to lead the newspaper reporting on the Web today about Election Day problems, with its lead story headlined, "Voting machine problems bedevil multiple states." The lengthy piece revealed information on poll worker confusion with electronic voting in Illinois, computer errors delaying votes in Indiana -- and prompting a court order to extend voting -- and non-functioning machines in Ohio.

Associated Press had several reports focused on voting problems, including one posted by mid-morning headlined "New Rules, Machines Frazzle Poll Workers."

"Programming errors and inexperience dealing with electronic voting machines frustrated poll workers in hundreds of precincts early Tuesday, delaying voters in Indiana, Ohio and Florida and leaving some with little choice but to use paper ballots instead," the story stated. After detailing some specific instances, the story added that "with a third of Americans voting on new equipment and voters navigating new registration databases and changing ID rules, election watchdogs worried about polling problems even before the voting began."

By late morning, The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times had few original Web stories on voting problems. The New York Times posted a version of the AP Web story, along with a blog item on Chelsea Clinton initially being denied a chance to vote in Manhattan because her name was not on the rolls. She did reportedly cast an affidavit ballot. The Post's main election day primer referred to some newspapers Web reports in other states, as well as the AP coverage of problems.

In Ohio, where the majority of voting problems and fraud complaints came about in the 2004 presidential elections, each major paper offered early voting problem reports.

The Plain Dealer in Cleveland had a story about more than 40 of the 573 polling places in its home county reporting problems with polls, stating that they either opened late or had electronic voting machine problems. The paper also ran a story about an 18-year-old in Cleveland Heights who was initially denied his first chance to vote, before proving that he was properly registered.

An AP story out of Cleveland tabulated problems ranging from lines as long as 30-people deep forming in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus to examples of voter being denied the chance to cast ballots, despite having proof of registration. Many Ohio stories pointed to problems stemming from the state requiring proof of identification for the first time this year.

"They did offer me a provisional ballot but I have absolutely no faith in provisional ballots," one voter denied the chance to vote told AP. "I don't want to do a ballot that I fear won't be counted." One elections board received so many calls from voters and poll workers that the county's phone system collapsed for about 90 minutes, the story added.

At the Blade in Toledo, however, a top story reported few glitches in its local county voting, adding that there was "decent traffic at most polling locations but not long lines." The Columbus Dispatch had an early story about the county phone system crashing for 90 minutes under the weight of voter and poll worker calls.

Newspapers in Florida, where problems from the 2000 presidential voting are also still fresh, offered their own early Web reports. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale declared "few problems in Broward County," while The Miami Herald reported a 90-minute delay in voting in Deerfield Beach.

"Only three people had voted when all 14 machines stopped working," the Herald reported about the effect in one precinct. "After about 45 minutes, voters in Precinct 26A were able to cast ballots on four machines. But most voters, those in Precinct 23A, were out of luck until about 8:30 a.m., when technicians were able to get at least some machines back online."

At The Houston Chronicle, voters casting ballots in former Rep. Tom Delay's old district found electronic machine problems that delayed votes and cast "some uncertainty on ballots already cast." The paper also had an example of voting machines being used in the wrong district.

The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News both played up a story about the Colorado Democratic Party seeking a two-hour voting extension after computer problems delayed voting statewide.

USA Today was one of several newspaper's seeking reader input on voting problems, with a site page asking online users to e-mail their voting stories, along with photos. "Whether you're taking a picture of your polling station or not, Electionline wants to hear about your voting experience today," the paper's request stated. "When did you go? Was the experience smooth? Was it ugly? How were the lines? How did you cast your ballot -- computer, paper or otherwise -- and what did you think of the method? And how's the weather where you are?"

Initial comments from USA Today readers offered a mix of smooth operations and frustrating problems.

"Today when voting in Broward County Florida ... there were people doing last minute campaigning at the entry door. I believe it is illegal to do that within a certain distance of the voting area," one reader stated in an e-mail. Another from New York wrote in, "My polling station level action machine was not working @ 6:10, 10 minutes after polls opened, had to use 'Emergency Paper Ballot'."

But others indicated no glitches, such as the Texas reader who wrote, "the electronic process was pretty intuitive and went smoothly," adding later that "weather here in Texas is sunny and seasonally warm."

