National wrap-up
The New York Times reports: Lines were long, tempers were short, some voting machines malfunctioned and a few polling places briefly replaced electronic wizardry with cardboard ballot boxes. But America's national election seemed to run smoothly yesterday, with no widespread reports of chaos, fraud or legal challenges that might affect the outcome. ...
And there were other serious problems. Disputes over absentee ballots arose in at least two states. Pennsylvania Republicans filed suit in federal court in Philadelphia seeking to prevent absentee ballots from being counted before Friday, when names could be compared to registration rolls. And in Florida, many Palm Beach County residents who never received absentee ballots were having a hard time casting regular ballots. They were only required to sign oaths swearing they had not yet voted, but some poll workers were insisting on checking with a supervisor whose line was constantly busy.
The Election Protection Coalition, a nonpartisan group that tracked problems in polling places, said it had received 23,000 reports of problems at the polls nationwide, including 1,100 about voting machines that malfunctioned and 8,900 incidents of voters not appearing on registration rolls. Thousands more involved problems with absentee ballots.
Some disabled Florida voters who failed to receive absentee ballots were turned away when they tried to vote in person. Elsewhere in Florida, some Hispanic voters said they were falsely told the polls had closed early, and in New Mexico some voters said callers had given them phony information about changed polling places.
In Nevada, election officials said calls had been made to some registered Democrats telling falsely of changes in the time and place of balloting. Others reported visits from strangers with ballots, which were to be filled out and handed back.
More confusion surrounded the use of provisional ballots in many states. They were being used for the first time by voters whose names did not appear on official voter rolls. Some states counted them yesterday, others said they would do so only if a recount became necessary. -- The New York Times > Washington > Election 2004 > The Balloting: Long Lines, Short Tempers, Little Chaos at Polls