Hundreds of problems with electronic voting

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Voters nationwide reported some 1,100 problems with electronic voting machines on Tuesday, including trouble choosing their intended candidates.

The e-voting glitches reported to the Election Protection Coalition, an umbrella group of volunteer poll monitors that set up a telephone hotline, included malfunctions blamed on everything from power outages to incompetent poll workers.

But there were also several dozen voters in six states – particularly Democrats in Florida – who said the wrong candidates appeared on their touch-screen machine’s checkout screen, the coalition said.

In many cases, voters said they intended to select John Kerry but when the computer asked them to verify the choice it showed them instead opting for President Bush, the group said.

Ralph G. Neas, president of People for the American Way Foundation, which helped form the coalition, called the summary screen problem “troubling but anecdotal.”

But the reports did highlight computer scientists’ concerns about touch screens, which they say are prone to tampering and unreliable unless they produce paper records for recounts.

Election officials in several Florida counties where voters complained about such problems did not return calls Tuesday night.