Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News 05.09.06 - Election Train Wreck

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The verdict is in. Winner of the first annual John Gideon “Election Train Wreck” award for 2006…OHIO. Who else? Those pesky Hoosiers looked like they might take a shot but they faded quicker than Byrd & Indiana State against Magic and the Mighty Michigan State. But before the transparent presentation of the evidence, a short history lesson.

“Bloody Kansas”

The destruction of Lawrence, Kansas by
pro slavery perpetrators of election fraud.

In the 1850’s, each new state was a battle between slave and Free State politicians. Kansas was hotly contested. The logical solution was an election and choice by the citizens of that state. They had two or three elections in which “slave” status” was selected. Everyone knew that Missouri sent droves of pro-slavers across the border to vote (anticipating Boss Tweeds multi precinct rovers). Finally, Territorial Governor John Geary and federal intervention, a free and fair election was held. The good citizens of Kansas chose “free” status. The controversy was so outrageous it helped spark the Civil War. After the legitimate outcome, there were calls for an investigation and corrections to the system. Nothing happened. Election fraud was clearly a problem but inaction left an open wound that has infected our system ever since. THE LESSON: Stop fraud when you first suspect its presence; stop it decisively and thoroughly. Otherwise, we’ll all be living in an OHIO state of mind soon.

Very special acknowledgements and high praise to DUers
Stillcool, MelissaB, kpete, Algorem, FogerRox, and sfexpat2000
who captured the articles in this collection of Election Dayhorrors.
“The ERD” IS the best election fraud information resource on theInternet(s)!!!

Never forget the pursuit of Truth.
Only the deluded & complicit accept election results on blind faith.

Denying Election 2004 was stolen today is like denying global warming.
Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News May 9, 2006

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1. Ohio wins 2006 Election Train Wreck Competition.

Ohio wins 2006 Election Train Wreck Competition.

Who among us would doubt Blackwell’s prodigious abilities for one moment? He ruined this country when he made Ohio the “new Florida” and much, much more. He’s a gutsy guy with flair and certain intelligence. Between 2004 and the 2006 primary, he fended off inquiries and criticism. He’s tough enough to brawl with the other Ohio Republicans. But he may be too smart by half. After all, who would elect a governor whose qualifications are based on his career as the very worst election official in the history of the country.

Initially, Ohio, Indiana, and North Carolina were the primary competitors. Keep in mind they are all the worst of the worst, by political and human rights standards. Why? Because they all use electronic voting, the vilest conspiracy against democracy ever. You touch a screen and your vote disappears forever. Look at this graph.


(From: “Scoop” Independent News article “Secret Vote Counting Crammed Down the Throat of Democracy.

With electronic voting, only the vendors who provide the equipment and services are able to see the votes and track the counting process. They refuse to reveal their “software and methods” and they will not allow inspection of the internal operations of their systems at all by citizens, claiming that inspection by “independent” testing boards that the vendors select and pay is all that’s needed. Recent testing like the Harri Hursti hack has confirmed the claims of activists, yet the vulnerabilities were “missed” by thirty or more certification and inspection “authorities.” This entire process has essentially outsourced American elections to private corporations who claim they are not subject to the U.S. Constitution. These same corporations claim that they are not required to reveal anything about vote-counting software or its processes. This claim is ignores the fact that the corporations have taken over a core governmental function under which citizens historically have enjoyed their necessary democratic rights to be a check and balance in the elections process. Note: With DREs, the vote taking and counting at the precinct are totally hidden from the public. Further veiling of the process may or may not take place at county and state tabulation centers. With optical scan tabulators, an optical scan ballot is marked, thus open for inspection. With this voting, the hiding takes place when those ballots are fed through ballot tabulators that send your vote into a maze of tabulation software that is privately owned and unavailable for public inspection.

That being said, the train wreck quickly narrowed to a two state competition. Mighty Ohio and its scion of election fraud Black well versus the upstarts from Indiana. Mitch Daniels, a * OMB Boss and the bumblers who run the state BoE made every effort but Ohio surged ahead early in the game and maintained it’s solid lead. North Carolina faded quickly from the race, apparently populated by people active enough to scare their public officials into a sense of accountability. There were some surprises as well. Arkansas and West Virginia officials, state and county showed some real courage and dexterity in the face of a variety of problems. They have primaries shortly but, unlike Ohio, they developed contingency plans and set good boundaries between themselves and the ubiquitous ES&S.

But you say, Ohio is Diebold country. That it is. However, ESS shows up in all the other states. Their signature lousy customer, post sales service was popping up everywhere.

Back to Ohio. See the thread below and pick out your favorite outrage. Ohio is apparently returning to the old “spoiled” ballot with electronic variations. Cleveland (Cuyahoga County) had more problems than you can imagine. This can be seen as a trial run for the big game in 11/06. After all, what is the biggest payoff in terms of voter suppression, black voter suppression? The Cuyahoga BoE is run by a Mr. Damschroeder and Mr. Vu. Those two worked together and the results were a train wreck for that Democratic stronghold. Machines that didn’t work; lost memory cards; polling places not opening until 1:30 p.m. (clever move); and a bunch of other tricks worked together to make the most faithful voters, primary voters, leery of returning during the general. When they do and many more join them, the system will grind to a halt.

For expert planning, skilled execution, and a look to the future by fouling the well, Ohio takes the prize.

Indiana tried hard. They bought a centralized voter registration database form a local vendor that had no experience and immediately outsourced much of the project to a Texas firm (sound familiar). The firm is funded by a venture capitalist who is a big Republican fund raiser. The system crashed early and often and it was all covered by local media (excellent coverage). Plus, Indiana had ESS to contend with. What a great vendor they are. They present themselves as the anti-Diebold but they’re just about as bad. Their systems don’t seem to work very well and they’re always “sending” someone from the central office to fix things. Indiana had a stressful election day but the local boards in Indiana knew it was coming. As a result, they had their own backups.

West Virginia and Arkansas showed real courage under fire. They have state and local officials who are clearly trained in managing complex organizations and projects. It became apparent in both states that ESS was challenged. Officials in both states stood up to the vendor, went public with their concerns, and with locals, came up with contingency plans which included paper ballots. Remarkable. Our thanks.

Bus always remember, any election, with or without glitches, is a fraud if you can’t know that your vote is taken, recorded, and counted in a way that can be verified directly. No election with electronic voting will ever meet that criteria.

One final note, Cathy Cox, chief elections official in George, was an early Diebold adopter. She managed the elections where Cleland and Barnes saw their careers go up in smoke. She was gung ho Diebold DRE girl for years and was featured, I believe, in their promotional literature. Ms. Cox is running for governor, like Blackwell, on the basis of her election official legacy. That legacy is a bipartisan movement for real verification, a finding that the Diebold’s she bought are not going to cut it. She tried to gut it out and said she had to do what she had to do (brilliant). But not many in the great state of Georgia will buy that nonsense. She may become a footnote to the tawdry history of lousy, undemocratic, unverifiable electronic elections history.

Always remember this, if they can’t prove that they were elected, they can’t legitimize their role as elected officials. Electronic elections and all the restrictions on access to the process make it clear that those elected can’t prove that they were really elected. Sorry guys and gals, you’ll have to do a better job of convincing us you’re really serious about governing.

Until then, we do not consent...

