Maybe election day won't be a fiasco after all

One new feature in many states is a requirement for a "voter verified paper audit trail." This year, 27 states require them, compared with one in 2004. During the primaries, some of the reported problems were attributed to jammed printers and improperly loaded paper, making some backup ballots uncountable.

As a result of this and other problems, some officials have called for a return to paper ballots, or at least the option of using them. In Colorado, the state Democratic Party has called on voters to use absentee ballots after a judge concluded that the state had failed to establish minimum security standards for electronic voting machines.

Another element that is now a constant at election time is the swarm of lawyers, ready to spring into action at the first sign of trouble. According to a study by the Washington and Lee Law Review, the number of court cases challenging elections has gone up every two years, starting in 1998, where there were 104 cases. By 2004, the number had risen to 361 cases. They focus not just on outcomes of balloting, but also on voter access issues.

Mr. Foley, the election law expert at Ohio State, says the dynamic has now shifted, for partisan and strategic reasons, to sue first, ask questions later. "You don't need a close race plus problems," he says. All you need is "a close race plus lawyers.... But just because there's smoke, it doesn't mean there's necessarily fire."

Doug Chapin, director of electionline.org, a nonpartisan group tracking election reform in all 50 states, predicts that when all is said and done, most races won't be close enough for major problems to arise.

Administration of elections is never perfect, but "lots of elections aren't going to crash in 2006," says Mr. Chapin. "Let's be honest, some won't crash because they aren't close. Places where they're close, the system won't fail. The places where both come together, it will be quite a show."

Robert Pastor, executive director of the Commission on Federal Election Reform, hopes that when the dust settles from any problems on Nov. 7, focus can be redirected to what he sees as a more fundamental issue: the need to make state election officials nonpartisan.

Currently, secretaries of state, who administer elections, are elected in partisan races – and are then called upon to perform as neutral actors in the event of disputes. Some then seek higher office from that post, such as the governorship, as Ken Blackwell is doing in Ohio.

"Regardless of how good and impartial these officials may be, their integrity will always be impugned by the opposing part in a close election," says Mr. Pastor. His commission is drafting model legislation for the states to establish nonpartisan election administration.

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