Officials: Potential problem in voting straight party

[kpete]

Source: The Philladelphia Inquirer

Officials: Potential problem in voting straight party

Tali Yahalom

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Even before polling stations opened at 7:00 this morning, rumors about problems with voting machines began to circulate the Internet, generating confusion and fear that votes may be inadvertently nullified.

The City's Commissioner's Office confirmed that if a voter opts to vote for a straight party ticket, and then pushes a button for a candidate from that party, such as the presidential candidate, then the machine will read the second vote as a change of heart and cancel the vote for that particular candidate, Deputy City Commissioner C.P. Mirarchi said.

But if a voter first selects a candidate and then the straight party button for that candidate's party, nothing will be cancelled, he said, in reference to the misinformed report that many in Philadelphia read in e-mails this morning.

Mirarchi said that the commissioner's office has received a couple of calls seeking clarification about the problem, including one from the Obama campaign.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20081104_Even_before_polling_stations_opened_at_7_00_this_morning__NO_HEAD_SPECIFIED.html

[bdamomma]

1. kick

where are those lawyers who are working for the Obama campaign on this.

[TheEuclideanOne]

4. Potential problems? Potential is highly misleading... I would call

it Clearly Reproducable problems. If this is true, it can have a significant impact. So, you vote for the Democratic party if most of your votes are for democrats, then you pick a candidate who is not a democrat and it cancels them all out because it treats that as "Changing your mind?". WTF? I can see alot of people doing that. I sure hope that there is a visible review process.

Yes, where are all of those lawyers?

[Ms. Toad]

2. REMINDER - if there is anything between you and your vote

double check to make sure the ballot is marked as you intend it to be marked.

If you are using a touch screen machine, review each race, then review the final ballot, and if there is a printout review it as well before pressing cast ballot.

If you are using a ballot marking device, review the marks it made (and take advantage of any intermediate review options) before inserting it in the optical scan machine.

If you are having a friend fill out the ballot - review it yourself (or have someone else read what the marker marked if you can't read it) before inserting it in the optical scan machine.

Even if there isn't anything between you and your vote but a pen/pencil - double check before feeding the machine. I found I had missed a judicial race when I went back and checked my own handiwork.

This doesn't protect against any hijinks going in the counting, but it does at least offer some protection against the "GARBAGE IN, garbage out" phenomenon.

[slackmaster]

3. I've never had that option (San Diego, CA)

We always have a plethora of non-partisan offices, and initiatives. A straight ticket option would just clutter up the ballot without adding any value.

[cmos_sue]

5. I had a problem today in Bethlehem PA

I pushed the "all democrat" button, and all the democratic candidates lit up... EXCEPT Obama. I almost didn't notice it. I hit the Obama button and it then it lit up. I reported it to the poll people and also reported it in my local paper blog. Very disheartening. In this day and age... why can't we get a printed receipt for our votes?

[slackmaster]

8. Welcome to DU

Too bad you didn't capture that one on video.

[BadgerKid]

6. OTOH, it's logical with 'check all' boxes

such as those found in email. You select all messages, and then clicking on the box in front of any one message deselects it.

On the other hand, voting is too serious a matter to assume the voter know what's he's doing. Our scannable ballots didn't have a straight-ticket option.

[TrogL]

7. This is a known bug in the software

It's been reported pretty much everywhere.

[Fearless]

9. To lighten the mood a bit... Since when is there a straight party?

Is there a gay party too?



Keep up the faith.... Obama '08!

[Haole Girl]

10. I never vote straight party

Sometimes, in Texas, it gets down to a Republican or Libertarian only. Not only that, but it makes me feel good to vote for each and every Democrat-- one at a time!!

[hughee99]

11. I don't either, and I live in MA where the down ticket races are unopposed Dems.

I'm not even sure if we have a mechanism for it.

In this race, there were 3 repuke names on the ballot (McShame and two people running for US and state congress). In all of the other races, Democrats were running unopposed.

Still, I chose to leave blank one of the Dems. I'm not a big fan of the guy anyway, but after he was pulled over for DUI, gave the officer shit, pissed on him (or by some reports, only NEAR him), and plead out to a slap on the wrist, I decided I wouldn't vote for him (but I wouldn't vote for a repuke either).