Voting Watch: Twelve States To Follow on Election Day

(Editor's note: This summary, while a little technical, goes over the nuts and bolts of voting that could prompt problems on Election Day or become the fodder for recount fights if the vote is close).

With five days to go before Election Day, preparations and campaigning have reached a fever pitch. Voter interest is soaring. Turnout could reach historic levels. On Election Day, Electionline.org will pay particular attention to a dozen states.

While some (Colorado, Florida, Missouri and Ohio) are clearly battlegrounds in the race for the White House, others (Georgia and the District of Columbia) might have less drama when the results are tallied than they do while polls are open.

All 12 states share some similarities -- regardless of their competitiveness in the national electoral map, they have issues in election administration that bear watching: whether it s new rules governing voter identification; trouble with voting systems , either because of computer glitches, poll worker mistakes or both; long lines at polls; new voter registration databases; or some combination of problems.

This list does not mean there will be trouble on Election Day, but the likelihood for problems looms based on past performance or current events.

Colorado

Past problems with vote centers in Denver a system that replaced neighborhood precincts with super precincts allowing in any one of a reduced number of super precincts convinced city officials to revert to the old way of doing things rather than risk equipment failures, long lines and chaos that plagued the 2006 vote. And while a third of the state s registered voters have already cast ballots by mail or early in person, lines still might be unavoidable in this Western battleground state. Voters will be faced with one of the longest ballots in state history. And polling places as well as voter rolls will be stressed by an expected near-record turnout, a new statewide voter registration database operating for the first time in a presidential election and a likely record number of new registrants. Purges of that voter list have been controversial as well and a lawsuit over the issue was settled this week allowing for extra oversight of provisional ballots cast by voters who have been canceled from the rolls since mid-May. Officials from across the state predict it could take time to report results, meaning the nation could stay up late waiting for word from Colorado.

District of Columbia

There should be little drama when results are announced in the Nation s Capital Sen. Barack Obama (D) scored a landslide in every precinct in the District in February but recent voting machine troubles, accusations of mismanagement, misprinted absentee ballots, turnover at the top echelons of the Board of Elections and strange results from tabulators will keep things interesting. Long lines and paper ballot shortages plagued the February presidential preference primary with some areas running out of Democratic ballots before noon. A low-turnout September primary had problems as well, with one precinct reporting unusually high numbers of write-in ballots, a snafu the city s voting machine vendor blamed on static discharge or mishandling, later saying the machines all worked well and blamed the event on human error. The Board of Elections, which has seen its executive director, registrar, poll-worker recruiter and trainer/press spokesman as well as chairman leave and be replaced in a presidential election year, blamed problems on one defective cartridge after remaining silent on the issue for days.

Florida

Election Day marks the third voting system in use in as many presidential elections for a number of Sunshine State counties, including Miami-Dade and Broward, two of the state s most populous. Optical- scan systems replaced touch-screen units this year in 15 counties after Gov. Charlie Crist led efforts to rid the state of them. The discovery of more than 18,000 non votes in a 2006 Congressional contest in Sarasota County cemented the machine s fate, though recent problems managing an election on optical scanners in Palm Beach County has done little to allay fears that election reform s poster child will have at least some snafus on Election Day. Debates have also raged over the state s no-match, no-vote law, and some advocacy groups have voiced concerns that some new registrants might not get on voter rolls due to errors in databases. More than 2.5 million voters have already cast ballots in person or by mail, with the former group enduring long lines in many parts of the state compelling Gov. Charlie Crist (R) to extend early voting polling place hours.