Published: November 05, 2008 04:00 pm      

Some voting problems, but overall smooth election

WASHINGTON — That feared voting problem meltdown that could put a presidential election in doubt again? Never mind.

Barack Obama’s large victory margin, combined with election officials and voters being more familiar with high-tech machinery, kept problems sporadic and inconsequential when it came to determining who was elected president. Overall, the election of 2008 went smoothly, with a few problems here and there.

Voting troubles in 2008 were a lot like the Y2K bug in 2000 — greatly feared and anticipated, but not realized, said Stephen Ansolabehere, a political science professor at Harvard and MIT. That’s because election officials and monitors were, like companies in 2000, prepared.

There were glitches that kept people from casting their ballots: malfunctioning machines, extremely long lines, people left off voter roles, absentee ballots not mailed in time. But those problems were more sporadic than widespread. And in the end, they didn’t make a difference in the presidential race.

— The Associated Press