Election-Campaign Law

Summary of Election Day problems (or lack thereof?)

By inelefi

Wednesday morning the news is that there is relatively little of it, which likely means a victory for election administration.  The New York Times reports on a few scattered problems, but acknowledges that there were no “catastrophic failures.”  Here are a few other end-of-day summary reports of problems from across the nation, with special focus on battleground states. They all list the few-and-far-between election problems, ultimately conceding an election well-run.

There were a few minor poll worker partisanship problems in Indiana, and accusations of illegally removing challengers from polling places in Michigan.

Some news is still coming out of Virginia about the NAACP’s lost lawsuit, and some Virginian county election officials blamed their Election Day problems on record turnout, which they say they did not predict.  Interesting, since everyone else predicted it.  Chicago area counties reported no major problems, as did Wisconsin.  In Ohio, Secretary of State Brunner was very happy things went so smoothly, despite the fact that she received death threats and is currently being sued.

As we look back to past election debacles, it is nice to know election administrators appear to have learned from them, and hopefully from the research they have inspired.  And, with the voting technology performing with so few problems, maybe voting machines really were the real winner!

However, despite the relative ease with which the election was carried out, “there’s still work that can be done to improve the voting process and voting technology….[T]he nation’s top election official said she’s confident that voting systems can be improved and that elections can run more smoothly.”  Which means election researchers experts can keep their day jobs!

Janell

Full post as published by Election Updates on November 05, 2008 (boomark / email).