Vote flipping in Indiana, Maryland, Penn. 10,000 calls to 866OURVOTE

866-OUR-VOTE received over 10,000 calls today. Top states include California, Georgia &Pennsylvania. Some in today's news. Would you believe Alabama didn't have enough pens, so used pencils to mark ballots, causing probs? ..Maryland Diebold touchscreens flip votes from GOP to DEM!..California awaits millions of mail ballots..Various probs with epoll books, paper poll books, power outages, locked up ballots, polling place moves, voting machine shutdowns, vote flipping, missing contests, bi-partisan tricks, voter registration problems.. poll locations...


All this and lots more in today's very big voting news....

AL: Pencils causing problems for some voters *(voting w/pencil, pens hard to find?)
http://annistonstar.com/view/full_story/10135701/article-Pencils-causing-problems-for-some-voters?instance=top_center_featured
Regular voters in previous Alabama elections may have noticed a change at the polls today, as election workers handed out pencils to complete ballots instead of the familiar black pens.

Calhoun County Probate Judge Alice Martin, the county’s chief election official, said the pencils have caused some problems here and elsewhere in the state. Voters who bear down too hard with the pencils in some cases are leaving an impression on the other side of their ballots, causing the machines that read them to reject the ballots.
...
Representatives of the company that provides election equipment and services to nearly every Alabama county said the change was made because it was becoming increasingly difficult to find enough pens.

AZ: #10720 Nov. 2 2010 / 2:40p.m. ET Tucson, Pima, AZ
http://www.ourvotelive.org/report/10720 darcyelgin Precinct: 82 2010 General Election, Polling place problem: Volunteer reported 4 polling sites within a mile. People who live in the same household are all given different sites to vote and voters seem generally confused about where they are supposed to be.

CA: Glitch Shuts Down Coto de Caza Voting Machines for Two Hours
http://voiceofoc.org/politics/article_60bde12c-e6c5-11df-b0ea-001cc4c03286.
Voters at the Coto de Caza fire station had to use paper ballots early today when glitches shut down all 12 voting machines for about two hours, poll workers said
...
"We had to use paper ballots," she said...
...
Poll workers said today was the first time all machines at the fire station were knocked out. They blamed a faulty main connection that only took a few minutes to fix once the repairman arrived.

CA: Millions of California vote-by-mail ballots unreturned
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_16499667 The state's 58 counties had reported receiving just under 3 million absentee ballots as of early afternoon Monday -- less than 40 percent of the 7.6 million ballots requested statewide for the general election, according to the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials.

CA: Santa Clara election workers use erasers to clean mail ballots*
http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=103841&catid=2
An ink smudge on Santa Clara County ballots caused a mechanical glitch at the county elections office last week, forcing officials to reprocess mail-in ballots and re-inspect ballots being sent to polling precincts for Tuesday's election.

About one in six of the first 100,000 vote-by-mail ballots processed were incorrectly flagged by an "optical character reader" as ballots containing write-in candidates, county officials said.

The error was the result of the smudge, which was caused by toner used by the company that printed the ballots, elections officials said.

CA: #10621 Nov. 2 2010 / 2:44p.m. ET San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
http://www.ourvotelive.org/report/10621 nysoperator Polling Place: The Urban School 2010 General Election, Provisional ballot concern: Voter overheard people being turned away at polling location, despite the fact that voters thought they were registered. He said no provisional ballots were offered.

CA: #11570 Nov. 2 2010 / 3:52p.m. ET los angeles, Los Angeles, CA
http://www.ourvotelive.org/report/11570 larsoperator Precinct: 9002063A, Polling Place: Freewill M B Church Fellowship Hall. Caller's polling place was not opened. Caller called to confirm location printed on sample ballot. Action Taken. Confirmed polling place as location printed on sample ballot. Caller advised to vote at any polling place in L.A. County with a provisional ballot. Caller told to take sample ballot with her and to call back if any further problems. Caller given locator number.

