how to maky your vote count

...be set aside and may or may not be counted. In Pennsylvania, some polling places reportedly ran out of provisional ballots and had to be restocked. Lines snaked around the block in many parts of the country, and voters reported waiting well over an hour in many locations. But most voters seemed to endure the delays with good humor. "They're doing a really great job," said Sandra Scippio, 47, who waited 75 minutes to vote in Miami. "One thing they ought to have is refreshments for people to keep them cool and also to keep the temperatures down." A record turnout of up to 125 million people was expected to stress-test the nation's wide range of polling devices, from the lumbering lever machines that predominate in New York and Connecticut to punch cards being used in most Ohio counties, with their potential for hanging chads. Many voters were getting their first look at touchscreen machines and other electronic voting systems. There were reports of a few problems at polling places around the country. In Essex, Md., an election judge left a polling place briefly, saying he forgot something at home. Voters who had to wait were allowed to vote by provisional ballot. One polling location in Mauldin, S.C., was forced to switch to paper ballots because of equipment troubles. In South Dakota, a judge ordered supporters of Republican Senate candidate John Thune to stop following Native Americans to the polls and writing down their license numbers. That conduct was voter intimidation, "whether the intimidation was intended or simply the result of excessive zeal," U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol ruled. The case was brought by Senate minority leader Tom Daschle, who was fighting for his political survival. MSNBC COMPLETE ELECTION COVERAGE • INTERACTIVE MAP: You allocate the electoral votes • MAKING YOUR VOTE COUNT: Where to cast ballot, track problems • DEMOCRACY PLAZA: Celebrating democracy • ELECTION TICKTOCK: Blogging the vote, minute by minute • SLIDESHOW: Election Day around the country • SLIDESHOW: See and hear what the candidates said today • VIDEO: Top election videos of the day • LIVE VIDEO: Watch live coverage • FULL COVERAGE "So far the story is, no big (problems), but lots of littles," said Doug Chapin, director of Electionline.org, a non-partisan group. "Generally it’s a relatively smooth Election Day." By 6 p.m. EST, the Voter Alert Line, run by a consortium of non-partisan groups, had logged more than 17,000 calls from voters with complaints, mainly about voter registration or absentee ballots. Another 36,000 called with questions about where to vote. Ken Smukler, who helped create the Voter Alert Line, said the call logs indicated that voter registration efforts might have overwhelmed authorities in some jurisdictions. “I think that’s the story," said Smukler, president of InfoVoter Technologies. "All of these organizations didn’t pay attention to the structure they were feeding into. I think that’s the lesson coming out of this electio...

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