The Chicago Tribune sought stories from voters as well, with Web pages set aside for input on how smoothly the ballots were cast. "Did you experience any difficulties while casting your vote?" The Tribune site asked. "Tell us about it. (You may also report irregularities to the U.S. attorney's office at 312-469-6157.)"

The Boston Globe, meanwhile, listed Web sites and phone numbers to call with voter problems.

[Kate]

Cuyahoga encounters voting problems

http://www.cleveland.com/weblogs/electi ... 06_11.html

Tuesday, November 07, 2006
1:41 p.m.

Dale Omori/The Plain Dealer

As of 12:30 p.m. all polling places in Cuyahoga County were using electronic voting machines, a Board of Elections spokesman said. However, it’s not clear whether all machines are working at every polling place.

Elections board spokesman Alan Melamed said fewer than 10 polling places had to use paper ballots this morning. Melamed did not have the site locations, and it wasn’t clear how many paper ballots have been cast.

Also, Melamed said paper ballots are being placed in provisional ballot envelopes and marked “regular” if voters present valid ID. He said that’s because the multipage ballots can't be placed into boxes or they would scatter. He said the paper ballots marked "regular" should be counted tonight, although he's still checking on that.

This morning, more than 40 polling places in Cuyahoga County reported problems when the polls opened.


Dale Omori/The Plain Dealer
Forty-three of the county’s 573 voting places either failed to open on time or couldn’t get some or all of their electronic voting machines to work, Melamed said.

At Boulevard School in Shaker Heights voters who showed up first-thing were turned away temporarily because electronic voting machines were not working. The poll workers later reverted to paper ballots and began welcoming voters, Melamed said.

It was not clear mid-morning how many polling places are using paper ballots, which must be scanned by the Optical Scanning Machines.

Otherwise, there were no major problems at Cuyahoga County’s polling sites this morning, according to the Board of Elections.

A new computer system allowed staff at the Board of Elections in downtown Cleveland to electronically monitor the opening of polls, allowing technicians to be dispatched quickly to trouble-shoot. Purple lights on computer screens indicated a critical situation, such as machines not working.

Melamed said four purple lights showed problems at sites in Parma and Cleveland but they were resolved quickly. Sometimes the problem was that no techician showed up to start the machines.

Candice Hoke, director of Cleveland State’s Center for Election Integrity, said some of her public monitors reported that poll workers were incorrectly requiring some voters who used paper ballots to fill out a provisional voter form. Voting results for any of those forms won’t be counted until the official count begins 11 days after the election.

Hoke said provisional ballots should be used only when, for example, a voter has a new address or has changed her name, not because a registered voter uses a paper ballot.

Despite the glitches, Hoke said so far, today’s election is much-improved over May’s primary.

“The important thing is the problems are being taken care of relatively quickly,” she said.

[CCUSA]

This article was posted 3 hours ago.



http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/p ... y_politics

NJ voting machine woes reported, but no major problemsTOM HESTER Jr.
Associated Press


TRENTON, N.J. - Voting machine woes were reported in Essex and Camden counties Tuesday morning, but election officials said the problems were not widespread.

Tuesday's election was the first time voters in all 21 New Jersey counties cast ballots electronically in a statewide general election, though most counties have used the machines in other elections.

Four counties - Camden, Essex, Monmouth and Warren - were using the computerized machines for the first time Tuesday in a general election, though they all used the machines in other elections, such as primaries, earlier this year without major problems.

Phyllis Pearl, Camden County elections superintendent, said the county had problems with about 30 of its 700 machines, but reported no major problems. Pearl said the problems did not affect voting.

"We're not experiencing any grave errors," Pearl said.

She said county officials have been able to walk poll workers through most problems, and that emergency ballots were used if a machine technician wasn't readily available.

David Wald, spokesman for the state Attorney General's Office, said about 25 machines didn't work properly Tuesday in Irvington, East Orange, Montclair, Newark and West Orange in Essex County, which has about 600 voting machines.

He said people voted with emergency ballots as the machines were either repaired or replaced.

Republicans complained that in at least five voting booths in four Passaic County districts using electronic voting machines, a space next to the candidates that was supposed to be blank was already marked with a vote for Menendez. When voters tried to vote for a Republican candidate, the check marks would not change, the Republicans said.