CA: Oakland voters flock to polls, struggle with ranked-choice voting
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_16501249
"It's confusing," said Diana Toutjian, 57, of the new system. "I voted three times for the same person," said Toutjian, who voted at Piedmont Avenue School.

CT: Warned by Justice Department, WWE Cancels Voter Giveaways
http://wtic.cbslocal.com/2010/11/01/warned-by-justice-department-wwe-cancels-voter-giveaways/ Vince McMahon, husband of Republican Senate candidate Linda McMahon, called the warning “heavy handed bullying” by the government.

FL: Despite sign glitch at Boynton precinct, most report voting is 'smooth'*
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/despite-sign-glitch-at-boynton-precinct-most-report-1013923.html The only confirmed glitch: some voters in Boynton Beach were having trouble finding the 4030 precinct that sits off Federal Highway between Hypoluxo Road and Gateway Boulevard in the Boynton Beach Boat Club.
...
Polling clerk Juthamas Khieokum said at lunch time that the station had been without a "Vote Here" sign most of the day and several voters had complained. She said she reported the issue to the elections officials, but while waiting on an official sign, they decided that a temporary one was needed.

The lack of a sign threw voter Nicholas Pitch of Boynton Beach who said he drove around for nearly an hour trying to find his voting station.

FL: At least one vote for a quiet day: Kathy Dent's*
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20101102/ARTICLE/11021062/2055/NEWS?Title=At-least-one-vote-for-a-quiet-day-Kathy-Dent-s Sarasota County. On the last day of early voting Sunday, half the equipment went dark at a Venice polling place.

Election watchdogs flocked to the poll to see what went wrong, but the cause was determined to be a power outage caused by a small animal on a power line.


FL: #10969 Nov. 2 2010 / 3:17p.m. ET Brooklyn , Duval, FL
http://www.ourvotelive.org/report/10969 davisoperator 2010 General Election, Voting equipment problem: MLV called to report a broken voting machine. A technician already came out to inspect the machine and acknowledged it was broken, saying he would bring a new one - that was more than two hours ago.

GA: Voting Glitch Caused 20 Minute Delay* Video (epoll book prob)
http://www.cbsatlanta.com/news/25606978/detail.html
Some voters in NW Atlanta cast their ballots the old fashioned way on Tuesday. A computer glitch forced people to fill out provisional ballots at Bolton Academy on Adams Drive.
...
The polling manager told CBS Atlanta News that the check in computers quit working around 9 in the morning and remained down for about 20 minutes. The glitch temporarily prevented some people from using the electronic voting machines.

GA: #10084 Nov. 2 2010 / 3:08p.m. ET Roswell, Fulton, GA
http://www.ourvotelive.org/report/10084 gakoperator Precinct: RW21A, Polling Place: HILLSIDE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Followup needed 2010 General Election, Voting equipment problem: Voter reported diffuculty getting machine to properly record Gov vote. First polling machine. Reported to poll manager. Told to call Fulton Co registar; no answer

IA: UPDATE: Voters express passion over political ads, judicial retention
http://www.easterniowagovernment.com/2010/11/02/update-three-voting-machines-malfunction-in-linn-county/ Linn County..Miller said ballots had been rejected by some machines, including one at Taylor Elementary School in Cedar Rapids, and were going to be replaced. He said the memory card in the machine will remain the same, so no votes will need to be recounted.

IL: #10792 Nov. 2 2010 / 2:51p.m. ET Orland Park, Cook, IL
http://www.ourvotelive.org/report/10792
nykoperator Precinct: 10, Polling Place: Village of Palos Park Recreation Center 2010 General Election: Machine not taking votes, can't get ballot back. Receipt coming out of the machine says no votes recorded. reporeted it to the poll workers, who are not doing anything about it. This has been going on for a while. Would like a call back when the issue is resolved ..

