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On Tuesday, voters will cast their ballots, bringing mid-term election season to a close. Unless, of course, some races are too close to call. Polls show that close Senate and gubernatorial races in Nevada, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Washington, Wisconsin, Alaska, Colorado, Ohio and Florida could require recounts.

It’s an anxiety-inducing thought — and could potentially leave the House and the Senate hanging in the balance while the chads (or the absentee ballots, or the broken machines) get sorted.

Julie Dent, NYC Board of Elections president, talks about what voters can expect on Tuesday. 

The New York City Board of Elections felt the heat from City Council at a hearing Monday over primary day voting problems. A representative of the  board said it would use what it learned to improve the voting experience for the November 2 election.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio says the city Department of Education and the Police Department share responsibility with the City Board of Elections for the widespread voting problems on Primary Day.

Edward-Isaac Dovere, editor of City Hall, a website and monthly publication focused on New York politics and policy, talks about the problems some voters experienced yesterday at the polls and addresses criticism of the Board of Elections.

Charles Blow, New York Times visual Op-Ed columnist; Julie Lasky, editor of the Change Observer channel at Design Observer and former editor-in-chief of I.D.; and Milton Glaser, designer of the "I [Heart] NY" logo check in throughout the day to talk about the design of the new voting system.

Voting rights advocates are poised with poll watchers, online surveys and phone hotlines to record what they think is going to be a chaotic day as New York City residents try out new electronic voting machines for the first time in the September 14 primary.

When voters go to the primary polls on Tuesday, they will use New York's new paper ballots for the first time. WNYC's Brian Lehrer and Azi Paybarah recently took the new ballot for a test drive.

New York City's new paper ballot includes several trouble spots where voters could easily make mistakes, like those made by WNYC's Brian Lehrer and Azi Paybarah when they tried, according to experts in ballot design.

→ VIDEO: Hi, I'm A Paper Ballot! Watch Brian and Azi Struggle With The New Voting System

[+ Expand post for more on ballot trouble spots]

Notices about how to use the new electronic voting machines are being sent out by the NYC Board of Elections. A reader who received one passed along their copy to me.

The new machines will debut this fall, when there will be lots of things on the ballot: candidates for governor, two US Senate seats, candidates for comptroller and attorney general, all 212 state legislatures and, in New York City, maybe a ballot question or two.

So, instructions on how to use the machines may be a handy thing to read.