Voting problems before Decision 2008

AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) -- The Travis County Election Division's office is busy with hundreds of thousands of new voters going to the polls in a few weeks. The potential for voting machine malfunctions is greater than ever.

Since the 2000 Presidential elections, it is an issue that has been addressed, and the experts are talking about it.

With more than 130 million Americans already registered to vote, the November elections is touted as possibly the biggest Presidential election in history.

No one wants to have a situation like what happened in Florida in 2000 with questions about voting.

That is why this panel of election experts have assembled to talk about problems before they arise.

Rosemary Rodriguez of U.S. Election Assistance Commission said the EAC was formed after the Florida 2000 Presidential Election.

Rosemary Rodriguez is at The LBJ School of Public Affairs representing a federal agency that establishes voting system guidelines.

"What our message is for local governments to make sure you properly store your equipment," said Rodriguez. "You properly calibrate it before you put it out in the field."

Travis County's Chief Election Officer was among the panelist, letting the small, but interested audience know, the testing process has already begun.

"We don't trust anything, we test," Dana DeBeauvoir, Travis County Clerk. "We do hash co-testing, parallel monitoring and logic and accuracy testing. Then, we do post a lot of audit election testing. "

Each panelist discussed and suggested ways to resolve problems before election day.

The deadline to registered to vote in the upcoming presidential election is Monday, Oct. 6.