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2. OH: & IN: Great Quotations form the May 2nd Primaries

OH: "These are all the hiccups that boards of election experience in an election year, not related specifically to the new machines," Lee said. (Machines don’t kill democracy, voters do.)

IN: "(It was) nothing that we couldn't cure. Just normal things that happened in delivery," said Charlie Williams, a voting machine mechanic. (Yeah, like the stupid machines didn’t work you fool!)

IN: "The main problem was that the tally tool in the computer didn't like so many 'no-candidates'," Thornburg said. "This is unusual, but things happen," Burns said. (Ah, come on and just say it, “Shit Happens!” Sure. And, btw Mr. Thornburg, machines don’t “like” or “dislike,” they are inanimate objects. These are the “hollow men…”)

OH: "I kind of think something fishy is going on..." said a poll worker after lack of three-pronged adaptors closes polling site for hours. (A Truth Teller!!!)

Cleveland, OH: Election director-"only" 20% of poll workers didn't show up. (What a day!!! Only 20% of the patients got staff infections; only 20% of the firefighters slept in; only 20% of Congress goofed off…wait…that would be a good day;)

AK: Mark Kelley, regional account executive with ES&S admits, "We got a little behind in Arkansas. We brought in extra resources to get caught back up. I’m part of the group that's come in and we're committed to get the Arkansas project back on track." (OK, so let’s see, “The checks in the mail,” “I love you.” & …Arkansas, call the Big Dog. He’ll know how to handle this; but you’re doing pretty good work already dealing with ESS.)

Cleveland, OH: "I was incensed when I came in this morning and electronic voting machines were down," one voter said.

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3. How Rational People Behave

Two examples below...

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4. USA: Democrats Call for Speedy Renewal of Voting Rights Act

Now THAT’S my Democratic Party…kick the door in for this one.

Speedy renewal of Voting Rights Act sought

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060503/ap_on_go_co/congress_voting_rights

5/3/2006, 1:13 p.m. ET
By ANDREW MIGA
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Key Democratic and Republican lawmakers pressing for speedy renewal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, including safeguards for minority and non-English speaking voters, say they are hoping for success as soon as this summer.

"We are going to get the job done and get it done soon this year with the president of the United States signing it," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., in a conference call with reporters on Wednesday. "This issue transcends party lines."

House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., the measure's sponsor in the House, said he wants to put a bill on President Bush's desk by the end of July.

The legislation is crucial to ensuring voting rights for all, including those who have limited English skills, Sensenbrenner said.

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5. Ireland: Electronic voting "dead in the water"

This is how rational people behave.

Via OpEdNews.

Electronic voting "dead in the water"
http://www.limerickpost.ie/dailynews.elive?id=7294&category=Daily-Wed

This week's report from the Dáil Public Account Committee (PAC) which is highly critical of the E-voting system that this Government attempted to introduce has been welcomed by Sinn Fein general election candidate, Maurice Quinlivan.

He said it is now time to finally abandon electronic voting as there is no cross party support to implement electronic voting at this time.

"The minister must act quickly and end this waste of tax payer's money. he added.

"This report again reconfirms our opinion that the system is unsafe and vindicates not using it in the 2004 Local elections. Electronic Voting has been a disaster since it‚s inception. Following yesterday‚s PAC report Electronic voting in this country is now 'dead in the water'. The one ray of sunshine now emerging from this whole sorry mess is that it may be possible to sell the system as there seems to be some interest in purchasing it from abroad. The Government has squandered over 50 million Euro of taxpayer's money on the system which nobody wanted. We along with others at the time opposed the introduction of Electronic Voting on a number of grounds all of which have been vindicated. We believed it was too expensive, would lead to a fall in voter turnout and was unsecure."

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6. OHIO

OHIO

Classic voter suppression strategy … a wonder to observe. Restrict the franchise is the name of the game. Disenfranchise former felons, provide lousy equipment, allow incompetent officials, changing polling places, make voters feel put out…all this works to the main advantage: keep minority voters as low as possible as a percentage of the over all vote. It’s worked for years; “spoiled” ballots have been replaced by lousy machines. Can’t do much with either. Ohio, if you weren’t trying to do this, you sure convinced me that you were. That’s why you win The First Annual John Gideon Elections Train Wreck Award.

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7. OH: Tabulating machines fail in Cuyahoga County

17,000 absentee ballots being counted by hand; investigation likely
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/14488112.htm

By Lisa A. Abraham
Beacon Journal staff writer

Workers at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections are expected this morning to be poring over 17,000 absentee ballots that had to be counted by hand.

The hand count was ordered by the board Tuesday after tabulators for optical-scan absentee ballots failed their accuracy and logic testing and as with every 'glitch' story the standard caveat:

Problems at one polling location in Cleveland caused election results to be delayed across Ohio. Bennett said the board is expected to investigate why a polling place at the Garden Valley Neighborhood House did not open until 1:30 p.m.

As a result, Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell's office directed that no elections board report any results until after 9:30 p.m.

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8. OH: Cleveland – Mistakes by the Lake have Consequences

Results delayed on problem-filled Election Day
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002774.htm
What a list of accomplishments!
Cuyahoga County results not in yet, updates expected throughout the morning

Lack of three-pronged adaptors closes polling site for hours

Video: Governor's race: Blackwell vs. Strickland

Blackwell gets Republican nod in governor's race

Democratic congressman wins nomination in Ohio

13th Congressional District race

51 school districts on ballot

Akron school levy defeated

10th Congressional District

Voter takes rage out on electronic voting machine

Reported by Jennifer Murphy
Paul Thomas
Created: 5/2/2006 1:23:08 PM
Updated:5/3/2006 11:57:17 AM

CLEVELAND -- It was a problem filled debut for electronic voting in northeast Ohio.
Election results


There were so many problems that there was talk of extending voting hours and concerns over counting ballots. Some politicians asked that they remain open until 9 p.m. The Garden Valley location did just that because of numerous problems. They remained open until 9:30 p.m.

Because the location remained open later than expected, Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell has decided to delay reporting of any election results until 9:30 p.m.

Officials at the Board of Elections knew they'd have problems with the new machines, but say today was worse then what they expected.

Hope turned to despair at 71st and Kinsman when broken electronic voting machines forced voters to wait until 1:30 p.m. Tuesday to cast their vote.

"I was incensed when I came in this morning and electronic voting machines were down," one voter said. The faulty machines frustrated the volunteer poll workers too who said they didn't know what to do when the machines wouldn't work.

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9. OH: Voter Headaches

Ohio: Headaches for some voters
http://www.news-herald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=1657439

By: Justin Maynor
[e-mail]
05/03/2006
Cuyahoga struggles with electronic voting while few problems reported in Lake, Geauga, and Ashtabula

While Cuyahoga County struggled with failing machines, faulty ballot scanners and upset voters, elections officials were comparatively serene in Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake Counties.

The electronic voting devices were met with little objection among most voters, and no large-scale malfunctions were reported, officials said Tuesday.

Some Cuyahoga County voters had to vote on paper as their touch-screens went down Tuesday morning, according to the elections board.
Others had to wait as poll workers tried to bring faulty machines back online, officials said.

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10. OH: Delayed Results, Confusion

Confusion, Delayed Results Mark Ohio Primary

http://www.19actionnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=4853173

Reported by: A.P.
First posted: 5/3/2006 2:27:33 AM

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Tardy poll workers, scattered technical problems and a puzzling order from the secretary of state to delay reporting results marked Ohio's first punch-card free election.

