Just returned from spending 2 hours with an Ohio Board of Elections

[Rick Myers]

Sat and talked with both the GOP and Dem directors at The Board of Elections in Mahoning County in Ohio. They are NOT looking forward to election day and the weeks to follow.

Both agree that if Ohio is not clearly won by 4 to 5%, there WILL be another Florida. Both parties are gearing up for the fight. The GOP will be contesting individual voters at EVERY precinct, and they have already been informed they will only get ONE warning if they attempt to slow the process.

They showed me a photo of the 'butterfly' ballot being used in the Cleveland metro. MY GODDESS!!! It make Fla 2000 look simple. It is a complete disaster waiting to happen. That is were the fight will start...

Both officials admit that short of a landslide, we will NOT know the outcome until Dec. 12 or later...

And they both asked me to be an official observer on election Day. They use an ES&S system, and I've acted as an observer before...

[mzmolly]

1. OMG!

:(

[crispini]

2. Oh, GAWD, a butterfly ballot.

WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY?

There's such a thing as a USABILITY EXPERT. These people are PROFESSIONALS at making things MORE USABLE. INCLUDING BALLOTS. In fact the Usability Professionals Association offered FREE services to local election boards, IIRC.

KERRY IN A LANDSLIDE.... PLEASE!!! for ALL OUR SANITY'S SAKE.

Oh, and I hope you told them that Blackwell is a vote suppressing mother-f*cker. Or something similar. :evilgrin:

[meganmonkey]

3. well, then it'll have to be a landslide!!!! n/t

[sonicx]

4. fucking idiots! it's been 4 years and they can't get the shit together?!?!

:grr:

[naufragus]

5. what makes you think they wanted to

[PlanetBev]

6. Rick, did you ask them why they have another butterfly ballot?

What did they do, hire Teresa La Pore?

Have they learned nothing?

[Rick Myers]

10. They saw the photo in the Cleveland Plain Dealer

Then called and had a pic faxed in. It is HORRIBLE... You vote by NUMBER, but the numbers on the punch card do NOT line up with the names and issues!!!

[TruthWins]

11. Thought that was absentee only

My understanding from the newspaper story was that the absentee ballot was confusing. not the voting booth ballot.

[LiberalFighter]

12. Need to use the media to let the voters know what is happening

Could it be possible that they have two different absentee ballots? One for Democrats and another for Republicans?

[liberal N proud]

17. Like that is going to happen

The media in NE Ohio is whoring for bush just as bad as CNN and FAUX
It sucks here, The internet is the only place I will trust any news.
Last night I was sitting ther watching the local ABC news and realized, I should be watching the Daily Show.

[librechik]

7. yeah, like Bartcop says, if a Republican profits from a mistake

expect him to make that mistake over and over again until he is stopped by force.

[Rose Siding]

8. Rove once backed a candidate for months after the inauguration date

for a state court judge...

snip>
...Throughout the day ballots trickled in from remote corners of the state, until at last an unofficial tally showed that Rove's client had lost—by 304 votes. Hornsby's campaign declared victory.

Rove had other plans, and immediately moved for a recount. "Karl called the next morning," says a former Rove staffer. "He said, 'We came real close. You guys did a great job. But now we really need to rally around Perry Hooper. We've got a real good shot at this, but we need to win over the people of Alabama.'"
.......
The recount stretched into the following year. On Inauguration Day both candidates appeared for the ceremonies. By March the all-Democratic Alabama Supreme Court had ordered that the absentee ballots be counted. By April the matter was before the Eleventh Federal Circuit Court. The byzantine legal maneuvering continued for months. In mid-October a federal appeals-court judge finally ruled that the ballots could not be counted, and ordered the secretary of state to certify Hooper as the winner—only to have Hornsby's legal team appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which temporarily stayed the case. By now the recount had dragged on for almost a year.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200411/green

This thief looked at the loss as a beginning

[PlanetBev]

9. Hope that Cleveland Metro voters have been given a heads up

People need to be educated and warned about this ballot.

Wish I didn't have to work. I'd fly to Cleveland and help Ohio Democrats hit the phones for the next 12 days.

Fucking Banana Republicans.

[LizW]

18. That article should be required reading

for all the lawyers who will be working to protect voter rights in this election, and anyone else who cares about voter rights.

That election happened in my state, and I never knew until I read that article this week that Rove was involved. That whole series of elections for Alabama Supreme Court devastated any semblance of political civility in the state forever. Not that there was that much to begin with (George Wallace was doing racist push polls against SC candidates decades ago), but the public perception of the process, and the character of those running, was destroyed.

I am surprised, and yet not surprised to find out Rove was behind it.

[DeepModem Mom]

13. kick

[mhr]

14. BBV - TX - ES&S iVotronic Machines - Straight Democratic Ticket

Sometimes selects straight Republican ticket.

Sample size on these reports is very small.

This needs to be watched by all poll watchers monitoring polls with ES&S machines.

[cthrumatrix]

16. it's a good thing our fight for a "paper receipt" is sooo stupid

[LittleClarkie]

15. When the GOP says they will be contesting voters at each precinct

How do they mean that? How exactly are they going to contest them?

[Rick Myers]

20. They have a list, to start with...

2000 names of persons. These are names from postcards sent out that were returned to sender. Keep in mind, this is just one of 88 counties. In reality, they can contest ANYONE, and that person is given a PROVISIONAL ballot to be counted after verification.

The goal is to SLOW the voting process to a crawl, discuoraging people from standing in line!!!

[AP]

19. Democrats will need poll watchers to watch Republican poll watchers.

Democrats will need to declar Shenanigans on Republican observers whose challenges are intended only to slow up the process.