Election officials fear '06 season of the glitch (voting machines)

[sabra]

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20060206/a_elections06.art.htm

Election officials fear '06 season of the glitch
This fall, millions to use unfamiliar voting machines

WASHINGTON — Millions of Americans will be looking at new and unfamiliar voting machines when they cast their ballots this year, perhaps the most rapid changeover of voting equipment in history. With that change comes an increased risk of errors and confusion, election officials say.

“When you look at disaster stories, it is usually that first time using a new piece of equipment that something is going to fall apart,” says Kimball Brace, president of Election Data Services, which maintains data on voting systems across the country.

Brace's latest update, to be released today, shows that at least 647 of the nation's 3,114 counties will be using new voting machines this year, more than at any time since records began in 1980 and probably ever, he said. Those jurisdictions are home to 30.6 million registered voters, or almost a fifth of the national total.

Voters used to manual machines with levers or punch-card devices could instead be seeing touch screens or optical scanners.

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. Who wants to bet...

That the Junta will continue to do worse and worse in the polls, then a "miracle" will happen: every Republican will be reelected and most of the Democrats will be replaced by their Republican challengers. The fact that this will happen ONLY in districts that use Diebold and other electronic voting will be poo-poohed by the Junta and dismissed by the packed courts.



Can anyone explain to me how this is different from the way Saddam Hussein and his Ba`athist party retained power in Iraq?

[sabra]

2. wait for all the rationale to why the exit-polls were "incorrect"....

[MrPrax]

5. Dismissed by...

the Media and the Democrats as well.

Nobody wants to call them on it, because stability and a clean transition to power, is more important than democracy.

[RufusEarl]

3. More fear!

Yea that's the ticket, more fear, more fear!!! When Re pubs win an election when their 20 points down in the polls, it will be because people didn't know how to use the new machines, not that the new e-voting machines were hacked.

The RNC are already making excuses, and no one is saying a thing. I suppose i'm the only one in my voting district that believe these new e-voting machines have problems.

[cassiepriam]

4. Gee, guess who the glitches will favor? nt

[savemefromdumbya]

6. Glitch=rigging

[Mithras61]

7. If they're so damn afraid...

WHY did they opt for voting machines that don't produce a paper ballot? HMMM? Oh, that's right. They're jus setting the tableau so that any discrepancies can be dismissed as glitches... like the one that lost thousands of votes... or the one that added almost ten times the votes in a precinct than the precint had registered voters... gotcha... glitches...


DAMN this SUCKS! I've been talking this to death with anyone who will listen about the voting machines with no human readable ballots and I keep hearing shit like "electronic voting machines don't make mistakes" and "there's no evidence that the machines having problems are a widespread issue." Will they ever get a clue?!?!?!?

[shanti]

8. "perhaps the most rapid changeover of voting equipment in history"

gee, i wonder why???? :sarcasm:

[ShockediSay]

9. Election officials fear '06 season of the glitch

More than 30 million Americans will be looking at new and unfamiliar voting machines when they cast their ballots this year, perhaps the most rapid changeover of voting equipment in history. With that change comes an increased risk of errors and confusion, election officials say.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060206/pl_usatoday/electionofficialsfear06seasonoftheglitch

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I wondered how on earth the Repugs could possibly carry the '06 elections.

Ans: Hinky voting machines supplied through Repug contractors and their lobby lawyers.

[triguy46]

10. Glitch? I spell that f-r-a-u-d. n/t

[marmar]

11. Are they preparing us for the inevitable fraud to come...?

:tinfoilhat:

[bucklebone]

12. In order to get rid of the punch ballots,

you have to make a change sometime. With change comes confusion. I don't think it's conspiracy to defraud voters.

I've been using a punch ballot in Ohio forever. I like it, but obviously some don't.

If you just follow directions, it'll be okay.

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. no, it's not just a case of "newness confusion"

http://www.hostdiva.com/liberalchristians/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=116&Itemid=29

[Nostradammit]

15. I had to log on just to say -

That is the funniest response I've ever seen here, and I've been here a long, long time.