The biggest confusion was over an order by Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, the GOP candidate for governor, to hold election results until all polls closed, citing a judge's decision to keep one polling place open for two hours past the normal closing.
Judge Nancy McDonnell of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court had ordered the polling site to remain open until 9:30 p.m., after three of the four poll workers at a neighborhood center in Cleveland did not show up for the scheduled 6:30 a.m. opening.
It was unclear how many voters were initially turned away or how many cast ballots during the extended voting.

Blackwell, without citing specifics, said his decision was based on federal law, even though the ruling was by a county judge.

"We don't want the results dribbling out willy-nilly," Blackwell said. "We want to wait until the polls close." What a control freak!!!

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11. OH: Clermont County: KNOCKING DOWN RUMORS

Reporters' notebook
BY KIMBALL PERRY, DAN HORN AND HOWARD WILKINSON | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
KNOCKING DOWN RUMORS
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060503/NEWS01/605030381/1056
Originally published May 3, 2006

Amid a swirl of anxiety over the vote-counting in Clermont County, Sheriff A.J. Rodenberg made an unsolicited call to The Enquirer Tuesday to knock down what he called a "rampant rumor" that his deputies were seizing ballots cast in Tuesday's election.

"I want you to know that there is no truth in those rumors," Rodenberg said. "We would not do that unless we were asked to by the Board of Elections, and it would have to be some extraordinary reason for us to do that."

Apparently, the rumors started circulating after representatives of two 2nd Congressional District candidates - Republican Bob McEwen and Democrat Thor Jacobs - made requests of the Clermont County Board of Elections to have campaign observers watch the ballot counting.

The county has had ballot-counting problems in recent elections.

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12. OH: Cuyahoga County All Electronic Election – Voters Screwed

First all-electronic election marred by problems
http://www.cleveland.com/ohio/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1146645262236420.xml&coll=2

Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Joan Mazzolini and Grant Segall
Plain Dealer Reporters

Electronic voting in Cuyahoga County began with a thud, with results of most races unknown late Tuesday while an army of election workers prepared to use the most old-fashioned of voting technology - a hand count - to tally thousands of votes.

Glitches with optical scan machines prevented the planned counting of 17,000 absentee ballots. Workers planned to begin hand-counting votes on the ballots at midnight and expected to be at it for hours. And because new touch-screen voting machines did not function properly at first in some polling locations, voters had to fill out paper ballots, which also were to be hand-counted early today.

With the paper ballots accounting for such a substantial percentage of all votes cast Tuesday, the winners in many county races could not be called.

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13. OH: Blackwell & Taft Cast Nasty Pall on Ohio Primaries – Sorry Records

Posted on Wed, May. 03, 2006
Blackwell, Taft affected more than one race

http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/content/gen/ap/OH_ELN_Rdp.html
JOHN McCARTHY
Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Scandals in Gov. Bob Taft's administration played a role in more than one primary race as Republicans who tied their opponents to Taft were victorious.

Kenneth Blackwell spent the past few weeks calling Jim Petro "Taft-like" or "Taft-light," and featured the two in his advertising. Blackwell, Ohio's secretary of state cruised to a victory Tuesday over Petro, the attorney general.

Taft became a target because of an investment scandal that led to him becoming the first Ohio governor charged with a crime while in office. He pleaded no contest last year to ethics charges of failing to report golf outings and other gifts.

With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Blackwell had 441,533 votes or 56 percent, while Petro had 346,524 or 44 percent.

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14. OH-IN: Turnout Up Sharply for Democrats

Dem Turnout Way Up?
http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/5/3/125644/5957

by Chris Bowers, Wed May 03, 2006 at 12:56:44 PM EST

Over at Hit and Run, Dave Weigel looks at turnout figures from last night's primaries in Ohio and Indiana. He has some information that should be encouraging to anyone looking for a big Democratic year:

The most dramatic race was in the rural 6th district, which borders on Ohio West Virginia and voted basically 50-50 Bush-Kerry. (...)The GOP House committee bought ads attacking one of Wilson's lame opponents, who were on the ballot, thinking they could build up his name recognition and get a critical mass of voters to pull his lever instead of writing in Wilson's name. But Wilson pulled through with 43,692 votes out of a total 65,797. The Republicans' preferred candidate won his primary with a lousy 18,356 votes out of 37,596. Again - this is a district where Bush and Kerry ran even. Where'd the Republicans go?


Indiana looked about the same for both parties. The most surprising race there was probably in the 8th district in Evansville and Terra Haute, a swing seat that voted 62-38 for Bush in 2004. Neither party's candidate had an opponent, and incumbent Republican John Hostettler (one of six GOP votes against the Iraq War in 2003) got 27,366 votes. But Democrat Brad Ellsworth got 43,213 votes.

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15. OH: Western OH Dem Gets on Ballot with Write Ins…amazing

Hard write-in campaign works for Democrat Wilson
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1146645854236420.xml&coll=2

Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Sabrina Eaton
Plain Dealer Bureau

Washington - Democratic State Sen. Charlie Wilson last night won an arduous write-in campaign to appear on the congressional ballot in a district along the West Virginia border currently represented by gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland.

National political parties spent more than $1 million to sway an election that Republicans believed would easily be won by GOP State Rep. Chuck Blasdel if Wilson was off the ballot. Wilson ran as a write-in because his filing petitions lacked valid signatures.

Wilson's race was one of several closely watched elections in politically barometric Ohio.

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16. OH: Ney Wins Primary – Citizens put on 24 Hour Observation;)

Ney Takes Primary, but Cracks in GOP Base Are Clear
By Greg Giroux | 12:38 AM; May. 03, 2006
http://www.cqpolitics.com/2006/05/oh_18_ney_takes_primary_but_cr.html

Ohio Republican Rep. Bob Ney, whose past ties to now-convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff have imperiled his political career, easily won Tuesday’s Republican primary in the state’s 18th District.

But the embattled congressman probably did not win overwhelmingly enough to quell doubts about his vulnerability in the November election, which will be the toughest race he has faced since he was first elected in 1994.

Ney had 68 percent of the vote against James Brodbelt Harris, a little-known financial analyst who did not even meet the $5,000 contribution threshold to register with the Federal Election Commission.

That more than three in 10 Republicans backed a political unknown over Ney — long a popular figure in the east-central Ohio district — demonstrated that some voters in the Republican base are disenchanted with the congressman.

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17. OH: "...70 memory cards - with results from 200 precincts - were missing..

Memory Cards Missing – 200 Precincts
http://www.cleveland.com/newslogs/plaindealer/

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Cuyahoga County: The usual fiasco

Some 17 hours after polls closed, Cuyahoga County STILL hasn't finished counting ballots from an election that will long be known as a fiasco.

Elections workers continued to count votes Wednesday, with about 85 percent of the votes cast on touch-screen machines counted by 11:15 a.m.

But 70 memory cards - with results from 200 precincts - were missing. Board of elections officials are checking the voting machines to see whether the cards were inadvertently left inside.

Meanwhile, a second team of 50 temporary agency employees continued the hand count of 17,000 paper ballots used by absentee voters. Election officials decided to hand-count the paper ballots after tests on the optical scan machines showed inaccuracies. Vote totals for the absentee ballots are expected sometime this evening

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18. OH: Precinct opens at 1:30 p.m. – Causes Judge to Delay Closing Polls to 9

OK, :wtf: I mean seriously, I go to bed late, get up late and start my day on time…like you, I’m late maybe, uh, never or once in a blue moon. How can this happen? Where’s the quality control?

