Posted on 10/23/2008 10:02:53 PM PDT by weegee
Ignore straight-ticket voting rumors, clerk says
Voting straight party and also for individual candidate, will cancel vote on electronic ballot, DeBeauvoir says.
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A widely circulated Internet message telling people to vote straight party and to vote again for their choice for president needs to be ignored, Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir said. Their vote for president won't count if they do that in Travis County, she said Wednesday.
"We've been hearing about the rumor for the last three weeks, and it's all over the nation," DeBeauvoir said.
The message tells people that if they vote a straight-party ticket for the Democrats, they then also must mark the box for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, she said. In the county's electronic voting machines, that move would deselect the voter's presidential choice, she said.
On Monday, a man was telling voters at a Randalls grocery store at 2025 W. Ben White Blvd. to do the double voting, DeBeauvoir said. After an election official confronted the man, he fled in a Chevrolet Impala covered with stickers for GOP candidate Sen. John McCain and the Republican Party, she said.
DeBeauvoir said that was the only incident of a "polecat" she has heard about in Travis.
If Travis County voters mistakenly vote that way, a message will appear on the screen saying that they have changed their choice, she said. The electronic ballot allows voters to reselect that candidate, which means that their selection will be counted, she said.
The process is still confusing, said Buck Wood, an attorney representing the Texas Democratic Party. A lawsuit that the party filed last year against the Texas secretary of state alleges that the electronic voting machines used in Travis and 101 other Texas counties disenfranchise voters who make the same mistake that DeBeauvoir discussed. The lawsuit is on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"Some people don't trust the straight-ticket vote, and it's really prevalent in rural areas," he said. "About 50,000 people in the state may lose some of their vote. They don't understand the instructions."
In Bastrop County, where paper ballots are used, people can vote straight party and also for individual candidates in the same party, said Melissa Kincaid, an administrative aide in the county's election office.
cosborn@statesman.com; 445-3871
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If you vote "straight party" and click on a DIFFERENT candidate than that party, your vote will CHANGE for that seat, it does NOT invalidate your ballot.
If you vote "straight party" and click on a candidate of that SAME party, you are DE-SELECTING the candidate, UNLESS there is no party affiliation associated with the office (say in a race for mayor that permits 2 Republicans and 3 Democrats); those races require you to go down the ballot EVEN IF you vote "straight party" to cast a vote.
This hogwash about some kind of mysterious evil Republican "polecat" (the county election official's biased word, not mine) is likewise BULLSTALIN.
He cannot know before he advises someone which party they will be voting for. It makes no sense, even among barking moonbat liberals to believe that this would be the case ONLY for straight ballot DEMOCRAT votes.
As an additional point on that, I first heard about this rumor from an Austin Democrat AND got this article from that SAME Austin Democrat (to correct what had been sent out in the earlier email). AND that Democrat said a friend had said this was the same case in 2004. So it is NOT a Republican rumor. It is just internet crap being passed around by Democrats in online social networks.
But whatever it takes for them to proclaim that once again "evil Republicans" stole their vote.
Wow ....rats have election officials in every gedunk grocery store too....LOL !
I voted today - the machines are not hard to use and the workers will help anyone if they ask for help. If you are too stupid to read the directions, you shouldn’t be voting.
Exactly my thought too.
Anyone stupid enough to fall for this does not deserve to have their vote counted.
"We've been hearing about the rumor for the last three weeks, and it's all over the nation," DeBeauvoir said.Gee, I haven't heard that one?
Oh well, at the Dems on top of things...
Due to a projected heavier than normal turn out in Democratic 'Blue States', Democrats are to vote on Wed., Nov 5th.Smart move. They will definitely not have to wait in long lines that way.
I voted early on Monday, and one of the poll workers [black female] really ticked me off. After my voter registration card was scanned and I verified my home address, she took it and I had to sign the printout. As I was signing, she looked at the card and sarcastically said "Republican".
During the primaries, I wanted to cross over and vote in Operation Chaos, but my extremely conservative female neighbor was in line just ahead of me. If I had picked up the dim ballot, she would have had some not so nice words for me. Heck, she may have even had a baby right there, even though she is / was not pregnant.
"We've been hearing about the rumor for the last three weeks, and it's all over the nation," DeBeauvoir said.Gee, I haven't heard that one?
Oh well, at the Dems on top of things...
Well, FWIW, this story has NOT been authenticated as being true. Sort of like the McCain supporter with the "B" carved into her face. The area the Randalls store is in, is very heavy dim. I doubt anyone with a brain would go there with a McCain / Palin sticker on their vehicle.
The process is still confusing, said Buck Wood, an attorney representing the Texas Democratic Party. A lawsuit that the party filed last year against the Texas secretary of state alleges that the electronic voting machines used in Travis and 101 other Texas counties disenfranchise voters who make the same mistake that DeBeauvoir discussed. The lawsuit is on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court."Some people don't trust the straight-ticket vote, and it's really prevalent in rural areas," he said. "About 50,000 people in the state may lose some of their vote. They don't understand the instructions."
- - - - - - - - -MORE evidence that STUPID people have trouble voting !!!
"All your votes are belong to us!" :^D
- - - - - - - - - -
Pinging to others !!
There's that word again.
I don't think it means what you think it means.
My state uses a paper ballot for absentee ballots, and must be sig ned by two witnesses and the Election Official. Now, that said, it is clearly labeled who candidate is and opponent with blocks beside their name to blacken...how hard is that?
AS for voting machines...it seems every state should have to have same system, easily marked with lever beside names...only one for each block of office can be pulled. It isn’t rocket science, but these voting officials make it more difficult than it should be. Some form of identification should have to be presented when registering...that would keep out illegals and multiple votes.
It’s a GREAT word for Democraps to use in the Lamestream
Media so they can make up stories like:
“We wuz robbed!!!!!”
AGAIN !!! LOL!
Austin is heavily Dim/Green-Commie/kook.
Driving around my local area (northeast Dallas County,
around Garland), I have seen LOTS of Obama yard signs.
That was SCARY to me.
I didn’t see many McCain - Palin signs at all ... until
the last week or two. They are sprouting up a lot now.
It’s as if the good Republican Fairy went around planting
seeds and they are just now ALL SPROUTING UP at the same
time! LOLOL! :^D
The problem with the dims is they WILL NOT follow directions. There was one who tried to use the "PREV" button and look at her votes. She thought it meant PREVIEW, even though the other button says "NEXT". When she left, I know she was a dim, because I noticed a BO sticker on her car as she was leaving.
hahahaaa!
< bugs bunny on >
What a bunch of maroons.
< /bugs bunny off >
My comment is just joking and loaded with < /sarc>
I didn’t see many McCain - Palin signs at all ... until the last week or two. They are sprouting up a lot now. It’s as if the good Republican Fairy went around planting seeds and they are just now ALL SPROUTING UP at the same time! LOLOL! :^D
I noticed the third BO sign in our neighborhood this morning. I live in a very conservative area in NW Travis county. Listening to KLBJ this morning, there are quite a few McCain / Palin signs that are being stolen. One guy called in and said his 4' X 8' plastic signs on FM 620 was taken the other night.
My neighbor had one of his stolen last week. Another house up the street had two MC/Palin and about five other Republican candidate's' signs stolen last Monday night. He replaced most of those, but some signs were already out of stock.
If it is any consolation, one of my daughters friends, who is from Austin, had gone home to attend the Texas Tech/A&M game last weekend and said she noticed several McCain/Palin signs in yards of her neighbors who she knew were democrats!
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