Chicago residents voting Tuesday should expect relative calm at the polls, according to the Chicago Board of Elections, which has introduced new devices and procedures to ensure the city's electronic voting goes without a hitch.

Last year's elections were dogged with problems after both the city and Cook County introduced touch-screen machines and electronically scanned ballot devices from Sequoia Voting Systems.

During the March primary, city officials needed almost a week to verify the results. Then in November, county precincts could not transmit to headquarters, leaving the results of some races in limbo for hours.

The touch-screen machines used in some precincts have two new features to make them more voter-friendly, said Jim Allen, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Elections. The machines now use voter-activation cards that are longer, after the city received a number of complaints that the smaller cards used last year sometimes got stuck in the machines.

"We're trying to make sure there's one less thing that can aggravate voters," Allen said. "There were some instances where cards were jammed in machines and someone was using needle-nosed pliers to pull them out. We just don't want that happening."

Touch-screens also have a second upgrade to ease candidate selection. Instead of using their fingers on the screen, voters can now use a small plastic stylus, similar to those used to operate a Palm Pilot.

"For touch-screen balloting, you want to make sure the voter is comfortable and can make precise choices. You don't want people to have to back out and redo their vote," Allen said. "If you're holding a little plastic pointer, you tend to have more accuracy."

Both the cards and the pointers have been used in early voting, and precincts have not reported problems with either new device.

The majority of voters will not be affected by the changes to the touch-screen systems, since about 90 percent of the city uses paper ballots, Allen said.