NEW-MACHINE ROLLOUT
Glitches delay voting and reporting of results
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/?story=dispatch/2006/05/03/20060503-A1-04.html

Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Robert Vitale
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Dozens of polling places opened late yesterday in Franklin County, and a court-ordered extension of voting hours in Cleveland delayed results statewide in Ohio’s first full-scale election with new touch-screen voting machines.

A polling place in Cleveland that didn’t open until 1:30 p.m. affected elections boards statewide after a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge ordered it to stay open until 9:30 p.m. The secretary of state’s office then told boards not to post statewide results until that poll closed.

Workers at the polling place in a Cleveland public-housing complex reportedly couldn’t get the touchscreen machines started. After learning of the late start, U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a Democrat from Cleveland, went to Common Pleas Court to keep the poll open.

In Franklin County, mistakes by poll workers — loading ballots without school levies, following the wrong instructions for start-of-the day printouts — outnumbered technical glitches with the machines themselves, officials said.

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19. OH: Can this state get it together by November 2006

NO, emphatically NO. How can the guy that screwed up 2004 and screwed up Election Day primaries across the state even stay in the race. He should step down!!

Wednesday morning quarterback: Focus on voting machine problems

Edited on Wed May-03-06 03:49 PM by Algorem
http://www.akronlegalnews.com/news_fs.php?story=1

5/3/2006, 2:30 p.m. ET
By CONNIE MABIN
The Associated Press

CLEVELAND (AP) — A variety of problems in Ohio's first punch-card free election have officials, voter advocates and others asking a crucial question Wednesday: Can the state that decided the last presidential race get it together before November?

"Ohio's quickly getting this reputation as most corrupt and maybe most incompetent," said Chris Link, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio that fielded dozens of complaints from voters across the state...

Cuyahoga County was searching for memory cards holding votes from touch-screens at 74 polling locations. Spokeswoman Jane Platten said the cards might have been left in machines but she would not discuss any more details, citing security concerns. The county had reported results from only about 86 percent of its precincts by midday Wednesday...

"We're not conspiracy theorists unless gross incompetence is a conspiracy, and that's what we saw," Link said. "The elected officials charged with ensuring that citizens get to vote are not doing their job."...

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21. OH: Blackwell Makes Punch Cards Look Good

But Fitrakis can tell us a tale or two about those lovely devices

Struggles to Fix Voting Problems
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/04/ap/politics/mainD8HCN7481.shtml


May 3, 2006, 3:40PM

By CONNIE MABIN Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

CLEVELAND — Ohio's first election without punch card ballots was marred by a slew of problems with new voting machines, raising a crucial question: Can the state that decided the last presidential race get it together before November?

Election officials had trouble printing ballot receipts, finding lost votes and tabulating election results in Tuesday's primary. Some election workers were late or did not show up at all in Cleveland's Cuyahoga County, the states largest. Others could not figure out how to turn on the machines.

"Ohio's quickly getting this reputation as most corrupt and maybe most incompetent," said Chris Link, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, which fielded dozens of complaints from voters.

Tuesday's primary was the first in which all 88 counties used either touch-screen machines or devices that scan ballots marked by voters.

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22. OH: The Varieties of Election Incompetence

A sampling of voting problems reported across Ohio
Edited on Thu May-04-06 01:11 AM by Algoremhttp://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/14492119.htm

5/3/2006, 3:57 p.m. ET
The Associated Press

(AP) — ...

_Stark County in northeast Ohio delayed results until Wednesday because of 30 missing memory cards that held votes. Election workers found several cards in voting machines and the rest were found filed out of numerical sequence in the elections board offices, executive director Jeff Matthews said.

_A man in Mahoning County, confused about how to use the electronic keyboard, used a pen to write in a congressional candidate on the machine's screen; a poll worker used her saliva to clean it.

_About 50 people left without voting at Franklin County precincts that opened as much as an hour late because poll workers were unsure what to do when they made mistakes turning on the machines.

_A few voters left a polling place in Summit County because workers couldn't figure out how to set up new optical scan units...

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23. Cleveland, OH: Where’s the plug! Where’s the plug! Geniuses at work.

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_print.asp?id=51671

Reported by Jennifer Murphy
Created: 5/2/2006 10:13:20 PM
Updated:5/2/2006 11:35:16 PM


CLEVELAND – Elections officials knew there would be problems making the transition from paper ballots to electronic voting and they were right. In fact, the CEO of the board of elections gave Tuesday’s performance a failing grade.

In some cases, the problems with the machines were complicated – Access cards that didn’t work, paper trails that jammed.

But at the Garden Valley Neighborhood Center on Cleveland’s east side, it was a “small set back” that caused big problems – the voting machines have three-pronged outlets, but the center didn’t have electrical adaptors.

“I kind of think something fishy is going on because I don’t understand why it took so long for someone to get here to set up the site,” poll worker Paulzalina Wagner said…

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24. Cleveland, OH: Election director-“only” 20% of poll workers didn’t show

This is what they call a “snafu”…it’s what we call, and most people call, a crime against democracy. 20%, who are these people?

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=51716&provider=top
Created: 5/3/2006 5:54:27 PM
Updated:5/3/2006 7:34:26 PM


CLEVELAND -- ...By the election director's assessment, first touch screen voting went "fairly well," with "only" 20 per cent of poll workers not showing up, leaving or not knowing how to do their jobs...


The biggest glitch was the disappearance of 70 memory cards that record votes. There is a paper backup so the votes did not disappear.

And losing memory cards is better than losing paper ballots.

"In the punch card world, if there was a punch card ballots missing we would never be able to recover those votes," officials said...

Cleveland, OH:

Results delayed on problem-filled Election Day

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=5163...

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25. Cleveland, OH: Results delyed, what's the hurry?

Results delayed on problem-filled Election Day
http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_print.asp?id=51639


CLEVELAND -- ...There were so many problems that there was talk of extending voting hours and concerns over counting ballots. Some politicians asked that they remain open until 9 p.m. The Garden Valley location did just that because of numerous problems. They remained open until 9:30 p.m...

Hope turned to despair at 71st and Kinsman when broken electronic voting machines forced voters to wait until 1:30 p.m. Tuesday to cast their vote.

"I was incensed when I came in this morning and electronic voting machines were down," one voter said.

The faulty machines frustrated the volunteer poll workers too who said they didn't know what to do when the machines wouldn't work...

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26. Cleveland OH: Investigation of Election Day Problems Could Take Weeks

Take your time fellas; it’s only democracy at stake. Read the ERD threads with Algorem, kpete, rumpel, FogerRox, MelissaB, sfexpat2000 etc. and you’ll find a vast conspiracy of idiocy at least. It’s called malfeasance.
Prosecutor's Office Prepared To Take Case to Court If Necessary

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/9156500/detail.html

POSTED: 6:32 pm EDT May 3, 2006
UPDATED: 6:56 pm EDT May 3, 2006

CLEVELAND -- The Cuyahoga County Board of Election is still trying to unravel numerous voting machine problems after Tuesday's primary, and the whole thing could end up in court.

