Programming errors and inexperience dealing with electronic voting machines frustrated poll workers in hundreds of precincts in today’s US elections, delaying voters in several states and forcing some to use paper ballots instead.

VOTERS trying to beat the US election day rush turned out early in such large numbers in many precincts that they created their own crowds, standing in long lines that snaked down the street, sometimes before the polling places even opened.

The first presidential election since the United States plunged into its war on terrorism was finally handed over to voters today.