Cross Your Fingers and Hope the Votes Are Counted Properly

A a recent Gallup poll shows that only 25 percent of Americans are "very confident" that today's vote will be conducted accurately. That leaves 75 percent of Americans unsure that the results of today's election will reflect voters intentions.

Sadly, they have good reason. Tens of millions of voters are using electronic voting machine and a slew of problems have already been reported.

In Cleveland, Ohio poll workers couldn't figure out how to start the machines, forcing voters to wait in long lines.

In Indiana, over 175 precincts turned to paper because poll workers couldn't figure out how to run the machines.

Election officials in Delaware County, Indiana are seeking a court order to extend voting after a computer error prevented voters from casting ballots in 75 precincts. Delaware's county clerk said the cards that activate the machines were programmed incorrectly.

Polling places in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania will stay open an extra hour because of problems.

The problems were so bad in Florida, some precincts there also opted for paper ballots.

Election watchdogs VotetTust.org reported yesterday that in Florida, Illinois and Texas, attempts to vote for the Democrat were recorded as votes for Republican.

The Sequoia Voting System machines are vulnerable to digital ballot stuffing. All you have to do to vote again and again is touch the big yellow button on the back of the machine. More than one-third of California counties use Sequoia equipment, including Santa Clara County, where the touch screens are the primary voting system, and Alameda County, which relies on almost 1,000 machines as a secondary voting system intended for disabled voters.

Six years after the 2000 debacle, why are we still facing these problems?

This morning, I went to my usual polling place only to find the garage door closed. I was never informed that my polling place moved. Luckily, there was a sign with the address of the new polling place. If you're not sure where to vote, visit 411.org – that's the League of Women Voters Information Site.

Here in California, if you're voting for the first time in your jurisdiction, you might need to show some form of identification. It's best to take one with you just in case.

On a conference call this morning organized by Common Cause , election watchers said that voters are being asked for ID even in states where there is no voter ID law. The most high-profile incident so far happened yesterday, with the Missouri secretary of state being asked three times to show ID even though the state voter ID law had been struck down.

If your name isn't on the registration list, or there are questions about the validity of your registration, you have the right to request and cast a provisional ballot.

If you have any problems voting today, be sure to call the Election Protection Coalition at 866.OUR.VOTE/

And finally, if you want to get involved in monitoring the system, Working Assets Protect the Election is sending text messages to people who are interested in getting involved…and if you have a video camera, a group called Video the Vote is asking people to videotape polling stations.

It's criminal that our dear leaders haven't properly dealt with these issues. Slot machines in Vegas are more secure than voting machines.

LET'S HOPE THE VOTES ARE COUNTED PROPERLY THIS TIME AROUND.