The Board of Elections is expected to finish hand-counting the ballots by Wednesday evening, but it could take weeks before it finally figures out what went wrong at some of the polling places, reported 5 On Your Side's Joe Pagonakis.

As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, as the counting continued, voting machine memory cards had been accounted for and about 17,000 absentee ballots had been hand-counted.

Optical scanners manufactured by Diebold were not properly reading a significant number of ballots printed by Marketing Communication Resource, in Mayfield Village, forcing a costly hand-count...

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27. Cleveland OH: “Machines don’t kill democracy, voters do” say officials.

Officials: Machines Not To Blame for Problems at Polls
http://www.newsnet5.com/news/9153634/detail.html
Absentee Ballot Reading Issues, Technician No-Shows Caused Problems
POSTED: 12:31 pm EDT May 3, 2006

CLEVELAND -- Problems at the polls during Tuesday's primary election is making people question whether there really were problems with the new electronic voting machines in Cuyahoga County.

According to the county's top election official and a representative from the company that makes the machines, the answer is no.

NewsChannel5's Jack Marshall said the problems at the polls are a tale of two issues, both of which caused a domino effect and a major headache for the voting-machine process in Cuyahoga County.

First of all, electronic optical scanners made by Diebold could not count absentee ballots. But Diebold said it was an issue with the printing of the ballots, not their machines...

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28. OH: No Bad Deed Goes Unrewarded: Blackwell gets Gov. Nomination

What can I say, he’s an amazing guy. Bought the machines, tried them out in the special election a few months ago, and now he’s the nominee. Wonder if people read out there, Republican people. They certainly won’t go out for this guy, unless they’ve drunk the Cool Aid.

Blackwell grabs Gov nod while (SU prize! SU prize!) Voting problems
Posted by FogerRox on Fri May-05-06 11:57 AM


Ohio 2004 election thief grabs Gov nod while (surprise! surprise!) voting machines malfunction
by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
May 5, 2006
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2006/1953

Ohio's Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell has grabbed the GOP nomination for governor in a vote count riddled with machine breakdowns. In Franklin and Delaware Counties, election officials had to "shut down and recalibrate throughout the day," according to the Columbus Dispatch. Election officials use recalibration as a code word when machines are malfunctioning including the recording of votes for wrong candidates.

Blackwell became infamous in 2004 for his role in swinging the Buckeye State, and the presidency, to George W. Bush, with whom he met with on Election Day in Columbus. Karl Rove also accompanied Bush on his visit to Columbus. Exit polls showed a clear victory for John Kerry until a massive mysterious late vote surge reversed the popular vote for Bush. The state was later the target of the first Congressional challenge to an electoral delegation in US history.

Blackwell is the first African-American nominated by a major party for the Ohio governorship. The nod is widely considered a pay-back for his role in stealing the 2004 election, just as Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris was handed a safe Congressional seat after handing the state to Bush in 2000. Harris is currently a US representative is now a candidate for the US Senate. Both Harris and Blackwell simultaneously oversaw their state's vote count while serving as co-chairs of the Bush-Cheney campaign.

Blackwell has courted the extreme right wing fundamentalist church network in Ohio. He now advocates an absolute ban on abortion, even in the case of rape or endangerment of the mother. His Democratic opponent, Congressman Ted Strickland, is the first ever Methodist Minister nominated for Ohio governor. Blackwell's campaign has deliberately flown under the radar. He has refused to disclose his public schedule as he nurtures a network of far right wing theocrats with unannounced church and Christian school appearances.

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29. Cleveland, OH: Same old, same old…problems galore…

Ohio's election problems linger
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5800373,00.html
Originally published May 5, 2006
CLEVELAND //

The state's largest county counted ballots and searched for lost voting-machine memory cards yesterday…Memory cards holding votes from 20 polling places were still missing in Cleveland's Cuyahoga County. Election workers continued painstaking hand counts of more than 17,000 paper ballots that could not be read by new optical-scan machines.

Officials predicted the counting could go into the weekend.

Touch-screen and optical-scan equipment was used statewide for the first time in Tuesday's primary, when only 13 percent of voters went to the polls. Millions more voters are expected to cast ballots electronically in November.

"What would have happened if we had a real election?" said Chris Link, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, Election officials blamed voting-machine manufacturer Diebold Inc. for not conducting tests on the optical-scan devices.............. Disorder at polls across the state, including workers who were unable to set up the new voting machines and others who turned away voters .......... problems occurred in Cuyahoga County, where one in five election workers did not show up at the polls. Others reported hour’s late, memory cards holding votes from 74 locations were missing. About 20 of the cards were found still loaded in machines, but officials continued searching yesterday for others. If they are not found, votes will be tabulated by

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30. Cleveland, OH: Still counting, Friday…Wow, Paper ballots, anyone!

Canada counts national elections in four (4) hours!!!

Counting the votes continues
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.ohio05may05,0,4263496.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines

By Connie Mabin
Associated Press

CLEVELAND - The state's largest county continued counting - and searching for - votes two days after the primary election, Ohio's first without punch-card ballots.

Vote-holding memory cards from 20 polling locations were still missing Thursday in Cleveland's Cuyahoga County. Board of election workers continued painstaking hand counts of more than 17,000 paper ballots that could not be read by new optical scan machines. Officials predicted the count could go into the weekend.

Election officials blame machines manufacturer Diebold Inc. for not doing tests early enough to fix any problems with the optical scan counters. Diebold said the issue appears to be the fault of the county, which used a new company to print ballots that didn't have the proper layout to be read electronically.

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31. Cleveland Ohio: No “winners” in Cleveland.

We still don't have all of the winners
http://www.cleveland.com/open/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/114681846627890.xml&coll=2

Friday, May 05, 2006
Tuesday's primary election - the first in Cuyahoga County with electronic voting machines - remains a mystery.

People in school districts with taxes on the ballot still don't know if their tax bills will rise. Candidates hoping to be in the general election in November don't know whether to start buying campaign buttons and bumper stickers.

Here's where things stand.

Ken Blackwell launches an investigation:

The Ohio secretary of state will send a team to Cuyahoga County to investigate how things went so wrong. "The job will be to find out where the breakdown occurred," said spokesman James Lee. "We are going to need some answers." Speaking in Westlake, Blackwell called the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections performance disappointing. His aides slammed the county for failing to test some election machines more than a few days before the election.

Elections workers finally track down most missing memory cards:

Elections chief Michael Vu said all but five memory cards - which record votes in electronic voting machines - have been accounted for, although not all votes on them have been tabulated. Elections workers realized Wednesday that 70 cards were missing.

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32. Cleveland, OH:Samuel Beckett to be Named Elections Chief…Waiting for Godot

Why not have Beckett do it, or one of his genetic matches.

Ohio's Largest County Still Counting Votes
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/3841783.html


By CONNIE MABIN Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

CLEVELAND — The state's largest county counted ballots and searched for lost voting-machine memory cards Thursday, two days after widespread voting problems blemished Ohio's first election without punch-card ballots.

Memory cards holding votes from 20 polling places were still missing in Cleveland's Cuyahoga County, while election workers continued painstaking hand counts of more than 17,000 paper ballots that could not be read by new optical-scan machines.

Officials predicted the counting could stretch into the weekend.

Touch-screen and optical-scan equipment was used statewide for the first time in Tuesday's primary, when only 13 percent of voters went to the polls. Millions more voters are expected to cast ballots electronically in November.

