Arrgh! F**king Outrageous!

By now, of course, everybody knows about the massive screw-up with the voting machines in Montgomery County, which has received ample commentary already. Simply put, this is a travesty. Someone needs to be fired, whether on the County or State Boards of Elections. Even conservatives are incensed. Fortunately, it now appears things are getting back on track, and voting is going to be extended until 9 PM in Montgomery, so if you missed your chance, it's not too late.

And, at the risk of being snarky, it would have been nice to have had even a limited early voting program in place, so that fiascos like this couldn't threaten the very legitimacy of the election.

For myself, I live in Prince George's County, and while I haven't heard of any mishaps, I had one of my own. You see, a few weeks ago I requested an absentee ballot so that I might avoid having my vote compromised in the manner described above. Instead of an actual ballot, however, I received another absentee ballot request form. Why? I have no idea. I figured this was some procedural SNAFU -- i.e., I didn't send in the "right" form -- and since it was by then too late to request an absentee ballot, I decided to just vote in person. When I came to vote today, however, I was told I was listed as an absentee voter and therefore could only vote at the polls provisionally. I don't fear very much that my vote won't be counted, but with everything else going on, it just adds to my frustration with the voting system in this state.

UPDATE: It appears a voting machine crashed at a polling station in Bowie. And Baltimore is encountering problems too.