The US electoral network remains a patchwork of vulnerabilities

Technical problems related to decrepit machines have resulted in the counting of some votes more than once or even none. A poorly designed vote has confused thousands of people. And a poorly purged listing of voters led eligible voters to be turned back at the polls.

"What we learned was how confused the process was," said Adam Goodman, a Republican consultant, who informed then-Secretary of State Katherine Harris at the count. "It was something the audience at the time did not understand. He still does not understand. "

The impact of the recount contributed to the adoption of the federal Help America Vote Act, which allocated billions of dollars to states to improve technology, ensure voter access and secure systems against fraud. In Florida, lawmakers have rewritten state laws, adopted paper ballots and optical scanners (no more butterfly ballots or suspended chads) and mandatory automatic recounts for races with a margin of 100%. half a percentage point.

Charles Stewart III, one of the leading experts in election administration at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that complaints about this month's elections in some parts of the country should not be considered as evidence of a faulty system or a lack of progress since 2000.

"The election is incredibly complicated," Stewart said, and officials are legally required to take time beyond polling day to count the votes. "The simple fact that we have a recount in Florida leads people to say to themselves:" Ah, it's gone again, "he said." In fact, these are just tight elections. "

Although not a reshuffle of 2000, the mid-term negotiations of 2018 highlighted persistent problems and the random way in which the voting process was administered across the country. In Arkansas, three-member councils manage county-level elections, while in Connecticut, 169 cities use their own registration offices.

The political nature of holding elections may call into question the decision-making process of some officials. In New York, party leaders perform the duties of county councils, which critics see as a system of favoritism.