IN: Voting Machine Glitch At Pine Valley* (straight ticket flipping)
http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/news/local/Voting-Machine-Glitch-At-Pine-Valley-106524763.html FORT WAYNE, Ind. He tells us he tried to vote “straight ticket” for the republicans. But when he reviewed his ballot, the machine had marked his votes for all Democrats. He called over an election judge, who re-set the machine, which then worked correctly.

KS: Kansas attorney general investigates election-related phone calls*
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/11/01/2379849/kansas-ag-probes-election-calls.html
Some Democrats have complained of receiving phone calls telling voters to go to the polls Nov. 3 — although the election is Tuesday — and giving false information about the documents voters need to cast a ballot. In Kansas, first-time voters need to only show ID.

KS: Dems decry bogus robocalls*
http://cjonline.com/news/state/2010-11-01/dems_decry_bogus_robocalls
The calls tell people to take a voter registration card and proof of home ownership to election stations on Wednesday. The election is Tuesday, and the documentation addressed in the calls isn't required to vote

KY: Vote-buying alleged in four Kentucky counties* (vote buying, machine probs)
http://www.kentucky.com/2010/11/02/1506063/voting-going-smoothly-across-kentucky.html
The Kentucky election fraud hotline received 105 calls by 2:30 p.m. with complaints from at least 46 counties, including four allegations of vote-buying in Crittenden, Knott, Perry and Russell counties.
According to the Kentucky Attorney General's office, which administers the hotline, calls ran the gamut — complaints about voting machines and election officials, electioneering, general election fraud, disrupting the polls and more.
...
Fayette County. In one precinct, Meadowthorpe, both machines had to be replaced, so there was no voting for about 45 minutes.
"Everything was down at Meadowthorpe," Ware said.
Machines also had to be replaced at Sayre Village, Boone Station and Stone precincts, Ware said. Voting was delayed for about 30 minutes at Hollywood precinct early in the morning while machines were repaired.
And at least 25 precincts called for extra machines Tuesday because of long lines of voters.

MD: Voting Machine Glitch Worries GOP Candidate* (Diebold, vote flipping)
Board of Elections says issue is common, urges voters to double check their votes.
http://timonium.patch.com/articles/voting-machine-glitch-worries-gop-candidate
At least two voting machines at Pine Grove Middle School in Parkville had to be restarted after some voters had problems voting for Republican county executive candidate Ken Holt.

Joe Seehusen, a spokesman for Holt's campaign, said he received a complaint about a "voting irregularity" at Pine Grove Middle School Tuesday morning where a voter said he "pushed the button for Holt but got the write-in screen."

Seehusen also said that while he was present at the precinct two other voters reported that they had voted for Holt only to received an indication that their ballot was cast for Democrat Kevin Kamenetz. The voters caught the error and changed it before finalizing his ballot.

An elections judge at the precinct then cast his own vote and had a similar experience, Seehusen said.

The glitch resulted in at least two machines being shut down for a brief time.
...
Katie Brown, county elections director, attributed the issue to a "calibration error."

MI: Appeals court to hear arguments over '09 Detroit mayoral election results
http://www.detnews.com/article/20101102/METRO01/11020386/1361/Appeals-court-to-hear-arguments-over--09-Detroit-mayoral-election-results Detroit— As voters cast their ballots in the election of 2010, lawyers for three-time mayoral challenger Tom Barrow were to argue today before the Michigan Court of Appeals that his loss in 2009 to Mayor Dave Bing was the result of massive vote-counting irregularities

MN:MN Anti-Voter Fraud Group: Ignore Judge's Ruling Against 'I.D. Me' Buttons
http://www.866ourvote.org/state/news?id=0195

MO: Secretary of State's voter database has been unavailable all day*
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/political-fix/article_bd3a67e0-e6ac-11df-bd36-00127992bc8b.html
"The database itself is fine. We're having issues allowing Internet access to it.."
...
"The local election authorities can't communicate with the Secretary of State's office in the normal fashion," said John Diehl, a Republican state representative from Town and Country who is working on Blunt's "election security" team.
"The problem is, if I'm in the wrong polling place, my provisional ballot isn't going to count. It's potentially a real mess."

