Elections in the News

The Biggest Surprise

Despite the efforts of the media to create headlines, and despite the alarms of watchdog groups, this election seems to be going remarkably smooth…

  • Connecticut (Hartford): Despite record turnout, nothing more than one machine problem here, a paper jam there…
  • Georgia (South Fulton County): Power was out all morning, so all 15 machines could not be used-and were replaced with paper ballots.  One precinct ran out of all paper ballots and provisional ballots.  Another precinct was illegally denying provisional ballots to voters without IDs.
  • Florida: people had difficulty feeding ballots through optical scanners, preventing voters from being able to verify that their vote counted.  Although it appears to be well contained,  some still fear it may prove to be a “statewide problem.”  About two dozen polling places are also reporting broken scanners, which means voters are not able to verify that their vote has been cast.
  • Florida (Fort Meyers): no lines, no problems…
  • Mississippi: Reports of isolated vote switching, improper requests for ID, and poorly trained poll workers.

But all in all…the biggest surprise is that there aren’t any surprises.

Inés and Janell