Lawmakers snagged by US voting problems

Cincinnati, Nov 8: Experts had expected a few voting problems in the US elections today and the experience of Cincinnati's two Republican lawmakers indicated that for many voters the process could be a challenge.

Imperiled Rep Jean Schmidt was among the first in line to vote at 6:30 a m local time but her paper ballot was rejected by the machine at her suburban polling station, and election officials had to put it aside to be counted later in the day.

''The scanner machine would not accept it for some odd reason,'' said Schmidt spokesman Matt Perin.

While Perin said he'd heard scattered reports of similar problems across Ohio, a key battleground state, he said Americans should be confident their votes will count. ''My personal guess is the machine was just warming up,'' he said.

Cincinnati's other Republican incumbent, Rep Steve Chabot, also hit a snag -- this time it was a new Ohio law requiring voters to show identification before casting a ballot.

Chabot's drivers' license listed his business address, not the home address on the voter registry. Though the polling officials recognized the congressman, Chabot went home to fetch a bank statement that confirmed his address.

''I guess this just shows the poll workers are really doing their job,'' he told the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper.

Election officials and experts have reported electronic voting machine malfunctions in Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey, Colorado, Florida, and Tennessee, but they said many of the problems were minor and temporary.

Requests to extend voting hours were made in Indiana and Tennessee to compensate for delayed poll openings.

''We're hearing isolated, scattered things having to do with machine malfunction, some reports here and there in terms of voter suppression and intimidation,'' said Steven Huefner, an election expert at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law.

''It's still pretty early, but I'd hoped things would be a little smoother,'' he said.

An estimated 10,000 lawyers working for the Republican and Democratic parties are standing by across the country to intervene if problems arise.

While it was still too early to know how widespread voting problems would be -- peak voting times often come in the evening, glitches initially appeared limited to a handful of states.

In Florida, where widespread voting problems forced a massive recount in the 2000 presidential election, the secretary of state said only five of its 6,835 voting precincts opened late.

In Texas, the home state of President George W Bush, local television station KTRK-TV reported a few precincts in Houston had delays in starting voting machines. One precinct was only able to get 3 out of 8 machines operating when polls opened.

But most problems were resolved within 45 minutes and all machines were working by 11 a.m..

REUTERS

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