Wald, who said all the complaints came from the city of Paterson, said the Attorney General's Office was looking into the matter.

Democrats also said they were aware of the complaints and were looking into them.

Under orders from state Attorney General Stuart Rabner, 550 state deputy attorneys general were on duty Tuesday to help county officials resolve voting-related legal issues.

The U.S. Justice Department sent federal election monitors to five New Jersey counties - Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex and Salem.

According to the department, the federal observers and monitors will watch and record activities to ensure counties are complying with federal voting law by, for example, determining whether voters are challenged improperly because of the language they speak.

New Jersey Democrats vowed to have 1,000 lawyers ready across the state to help voters who are improperly challenged. Democrats have alleged that Republicans may try to discourage some people from voting on Election Day, charges that the Republicans have denied.

The state has about 4.86 million registered voters this Election Day.

[CCUSA]

http://www.koat.com/news/10255016/detail.htmlG.O.P. Denied Last-Minute Driver's Info

POSTED: 12:43 pm MST November 6, 2006
UPDATED: 1:04 pm MST November 6, 2006



ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- On Monday, Republicans failed in a last-minute effort to gain access to the names of about 27,000 foreign nationals, who had been issued New Mexico driver's licenses.

Judge Valerie Huling ruled that there was no need for an emergency action on the G.O.P. request, because the party's lawyers couldn not show that those driver's license holders would influence the election.

This summer, the G.O.P. asked for the information but was given a highly redacted list by the New Mexico Department of Motor Vehicles. The department claims that to release such information is a violation of federal rights laws.


The jude will hear more arguments on this case at a later date.

[CCUSA]

http://www.humanevents.com/rightangle/i ... _the_board




All Words Some Word Entire phrase


Voter Fraud Across the Board

by Ivy J. Sellers — 11-07-2006 @ 02:40 PM Reader Comments (0)


Not surprisingly, there's been cases of voter fraud reported across the country today, with more pouring in by the hour. Here's a rundown of the reports gathered so far, with the states appearing in alphabetical.

Of note are problems in tight races such as Corker vs. Ford in Tennessee, Stabenow vs. Bouchard in Michigan, and Talent vs. McCaskill in Missouri.

Florida:


Hundreds Of Voters In Volusia And Osceola Counties Were Given The Wrong Ballots. -- Local 6 Website, "Hundreds Get Wrong Ballots In Central Florida," Local6.com, 11/7/06, Accessed 11/7/06

Hawaii:


Six Polling Places Failed To Open On Time Because Precinct Chairs Or Managers Were Late Or Did Not Show Up. -- "Six Hawaii Polling Places Fail To Open On Time," The Associated Press, 11/7/06

Indiana:


In Delaware County, Computer Errors Prevented Voting In 75 Precincts; Voting Extended To 8:40 P.M., Instead Of Scheduled 6 P.M. Close. -- Cliff Brunt, "Early Voting Problems In At Least 2 Indiana Counties," The Associated Press, 11/7/06


Poll Workers Forgot How To Start Touch-Screen Machines In Marion County; Paper Ballots Used Instead. -- Cliff Brunt, "Early Voting Problems In At Least 2 Indiana Counties," The Associated Press, 11/7/06

Kentucky:


Jefferson County Poll Worker Was Arrested And Charged With Assault After Allegedly Choking And Pushing Voter Out The Door. -- "Ky. Poll Worker Charged With Assault," The Associated Press, 11/7/06

Maryland:


Some Polling Places Opened Half An Hour Late In Baltimore City. -- Stephen Manning, "Md. Officials Report Primary Voting Problems Appear Fixed," The Associated Press, 11/7/06

Michigan:


Senate Candidate Mike Bouchard's Website Was Hacked And Shut Down On Election Day. -- Bouchard For U.S. Senate, "Hackers Shut Down Bouchard Campaign Website On Election Day," Press Release, 11/7/06

Minnesota:


Windows Of Rep. Gil Gutknecht's (R-MN) Office Were Smeared With Broken Eggs. -- "U.S. Rep. Gutknecht's Office Hit With Broken Eggs," The Associated Press, 11/7/06

Missouri:


Claire McCaskill And ACORN Plan Election Night Rally At Same Location; ACORN Workers Have Been Indicted For Fraud And Accused Of Illegally Campaigning For McCaskill. -- Missouri Republican Party, "McCaskill, Proposition B Supporters Share Venue: A Coincidence? We Think Not," Press Release, 11/7/06

Montana:


Voters Have Been Receiving Calls From People Identifying Themselves As Being Associated With Montana Democrats; Callers Falsely Claimed That Voters Are On Record Requesting Absentee Ballots And Must Cast Provisional Ballots That Will Be Open To Challenge If They Attempt To Vote In Person. -- Montana Republican Party, "MT GOP Files Motion To Stop Democrat's Calls," Press Release, 11/6/06; Secretary Of State Brad Johnson, "Don't Believe The Calls -- Voting Is Easy And Your Right," Press Release, 11/6/06

New Jersey:


About 25 Machines Failed To Work Properly In Irvington, East Orange, Montclair, Newark And West Orange In Essex County. -- Tom Hester Jr., "NJ Voting Machine Woes Reported, But No Major Problems," The Associated Press, 11/7/06


Vandals Attacked Kean For Senate Headquarters, Chaining Closed The Entrance And Braking Off Keys In Door Entrances. -- Kean For U.S. Senate, "Vandals Strike Kean Campaign," Press Release, 11/7/06

Ohio:


Columbus Polling Location Opened Late Because Of A Break-In At The School Where The Precinct Is Located. -- Connie Mabin, "Long Lines, Problems With Voting Machines Reported Across Ohio," The Associated Press, 11/7/06

Pennsylvania:


Philadelphia 19th Ward Democrat Leader Carlos Matos Said There Is No Need For GOP Poll Watchers In His Ward, Since Everyone Is A Democrat. -- Pennsylvania Republican Party, "In Case You Missed It ..." Press Release, 11/7/06


Democrat Campaign Literature Was Found In Philadelphia Polling Places. (Pennsylvania Republican Party, "In Case You Missed It ..." -- Press Release, 11/7/06


Programming Errors On Voting Machines In Lebanon County Forced County To Extend Voting By An Hour To 9 P.M. -- Genaro C. Armas, "Early 'Minor Glitches' Reported With New Voting Machines," The Associated Press, 11/7/06


Supporters Of Joe Sestak Defaced Store And Overpass With Anti-Curt Weldon Graffiti, Spray-Painting Weldon's Name With A Communist Hammer And Sickle. -- Rep. Curt Weldon For Congress, "Sestak Supporters Sink To New Low With Defacement Of Private, Public Property," Press Release, 11/7/06


Technical Glitches Prevented Voters From Casting Ballots In At Least 13 Voting Locations. -- KDKA Website, "Voters Experiencing Difficulty With New Machines," KDKA.com, 11/7/06, Accessed 11/7/06

Tennessee:


Three Poll Workers Charged With Faking Votes From Dead People To Elect Ophelia Ford, Rep. Harold Ford's Aunt, To TN State Senate, Are Scheduled To Appear In Court On Election Day. -- Marc Perrusquia, "Dead-Voter Scandal Rears Its Ugly Head," The [Memphis] Commercial Appeal, 11/7/06


Shelby County Election Commissioners Claimed Voters Likely Walked Off With Smartcards Used To Activate Voting Machines. -- Brooke Sanders, "Election Commission Says Voters Walked Off With Smart Cards," WMCTV.com, 11/6/06


Voter Used Identity Of Person Who Died In 2003 To Cast A Ballot During Early Voting In Shelby County, TN. -My Fox Memphis Website, "Accusations Of Voter Fraud Surface," www.myfoxmemphis.com , 11/6/06, Accessed 11/7/06

Utah:


Utah County Poll Workers Failed To Properly Encode Cards To Activate Touch-Screen Ballots. -- Anick Jesdanun, "Poll Workers Struggle With Vote Machines," The Associated Press, 11/7/06

[CCUSA]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.jsonline.com/watch/?watch=22 ... 6&id=14002

TUESDAY, Nov. 7, 2006, 11:34 a.m.
By Lisa Sink

Bomb threat closes Madison polling site
Madison - A bomb threat this morning at Madison East High School prompted the city to close its polling site there and relocate it, state Elections Board Executive Director Kevin Kennedy said.

