Nothing other than human error is to be blamed for the poll problems in Delaware County on Tuesday.
Officials said they checked the voting machines for functionality Monday night. When the sun rose Tuesday morning, however, it illuminated a problem with the PINs of electronic cards used in some machines. Since different cards were used during the test, the flaw was not noticed until the polls opened - a simple oversight that made national headlines.
Voting hours were extended from 6 p.m. to 8:40 p.m. to make up for trivial problems in the county's electronic voting machines.
We say trivial because the machines - and the people responsible for their setup - should not have caused an issue.
Accidents happen, but when such an important day is noted not only in our calendars but our constitution, such incidents are inexcusable at best, and shameful at the very least.
It's simply a matter of respect.
Respect for the voters who take time out of their routine to take part in democracy.
Respect for the candidates who have poured their hearts, souls and pocketbooks into their respective campaigns.
Respect for the poll workers who continued their shifts into Tuesday night; not to mention their tolerance for irritated citizens wishing to cast their ballots.
Respect for the right to choose, and the countless number of individuals serving here and abroad to protect that right.
Such mistakes - here and across the nation - are beyond concerning. A country in the midst of unparalleled technological growth cannot properly execute a critical aspect of its political process.
Early morning voters had the opportunity to return Tuesday afternoon to cast their ballot, but that doesn't mean they were able to. Those arriving after 6 p.m. were given provisional ballots so the electronic votes could still be tallied on time. Those provisional votes were not a part of the returns Tuesday night. Had the machine incident not occurred, this wouldn't have been the case.
Election Day comes once a year, and more often when factoring in primaries. Officials have plenty of time to test, retest and prepare the machines for use.
While Delaware County was wise to extend voting hours to make up for the foolish error, it's an insult to our political process that such a decision had to be made in the first place.
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