The operation of electronic-voting machines in Tuesday's election proved yet another embarrassment for county officials.

The good news: The expensive eScan machines themselves were not at fault.

The bad news: County election officials were.

In a county accustomed to virtually problem-free elections, more than a third of the county's 232 polling stations -- over 70 of them -- experienced difficulties.

At 42 polling spots, election workers discovered that the eScans remained in "test" mode rather than "tally" mode.

At the others, poll workers allowed voters to insert ballots with receipt stubs attached -- a procedure that jammed the machines.

The problems with the paper-ballot scanners prompted about 400 voters here to call a national voter hotline --1-866-MYVOTE1 -- set up by Common Cause.

Sadly, the county led the state in voter complaints and was third highest in the nation, according to Common Cause.

"These incidents... point to a series of problems that collectively eat away at Americans' confidence in their ability to complete the most fundamental act that we as citizens perform," said Common Cause President Chellie Pingree.

The problems in Lancaster County with eScan cannot be blamed on voters or on poll workers, none of whom have much experience with the new machines.

The failure rests squarely on the shoulders of the election officials responsible for training and education.

Clearly the mechanics who prepared the paper-ballot machines failed to follow proper procedures when they tested and then distributed the machines to polling places.

And just as clearly, poll workers did not receive adequate instruction in the importance of checking that voters tear off receipts from their ballot.

When those procedures were followed, in the spring primary, none of these problems surfaced. The machines worked excellently.

Mary Stehman, the county's elections chief, acknowledged the lapses on Wednesday.

"We have identified some areas that need more in-depth procedures for checks and balances," she said in a prepared statement.

Stehman insisted that every vote will be counted, despite problems with eScan. We believe her. But it's easy to see how some voters might not.

As the New Era is reporting in today's edition, more than 800 votes in the Centerville district of East Hempfield Township went uncounted in the unofficial vote count, released by the Election Office on Tuesday night.

The paper-ballot machine in that district was set in test mode, and technicians never got to the polling place to fix it.

After voters called the media Wednesday, questioning why only 50 votes were recorded in the district, election officials acknowledged having another 800 ballots -- safely stored inside the voting machine -- and assured that they will be included in the final vote count.

Those ballots conceivably could change the results in one important contest, the election of 11 members of a county Government Study Commission.

In that contest, less than 150 votes separates the 11th-place finisher from the 12th. Depending how Centerville voters cast their ballots, two or three candidates who made the commission or didn't could find their situations reversed when all the ballots are counted.

Such uncertainty in elections is unacceptable. Computerization of voting is intended to improve the accuracy of vote counts.

But poor implementation is undermining that effort, fostering uncertainty and misgivings.

Stehman and the county board of elections will take the next two weeks to analyze what went wrong and outline how they intend to prevent future problems. That's a smart move. We're pleased to see the office accept responsibility for its shortcomings.

Fortunately, Lancaster County purchased electronic voting machines that provide paper back-ups, so no votes will be lost.

We trust that, by next spring, when the county must oversee a complex election with large numbers of local and county officials, they will have adequate instructional programs and fail-safe quality-control procedures in place to assure that Tuesday's widespread malfunctions do not re-occur.

Stehman insisted that every vote will be counted, despite problems with eScan. We believe her. But it's easy to see how some voters might not.