Although the press seems anxious to highlight the angry crowds in Cite Soleil who complained when the polls opened 2 hours late, it certainly seems that that’s the only problem so far. One article claims that polls get a “violent start”, but doesn’t actually support this claim in the article itself. Folks were angry that the polls opened late, and some folks got hurt in the shoving.

Two people have died, but as far as I can tell from all the articles that mention this fact, these deaths are completely unrelated to any kind of election violence. So it almost seems like the press wants to make it look far worse than it actually is.

All of this is, I think, a really encouraging sign.

Also encouraging is the report that one candidate, Rene Preval, has a clear lead. That would seem to indicate less problem after the election, in the period of uncertainty when the vote is being counted. And the way that the voting works, someone has to have more than 50% of the vote, or there has to be a runoff election. It would be nice if that’s not necessary.