The election is over and the people have spoken.

Most of them, anyway.

Errors and poor planning for the elections in Ohio leave many questions. Despite anticipation of an unusually large turnout, many polling facilities were grossly underprepared.

At least two polling places ran out of ballots. Absentee ballots that were never received through the mail were replaced with provisional ballots — which seemed to be deemed as the fix-all for any voting problems.

Lines were massive due in large part to an insufficient number of voting machines. Thanks to the rain, many had to stand outside in undesirable conditions, presumably many left because they had to get back to a job or couldn’t stand the weather. Many would undoubtedly be discouraged to work voting into their day, which includes work as well as family responsibilities, i.e. picking up the kids and making dinner.

Whose fault was this?

Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, in charge of statewide election happenings, says that these decisions were to made at a county level. But what is the role of our Secretary of State in an election season, if not to strongly encourage the counties of Ohio to overprepare?

Once again, the responsibility is lost in the bureaucracy.

Another concern towards election reform would be the high amount of “spoiled” votes. When the Ohio results of the presidential election were posted, it was listed as 49 percent to 51 percent, leaving the public with impression that all votes were being counted.

Spoiled votes are ballots deemed to be “inconclusive.” In close races like Ohio in 2004 and Florida in 2000, what is considered “inconclusive” can sway an election.

With all the concern over provisional ballots, attention has been diverted from the legitimate concern over errors in electronic voting.

While these errors may have been most detrimental in Ohio, cases across the country of electronic voting mishaps only contribute to a foggy and untrustworthy voting process.

From now, election day should be a national holiday, so people aren’t pressured to return to a job and leave the polls.

It is also downright dangerous for electronic voting machines to be sponsored for future elections if they do not provide a paper trail to easily recount votes.

For further reading on fraudulent voting machines, read the article on page 5.