MO: Lack of state database slows voting in Greene County*
http://www.news-leader.com/article/20101102/BREAKING10/101102040/Lack-of-state-database-slows-voting-in-Greene-County Greene County voters should expect delays at polling stations today as poll workers struggle to verify registrations without the use of the statewide voter registration database.
...
Although most voters are not affected, some voters had to fill out a provisional ballot until their registration can be verified and their vote counted.

MS: Ballot, voting machine problems vex some voters* (party affil missing)
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20101102/NEWS/101102026 Voting machines in Rankin County were not programmed to show the party affiliation in the congressional race between Republican incumbent Gregg Harper and Democratic challenger Joel Gill.

NC: Democrats: Police checkpoint may have suppressed turnout*
http://www.news-record.com/content/2010/11/02/article/democrats_police_
checkpoint_may_have_suppressed_turnout http://tinyurl.com/2577of9
Police operated a checkpoint from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., stopping all cars during that time between Drexel Road and Lombardy Street on Phillips Avenue.

“I find it really hard to believe that we needed a random — allegedly — policy check point in front of a highly African American, highly Democratic precinct on a Tuesday morning that just happens to be Election Day,” said Andrew Whalen, executive director of the state Democratic Party.

The checkpoint is near three voting sites, most notably Peeler Recreation Center.

NC: Surry County Extends Voting Hours Until 8:30pm* (paper poll books incorrect)
http://www.digtriad.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=149999&catid=57
The Surry County Board of Elections said some voters at their smaller precincts showed up to vote Tuesday morning, but were delayed because of a problem with the poll books.

Hugh Campbell, Chairman with the Surry County Board of Elections said the names of republican and some unaffiliated voters were "inadvertently omitted" from the paper poll book at the county's smaller precincts.

Campbell said as soon as the problem was discovered, the poll books were rerun and delivered to each precinct by 9:30 am.

NC: Pitts: Pick 3 to ensure your voice is heard
http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2010/11/02/1044635?sac=Home

NC: NC voters choose judges for appellate courts
http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2010/11/02/1045005?sac=Home The use of instant runoff voting for the Court of Appeals seat that until recently was held by Judge Jim Wynn will be anything but instant if none of the 13 receives more than 50 percent of the first-place votes. A final winner wouldn't be determined until after Thanksgiving after second and third voting choices are counted, election officials have said.

NC: Voting-machine maker denies GOP claim
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/11/02/774964/voting-machine-maker-denies-gop.html
The manufacturer of North Carolina's touch-screen voting machines says the devices can't be programmed to default votes to Democrats, as alleged last week by Tom Fetzer, the state Republican Party chairman.

NV: Nev. Sec. of State Miller: Voting machines functioning properly
http://www.mynews4.com/story.php?id=30889&n=122
The statement said that state and federal investigators interviewed every person who submitted a complaint to the Election Integrity Task Force claiming that irregularities had occurred, and investigators found that in all instances the voter was given the opportunity to cast a vote for the candidate of their choice.

NY: Share Your Voting Experience
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/share-your-voting-experience/
So how did it go, New Yorkers? Was Tuesday’s vote an improvement? Or was it actually worse? And does anyone still miss the lever-operated machines? Please send us your observations in the comments below, or Tweet using the hashtag #nycvotes.

NY: Voters encounter unavailable ballots, bleed-through and jammed scanners*
http://www.lohud.com/article/20101102/NEWS02/11020374/-1/newsfront/Hartsdale-voters-unable-to-cast-ballot-at-polling-place-this-morning Voters were turned away and not able to vote for about 2 hours for lack of ballots in Hartsdale this morning.
...
At Port Chester High School, the scanning machine did not work at all this morning. A poll worker said the polling place had run out of emergency paper ballots and was having people use the scannable ballots
...
Margaret Wade said she was turned away from the 555 W Hartsdale Ave. Solomon Schechter School library at 7:50 a.m.

