Voting problems plaguing some U.S. states

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Six years after the passage of the Help America Vote Act, election officials from across the United States say they aren't so sure voting is more reliable.

Despite $2 billion spent since 2002 for new voting equipment, some state officials say they're facing continued confusion and challenges as Tuesday's U.S. presidential election approaches, USA Today reported Wednesday.

"We know that on Nov. 4, voting systems will fail somewhere," Lawrence Norden of New York University School of Law told the newspaper. "There is no perfect system. All of these systems have problems."

Officials say the run-up to this year's election has seen long lines, machine breakdowns and mistakes by voters and poll workers at a time when more than 30 states are encouraging early voting to boost turnout as well as to reduce Election Day lines.

One of the more recent voting headaches involves new registration databases, required by the Help America Vote law. They have produced confusion as election officials compare voters' identifications with motor vehicle and Social Security records. The matching process, they say, is fraught with problems and has led to lawsuits, USA Today reported.