US voting machines pose election threat

LONG lines and long counts threaten to mar next month’s US congressional elections as millions of Americans put new voting machines and rules to the test, election officials and experts say.

The result could be delays in knowing whether Democrats capture one or both houses of the US Congress, or whether President George W Bush’s Republicans keep control.

“In close elections, it may be days and weeks before a winner is known in a particular race,” said Paul DeGregorio, chairman of the US Election Assistance Commission, created to oversee a 2002 election law overhaul.