www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/11/10/latimes.election.official -> www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/11/10/latimes.election.official/
At conferences and private lunches, these keepers of the ballot share a standard joke: On election day, they feel like inmates who hope to escape the big bright spotlight from the guard tower. That's because in any election, glitches inevitably happen. From balky counting machines to misplaced and mangled ballots, there is a troublesome list of potential pitfalls. Voters who register at the motor vehicle department might later find themselves left off the election rolls. Problems with individual ballots are mostly few, far between and lost in the crush on election day. America, despite this week's turmoil, is far from an electoral banana republic. Experts estimate that far fewer than 1% of the ballots in any given election in the United States are miscast or compromised. But when a race grows close--let alone approaches the razor-thin margin separating Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore in their presidential fight for Florida, and ultimately, the White House--the level of scrutiny rises enormously. Gore's name appeared opposite a page listing Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan, and Democrats say many Gore backers in Palm Beach County mistakenly punched their vote for Buchanan, who got a bigger-than-expected tally in the largely Democratic county. Deborah Phillips, chairwoman of the Voting Integrity Project, said her nonpartisan organization has logged numerous telephone calls from troubled voters there. The last time anyone can recall using such a ballot in California was a 1990 San Diego County election. McCormack, who was registrar in San Diego County before coming to Los Angeles, said the butterfly, which was used to crowd more candidates and issues on a single ballot, caused a high degree of double-punching. The glitch results from the use of the punch-card voting system, to this day the dominant method of casting a ballot in the nation. When a voter punches a small hole for their desired candidate, the bit of paper sometimes fails to dislodge. As the punch card runs through a machine that tallies the totals, the chad can cause the automated reader to assume that no vote was cast in that particular race. Punch cards, which were used by more than 37% of the registered voters nationwide in the 1996 presidential election, also cause problems when confused folks mistakenly vote twice in a single race. In such cases, the machine reads it as if no vote is cast. Election officials say just that snafu was the prime culprit in the disqualification of about 19,000 ballots in Palm Beach County after Tuesday's vote. McCormack and Seiler called the punch card system ancient and ill-performing, but the system continues to be deployed on election day all around the country because it is inexpensive. Though some officials predicted that the problems in Florida could be a boost for touch-screen voting, the cost to switch would be huge. McCormack said conversion to touch-screen voting in Los Angeles County, the biggest in the nation, would cost an estimated $100 million. Hanging chads also explain the boost in vote totals for Gore and Bush as Florida officials conduct a statewide recount. During a second run through the scanning machines, the punch cards tend to lose any chads that might have hung in there for the first go-round. Even so, election officials are surprised that Gore was surging ever closer to Bush in the recount. Typically, a recount yields a margin of difference that is nearly identical to the original vote. Statewide second-chance counts are atypical, let alone in the context of a presidential contest. California election officials, for instance, can't recall the last time such a second count took place in the Golden State during the modern election era. Senate race when Dianne Feinstein edged out Michael Huffington. Adding to the mechanical difficulties are the foibles of volunteer poll workers grappling with a system that can veer toward the byzantine. That particularly was the case this week in New Mexico, Phillips said. Other voters groused that they registered at the motor vehicle department under motor-voter rules but went to the polls to find that they weren't on the rolls. What is the past presidential vote and number of electoral votes in your state? What are the presidential primary results and exit polls? Find out with these state 114 political and election facts. WHAT'S AT STAKE 115 What's at stake in Election 2000 116 Senate Overview 117 House Overview 118 Governors Overview 119 Top races for governor 120 Top Senate races 121 Top House races VIDEO 122 Latest video 123 Speeches/ads 124 Celebrities 125 Search BIOGRAPHIES Read 126 biographies of the major presidential and vice presidential candidates. RACES If you need to know who's up in 2000 and what seats are open, launch this 128 quick guide. BATTLEGROUNDS Take a look at our 129 interactive map and background briefing on the 'battleground states' -- the states in play for the 2000 presidential election. ELECTORAL MAP View our 130 interactive popup of CNN's electoral vote analysis going into the presidential election. Look for twice-daily updates Sunday through Friday until election day. S election * 141 Wisconsin Republicans allege statewide voter irregularities * 142 Florida secretary of state says Palm Beach ballot legal * 143 Election scrutiny focused on Palm Beach ballot * 144 Student voter protest at Florida courthouse ends;
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