Voting problems reported in NJ (Machines Won't Allow Vote For Kean)

abclocal.go.com ^ | November 7, 2006 | Dave Evans

[Mordacious]

Fingers crossed that Kean will be one of the highlights of the night.......

Unfortunately, the only way a republican state-wide candidate can win in Jersey is to win by a landslide. Anything closer and the dems just call on their most solid voting bloc: the post-living.

[gridlock]

Can't wait to hear the DUmmie whining that this is an attempt by the Republicans to steal the vote in NJ...by making it impossible to vote for the Republican.

Silly! It doesn't matter who you vote for. The DIEBOLD machine always votes for the Republican! The blinking lights and pretty pictures are just entertainment for the masses.

Don't you read KOS? I thought everybody knew this stuff!

[CaptRon]

"Oh, my mistake. That ballot was intended for one of our dead voters."

I think they prefer to call them 'post-living registrants'.

[rocksblues]

Running a close 2nd to Massachusetts.

[frogjerk]

From what I can tell, it's conceivable that poll workers could go in to the booth and select the Menendez icon after each voter, the Menendez icon icon would then be preselected and voters would not likely know how to deselected it.

With the electronic voting booths this would be easy.

The person at the polls demonstrated how to vote with this new voting booth this morning. So she showed me by selecting the GOP. I was like, "you read my mind"...

[6ppc]

However, he said his wife observed it. So, it's not exactly first-hand.

You're gonna get in trouble for saying that! ;^)

[SittinYonder]

The ballots we used to use in Georgia were, IMO, ideal.

A broken arrow pointed to each candidate's name. You took a magic marker and connected the arrow for the candidate you were voting for. If you connected both arrows for one race, your vote was thrown out because it was assumed you were an idiot.

Those ballots worked very well, and I would like very much to return to them. I do not trust the computers.

[divine_moment_of_facts]

New Jersey always has "perfectly legitimate" elections!

[rocksblues]

Well it is a red button. Another case for the lawyers. It should be a neutral color. /S

[joyspring777]

Tirades are perpetrated by those who feel the facts and eloquence of their arguments are easily dismissed/defeated or have no water to hold in the first place.

Extremely unimpressed with you.....

[alnick]

From what I can tell, it's conceivable that poll workers could go in to the booth and select the Menendez icon after each voter, the Menendez icon icon would then be preselected and voters would not likely know how to deselected it.

Or that someone programed a few machines to default to Menendez.

[Paladin2]

We have to fill in a "bubble" now. Previously we had the "complete the arrow" too. The arrows are definitely better, I agree.

[CT-Freeper]

I'm still sad that today was the last time I'd be casting my ballot via the old-fashioned lever machines. Next year Connecticut will start using optical-scan ballots state wide.

Man, I'll really really miss the "click...click...click" sound of selecting my desired candidates; and then the sound of my vote being mechanically recorded with a satisfying "cha-ching" as I slide the large red lever back to the right...

[petercooper]

How difficult is it to have an electronic voting maching that works. I've been using ATM's for 20 years and have never had a problem.

Jeesh

[rwfromkansas]

Could they un-select it?

[rocksblues]

Ours you had to push the button again to deselect the X.

[Vaquero]

I love our antique NY pull the lever style voting machine. We have gotten an extension on switching to the digital one and I hope they extend it forever.

[6ppc]

Sounds like voters aren't pressing the vote button when they are done so the vote is incomplete. The next voter comes in and this is what he sees.

Wow! You may have just nailed it! That is a very plausible scenario. It also would mean that the poll workers either have no way of positively verifying the person who just left the booth actually voted or are not correctly resetting the machine between votes. Yet another hole in the process.

We use optical mark readers for voting so I've never seen one of the touch screen machines, but I used to write control systems software which used a touch screen for input. There are so many holes in the electronic voting process as I've heard it described that I'm certain the voting process is less reliable with the new machines.

[EQAndyBuzz]

Look at my tag line.

[HateBill]

This is deja vu all over again for me. In 2000, the lever for Lazio on the Republican ticket was disabled on my voting machine in downtown Brooklyn. A co-worker from Bensonhurst had the same problem, as did a friend in Crown Heights. Even Imus complained of the same thing!

I knew enough to vote for Lazio on the Conservative Party line, but I'm sure that without this kind of fraud Hillary would have lost.