The use of the controversial Diebold machines has received anything but a warm welcome since it was chosen as the main voting system in Memphis and Shelby County elections more than 4 years ago.

The state Legislature approved the purchase of the machines, but voter rights groups say the purchase has never taken place and they're not sure why.
 
A hearing has been set for Nov. 5.
 
Nashville attorney Gerard Stranch is asking for the court to issue the injunction. He feels the integrity of the election process is at stake.

The convoluted situation raises the possibility of creating confusion in the election system during an election year unless the courts or the Legislature can resolve it in reasonably short order.
 
Resolution of the dispute - at least outside the political arena - could also boil down to whether a court ruling comes before legislative action.
 

Voters claim they tried to vote for McCain for President but the machine checked Obama instead.
At least three voters encountered the problem when casting their early ballot on Saturday morning. Franklin Boroughs says he intended to vote for Republican but rather the computer had checked the Democratic candidate instead.
Wanda and Barney Blasingim similarly said they tried to vote for McCain but the machine switched the vote.

It seems that, when someone votes for the presidential candidate, the summary page shows only the first three letters of the candidate’s first name.
In Democrat Barack Obama’s case, that would be “BAR.”
The confusion comes because another presidential candidate is Bob Barr, whose name on the summary page should show “BOB.” The summary page of all the selections comes up before the voter actually casts his or her vote.

As of midday today 5,151 votes had been cast and absentee ballots received in early voting, compared to the total 4,679 votes cast during municipal election in April.

Only 8.71 percent of registered voters turned out to vote in that election, the lowest voter turnout in Murfreesboro history, Elections administrator Hooper Penuel said at the time.

But this election is different. The six early voting sites across the county have experienced lines with 3,292 early ballots cast Wednesday and another 1,126 cast today by noon.