Kennedy said Madison city officials might ask the Dane County Circuit Court to extend the voting hours for that site due to the time it was closed.

Details on the bomb threat and duration of time the poll was closed were not immediately available.

Kennedy said the state was told that poll workers sealed the ballots that had been cast before the bomb threat and transported them to the new site.

Signs at Madison East were posted telling voters the site was closed and where to go.

"I'm sure that there have been voters who have been inconvenienced by this," Kennedy said.

He said while he has heard of bomb threats disrupting and relocating polling sites nationally, he could not recall it happening before in Wisconsin.

All municipalities are supposed to have emergency plans in place to relocate sites in case of natural disasters, floods, fires, terrorism or bomb threats, Kennedy said.

[AmericanElizabeth]

Somehow with this, I have this very vivid picture in my mind of these grungy black wearing anarchists sitting in front of computers hacking into GOP candidate websites and such.

Anyone else have that hunch?

As for problems at the polling places, well that is a matter of incompetent county officials making sure things are working and in order before people get there to vote, just plain incompetence.

But.....one never knows what unthinkable thing might be lurking within the shadows of all of this, and not one person has a clue as to something that is more than it what appears. Meaning, we'll see if it was truly incompetence, or something else altogether, as there are those out there that will stop at nothing to be in control.

[Jean]

Well, here's the latest from San Diego:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/poli ... vote3.html

Technical glitches arise during switch to computerized voting

By Karen Kucher and Angelica Martinez
UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM

12:55 p.m. November 7, 2006

SAN DIEGO – Election Day in San Diego County began with technical glitches reported in dozens of precincts early Tuesday, with frustrated voters unable to use computerized voting machines and forced to use paper ballots instead.

But county Registrar of Voters Mikel Haas said the problems were “sporadic and nothing systematic” and said a team of technicians were responding to complaints.

Voting machine glitches were reported across the county, mainly in the early hours after the polls opened at 7 a.m.

James Secrest said he almost gave up and went home Tuesday because the machines at Palmer Way Elementary School in National City were not working when he went to vote around 8 a.m.

Secrest, 70, said the workers at the poll didn't know how to work the machines.

“They gave us a pencil and paper,” he said. “It was very unorganized. I've been going there for 30 years and this is the worst I've seen it.”

He said there was a line of voters in the school library and no privacy for voters filling out the paper ballots.

“They weren't ready for it,” he said. “I wanted to vote but being the mess it was, I wanted to leave.”

Voting machines also weren't working when Jim Gogek went to vote at the Little Flower Haven convent on La Mesa Boulevard around 7:30 a.m.

He said voters were given absentee ballots and people sat on the floor filling them out, though there weren't enough pens for the voters who were waiting.

“I don't have much faith in these people's computer literacy skills. A lot of people who were voting were pretty disgusted,” Gogek said.

The county is using 10,200 Diebold touch-screen machines in 1,650 precincts. Officials have called the machines user-friendly and said they expected them to make voting less confusing. The machines, first used in March 2004, have been retrofitted to include paper records of ballots cast.

Haas said the registrar's office had 350 computer technicians ready to respond to problems Tuesday.

“A lot of it is just inexperience with the new system,” Haas said. “We knew it was going to be a wild morning, anytime you've got some assembly required.”

Haas said he did not know how many precincts were encountering problems with the computerized voting machines.

Some problems were easy to fix. In one precinct, workers simply needed to plug in the computers to make them work.

The computers had been running on back-up batteries, which only last about three hours. When they called to report a problem around 10 a.m., Haas said, technicians knew it was a quick fix.

“You need to plug them in,” Haas said. “They were running them on battery power.”

In some cases, the computer mishaps meant that some ballots had to be cancelled and that voters had to try several times to vote.

Mark Knoll, 35, said it took him nearly an hour to vote at a home in San Carlos because he was waiting for the computers to work properly.

“I actually voted three times,” he said.

The computers were not running when he arrived at 7 a.m. and after several minutes of waiting, the voting machine jammed twice and his vote had to be cancelled both times, Knoll said.

“It was amazing. It was absolutely amazing,” he said.

The technical difficulties made Knoll long for past Election Days.