"If you JUST FOLLOW DIRECTIONS, it'll be okay."


Sig Heil!

[Mithras61]

16. You might want to do some reading on this...

I would suggest starting with http://www.blackboxvoting.org and the GAO report on the electronic elections systems currently available (it's conclusions were essentially that not only was it extremely easy to hack, requiring only one or two people to do it, it was likely that vote hacking had occurred at least once in 2004).

I don't have a problem with electronic voting, but I want human-readable BALLOTS (not "receipts" that some folks are advocating, since they have no standing in a court challenge like ballots do) that are the OFFICIAL ballot, so when something goes wrong, there's a simple way to check it. You get a receipt for an ATM transaction, yet a vote is far more important and they currently don't even offer a receipt, much less a ballot...

[Mandate My Ass]

18. Except many voters have been defrauded already

anecdotally it sounds fine to say "it'll be okay" when in fact both in 2000, 02, and 04 it already has been very NOT okay.

http://www.nvri.org/troubled_elections.shtml#ohio_challenge

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121604Z.shtml

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/11/05/loc_warrenvote05.html

http://www.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2004/cyb20041111.asp

[gizmo1979]

14. setting us up for the big

lie early.We're doomed.This election is bought and paid for already.

[Lori Price CLG]

17. Bush's media whores are already prepping us for Coup 2006.

*How* stupid do they think we are? The Republicans are *forcing* their electronic 'voting' machines down our throats, in order to steal 2006 and 2008 'elections.' The machines need to be *eliminated.* We will NOT ACCEPT any more stolen elections!

Pittsburgh Must Undo the Coup! 05 Feb 2006 CLG Webpage that contains the following information and full contact info for the Allegheny County Council members, and an 'email this page to a friend' option

Lori Price

[sandnsea]

19. Glitchgate 2004

If we'd focused on the unexplained "glitches" in 2004, then people would be more aware for 2006. But because we jumped straight to fraud that we couldn't prove, people tuned the whole thing out. There's still time to get people's attention by focusing on ALL the computer "glitches", not just the Kerry related problems, which would cause people to demand access to the code which is exactly what we need to prove the fraud.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

20. Dual vote elections

Give everybody paper ballots and use the machines as well.

If they match up, okay. If not, throw the machines out forever.

[CoffeeCat]

21. What a frickin farce!!!!

They're attempting to desensitize people to the fact that the 06 elections will be saturated with "glitches."

Damn straight. There will be glitches, like Dem votes switching to Rep votes. Machines in highly Democratic areas will stop working. All kinds of goofy things will happen, which will favor the Republicans.

They are all ready preparing the media and others for these "glitches." If they come out and say it now, it looks like they're being honest and forthright, "We said there would be glitches! There were a few! So what! Let's move on now!"

Can't you just hear their shit!!!!!!!!!!

They are letting us know that this election will be stolen!! This is the pre-vote PR campaign--all ready ramped up!

Those machines cannot be in our country!!!!!!!!!!

Otherwise, we will all be bitching and moaning about "glitches" and how our votes switched, and how we couldn't vote because machines broke down, or voting irregularities or the disparity between polls and the vote. We'll have to create another "Voter Fraud" department on most blogs, so we can sit around discussing how awful it is. Every once in a while, we'll have a glimmer of hope, as Conyers or Kennedy tries to help. However, in the end--not a damn thing will happen.

We must make sure that these voting machines are not allowed in our elections. Otherwise, we are all fucked and all of our post-election hand wringing will be a big, fat joke.

[loudsue]

22. They were desensitizing us before the 2004 elections, too.

"They're attempting to desensitize people to the fact that the 06 elections will be saturated with "glitches." "

That is soooo true, TwoSparkles. I remember when Diebold was getting to go into California, the "polls" started calling it a "swing state" before the 2004 elections.

AFTER they got outlawed again, suddenly California wasn't a "swing state" anymore, but was sure 'nuff going blue.

The people in the media ARE ALL REPUBLICANS. The people who own the voting machines are ALL REPUBLICANS.

We are so screwed.

:kick::kick::kick: