Florida strikes new voting problems

Problems were already being reported with Florida’s new voting system today as the state opened early polling.

Punch cards which caused “hanging chads” and widespread chaos at the last election have been replaced with touch screen machines in many parts of the state.

But one of the systems crashed shortly after it was fired up to allow Floridians to start casting early votes.

The machines have proved controversial because many do not provide a paper reading of how votes are cast, making a recount of a disputed result impossible.

As an alternative some polling stations are providing voters with paper ballot alternatives.

But a Democratic state legislator said when she asked for an absentee paper ballot it was incomplete.

Shelley Vana, from Palm Beach County, centre of the last election’s debacle, said election workers were indifferent when she pointed out the oversight.

“This is not a good start. If there are incomplete ballots out there, I can’t imagine I would be the only one getting it,” she said.

Florida proved controversial at the last election because the entire outcome hinged on the result it returned.

The race between George Bush and his then-challenger, Democrat Al Gore, was so close that it depended on Florida to decide the election.

But the punch card system meant many of the ballots were incorrectly completed, leading to disputes about which cards were valid and which were not.

In the end, after a month of recounting, the Supreme Court was asked to intervene.

It halted the recount and Mr Bush won by just 537 votes in Florida.

It was initially hoped that the touch screen machines would prevent a similar embarrassment for Florida.

But when they began using the machines in Orange County today, the system briefly crashed, paralysing voting in Orlando and its immediate suburbs.

Early voting also got underway in Texas, Colorado and Arkansas.

Other key states this year have already begun in-person voting, including Wisconsin, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, New Mexico and Pennsylvania.

The early voting continues at a limited number of sites in each county until Election Day, when regular polling stations will be open.