Dreadsox said:How many of these closely contested elections will be challenged in court because of the voting machines?
Thoughts?
Voting Machines Woes Cause Early Delays
By ANICK JESDANUN 11.07.06, 8:48 AM ET
Voting machines began wreaking havoc the minute the polls opened Tuesday, delaying voters in dozens of Indiana and Ohio precincts and leaving some in Florida with little choice but turn to paper ballots instead.
In Cleveland, voters rolled their eyes as election workers fumbled with new voting machines that they couldn't get to start properly.
"We got five machines - one of them's got to work," said Willette Scullank, a trouble shooter from the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, elections board.
Election officials in Delaware County, Ind., planned to seek a court order to extend voting after an apparent computer error prevented voters from casting ballots in 75 precincts. Delaware County Clerk Karen Wenger said the cards that activate the machines were programmed incorrectly.
"We are working with precincts one-by-one over the telephone to get the problem fixed," Wenger said.
With a third of Americans voting on new equipment and voters navigating new registration databases and changing ID rules, election watchdogs worried about polling problems even before the voting began Tuesday
diamond said:only if the democrats lose both houses will it only then become an issue.
mark my words on that.
dbs
Irvine511 said:this is why i just voted absentee.
If anybody encounters any problems voting today…please let us know.
We have reports in at least four counties that machines are registering votes for the wrong candidates as well as other problems with ballots.
So, again….give us a heads up if this happens to you….
Also a bit of advice….hit the review button before you cast your ballot.
trevster2k said:Why is your electoral process so complicated and different from state to state?
In Canada, we have the same voting method across the whole country in every region. We walk to the voting place, find the correct line, verify our name on the list, they give us our ballot which is basically a list of names with an empty circle next to each name. Some of our ballots have 6-7 names on them. We fold it up, bring it outside, the volunteer rips off the perforated end or we do, and we put it in the box. Simple.
Of course, there are close races which get recounts. I think there is a difference which automatically triggers a recount too. But we don't have the extra chaos above and beyond the election of debating the polling methodology and it's merits and flaws.
trevster2k said:Another question, we get to leave work for up to 4 hours to go vote and still get paid on election day. I don't think this is the way it is in the US or again is it on a state by state basis?
Language Barrier
None of the voting machines were working when Irvine resident Hallie Willoughby went to her polling place in Irvine's University Hills at 8:30 a.m. And there were no paper ballots available in English, Willoughby said.
She said she was offered paper ballots in Chinese,
Spanish
and Vietnamese.
-- Marla Fisher
"I told him I’d come back later,” Willoughby said.
Marion Pack, Congressional candidate Steve Young’s campaign manager, said she also had received calls about voting problems in Irvine. “One of our volunteers had gone to vote at West Park Elementary School and at that location there were no machines functioning and no paper ballots available. People were being turned away without being able to vote.”
I was the second person to vote this morning in Fullerton. The system went fine until just after my final cast, then the printer went down with my votes still showing on the paper. Makes me wonder if it actually went through but I didn't have time to wait around to see what they did except that she shut down my system.
Posted by: Jackie Taylor at November 7, 2006 12:56 PM
deep said:
I think it will be the big story about this election.
I think there will be voter suppression.
I think recounting memory cards will be seen for what it is
the easiest way to steal an election.
trevster2k said:Another question, we get to leave work for up to 4 hours to go vote and still get paid on election day. I don't think this is the way it is in the US or again is it on a state by state basis?
zonelistener said:
This FURTHER shocked me when I stopped by a convenience store on Tuesday morning and found out you could not buy alcohol on election day while the polls where open.
yolland said:Incidentally, if your new home here is a rental--be aware that this is also one of the most notoriously biased-against-the-tenant states in the country, legally speaking.
diamond said:
that the Dems won hugely, I notice theyre remarkably "ok" with Diebold results this election, nor were there any real cries of voter suppression, go figure.
trevster2k said:Another question, we get to leave work for up to 4 hours to go vote and still get paid on election day. I don't think this is the way it is in the US or again is it on a state by state basis?
Florida 'Missing' 18,000 E-Votes in Close Race
Irregularities in Sarasota County House of Representatives race spur Florida recount and calls for revote.
Grant Gross, IDG News Service
Friday, November 10, 2006 02:00 PM PST
Government watchdog group Common Cause has called for an investigation of electronic voting machines used in Florida's 13th congressional district because of 18,000 missing votes.
About 18,000 people who cast votes in other races in Tuesday's election failed to record a vote for either candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives. At last count, Republican candidate Vern Buchanan led Democratic candidate Christine Jennings by less than 400 votes in the race to succeed Republican Katherine Harris, who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate.
Nearly 13 percent of voters in Sarasota County picked candidates in other races but did not choose a candidate in the House race. More than 35 callers to Common Cause's voter hotline left messages Tuesday saying the e-voting machines appeared to leave off a vote for Jennings on their summary screens, said Ben Wilcox, executive director of Common Cause Florida. In neighboring Manatee County, just 2 percent of voters did not cast a ballot in the congressional race.
Call For Revote
Some voters caught the omission and were able to go back and vote again for Jennings, but others may have missed the problem, Wilcox said.
"Sarasota County election officials must conduct a revote," Wilcox said. "The machines should be impounded, audited and tested to determine if voters were unable to cast a ballot and why. Sarasota County voters deserve an explanation."
Undervoting for top-of-the-ballot races on e-voting machines is typically under 1 percent, according to a study released this year by the Brennan Center for Justice.
No Receipts
The county did not require the Elections System and Software (ES&S) e-voting machines to include paper printouts.
"This is part of the reason we've been calling for a paper trail," Wilcox said.
Ironically, Sarasota County voters on Tuesday approved a ballot measure requiring paper trail ballots to be used as a backup to the e-voting machines.
Sarasota County voters cast about 16,000 more votes in the Florida governor's race and in the Senate race than were recorded in the House race. About 4,000 more people cast ballots for the county's Southern District Hospital Board than were recorded in the House race.
deep said:
The GOP voters are rarely the victims of suppression.
In black districts in Maryland voters had to wait 2 and 1/2 hours to vote? This is suppression, intended or not. The fact that it may not have changed an outcome, it just reduced the margin of victory.
How many voters left to go to work or pick up their kids?
And the Dems still won?