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33. OH: The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Diebold and Ohio: Nothing Ever Changes
http://hammeroftruth.com/2006/05/04/diebold-and-ohio-nothing-ever-changes /

While Ohio faces continued problems with their voting machines, one thing is becoming readily apparent: One man, one vote is no longer considered the standard. The AP is reporting a host of new problems with Ohio’s voting system after Tuesday’s primary election:

Election officials had trouble printing ballot receipts, finding lost votes and tabulating election results in Tuesday’s primary. Some election workers were late or did not show up at all in Cleveland’s Cuyahoga County, the state’s largest. Others could not figure out how to turn on the machines.

“Ohio’s quickly getting this reputation as most corrupt and maybe most incompetent,” said Chris Link, executive director of the ACLU, Ohio...

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34. OHIO: GOP's right wing flexes its muscles with primary wins

I have a serious question. Why do Right Wing Republican politicians spend so much time thinking about homosexual males? Odd isn’t it. I mean, they really give it a lot of thought.

GOP's right wing flexes its muscles with primary wins
http://www.gaypeopleschronicle.com/stories06/may/0505062.htm

by Eric Resnick

Energized by religious conservatives, politically active churches and intolerance bred during the 2004 Issue 1 campaign, Ohio Republicans nominated their most anti-gay slate ever in this week’s primary election.

Attacks on LGBT Ohioans and their families are expected to become more prominent as the November 7 election approaches.

All of the contested statewide GOP primary races featured anti-gay themes. In most cases, the winners were determined on the strength of each candidate’s anti-gay credentials.

The standard-bearer, gubernatorial candidate Kenneth Blackwell, denigrated and blamed LGBT people for the state’s problems so often that daily newspapers ran columns asking him to stop.

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35. OH: How the candidates did around the state. Excellent link.

OH: America’s Battleground Has Battlegrounds of Its Own
http://www.cqpolitics.com/2006/05/oh_americas_battleground_has_b.html

By Greg Giroux | 5:57 PM; May. 04, 2006
In three of Ohio’s four statewide primaries on Tuesday night, the winner swept all 88 counties in routing little-known primary opponents. But a closer look at the county-by-county results, compiled here by CQPolitics.com (Senate | Governor), provides some early insight into the general election.

Sen. Mike DeWine, who received 71 percent of the GOP primary vote, received vote totals ranging from 59 percent of the vote in Madison County, which is just west of Columbus, to 87 percent in Lake County, which is just northeast of Cleveland.

His Democratic challenger, Rep. Sherrod Brown, won 78 percent of the Democratic vote. His high water mark was in Lorain County, his home base in the Cleveland suburbs, where he took 87 percent. Brown’s worst showing was in Paulding County, a wheat-growing area on the state’s border with Indiana, where he took 62 percent of the vote.

Predictably, Democratic Rep. Ted Strickland’s most dominant showing in the gubernatorial primary came in the southern Ohio counties that have long been a part of his political base. Strickland had a whopping 97 percent of the vote in Scioto County, which hugs the Ohio River and is one of 12 counties that are wholly or partly in his 6th District.

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36. OH: Counties' preparations pay off on Election Day

Counties' preparations pay off on Election Day
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1146732307187630.xml&coll=2
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Grant Segall
Plain Dealer Reporter

Ohio's first all-electronic election had 87 winners - every county but Cuyahoga.

"Overall, it was a very successful deployment," said James Lee, spokesman for the Ohio secretary of state's office, which oversees elections.

Most counties reported scattered snags in Tuesday's primary, but nothing like the mistakes by the lake. Cuyahoga's woes idled some polling places for hours, forced one to stay open late, and delayed the release of results statewide until 9:30 p.m.

Elsewhere, the problems were much fewer and further flung.

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37. Cleveland, OH: Election disaster was not 1st time

…and it won’t be the last time
Election disaster was not 1st time
Cuyahoga has seen many meltdowns
http://www.cleveland.com/election/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/isele/1146742550308560.xml&coll=2
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Michael O'Malley
Plain Dealer Reporter

Election Day glitches and even meltdowns are nothing new to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.

Tuesday's meltdown, which pushed the vote counting into today, was not the first, the second or even the worst in the board's history.

Cuyahoga County will be the last county in the state to count its primary votes, but in 1972 and 1992 presidential primaries, it was the last in the nation.

The mother of all meltdowns occurred in the presidential primary election of 1972, when the nation watched Cuyahoga County drag out the vote count for a week.

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38. Cleveland, OH: Cuyahoga County Election Problems (Missing memory cards!)

(Via a Kent State Radio Station)
http://www.wksu.org/news/story/19243

Cuyahoga County Election Problems

Wednesday, May 3, 2006

Election workers in Cuyahoga County are still hand-counting thousands of ballots following a host of technical and personnel problems at the polls Tuesday. It was the first time electronic voting machines were used countywide. They are also looking for some missing memory cards containing votes.

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39. OH: Punch Cards beat DREs for speed in Ohio. Canada counts nationally i

Elections: New system can’t touch old punch cards for speed
http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=284139&r=0&Category=9

Thursday, May 4, 2006
BY Tim Botos REPOSITORY STAFF WRITER


CANTON - Six-and-a-half hours after polls closed Tuesday, Stark County elections workers finished counting ballots.

For those who camp out at the downtown elections board office, pacing the floor and waiting for ballot results, the wait can be excruciating. Win or lose? Pass or fail? In or out?

Elections officials finished counting at 2 a.m. Wednesday — hours later than it often took to count in the old days, with supposed antiquated punch-card ballots. Shouldn’t the counting go much faster with the new touch-screen machines Stark County began using in November?

“I think we’re in a learning curve,” said Jeanette Mullane, deputy director of the Board of Elections.

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40. OH: Ohio lawmaker demands vote accountability

OH: Ohio lawmaker demands vote accountability
Bravo

Ohio lawmaker demands vote accountability
http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=284153&Category=13

Thursday, May 4, 2006
By PAUL E. KOSTYU COPLEY COLUMBUS BUREAU CHIEF

COLUMBUS - In the aftermath of problems at polling stations in Tuesday’s election, a state lawmaker wants to know how Ohio spent federal money.

State Sen. Teresa Fedor, D-Toledo, also wants the makers of voting machines, including Diebold Election Systems, to turn over documents about how they trained election workers.

Fedor said Wednesday she asked Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell for documents that trace how federal dollars from the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) were spent in Ohio.

“It’s obvious that not enough money went towards poll-worker training,” she said. “Election after election, our poll workers and boards of elections staff are not trained properly on the new machines.”

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41. Cleveland, OH: Damschroder, DoE Chief Blames phones not himself for probl

The buck stops where…Verizon, SBC, Sprint, MCI, and ATT? This is a real “stand up guy.” Admit it, you screwed up. You staff screwed up. You are on the wrong side of this issue.

Phone woes stalled vote tally
Electronic machines handled major test reasonably well, elections official says
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/?story=dispatch/2006/05/04/20060504-E1-01.html

Thursday, May 04, 2006
Robert Vitale
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Problems with the phone system, not the new voting machines, delayed final primary election returns until 2 a.m. yesterday.

Board of Elections Director Matthew Damschroder said a phone outage that began around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday slowed communications between poll workers and board offices just as the polls closed.

The phone problems were at a Board of Elections warehouse on Alum Creek Drive, where about a dozen workers were prepared to take questions from poll workers.

