OK. For the last time: Touchscreens WERE used in Ohio.

[chimpy the poopthrower]

I keep hearing people say that touch screens were not used in Ohio. That is simply not true. They were used in Franklin county, which is one of the few big blue counties in the state. Franklin County makes up well over 10% of the registered voters in the state. Mahoning County is a smaller, but even blue-er county. It makes up about 2-3% of the registered voters in Ohio, and it also used touchscreens in this election. That is more than enough to steal an election. There were five other Republican counties that use touchscreens. I don't know what they are, but you can steal votes in red counties just as easily as you can in blue counties -- maybe even more so because you don't have to worry about keeping the county blue to avoid suspicion.

[shraby]

1. Check this page of Franklin Co. counts

Page 23...4000 extra votes for Bush..not that many people in that precinct.

<http://www.franklincountyohio.gov/boe/04UnofficialResults/Unofficial%20Abstract%20of%20Votes%20General%202004.pdf>

[chimpy the poopthrower]

3. Thanks! I saw it.

It's actually the thread that inspired me to post this one. But we Franklin County DUers have been saying this for days.

[underpants]

8. "Candidate removed" got 481 votes

I'm just saying.

[yardwork]

2. Touchscreens were used in Knox County, OH too

My family used them. Even though Knox is Republican, it contains liberal strongholds, and those places had their votes suppressed.

Diebold is based in Ohio. The state is full of touch-screen voting. Anybody who says differently is either totally misinformed or deliberately misleading.

[demodonkey]

4. Were they used in Terry Anderson's race??

I can't believe that the GOP bitch beat him so big -- using the photo she did and accusing Terry of being "soft on terrorism". MY GOD! Have these people NO Honor at ALL???

FWIW, I drove through Terry's district in mid-August and I was AMAZED how many yard signs were up for him already so far before the election. I thought whoah... this guy actually has a chance (even though the District is supposed to be conservative).

Are Ohio voters THAT vulnerable to money and smears? Or did Terry's district have some "Repug vote counting"???

[chimpy the poopthrower]

6. He ran for state rep in district 20, which includes these counties...

Athens
Coshocton
Guernsey
Meigs
Monroe
Morgan
Muskingum
Noble
Washington

I don't know if any of them use touchscreens.

[glitch]

5. So were optical scans which are just as hackable without handcount

random testing. And let us never forget the central counting machines.

[chimpy the poopthrower]

7. good point (nt)

[zoeybug]

9. Where in Franklin county?

It makes a difference, since some parts of town are more republican than others. I live in a pretty democratic area, and we didn't use touchscreens.

Do you know which precincts they were used in?

[chimpy the poopthrower]

10. My understanding was it was all of Franklin County.

I mean, everything I've read has indicated that a county uses one type of voting apparatus. You say that wasn't the case with you? May I ask which part of town you're in?

[zoeybug]

17. I'm in Columbus

In the Clintonville area. We do have older electronic voting machines - called the Danaher Electronic Voting Machine, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

I've been voting on the same machines since I've been able to vote (I'm 32).

They may have the same problems with no paper trails as the newer diebold machines, I don't know.

So you're right - we do use touch screens, just not the one's that everyone has been talking about for the last year.

[chimpy the poopthrower]

18. They are DRE machines - whether they are touch pad or touch screen is moot

http://electionline.org/interactiveMap_result.jsp?state=OH&stateText=Ohio&topicText=Voting%20System%20Used&topic_string=22:votingsystemtypemain

I don't know what you mean when you say they aren't the ones that everyone has been talking about. They are exactly what we've all been talking about -- nonverifiable, paperless, electronic machines. I think some of you are trying to split hairs in order to create confusion. Everybody I know calls these touch screen machines. And just because they've been around for a long time doesn't mean they're safe.

[zoeybug]

19. okay, I'm an idiot.

Not trying to create confusion. Just confused myself.

I thought all the talk was about some new technology that Ohio was going to purchase from Diebold, but ended up backing out of. You now the kind - where you actually touch some sort of computer monitor. I didn't realize that the old voting machines had the same problems.

Please don't get mad, I think that some of us thought that this was a different sort of thing.

[meisje]

11. WE DO NOT HAVE TOUCH SCREENS IN FRANKLIN COUNTY!

I live in downtown Columbus and was very involed with watching the polls. We do have some type of OLDER(10 years maybe) electronic machine. It's a large touch pad, you press the button for your candidate and a red light comes on next to his/her name. When you finish going through all of the issues, you hit the big green "Vote" key. A large ballot box comes off of the back of the machine and I assume it is then taken to be counted. I'm not even sure these machines use software, they are old and about the size of a Volkswagon Beetle.

Listen man, we lost! The gay amendment brought out every 10 gallon hat wearing redneck in Ohio, and there are a lot of them. That and the lack of voting machines, many precincts had fewer than the 2000 race. I figure Secretary Blackwell may of had something to do with that. Columbus went overwhemingly for Kerry, we just did not get the redneck vote.

[robbedvoter]

12. Man - you lost - if it's so important to ya. WE wuz robbed.

[bloom]

14. Where are the graphs from?

I would like to see that get in the mass media.

[chimpy the poopthrower]

13. I live in Franklin County too.

Perhaps I used the term "touch screen" too liberally. They are technically "touch pad", I guess. I don't know what you mean by "I'm not even sure these machines use software."

Please read this article I just found:
http://www.pennlive.com/newsflash/politics/index.ssf?/base/politics-0/1098418141161840.xml&storylist=politics

"Ohio's voting systems
10/22/2004, 12:00 a.m. ET
The Associated Press

(AP) — Ohioans will use three different systems to vote on Nov. 2:

Sixty-eight counties will use punch-card machines...

Thirteen counties will use optical scan machines...

Seven counties will use electronic touch pad machines that record votes with the press of a button next to the candidate's name. Votes are tallied on computer chips stored in the machines, then read at the board of elections."

Electronic (1.2 million voters, 16 percent): Auglaize, Franklin, Knox, Lake, Mahoning, Pickaway, Ross."

So whether they are "touch pad" or "touch screen" doesn't make much difference as far as I'm concerned. That's just the interface. They are still electronic and paperless.

[LisaL]

16. You touch the screen-it's a touch screen machine.

There is no receipt, there is no paper trail. No huge ballot comes off the back of that thing, it's all electronic.
Wake up and smell the coffee!

[chimpy the poopthrower]

15. Correction: they are touch PADS, not touch SCREENS

I call them "touch screens" and so does everyone else I know, but I guess they are more properly termed "touch PAD" machines. The official name is Danaher Electronic Voting Machine.

Here is some information about the machines:
http://www.co.franklin.oh.us/boe/content/faq.htm#votingMachine
http://www.co.franklin.oh.us/boe/pdf/VotingMachineInstructions.pdf

Sorry if I caused any confusion. The important points to me are that they are electronic and paperless.