Voting problems reported across South, nation

Citizens across the country have been encountering difficulties at the polls today, with some of the problems occurring in the South.

Voters at several precincts in South Mississippi reported problems with new touch-screen machines being used in today's midterm elections, the Mississippi Sun-Herald reports:

Voters at several South Mississippi precincts reported problems with the new touch-screen machines as voting got under way in midterm elections this morning.

At Gulfport Little Theater and Biloxi Community Center, for example, voters were handed paper ballots because workers were unable to make to the machines work.

And at Margaret Sherry Library on Popps Ferry Road, three of seven touch-screen machines were working while at D'Iberville Community Center, just four of 13 were working.

Gulfport and Biloxi are in Harrison County. Meanwhile, Mississippians one county west have also encountered problems with voting equipment, MSNBC reports:

In Mississippi's Hancock County, where voters were heading to the polls for the first time since it was clobbered by Hurricane Katrina, MSNBC found Pamela Metzler, circuit clerk for Hancock County, Miss., fuming.

“The equipment is just over the top for the average poll worker,” she fumed. “Hell, it’s over the top for me.”

Metzler said the Diebold touch-screen machines were “shoved down our throats” by Secretary of State Eric Clark as part of a deal that brought 77 of Mississippi’s 82 counties into compliance with the Help America Vote Act of 2002. Tuesday’s general election was the first big test of the system.

Metzler said the equipment problems were keeping some county residents from casting their ballots on their first attempt.

In Maryland, election officials forgot to send the cards primary voters needed to activate electronic machines at their polling places, and some voters had to cast provisional ballots on scraps of paper, according to MSNBC.

In Florida, polling places opened late in Broward County after voting machines ran into problems and an election judge failed to appear, the Election Protection Coalition reports.

In one predominantly African-American precinct in Deerfield Beach, Fla., voting machines failed and there were no paper ballots, keeping the polling place from opening for more than three hours. EP attorneys are working to extend voting hours there.

And in Henry County, Ga. a sign stating "Vote Here - ID Required was posted at one polling place -- despite a court's lifting of the ID requirement, according to EP.

Voting problems have also been reported in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania.

In one precinct in Ohio, a state that experienced widespread problems in the 2000 and 2004 elections, Congresswoman Jean Schmidt reportedly struggled to cast her optical scan ballot, which the machine repeatedly rejected. Click here for a video of this on YouTube.

And in another Ohio precinct, Congressman Steve Chabot was turned away at the polls because his driver's license was issued to his business office and not his home voting address, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.