"We were told they couldn't find the ballots," Wade said. They had no idea when they would have ballots, they had no alternative plan and they were not keeping a tally of how many people were being turned away, she said.

A poll worker told Wade about 25 people had not been able to vote so far. Wade said there were a number of people parking to go vote as she left the school.

The ballots had been locked away by the school custodian, and he could not be found to unlock them, Board of Elections Commissioner Douglas A. Colety said after 8 a.m. The condition was corrected, he believed, shortly after 8 a.m.
...
In Lewisboro and other areas with back-of-ballot propositions, bleed-through disabled the scanning machines for about 1 1/2 hours this morning, Meehan said. She got the last complaint on that issue around 7:30 a.m.

The resolution was to have people vote using a ball point pen instead of the special voting pens, she s

NY: Some hiccups reported with new NY voting machines*
http://www.cbs6albany.com/articles/new-1279952-machines-voting.html
One of three ballot-scanning machines was out of service at the church in Mount Kisco where the Democratic candidate for governor, Andrew Cuomo, voted Tuesday morning.

The Journal News, of Westchester County, reported on its Web site that a polling station in Hartsdale opened about two hours late because election workers couldn't get access to locked-up ballots.

NY: #10918 Nov. 2 2010 / 2:52p.m. ET New York, NY
http://www.ourvotelive.org/report/10918 davisoperator Polling Place: PS 29 2010 General Election, Voting equipment problem: Mobile legal volunteer reports that 2 out of 5 scanners are not working and have paper jams. The poll workers have contacted the BOE about the problem, but have not contacted a technician.

NY: 11724 Nov. 2 2010 / 4:00p.m. ET E. Meadow, Nassau, NY
http://www.ourvotelive.org/report/11724
davisoperator Precinct: HEM 15020, Polling Place: McVey Elementary 2010 General Election: Had made a mistake - voted for wrong person. When asked what to do, poll workers didn't know. 4 people working at polls said she couldn't take another ballot and that she had forfeited her right to vote. Ultimately, she spoke with a supervisor, got a replacement

OH: There’s a Gremlin in My Voting Machine!
http://www.ohiofreepress.com/general/2010/theres-a-gremlin-in-my-voting-machine/
..if anyone sees anything out of place, experiences a “gremlin” in their voting machines or has evidence of voter intimidation, electioneering or anything else out of place, please let the Ohio Free Press know.

PA: Electronic Voting Machine Problems Raise Early Concerns*(iVotronic vote flip)
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/11/02/electronic-voting-machine-problems-raise-concerns/ According to Pamela Smith, who heads the Election Protection Command Center, a national non-profit, non-partisan vote monitoring organization, early results from volunteers around the country and from voters who call a toll-free number (1-866 OUR VOTE) show that reports of vote flipping and other problems are already severe enough to “cause concern.”

Smith said problems with iVotronic machines have cropped up in Pennsylvania’s Lawrence County, where voters trying to vote a straight party ticket registered their votes for another party – in essence, flipping the votes.
...
n Philadelphia, which often provides Pennsylvania's Democratic candidates their pluralities, older electronic voting machines have been breaking down, and poll workers do not have or are not giving out emergency paper ballots.

RI: Digging Deeper: Ballot Security
http://www2.turnto10.com/news/2010/nov/02/digging-deeper-ballot-security-ar-278462/

SC: Some candidates appearing twice on ballot, completely legal
http://www2.counton2.com/news/2010/nov/02/some-candidates-appearing-twice-ballot-completely--ar-1042531/ "It's called Fusion Voting, and South Carolina law allows candidates to run under as many parties as they want", said Bowers.

