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Dean Logan, registrar for the county's 4.7 million registered voters, says the system isn't really different as far as what voters see or experience when they cast their ballots. "The real improvements that have been made in the last 10 to 12 years have more to do with ballot design, use of plain language in instructions, a greater emphasis on voter education and public engagement" on voter rights, Logan said. And more and more voters are casting their ballots early, either by mail or in person at central voting centers. In Los Angeles County alone, officials issued about 900,000 vote-by-mail ballots for the 2008 election. This time around, Logan says, the county has already issued more than 1.5 million vote-by-mail ballots. Elections expert Kimball Brace says many changes took place mid-decade, so many of those voting in the 2008 election had the opportunity to get used to new equipment or design changes. He said the hope for Tuesday's contest between President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney is that voters will be familiar with the equipment and the process at their polling places and that election officials are quick to react to any problems. "Election officials are always cognizant of changes. The issue always becomes how well they manage it," said Brace, president of the Washington-based consulting firm Election Data Services. "Anytime you have something as close as what we have now, any tiny little thing can throw things off."
That could be a storm, a machine that jams, a computer failure or even an angry poll worker. Election administrators, Brace said, always pray on election eve for landslide margins. At least in the presidential race, he said, that looks unlikely this year "because it's going to be tight."
[Associated
Press;
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