| Date |
Problem Type |
State
|
Vendor
|
Description
|
| 11/1/2004 |
Voter challenges |
OH |
|
Jefferson County. Some challenged voters have not been notified that their registration has been challenged and their right to vote is in question. Names were merely published in a nearly unreadable list in the local paper.
Story |
| 11/1/2004 |
Ballot printing |
WA |
|
Franklin County. About 25 absentee ballots were mailed without the secrecy sleeve. Voters are asked to place the ballot in a plain white envelope or request a secrecy sleeve from the elections office.
Story |
| 10/31/2004 |
Registration errors |
AZ |
|
Thousands of Arizonans who registered to vote over the Internet are missing from voting rolls in the state's 15 counties. County recorders have been instructed to make supplemental lists, issue certificates to the missing voters or simply send a list of the voters to each polling place so those people can vote.
Story
Archive |
| 10/31/2004 |
Machine malfunction |
FL |
ESS |
Broward County. After waiting in line for several hours, several voters were told late Sunday evening that they would have to come back another day to be able to cast their ballot. The machines had broken down.
Story
Archive |
| 10/31/2004 |
Registration fraud |
FL |
|
Leon and Alachua Counties: Students at Florida State, Florida A&M, and University of Florida. some of whom signed petitions to legalize medical marijuana or impose stiffer penalties for child molesters, unknowingly had their party registration switched to Republican and their addresses changed. Switching voters' party affiliations does not affect their ability to vote, but changing addresses does, because when voters shows up at their proper polling places, they will not be registered there. About 4,000 potential voters in all have been affected.
Story
Archive |
| 10/31/2004 |
Too few machines |
FL |
|
In Miami-Dade County, hundreds of people waited for hours Sunday to cast ballots during early voting. Many would-be voters saw the line, shook their heads and left.
Ref
|
| 10/31/2004 |
Malfeasance |
IA |
|
State officials said Story County Auditor Mary Mosiman violated voting regulations when she directed poll workers to turn away people in line at closing time. Story
Archive |
| 10/31/2004 |
Vote suppression |
IA |
|
Story County Auditor Mary Mosiman decided not to open another satellite voting station Monday, even though Secretary of State Chet Culver had said she would after some students complained they were turned away from a site at ISU's Parks Library on Oct. 21.
Story
Archive |
| 10/31/2004 |
Election law |
NH |
|
Citizens can register at the polls. Anyone who can't provide proof of residence can sign an affidavit promising that he or she lives here. Voters who sign the affidavit can vote, and their ballots are placed in the ballot box with all the others - so they can't be argued about later in the event of a recount. This leaves the door open for voters to vote in a nearby state and then go to NH and vote there, too.
Story
Archive
|
| 10/31/2004 |
Registration errors |
NJ |
|
In Trenton, Democrats warned that thousands of new voters' names were not on books at polls in Camden, Essex, Passaic and Mercer Counties and asked the state attorney general to protect those voters' rights.
Story
Archive |
| 10/31/2004 |
Registration fraud |
NV |
|
This month, the Clark County election supervisor found 800 felons who are illegally registered to vote. They include people serving time in prison, those on parole, and those who have committed violent crimes and sex offenses. Such people, under state law, are banned from voting.
Story
Archive |
| 10/31/2004 |
Deceptive practices |
OH |
|
Lake County. Some voters received a memo on bogus Board of Elections letterhead informing voters who registered through Democratic and NACCP drives that they could not vote. Election officials referred the matter to the sheriff.
Story
Archive
|
| 10/31/2004 |
Deceptive practices |
OH |
|
Cleveland, unknown volunteers began showing up at voters' doors illegally offering to collect and deliver completed absentee ballots to the election office.
Story
Archive |
| 10/31/2004 |
Deceptive practices |
OH |
|
Cleveland. Voters have been receiving phone calls incorrectly informing them that their polling place had changed.
