MIAMI – With less than 100 days to go before the presidential election, election officials in Miami-Dade County (search) confirmed that two separate computer crashes in the last year have caused most of the electronic records from recent county elections to be destroyed.
Though they say the problem has been fixed, the revelation has critics pushing for absentee ballots (search) over anything electronic, because if a computer meltdown happens during the election it could jeopardize any request for a recount if the race does turn out to be close.
Some election officials say the redundant backup system installed would save all data for any audit. Still, they're expecting a crush of absentee ballots come November.
"There are groups out there that are pushing absentee ballot votes from the comfort of your home because you don't trust the touch-screen machines (search)," said Theresa LePore, supervisor of elections for Palm Beach County.
But voting by absentee ballot has its own set of potential problems. Those ballots are opened and counted last, and officials say if they can't verify a signature or if the ballot is torn or damaged then a team of three election officials has to check over those ballots and try to determine voter intent, just like during the 2000 presidential election.
Click on the video box at the top of this story to watch a report by FOX News' Orlando Salinas.
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