But the phones rolled into an automated voice-mail and the poll workers couldn’t reach a person.

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42. OH: Voting total takes 6½ hours (Hamilton Co.)

Voting total takes 6½ hours
Human problem holds up Hamilton Co. count
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060504/NEWS01/605040346

BY KIMBALL PERRY | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

If you were frustrated about Hamilton County's failure to complete its vote count until 61/2 hours after polls closed Tuesday, be thankful you weren't in Cuyahoga County - where the counting still wasn't completed Wednesday evening.

Because of printing issues, as many as 20,000 absentee ballots had to be hand-counted in Cuyahoga County, said Ohio secretary of state spokesman James Lee.

Hamilton County Board of Elections officials note their 100 percent count concluded at 1:45 a.m. Wednesday, but results were not posted for 15 or 20 minutes after that.

The problems weren't related to the new voting machines being used, Lee said.

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43. OH: If the election was held Tuesday . . . Why are we still counting?

Because you have incompetent people running your elections, you buy lousy equipment, and you deny the voters their right to see the process transparency is what we call it. Democracy, transparency, free and fair elections…ya know…get with it.

If the election was held Tuesday . . . Why are we still counting?
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1146742415308560.xml&coll=2

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Diebold didn't deliver its optical scanning machines (used to tally absentee ballots) until two weeks ago. Elections workers decided Tuesday morning that they made too many mistakes, and so more than 17,000 absentee ballots had to be counted by hand -- which was to continue today.

Ballots had printing problems.

81 of Ohio's 88 counties had the absentee ballots printed by Dayton Legal Blank, a firm that has printed ballots for a century. Cuyahoga used a Mayfield firm with little ballot experience. Diebold said printing problems blocked scanners from reading the ballots. The printing company said it does not know why errors happened.

Polling places were not ready.

In 20 percent of the county's polling places, machines were not ready when voting began at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday. Some voters were turned away. Others filled out paper ballots. A judge ordered one polling place to stay open two hours later, delaying results.

[stellanoir]

20. What's this

give us this day our daily election train wreck thread ?

rec-ed again

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44. INDIANA

Well you tried. A Republican governor who headed up the Office of Management and Budget should have put up a better fight. Blackwell is tough, he’s smart, and has plenty of energy. Mitch Daniels, come on down…for the consolation prize in “Train Wreck” Tuesday’s thread. The centralized voter registration database was quite a disaster and we’ll look for more from you in that arena. The choice of ESS was almost as bad as choosing Diebold. Congratulations, and ESS is rude too! Wow. Indiana was undermined by a number of smart, dedicated local BoE officials who saw the train coming down the tracks and chose to survive and serve the voters. To those officials, you get our “Sentinel of Democracy” designation and an official certificate, suitable for framing, from Land Shark.

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45. IN: Electronic voting switch threatens mass confusion

That’s right, you called it!
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12584001/

Published: May 1 2006 23:22 | Last updated: May 1 2006 23:22

The last three election cycles in the US have been marked by controversy not only about candidates, but also about the fairness and accuracy of the voting process. And as voters head to the polls today for primaries in some jurisdictions, the coming cycle promises more of the same.

With about 8,000 separate election authorities managing approximately 175,000 polling places and perhaps as many as 150,000 different ballot forms that include choices for everyone from senator to dogcatcher, American elections are complex even when all goes well. But this cycle sees many states and smaller jurisdictions making last-minute efforts to switch to electronic voting, and early signs of trouble are appearing.

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46. IN: Tabulation Problems Significant

Tabulation error keeps office busy

Election roundup:
Web site down after problem counting absentee ballots
http://www.chronicle-tribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?...

BY WHITNEY ROSS
[e-mail]
In the early afternoon on Election Day, things were pretty calm at the Grant County Courthouse, save for a few phone calls here and there.

But by 7:30 p.m., a computer glitch had candidates and voters on edge after tabulation of the votes slowed to a crawl, and updated results were not available on the Grant County Web site, www.grant county.net.

After 10 p.m., there were still a handful of precincts that were unavailable for counting. It was looking to be a long night in the clerk's office and officials tried to tabulate those votes.

County Clerk Carolyn Mowery said there was some kind of an overload on their computer, which caused them to restart counting and reenter the 771 absentee ballots they had received.

There were no major problems with the machines during voting, Mowery said. There were a few glitches here and there, but nothing that held up voting.

"(It was) nothing that we couldn't cure. Just normal things that happened in delivery," said Charlie Williams, a voting machine mechanic.

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47. IN: Computer in Randolph County “does not compute”

Computer problems put Randolph election totals on hold


By JOY LEIKER
Originally published May 3, 2006
http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060503/NEWS01/605030340/1002

WINCHESTER -- In Randolph County's first electronic election, the tally tools malfunctioned, leaving residents and candidates with incomplete -- and possibly inaccurate -- vote totals.

A second expert from Voting Technologies International, the county's election machine vendor, is flying to Indianapolis from Milwaukee today.

County Clerk Paula Thornburg said she expects to have final, official results by 6 p.m. Wednesday.

"The main problem was that the tally tool in the computer didn't like so many 'no-candidates'," Thornburg said.

"This is unusual, but things happen," Burns said.

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48. OH-IN: Turnout Up Sharply for Democrats

Dem Turnout Way Up?
http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/5/3/125644/5957

by Chris Bowers, Wed May 03, 2006 at 12:56:44 PM EST

Over at Hit and Run, Dave Weigel looks at turnout figures from last night's primaries in Ohio and Indiana. He has some information that should be encouraging to anyone looking for a big Democratic year:

The most dramatic race was in the rural 6th district, which borders on Ohio West Virginia and voted basically 50-50 Bush-Kerry. (...)The GOP House committee bought ads attacking one of Wilson's lame opponents, who were on the ballot, thinking they could build up his name recognition and get a critical mass of voters to pull his lever instead of writing in Wilson's name. But Wilson pulled through with 43,692 votes out of a total 65,797. The Republicans' preferred candidate won his primary with a lousy 18,356 votes out of 37,596. Again - this is a district where Bush and Kerry ran even. Where'd the Republicans go?

Indiana looked about the same for both parties. The most surprising race there was probably in the 8th district in Evansville and Terra Haute, a swing seat that voted 62-38 for Bush in 2004. Neither party's candidate had an opponent, and incumbent Republican John Hostettler (one of six GOP votes against the Iraq War in 2003) got 27,366 votes. But Democrat Brad Ellsworth got 43,213 votes.

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49. IN: Election officials – more excuses…but…but…”it’s not MY fault.”

Absentee ballots hold up results
By Nathan Blackford-Warrick Publishing Online

Warrick County's first election on electronic equipment didn't go flawlessly, but clerk Shannon Weisheit is satisfied with the overall results.

Final results didn't come in until 9:45 on Tuesday night, but the delay wasn't caused by the new voting machines. Instead, a new method of counting absentee ballots put off the tallying of the machine votes until over an hour and a half after the polls had closed.

“We didn't get all of the absentee ballots counted until after 7 o'clock, and we started on the regular ballots at 7:30,” said Weisheit. “We just felt like it would be faster for us, and it takes a lot of pressure off the poll workers.”