Story
Archive |
| 10/31/2004 |
Voter challenges |
OH |
|
Civil rights lawyers for the Bush administration's Justice Department have notified a federal judge that they see no conflict with Republican plans to post thousands of partisan challengers in Ohio polling places on Election Day. Republicans plan to put about 3,600 challengers in the polls across the state; Democrats plan slightly more than 2,000.
Story
Archive
|
| 10/31/2004 |
Deceptive practices |
PA |
|
Allegheny County. Fliers were handed out at a Pittsburgh area mall and mailed to an unknown number of homes. The flier, distributed on bogus but official-looking stationery with a county letterhead, told voters that "due to immense voter turnout expected on Tuesday," the election had been extended. Republicans should vote Tuesday, Nov. 2, it said and Democrats on Wednesday. A criminal investigation has been launched.
Story
Archive |
| 10/31/2004 |
Voter challenges |
PA |
|
In Philadelphia, Republicans planned to contest 10,000 registered voters who were sent letters by the GOP but whose letters came back undelivered. When The Philadelphia Inquirer asked for the list, the GOP provided just six names and addresses, with photos of vacant lots or buildings.
Story
Archive
|
| 10/31/2004 |
Voter intimidation |
SC |
|
Charleston County election officials warned voters Friday to ignore a fake letter that purports to be from the NAACP. The letter threatens voters who have outstanding parking tickets or have failed to pay child support with arrest.
Story
Archive |
| 10/31/2004 |
Deceptive practices |
WI |
|
A flier is circulating in Milwaukee's black neighborhoods that purports to be from the "Milwaukee Black Voters League." "If you've already voted in any election this year, you can't vote in the presidential election," the flier reads. "If you violate any of these laws, you can get ten years in prison and your children will get taken away from you."
Story
Archive |
| 10/30/2004 |
Paper ballots (late) |
AK |
|
Nearly 2,500 absentee ballots were held up a day at a Juneau, Alaska post office because the state Division of Elections failed to allow for enough postage, postal officials said Friday. Postal officials said they expected the ballots to be ready to leave Juneau on Friday evening, a day later than planned. They are destined for voters in Alaska and all around the country.
Story
Archive |
| 10/30/2004 |
Ballot printing |
CA |
|
San Diego. The first blunder occurred the first week of October, when the county had to send warning letters to 36,000 voters because of a mix-up with absentee ballots at a printing company in Fresno. Wrong ballots were stuffed in some of the ballot envelopes mailed to voters. So far, 65 voters have reported receiving the wrong ballots.
Story |
| 10/30/2004 |
Ballot printing |
CA |
|
San Diego. The method of determining if the absentee ballot is correct doesn't work. One voter reported, "One side was for San Diego, the other side was for Lemon Grove. The front of the ballot is correct. It's the back of the ballot that's wrong.
Story |
| 10/30/2004 |
Ballot printing |
CA |
|
Most absentee ballots had blacked-out portions on the back, the result of elections officials trying to correct a mistake without reprinting ballots.
Story
Archive |
| 10/30/2004 |
Malfeasance |
CA |
|
Only two of the 10 touchscreen counties, Santa Clara and Plumas, plan to post signs letting voters know they can vote on paper. Even though the voters are properly registered, three counties Alameda, Merced and San Bernardino plan to treat the e-voting objectors' ballots in the same manner as if they weren't registered.
Story
Archive |
| 10/30/2004 |
Paper ballots (late) |
CA |
|
Nevada County. Numerous absentee ballots have gone missing in Nevada County recently. Clerk-Recorder Kathleen Smith insists ballots for previously registered absentee voters were mailed on Oct. 4 and should have been received by Oct. 8.
Story
Archive
|
| 10/30/2004 |
Registration errors |
CA |
|
San Diego. People report they were listed as "inactive" voters when they actually have voted for years.
