Early word is that voting machines in some parts of Kern County weren't ready for the voters this morning... forcing an airborne 11th hour fix in some rural areas.

My colleague Sasha Khokha in our Central Valley bureau in Fresno reports that some of Kern's electronic touchscreen machines didn't have voting access cards that had been properly programmed. The machines, made by Diebold Elections Systems, have removable cards that have to be programmed with all of the specific ballot information before each election.

Sasha's note on what happened is below:

"The problem was resolved quickly in Bakersfield, but Kern County is huge and has some towns as far as 2.5 hours away. I spoke with Chief Deputy Registrar Sandra Brockman. She said they had to use sheriff's department helicopters to fly the reprogrammed cards out to some of these areas. Apparently, the issue was largely resolved by mid-morning."