Won't be over till the fat lady quits screaming.

Could voting meltdown history repeat itself?

Unprecedented primary turnout has exposed cracks in infrastructure

In 2000, the presidential election was marred by hanging chads in Florida. Four years later, it was malfunctioning machines in Ohio. With record numbers of voters expected yet again, the fundamental question remains whether the country's embattled election machinery will stand up to the pressure.

This year's unprecedented primary turnout has already exposed cracks in the infrastructure. In Texas, lines stretched for hours and ballots ran out. Voters in Virginia were told to submit slips of paper — which were later disqualified — when ballot deliveries didn't arrive, and overwhelmed poll workers in Washington, D.C., hid electronic machines because they were afraid of the contraptions.

Primary turnout broke records across the country — in Delaware and the District of Columbia, the number of voters tripled from 2000; in Florida that figured doubled. The only state with less than 50 percent turnout was New Hampshire, which lost some of its luster as the first primary state when most of the country moved theirs to early in the year.

Though nearly all election officials have taken extra precautions for Tuesday — some have ordered a paper ballot for every registered voter as well as increasing the number of electronic machines — substantial fear remains that polling places won't be able to stand up to millions of voters who want to choose between Democrat Barack Obama, who could become the first black president in American history, and Republican John McCain.

"The ultimate test of democracy is full voter participation," said NAACP president Ben Jealous. "States are not completely grasping what they're in for. In Virginia, the governor won't even agree to printing out additional paper ballots. Even though they started passing out sheets of paper during the primary because they ran out of ballots."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27524302/

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In an age when 75% of Americans have internet access and I can go to an ATM machine in just about any country in the world and complete a transaction that will tell me my balance in 10 seconds or less, there is no reason we should be experiencing the problems we are in this day and age.

There's a reason American Idol gets more voters then a presidential election does.