Prepare for chaos: U.S. electoral system warned it ‘can’t cope’ as historic number of voters cast their ballot

Mail Online
November 3, 2008

The American presidential election could descend into electoral chaos on Tuesday as unprecedented numbers of voters turn out to cast their ballot in a system that is largely untested.

The U.S. has an electoral system that is not organised, designed or funded to cope with ‘anywhere near a 100 per cent turnout’, a director of a leading independent electoral reform group has said.

As an estimated 130million Americans head to the polls, Doug Chapin, director of The Pew Charitable Trust’s Electionline.org, said voter turnout will ‘dwarf’ all other problems in this year’s presidential election.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

And with the nation’s voting system largely untested for what is expected to be an unprecedented turnout, the potential for chaos is high.

His warning came as John McCain today threw himself into a final frenetic dash across America to save his bid for the presidency.

He was flying to seven cities in seven states to try to close an 11-point gap in the polls before Americans vote tomorrow, defiantly telling supporters that the media and pundits had made a mistake in writing him off.

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