Tide of voters could swamp US electoral system

As millions of Americans gear to vote in the thrilling 2008 White House race, experts are warning that the expected huge turnout could strain the voting system, triggering an electoral meltdown.
With just over two weeks to go until election day on November 4, they don't even have to go too far back in history to find some glaring examples.
The 2000 presidential elections swung on a few hundred votes in Florida and the winner -- George W. Bush -- was eventually decided in the Supreme Court.
Four years later a tight race in Ohio, where at least one overwhelmed polling station did not close until 4:00 am, plunged the battle into temporary chaos.
"Our elections are simply too important to risk another meltdown that further shakes the confidence of the American public in our democratic system," election watchdogs warned in a joint report Friday.
A state-by-state breakdown in the report entitled "Is America Ready to Vote?" found that in at least 10 states, some of them key battlegrounds which could decide the outcome, the answer may be no.