“I don't know what's wrong with the old way,” Knoll said. “I especially worry about my parents who aren't computer savvy.”

Anne Carter, 58, of San Diego, agreed.

She said she waited about a half hour to vote electronically at St. Paul's Community Center in Banker's Hill where she has voted for about 20 years but in the end she asked for a paper ballot instead.

“Everyone was having a hard time with the machines. They didn't know how to work them,” Carter said. “I'm very, very, very scared about this election.”

Rob Thornbush, 47, said none of the voting machines were working at Deer Canyon Elementary School in Rancho Peñasquitos when he went to vote around 9 a.m. He said poll workers told him they weren't given the codes to start the machines when polls opened.

“Everyone was required to vote by paper versus using the new machines,” he said. “It looked like the paper was going fast.”

Malfunctioning machines plagued voters who turned out in force at Escondido's Hidden Valley Middle School. Turnout was so heavy that precinct worker Shari Tanner worried she might run out of paper ballots.

By noon, however, the precinct had gotten a fresh shipment of paper ballots and a troubleshooter from the county Registrar had fixed five of the six machines set up on the tiny stage in the school's auditorium.

The computer technician, Robert Bender, said the machine had been jammed by a plastic credit-card sized voter card. “The cards get jammed sometimes,” he said.

At a polling place on Madison Avenue in University Heights, so many people asked to vote on paper that election workers temporarily ran out of paper ballots printed in English. The electronic voting machines at the polling place were functioning normally, but dozens of people opted not to use them.

Some English-speaking voters who wanted to vote on paper agreed to cast their ballots on ballots printed in Spanish.

In Vista, Cynthia Bond arrived at her polling place at the New Community Church in Vista to find two of the five machines were inoperable and a third appeared to be malfunctioning.

“The thing that most concerned me was the lack of organization and the lack of technical skill to get the machines running and almost a sense of complacency,” she said. “(The poll workers) were trying, but they didn't know what they were doing.”

Even in precincts where there were computer glitches, Haas stressed that voters were still able to cast their ballots.

“That's exactly what we train to do,” he said. “If you don't have all of your touch screen units up and running or none of them are up and running at 7 o'clock, that's why we put those backup ballots out there.

“We are not seeing a situation where people are turned away.”

Despite such reassurances, many voters complained that the alternative to electronic voting, the paper method, was chaotic and lacked privacy.

And several said it was their worst voting experience ever.

“The poll workers were having difficulty putting the machines together and there was a lot of noise and chaos while voters tried to find places in the room to sit, stand, or squat to complete a paper ballot,” Kim Baker wrote in an e-mail about her voting experience in Linda Vista.

Some polling places were nearly crippled by a failure of the new technology until help arrived.

None of the six electronic voting machines at Kimball Senior Center in National City were functioning Tuesday morning. Volunteer Emelinda Ignacio and her crew had all voters use paper ballots while she waited for a troubleshooter to arrive.

She stored the cast paper ballots in a cardboard box.

“We do not have the machine to count the (paper) ballots,” she said, speculating that perhaps the Registrar's office had banked on the electronic machines working.

“I don't want to be held accountable if they're not counted. We don't have the machines,” Ignacio said.

The glitches, though, seemed to be ironed out by mid-morning in some polling places.

For instance, only one of seven machines was working in the garage of a residence on Valley Lake Road in El Cajon when that polling place first opened.

All of the machines were working within 20 minutes, however, after a troubleshooter stopped by, aided by Valhalla High School senior Matt Mekany, 16, who was volunteering as a poll worker.

“For the most part, people were very patient,” said poll worker Diane Arestad.

And many poll workers reported only smooth sailing.

“People are really enjoying our touch-screens,” said poll worker Gary Baldwin, at the La Mesa Senior Center. “We expected a million problems. We haven't had any.”

Anne Hall of La Mesa was pleased with the machines after casting her ballot at the senior center.

“I thought it was very clear,” she said. “I was afraid of it, but it was fine.”

Others, though, clearly distrusted the new system, fearing it could be hacked or their votes would not be counted.

That's why Guillermo Cornejo of Otay Mesa asked for a paper ballot. But his polling place seemed ill-prepared for that, he said. He had to lean against the wall and fill out his ballot.

He was infuriated.

“It was no secret ballot.”