“I’m not going to say it won’t happen, but now I know how to fix it as long as people notify me,” he said.

According to Morgenstern, only one person has the key to the room in the Holworthy Hall basement that houses the council voting computer, whose only function is to provide a database for elections such as this one.

As of yesterday afternoon, the compuer’s clock was set for Thursday, Feb. 7, 2036, and would accept electronic ballots through Feb. 9, 2036—corresponding to Dec. 12, 2001.

And while everything seems to be up and running now, the error proved worrisome to the candidates themselves.

“I’m a little bit frustrated that it was down, just because we had so many people so psyched up to go out and vote,” said presidential candidate Lauren E. Bonner ’04. “But I’m confident that it will be up and running and that everyone will be able to vote.”

Election Commission chair Kyle D. Hawkins ’02 said he did not expect yesterday’s delay to have a large impact on voter turnout.

“As far as I know, only a small percentage of voters are having difficulty voting,” Hawkins wrote in an e-mail. “The vast majority of voters are able to vote just fine.”

Voting ends at midnight tomorrow night.

Students having problems with the program can vote manually by e-mailing their votes to ucvote@hcs.harvard.edu.