A computer data cock-up meant that California Governor Schwarzenegger was told he'd already voted when he showed up at a polling station earlier this week. The Gubernator was initially advised he might have to submit a provisional ballot before checks established he hadn't previously voted, allowing the former Hollywood star to cast his vote in California's special election normally.

The snafu was traced back to tests of electronic voting systems carried out last month, AP reports. Schwarzenegger's name was used to test whether local voting computers were properly linked to the network but official forgot to cancel this transaction, creating the impression that the Terminator star had already cast his ballot when he showed up at a polling station in the Brentwood district of Los Angeles earlier this week. It's unclear whether or not anybody else was affected.

Snags in voting were the least of Schwarzenegger's troubles on Tuesday night after Californian voters decisively rejected four reform measures advocated by the Governor in a electoral slap widely seen as a blow to Arnie's authority and a set-back to his plans to get re-elected next year. ®

Related stories

• Terminator kill-bots to be run by system called 'Skynet' (11 May 2007)
• Israelis produce miniature Terminator (8 March 2007)
• Florida ballot terminals favor Republicans (31 October 2006)
• More e-voting pilots proposed (18 October 2006)
• Play chess on your nearest e-voting machine (5 October 2006)
• Police probe Schwarzenegger audio 'hack' (13 September 2006)
• Terminator 4 is go - with or without Arnie (10 April 2006)
• DCA outlines local election pilots (15 February 2006)
• E-voting experts call for revised security guidelines (5 October 2005)
• UK.gov ditches 'Big Brother'-style e-voting (6 September 2005)
• Brits want to vote online, dammit (20 July 2005)
• Politics needs a technology injection (24 March 2005)
• E-gov to cost Europe €4bn+ (4 February 2005)
• Arnie terminates conference speech (8 November 2004)
• Schwarzenegger virus terminated (26 July 2004)