Though Ohio officials stayed on their toes in handling bomb threats, ice storms and power failures, they were tripped up in the end by failing to anticipate three developments: a huge turnout, a surge in Republicans voting in the Democratic primary, and a large number of voters who preferred the security of a paper ballot to the questionable technology of touch-screen machines.

As a result, many polling places ran out of Democratic paper ballots. That led to several hundred voters in Sandusky County being turned away, claims that voters were also disenfranchised in Cleveland, and last-minute litigation to keep certain polls open late.
In Cleveland, where sleepy-eyed officials in Cuyahoga County stayed up until 5 a.m. trying to finalize tallies, the lesson was that paper ballots may be more reliable and secure than touch-screen machines, but they are a lot slower to count and transport.
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