Posted on 11/07/2006 1:18:18 PM PST by The Blitherer
If we discredit the voting process, then what next?
It's very simple…all non-Aryans go to camp.
I agree with the redundancy of a paper ballot to match your electronic ballot.
Same - we had an optical scanning system.
"It didn't sound like it shredded to me when I cast my vote, but someone else came into the office this afternoon and said thats what the machine did. That is why I am asking. It would make NO sense to shred ballots."
Souncs like crap to me. We use those readers here in Minnesota, and all the paper ballots are saved. We have regular recounts here, and they manually recount the ballots, which drop into a hopper in the machine after they are read.
There have been problems everywhere. Bipartisan problems too. No ballots in Republican districts. Malfunctioning voter key cards in democrat districts. Broken Diebold Machines, broken scanner machines. Polls opening late. 3 hours to get somebody to fix the broken machines. This is 2006. Is it this hard to run an election?
Both sides now are going to have legitimate gripes. In a close race, those missing Republican ballots, or those broken democratic key cards are going to cost somebody a tight election. It may not be for the house. It could be for city council, board of supervisors or something. But people are getting screwed by the screw ups.
I think it might also be against the law, for what that's worth anymore.
When my vote page fed in, all I heard was silence and there was a very obvious locked door on one side, just about ballot-sized, implying a storage bin for the accumulated ballots.
I'd say, fear not, my friend.
Thank you Algore.
Truth is, there have been voting "problems" for decades. There has never been such a thing as a "perfect" election process.
But now we know we can sue and drag things out in the courts, things will never be the same again.
No problems for my daughter and me this afternoon in Delaware County, Pa. (philly burbs)
It was the new machine, registered a red X for each candidate, then push the green Vote button, and done.
"Rendell votes are counting for Swann."
YES!!!
"Santorum votes are counting for Casey"
OH, WAIT, DAMN THATS BAD!
In Knox Co., TN, where all our new machines have worked perfectly (Pubbie county), you turn a dial to go to each race then further turn it to select your candidate. Then you push the vote button, which preliminarly registers your vote. Once you've finished voting, a verification screen appears that shows all the individuals you've voted for. If you want, you can make changes. If, OTOH, everything is OK, then you punch the red "enter" button, which registers your vote and locks it in. In other words, it's just like previewing a post here on FR and then clicking the "Post" button.
Well, I sure do like how we do it here in Arizona - arrows pointing to the candidate and you have to connect the line for your candidate. Magic Black markers do the job and then you step up to the scanner machine and place it there yourself and get your sticker! No fuss, no tampering, but we sure had 2 full pages of ballots because of idiotic measures (like HOGWASH 205 where PETA was sent in to help protect pigs that can't turn around in their cages ON THE WAY TO THE SLAUGHTER HOUSE - come on! they're going to be dead anyway so who cares if they can't turn around in the cages?)
Means Santorum is doing better than expected. In Allegheny county poll works must be seeing way more Tahoes and Explorers pulling up to the polling places over Toyota XBs and VW Beetles therefore they manufacture this crisis. Watch this is the theme tonight, "Problems rampant in voting around the US". "CNN has decided with consulation with Kofi Annon and the provisional governemnt of Iraq we will declare the Demorcatic party as de facto winners and we install Nancy Peolsi as a representative of the winning party and co-regent President". I can't wait till Pat Cadell tells Carville or Begala to stop whining and man up and admit you lost the 6th election in a row.
These problems, all over this country, do not have to happen. We are the USA, the most technologically advanced, most ingenious country in the world and we cannot have an election without widespread problems, fraud and deceit.
And, once this election is over and all the court cases settled, everything will be forgotten until 2008, when it will happen all over again.
Why? Because neither political party is willing to go full force and FIX THE DAMN PROBLEM! Honest to God, I truly believe that both parties like this turmoil. They either believe that:
1. Turmoil brings interest in the races
or
2. Turmoil lowers voter turnout, which both parties believe helps them at one time or another
No wonder people believe their votes will not count.
30,000 dead people registered in Missouri?
Electronic voting machine problems out the wazoo?
Paying for votes, not enough ballots, voting places opening late, signs can be up, signs can be down, manipulation of reported results by the media, etc., etc.
This is absolutely ridiculous. Once this election fiasco is over, we the peeples must, absolutely must, demand that this system be fixed RIGHT!!
It can be done, but will never be done as long as each party blames the other, as long as Dims demand that anyone can vote without ID, as long as the ACLU and other anti-American liberal groups get involved.
I have seen a lot of elections in my life. Most of the problems we see we have seen before. But the sheer magnitude of the problems this year leave me very worried that the integrity of our voting system is gone, the very essence of our Republic.
God help us all.
Here in Oklahoma all of our 77 counties use the ballots where you draw two arrows together and when put in the machine it counts the ballots. Every recount that has occured since I have lived here in right on the money including one that a Republican won by 10 votes and after recount he won by 10 votes.
Our machines may not be the newest but voter fraud in the machine isn't going to happen and you have a paper trail in case there is a recount.
About time every state used these machines with a paper trail IMHO! Every voter has a right to use a paper ballot so they know in the end their ballot will count in a recount not some machine that can be rigged to vote straight Dem.
There was a instance I believe in PA where a voter tried to vote straight Republican and the machine would not accept until a poll worker helped out. That smells.
Here in Ohio we have Diebold machines that after you are finished you tell it to print a paper copy of how you voted to a roll that is stored in the machine.
It prints how you voted one page at a time and you can tell it to discard the ballot and start over at any point up until you have printed the entire ballot and confirmed it.
Yet, Democrats keep suggesting that Blackwell, who led the effort to get a deal on the machines which print a paper copy, is trying to steal the election with the help of Diebold.
We have a pretty solid system here despite all the hysterics.
Someone couldn't screw with the database to which the electronic totals are stored, because those totals wouldn't match the number of votes recorded to paper on the machines.
The fears that someone could get one of the digital voting cards and reprogram it and vote multiple times is pretty far fetched since there are people standing around watching you vote from a short distance away, and it would likely be noticed if you took out one card after voting and inserted another. However, even if it happened, the number of votes recorded on the machines would not match the number of people signing in.
If someone tried to screw with the vote tallies they'd have to find a way to screw with the sign-in book, and the voting machines as well. Screwing with the vote totals would be obvious when they go to verify them during canvasing.
It appears to me that our current system is as secure if not more secure than the punch card system that was in place before.
I've had a computer for over 20 years -- C-64 was my first. I love computers. I'm writing on a computer. But to expect tens of thousands of computers to work 100% of the time, simultaneously, nationwide for an entire day is ridiculous, even when experts are running them. And our computers in elections are most often overseen by -- how to put this? -- by people who probably had an "ice box", a "wood stove" and a car with a "rumble seat" when they were kids.
This could get ugly.
Probably, the problem is not so much with the machines but with the occasional nature of voting and the temporary staff. Also, of course, there are problems with washing machines and soda machines all of the time. There is no way that all of them are working perfectly today, either.
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