For election officials across America, what's happening this week in Florida is a glimpse of their own private nightmares. That's because in any election, glitches inevitably happen. It's just a matter of whether the snafus get caught. From balky counting machines to misplaced and mangled ballots, there is a troublesome list of potential pitfalls. Human error often comes into play.
Polls can close a tad early or a tad late.
Voters who register at the motor vehicle department might later find themselves left off the election rolls. Problems with individual ballots are mostly few, far between and lost in the crush on election day. America, despite this week's turmoil, is far from an electoral banana republic. Deborah Phillips, chairwoman of the Voting Integrity Project, said her nonpartisan organization has logged numerous telephone calls from troubled voters there. One voter said she got a sample ballot in the mail, filled out all the little circles, then took it to the polls.