SC: #10653 Nov. 2 2010 / 2:49p.m. ET Mt. Pleasant, Charleston, SC*
http://www.ourvotelive.org/report/10653 davisoperator 2010 General Election: Caller reported that the machines at Folly Beach polling place were mis-programmed and ballot was wrong. They let 180 people vote on machines with ballot incorrect; discovered ballots were wrong, got a new machine in from county - only 1 machine, but 1200

SC: Large turnout seen at polls this morning* (voting machine, epoll book probs)
http://www.islandpacket.com/2010/11/02/1428967/large-turnout-seen-at-polls-this.html
Hamilton reported just one glitch — one of the five machines there wasn’t working properly early in the morning, but a county worker had it up and running again by about 7:50 a.m., he said.
...
In Kershaw County, near Columbia, computerized voter registration lists were indicating the wrong ballot style, according to The (Columbia) State newspaper.
For example, at least one voter was set up on a voting machine with a ballot that had the wrong S.C. House district, said Rosalind Watson, director of elections for the county. That voter realized the ballot was wrong, notified poll workers and the ballot was canceled.

The voting machines themselves are working fine, Watson said. She instructed poll workers to use paper lists of voters and ballots to work around the laptop registration list problem.
Poll workers resorted to paper ballots at Elgin Town Hall while working out the computer problem. One voter there said he gave up and left when the precinct ran out of paper ballots. Another voter e-mailed The State to complain that his ballot didn’t list the Kershaw County sheriff’s race.

TN: Parties report few voting problems early on election day*
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/nov/02/parties-report-few-voting-problems-early-election/ Van Turner, head of the Shelby County Democratic Party, said he had heard reports of one precinct opening somewhat late and machines breaking down at another site, but that it was nothing like the widespread problems on Aug. 5

TN: Paper ballots to arrive for November 2012 election
http://www.wbir.com/news/article/140816/2/Paper-ballots-to-arrive-for-November-2012-election

TN: Election dispute revives call for paper ballot
Critics of touch-screen voting cite need for backup to trace miscues
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/nov/02/election-flap-revives-call-for-paper-ballot/ "Every computer system in the world can be hacked, can have a power outage or can suffer a glitch," said Steve Mulroy, a Democratic Shelby County commissioner. "And if that happens, there's no way to know that the vote was accurately counted."

TX: Voting machine problems delayed start at Lindale Senior Center*
Santa Fe station yanked campaign signs placed improperly along utility easement
http://www.caller.com/news/2010/nov/02/voting-machine-problems-delayed-start-lindale-seni/ James Muschalek couldn’t wait at 7 a.m. as Precinct 50 judges at Lindale Senior Center struggled to get its two voting machines online.
...
Judges called for help after working to initialize the machines operation by unplugging and plugging them.

“They needed some young people working who understand technology better,” said Linda McClure, a grade school teacher who waited for the machines to be reboot.

TX: Software glitches cause delays at Collin County polling places*(prob with voting machines and electronic poll books) http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/city/collin/stories/110310d
nmetcollinglitches.1ee30e742.html http://tinyurl.com/37qq9n7
Voters were waiting up to 90 minutes at several Collin County polling places this morning following an election-day software mix up.

Elections Administrator Sharon Rowe said technicians had to be sent out to at least three of the county’s 72 polling stations after workers set up voting machines incorrectly. She said the issue has since been resolved.
...
Elsewhere, Rowe said a software glitch with laptop computers used to verify voter registration caused delays at some polling stations. Dozens of technicians are in the field to fix the glitch with the electronic poll book, Rowe said.
...
At 11:20 a.m., 10 sites were shown to have delays. They ranged from five minutes at Woodcreek Church in Richardson to 90 minutes at Christ United Methodist Church in Plano. The next-longest delays were 50 minutes at Haggard Library in Plano and 45 minutes at the Allen Municipal Courts Building

TX: Voting running smoothly on Election Day* (machines not connected properly)
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/politics&id=7760418
Montrose. There were what the office called some "minor hiccups" at a few locations where the e-slate machines were improperly connected by the election workers, something that happens in every election.
...
Paper ballots are on hand as a back-up, in case the e-slates break, and while voters are each being asked if they want to use the machines or a paper ballot, the county encourages everyone to go the eSlate route,