Story |
| 10/30/2004 |
Paper ballots (late) |
CO |
|
Adams County. Many Denver residents (out of state and students) still haven't received absentee ballots. The County officials say 13,000 were mailed last week. Story
Archive
|
| 10/30/2004 |
Animosity at polls |
FL |
|
Palm Beach. The waiting time at some polling places on Friday was more than five hours. Shouting matches at voting spots have become common, and vandalism is rampant. The situation is so bad that the city of Boca Raton has instituted a voter intimidation hotline. Boca Raton police cruiser was spray-painted while it was parked at the home of a Boca officer who lives in Boynton Beach. Rocks were thrown at placard-carrying campaigners and car windshields were smashed.
Story
Archive |
| 10/30/2004 |
Machine malfunction |
FL |
Sequoia |
Palm Beach. After a woman finished voting, she realized the touch-screen hadn?t given her the option to vote on the two referendums for Boca Raton or for state House District 87. She was given the wrong ballot because the computer was programmed for the wrong ballot, but she can't re-vote.
Story
Archive |
| 10/30/2004 |
Paper ballots (late) |
FL |
|
Miami-Dade. Only half the absentee ballots have been returned. Some voters have complained they have not received their ballots in the mail -- A printing delay initially slowed down the mailing of the ballots.
Story
Archive
|
| 10/30/2004 |
Paper ballots (late) |
FL |
|
Broward County. 2505 absentee ballots were mailed on Saturday (October 30).
Story
Archive |
| 10/30/2004 |
Too few machines |
FL |
|
Broward and Miami-Dade counties both have about 1,058,000 registered voters, but Miami-Dade has 20 early-voting sites, compared with Broward's 14. Every Miami-Dade site is equipped with at least 20 voting machines, while some in Broward have fewer than 10. Some voters wait 4-1/2 hours in Broward to vote.
Story
Archive |
| 10/30/2004 |
Too few machines |
GA |
|
Ideally, precincts have one machine for every 150 to 190 active voters, according to state officials and the vendor of the touch-screen units. Gwinnett County's average is 216 voters per touch-screen machine. Clayton County's is 236 active registered voters per machine. [Note: A 50% turnout in Clayton County would allow each voter approximately 3 minutes to vote.]
Story
Archive |
| 10/30/2004 |
Ballot secrecy |
NC |
|
North Carolina structured its early voting process with a retrievable ballot that is not counted until Election Day. So if election officials are notified that an early voter has died, that ballot can be removed.
Story
|
| 10/30/2004 |
Ballot printing |
NE |
|
Cass County. About 925 absentee voters had received absentee ballots without the necessary officials signatures. They won't count. New ballots are being sent out to those voters.
Story
Archive |
| 10/30/2004 |
Registration delays |
NJ |
|
Trenton. The names of thousands of new voters have not been entered into the books used on Election Day, according to the state Democratic Party, which yesterday urged the Attorney General's Office to make sure the rights of record numbers of first-time voters are protected. When those people go to their district polling station to check in, their names will not appear and they'll have to vote by provisional ballot.
Story
Archive
|
| 10/30/2004 |
Poor design |
NM |
|
Cibola County. Early voters complain about the Sequoia AVC Edge electronic voting machines supplied by Ink Impressions. Checked by a police officer, it's clear that voters must touch the screen exactly right for the vote to register correctly.
Story
Archive |
| 10/30/2004 |
Animosity at polls |
OH |
|
In Cleveland, the police were called when members of a community group tried to deliver a letter to the Cuyahoga County Republican headquarters asking the party to withdraw challenges against voters. Punches were thrown at the front door and each side accused the other of assault, but the police could not determine who was at fault. Story
Archive |
| 10/30/2004 |
Election law |
OH |
|
Under election law, boards of elections cannot even begin counting provisional ballots until Nov. 13. Because that's a Saturday, many boards may wait until Nov. 15, the following Monday, to begin counting.
Story
|
| 10/30/2004 |
Voter challenges |
OH |
|
Thousands of Republican challengers will be stationed at precincts around the state, carrying lists of recent deaths and of absentee ballot voters, to ensure that no one votes twice. They plan to challenge many of the 23,000 voters on their list, as is allowed under Ohio law.
Story
Archive |
