Debugging the ballot: counting votes should be easy. But counting millions is another matter. And when the system breaks down, the failures can be spectacular.

• Author: Vilbig, Peter
• Position: National

Eager to vote, she had arrived early. But before she could enter the voting booth, she had to wait about 15 minutes for election workers to boot up the computerized voting machines. Then, once in the booth, the screen on her machine didn't light up. More waiting. Other voters gave up. But this one was surrounded by reporters and photographers--recording how Janet Reno, the former U.S. Attorney General, had to wait an hour and 20 minutes to vote for herself in the Democratic primary for Governor of Florida.

Thousands of teens will be eligible to vote for the first time in the midterm election on Nov. 5. Most current high school juniors and seniors will get their first chance in the presidential election in two years. Almost all will face using some kind of voting machine. The devices range from high-tech electronic vote counters that record choices on magnetic disks, to punch-card ballots, in which a stylus is used to punch a hole next to a candidate's name (see chart, page 15).

While the mechanics of voting usually work efficiently, there continue to be times when voters are unable to cast their ballots, their votes go uncounted, or their votes end up being credited to candidates they oppose.

THE LEGACY OF BUSH AND GORE

Florida has been the poster child of electoral meltdowns since the 2000 presidential race between Republican George Bush (now President) and Democrat Al Gore (Vice President at the time). More than 5.8 million votes were cast in the state, but Bush's lead was less than 1,800 votes. Yet thousands of ballots went uncounted, due to widespread voter confusion.

In some counties using punch-card ballots, votes went unregistered because the holes next to the candidates' names weren't entirely punched through, and thus weren't registered by ballot counting machines. With Bush holding a tiny lead, Gore sued for a recount in some counties. The case made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which blocked the recount. Bush was declared the winner.

The chaos led to a slew of jokes about "FloriDUH" and even a mocking offer from Cuban dictator Fidel Castro to send in election monitors. After that embarrassment, Florida Governor Jeb Bush (the President's brother) vowed that the state would do better. The state spent $32 million on a host of reforms, including new voting machines.

CHAOS TRIUMPHS AGAIN

But Florida's Sept. 11 primary election, in which a political party chooses its nominees for office, was an echo of the botched 2000 process...