UT: #11044 Nov. 2 2010 / 3:09p.m. ET Apline , Utah, UT *
http://www.ourvotelive.org/report/11044 sfboperator Polling Place: Timberine Jr High Polling place voting machine problem. 4 constitutional amendments..
He voted on the first one then on the second one it voted for him-- he asked the poll worker for help.. there was a way to outwit the machine so you could vote but a voter would not easily be able to.. it is machine number 205

VA: Voting machine problems already*
http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news/voting-machine-problems-already
A voting machine in Virginia Beach had a problem with it, and it's not even Election Day yet.
...
10 On Your Side received a report of trouble with a voting machine at the DMV on First Colonial Road.

It can be hard enough deciding who to vote for on election days, but imagine making your choice, only to find a different name keeps popping up.

An elderly woman said she tried to cast an absentee ballot for a Democratic candidate, but the Republican candidate's name kept popping up.
...
Machines are calibrated three weeks prior to election day. Calibrate is a fancy word meaning, when you push the candidate's name, the touch screen recognizes who you are choosing.

The test machine needed to be re-calibrated. Once that happened, it worked just fine.

VA: With Congress in balance, Virginians go to the polls*(epollbook, power, machines)
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2010/nov/02/35/richmond-area-voting-generally-smooth-start-ar-623687/ Many localities were using electronic poll books for the fist time and some elderly precinct officials were having trouble handling them, Rodriguez said. The electronic poll books were to blame for some delays earlier in, among other places, Hanover and Chesterfield counties.

Four precincts in rural Clarke County opened the day without power, but people were able to vote using backup paper ballots, said Rodrigues.

About 10 to 15 people at a precinct in Nelson County were asked to come back after the precinct ran out of provisional ballots, Rodrigues said.
...
Hanover County Registrar Robert Ostergren reports this morning that "things are beginning to settle down" after a variety of problems made for a slow start in some polling places.

Similar to Chesterfield County, some Hanover poll workers had problems administering a new electronic poll book used to check in voters. Also, he said, four voting machines had to be replaced

Chesterfield Registrar Larry Haake said there were delays checking in voters through the electronic poll books that lasted for about an hour after opening at 6 a.m. "I'm told some voters left before got them (poll books) up and working, and we hope they return

VA: Steady stream of voters at the polls today*
http://www.wvec.com/news/politics/Voters-hit-the-polls-early-106509248.html
There was a short-lived power outage in the Rappahannock area early this morning that took down the electronic poll books, so elections officials used paper poll book back-ups.

VA: Electronic poll check-in books debut across Va.
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=213&sid=2102760

VA: UPDATE: Turnout surge continues at polls as closing nears*
http://www2.wsls.com/news/2010/nov/02/voters-turning-out-city-elections-ar-623807/
Several voting machines at Timberlake Christian Church in Campbell County briefly went blank sometime between 9-11 a.m. today. Danos attributed the problem to "some kind of power surge."

Only the touch-screen computers were affected and no votes were lost as a result, she said. Following that, the computers were rebooted and voting resumed.
...
Several voting machines in Bedford County earlier Tuesday had been giving error messages when voters cast their ballots, which Gunter said would delay results.
...
Having a technician come in the day after an election to retrieve information from a machine has only happened twice before in six or seven years of using such machines, she said.

National

Total Election Awareness: Track Voting Problem Reports in Real Time
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/11/total-election-awareness
OurVoteLive.org records every call made to the hotline, helps EPC staff to coordinate their legal response work, and provides an anonymized public view of every record.

Want to see 866-OUR-VOTE's 10,000+ problem reports for this election?
http://www.ourvotelive.org/ The website allows the general public a window onto EPC's election protection efforts by providing anonymized versions of EPC's records.

BradBlog Election Day Problem Report Wire...
[Will update throughout the day/night, as warranted. On/off the air all day today, so trying to keep up as I can. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8172

Voting News by Joyce McCloy.
Archives here at http://votingnews.blogspot.com/
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