New Worries Abound about Reliability of US Voting Machines (Stephanie Griffith)

  by Stephanie Griffith -- Agence France Presse

  Nov. 3, 2006 -- Many U.S. voters are worried that widespread problems next week with new electronic voting machines could lead to a repeat of past ballot count nightmares during the high-stakes midterm elections.

   Maryland's Republican governor Robert Ehrlich is among the most prominent skeptics of the new electronic voting machines that have been put into widespread use since the bitterly-contested 2000 presidential election.

   During Maryland's botched primary vote in September, polling stations across the state failed to open on time, while many of the new electronic voting machines crashed.

   Ehrlich, who is up for for reelection in Tuesday's vote, said the technical hitches convinced him to cast his vote via mail-in ballot, and the Maryland governor has urged voters in the state to follow his lead.

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