Time.com: "Get Ready for the Glitches"

[Wednesdays]

And I don't think they mean new neighbors down the street. :(

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1555246,00.html

New Voter ID Rules: About a dozen states have enacted stricter voter ID laws in the last few years, and these laws usually require voters to produce a photo ID before obtaining a ballot. Since not every potential voter has a photo ID, many of these measures have been contested in state and federal courts by plaintiffs charging the state's with voter suppression, and several have been modified even in the last week. Ohio, for example, was forced by court ruling just last Wednesday to loosen its new ID requirements. A similar walk-back occurred in Georgia, where voters can now produce one of 17 different forms of ID or swear an affidavit of identity — far easier than producing a photo ID. Other states haven't backed down on their new rules. Check your Secretary of State's website if you aren't sure what to bring. But be prepared for challenges.

New Voting Machines: For the first time this year, nearly 40% of Americans will vote by electronic device; nearly all of us will have our votes counted that way. That alone will cause some delays: voters won't all know how to operate them, poll workers will not be all fully trained, and, if recent primary voting is any indication, there are going to be technical problems. As states and counties certified their new devices in October — and its not uncommon for multiple types of machines to be used in almost every state — there were reports of glitches, ballot errors, machines communicating in the wrong languages with voters, and continued doubts about chain of custody in the wake of multiple reports that most of the machines can be easily hacked. More than 26 states have adopted some kind of verifiable audit trail so voters can check their choices against the machine, but many states lack a paper trail of any kind, contending that it's not necessary or the printers are too expensive. Guam, at least, isn't taking chances: On Saturday, the American protectorate's governor signed a bill suspending the use of the electronic devices next week. There will almost certainly be dozens of real-time reports from polling places of machine malfunctions; each one will have to be run down and checked. Let the recount begin.

[itsmesgd]

1. if the glitch appears to be fraud, call videothevote.org

so that they can document the issues to be used in court.