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Advocates Worry About Statewide Voting Woes

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By GARY SPROTT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 4, 2008

1:16 p.m.: From jammed optical scanners to long lines at a University of South Florida polling place, the first hours of voting have produced a mishmash of reported problems statewide, voting rights advocates say.

In Leon County, canvassing officials blamed scanner jams on poll workers "being too rough" with ballots but were confident they had got to the root of the problem, advocates with the Election Protection Coalition said in a morning conference call.

Similar snags were being reported statewide, although the magnitude of the problem was unclear.

The jams could leave voters unable to verify their ballots, although they don't necessarily mean the votes won't be counted, advocates said. The ballots could be fed into the scanner once the jam is cleared or counted by hand.

In Hillsborough County, there were reports of two- and three-hour waits to vote at USF's Marshall Center, as well as concerns about poll workers in Tampa being unable to verify voter registration information.

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