US voting machines reliable as ever

ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES used in the US mid-term elections have been found to be a tad glitch-happy, reports the BBC.

The electronic voting machines are fairly new and have been widely replacing traditional voting systems such as punch-card machines.

Precincts in Indiana and Ohio have had their voting delayed thanks to electronic glitches, and have had their voting hours extended. Supposedly, there are areas in Tennessee and Colorado which have extended voting hours at their polling stations.

One voter in Allentown took matters into his own hands and pummelled one machine to bits with a pussy-shaped paperweight.

"He smashed it with the cat's ears," a witness told the local Morning Call.

BBC respondant Justin Webb says that if the election results are clear one way or another, the glitches won't make for much of a problem, however, if there's little in it, eyebrows should possibly be raised.

Ilinois, New Jersey, Virginia, Florida and Maryland have also ran into trouble with electronic voting, though it's reported that the glitches were only minor. µ