"It's not like we have a pool of trained professionals we keep on board," Sancho said.

Diebold spokesman David Bear emphasized that this week's problems weren't technical in nature. "This same human error, failure to provide all the necessary election-day supplies, would have been an election day issue regardless of the type of voting system," he said.

Roher said she expects election certification to be completed around Sept. 25, but she acknowledged that counting the 12,000 or so provisional ballots could force that deadline to be extended by another couple of days.