What most disturbed me today was a story from Palm Beach County, Florida (All Things COnsidered, NPR). A woman was presented with the confusing ballot. She brought it to the election official to ask if she had marked it for Gore or Buchanan. The election official said she had punched the hole for Buchanan. The woman said that she had wanted to vote for Gore and asked for a fresh ballot. The election official denied her a new ballot, saying "one per person," grabbed the incorrectly marked ballot from her and thrust it into the ballot box. This is a clear violation of election rules, which specifically state that every voter who believes a mistake has been made or wishes to change his mind is entitled to a new set of punch cards until the voter is content that the ballot correctly represents his vote. This complaint is the most blatant case of election violation, and I wonder how many times the election official was able to repeat it during the day. It's not just that the ballot was confusing, but that voters were denied the right to correct their mistakes.

--Charlie Baum