The 2000 presidential election between Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush was marked by midnight ballot-counting chaos. Americans went to bed thinking Gore had won only to awake the next morning to the news that results could not confirm a clear winner. Confusion ensued and all eyes turned to Florida and its disputed Electoral votes, along with reports of voter confusion, misinformation, and ballot irregularities.  

In 2004, several states faced allegations of voter purges and electronic vote tampering. While voters had difficulty casting ballots often and faced being turned away from polling places, Republicans and Democrats accused each other of illegal misconduct. 

This year, voting fraud charges began months before the election. John McCain and the Republican Party accused Democrat Barack Obama's campaign of being linked to the community group ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), which they charged with submitting thousands of false voter-registration applications. Republican National Committee spokesman Danny Diaz labeled ACORN a "quasi criminal group," and McCain once again questioned Obama's ties to community organizations and activists he deemed questionable.