Election Day Weather: Do Scattered Showers Equal a Major Storm?

Election Day saw no major meltdowns, mainly isolated incidents and minor glitches, according to election administrators. But the voting picture looks rosy only if you’re looking at it from a wide angle, or, of course, if you had an easy time at the polls and you’re pretty sure your vote was counted. But for voters who stood in long lines or were sent home for not having proper I.D., it was a mess.

Further, voting accuracy was not an issue because most candidates won by a landslide. But many of the problems identified with automatic voting machines were not settled, as future too-close-to-call races may reveal.

There were different problems in different states, an issue that begs the question, should we have a national voting standard? Especially when many of the issues are national?

Just glitches?

One of the widest-reaching problems was in Denver, Colorado, where voting equipment failed and caused hours-long lines. Denver had reorganized and consolidated its voting precincts to be centralized and exceptionally large - the problem was that machine breakdowns caused equally large delays.

Ohio also saw long lines, and U.S. District Court Judge Dan A. Polster ordered polling places to stay open until 9PM to compensate.

In some states, voters were turned away for not having proper I.D. In South Carolina, even Governor Mark Stanford was sent home to get his identification.

For more on the voter I.D. debate, click here.

Around the country, various polling places ran out of ballots or had voting machine malfunctions, but nothing to warrant vast recounts or drawn-out court battles. However, just 40 percent of registered voters turned up (which is up from the 2002 midterm election), what would happen if all registered voters showed up at the polls?

Voter intimidation

Possibly more serious and certainly more sinister is the voter intimidation that took place on Election Day. Though not widespread, the FBI received numerous reports of intimidating phone calls and even an armed man outside of a polling place.

In Virginia, where one of the tightest Senate races took place, some voters got threatening calls telling them to stay home on Election Day or face criminal charges.

But the caller is the one likely to face charges, since it’s a federal offence to hinder votes.

In Arizona, an armed man was questioning Hispanic voters outside of a Tucson precinct, according to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

At issue is the fundamental right to vote. Many people already have trouble getting to the polls because of work and other obligations, so threats could certainly keep some voters away.

Recording your experience

What was your experience at the polls? Did you have to deal with long lines or problem machines? Was it quick and painless? What do you think would make our voting system better? Should we have a nationwide standardized system? Should we vote over a Saturday/Sunday weekend to make it easier for people to vote?

Dish on our BLOG. We want to hear from you!

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