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U.S. Voting Operations
In terms of polling and voting systems, there is tremendous variation in practices. Voting equipment varies from punch-card ballots (0.14%), mechanical lever machines (5.83%), hand-counted paper ballots (0.52%), direct recording electronic devices (30.70%), and optically scanned paper ballots (57.77%). One state, Oregon, votes entirely by mail.
The greatest controversies surround the rise and fall of electronic touch-screen voting machines. Following mechanical failures in punch-card machines during the 2000 election, many EMBs used federal support to purchase “direct recording equipment,” or touch-screen computer systems. When concerns surrounding the use of these machines arose in 2004, some counties transitioned again, this time to optically scanned paper ballots. As a result of this expensive process, many poll workers in 2008 will be managing new and potentially unfamiliar equipment.
In addition, the expected high turnout will tax the capacities of polling centres and poll workers. In the run-up to the 2008 polls, many EMBs are experiencing difficulty recruiting enough staff to manage projected turnout.
Some experts say we should see November 4th not as the days the polls open, but the days that the polls close, because nearly 1 out of 3 voters are expected to vote early through early walk-in, mail voting, or absentee voting. Indeed two states (Oregon and Washington) will vote almost entirely by mail.
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