In the past, absentee ballots were counted at individual precincts. But this year, six vote counters in a canvassing team at the county election office went through all 481 absentee ballots.

http://www.tristate-media.com/articles/2006/05/04/warricknews/news/04ballots.txt

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50. IN: Candidate Demands New Election Due to Screw Ups

Election woes continue in Parke County
http://www.tribstar.com/local/local_story_123231320.html

By Sue Loughlin
The Tribune-Star

Election woes continued in Parke County on Wednesday, with the county clerk declining to release a copy of election results because of problems related to the new computerized voting system.

That and related problems have prompted one candidate to ask for a new election.

Clerk Sue Ann Woody declined to release election results Wednesday; she said a recount was necessary because of technical glitches.

“We need to have a recount to make sure we have the right numbers” before they are cert

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51. IN: Overload triggers election glitch

Overload triggers election glitch
Clerk plans to buy second computer before Nov. 7
http://www.chronicle-tribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060504/NEWS01/605040325/1002

BY BARRY WILLIAM WALSH
[e-mail]

Wednesday morning came quickly for Carolyn Mowery.

The Grant County clerk was at her office until 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, following computer glitches that delayed the vote tallies in Tuesday's primary race.

But a short night's sleep didn't stop her from coming to a conclusion as to what caused the delay.

"It really wasn't anything to do with the Internet or Microvote (the program that counts the votes)," Mowery said. "It was just an overload on the system." Stupidity like this should be against the law for public officials.

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52. IN: Polling sites cause most voter confusion

Polling sites cause most voter confusion
Location changes brought more uncertainty than new machines.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/local/14493913.htm

By Cindy Larson
[e-mail]

New voting machines, new polling locations and a new requirement to show a photo ID all could have created chaos in this year’s primary. “I had no idea what was going to hit us Election Day,” said Pam Finlayson, director of the Allen County Election Board.

But Finlayson, who worked from 5 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, said overall the day went well. Confusion over 57 new polling locations caused the most problems, she said. Several people had trouble finding one location in particular — Harvest Freewill Baptist Church on Dupont Road, which hosted three precincts. Jeanne Nicolet, an election board worker, said a note with a map will likely be sent to registered voters in those precincts so they can find the location more easily in November.

“People were very confused about where to vote,” said Kevin Knuth, Allen County Democratic Party chairman. Several people called party headquarters on Tuesday wanting to know where to vote — despite the election board sending cards to registered voters in Allen County shortly before the primary notifying them where their polling location was.

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53. IN: ES&S Fails to Test – What a Shock. They Failed to Service in OH

What ever happened to those Delta Gammas who were going to fix machines?

Firm couldn’t test machines
State investigating election glitch
http://www.tribtown.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=186&ArticleID=18889&TM=34834.61

By DAN DAVIS
[e-mail]


BROWNSTOWN — Employees of Election Systems & Software failed to successfully test whether Jackson County’s voting systems could merge their results for Tuesday’s primary and school elections.

They tried but couldn’t get it done, Jackson County Clerk Sarah Benter said Thursday of ES&S employees.

“At first they thought it was that lightning affected our server, but that wasn’t a problem,” Benter said. “He (an ES&S employee) decided he didn’t know enough about one of the systems to really test it. He assured me, though, they would work.”

They didn’t.
And the Indiana Secretary of State’s office is looking into the problem here and in three other counties that had similar glitches.

With Tuesday night’s experience — combined with ES&S delays in delivering the new systems, software and ballots — Benter remains cautious about the firm’s promise that the system will work and ballots will be delivered well in advance of this fall’s general election.

Two ES&S workers had to use tapes from the counties two voting systems download the votes by precinct and then input them into what was essentially a spreadsheet to produce results, Benter said.

[autorank]

54. IN: Meltdown: As predicted…right here on “the ERD.” State (Republican)

Right, they’ll find that “it’s all good” or some such nonsense. These business savvy captains of the free enterprise system did the contracts, selected the vendors, and ran the implementation. They investigation stops now, Mitch Daniels, Rokita (SoS) should resign, NOW!

State to probe voting problems in 4 southern Indiana counties
Associated Press
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/14500511.htm

INDIANAPOLIS - State officials will investigate problems with voting systems in four Indiana counties where determining winners in Tuesday's primary became so cumbersome that workers in one county gave up tabulating returns.

Secretary of State Todd Rokita's chief counsel will look at Clark, Harrison, Jackson and Washington counties' voting systems, which were sold and maintained by Omaha, Neb.-based Election Systems & Software.

The company was under state scrutiny well before the primary.

Last month, Rokita's office issued a notice of violation against ES&S for problems that included improper programming and the late delivery of ballots.

Although voting went smoothly Tuesday across most of the state, the primary was chaotic for officials in the four counties, where workers were forced to manually enter votes for each candidate in each precinct.

[autorank]

55. IN: Manual count—guess why? Da machines don’t work!

System failure leads to manual count of precincts
Clark vendor already faces state investigation of performance
http://www.news-tribune.net/politics/local_story_123111930.html

By LARRY THOMAS
[e-mail]

A vote tabulation system provided by a vendor under investigation by the state failed in Clark County last night, leading to a manual counting of precinct results that ended after midnight.

“This is the worst scenario you can experience,” said Clark County Clerk Keith Groth.

Shortly after 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Groth told a group of reporters, “Normally we would be completing the official vote total around this time of the evening.” Four hours later, official totals were completed.

Software and equipment provided by Omaha, Neb.-based Election Systems & Software failed to accept data packs from the precinct voting machines, election officials said. That left the Clark County Election Board manually counting printed tapes. ES&S provides Clark County with optical scanning and touch-screen devices. The latter are new to the county this year and are designed for use by people with handicaps.

ES&S sent a technician from Floyd County — where it is also the election system

[autorank]

56. IN: Editorial: Is this any way to run an election? Nope, but you elect

Its your right
http://www.register-herald.com/opinion/local_story_124232238.html?keyword=topstory

Whatever the method, voters should still vote. Voters are always faced with choices. That’s the essence of the election process.

Because of delays on the part of Election Systems & Software in providing vital software to operate the new touch-screen voting machines, county election officials throughout the state have been forced to scramble to come up with alternate plans for Tuesday’s balloting.

“I am absolutely appalled by ES&S’ delays and the hardships ES&S has placed upon this state and our county officials,” Secretary of State Betty Ireland said late last week.

Ireland’s comments came after Kanawha County Circuit Judge Paul Zakaib issued an order extending the testing deadline for the high-tech voting machines until the day before the primary. Under state law, all voting machines must be tested a week before an election.

[autorank]

57. IN: Officials say “let’s talk about it.” What is this, Oprah? Act!!!

Officials to discuss election night snafu
Meeting may take place next week
http://www.news-tribune.net/news/local_story_124105400.html

By DAVID MANN
[e-mail]

County election officials will meet next week to determine what, if any, recourse will be taken against Election Systems & Software Company, after a computer glitch slowed down election results Tuesday night.

“It’s something we’re concerned about,” said County Clerk Keith Groth. “We want answers from Election Systems & Software.”

The meeting is tentatively scheduled for Monday morning, although that date isn’t certain.

Software and equipment provided by Nebraska-based ES&S failed to accept data packs from the precinct voting machines after Tuesday’s election, officials say. Clark

[autorank]

58. IN: Congratulations Voting Technologies Int. – the results are not known,

At least officially, Randolph election results on hold
http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060504/NEWS01/605040325/1002
By JOY LEIKER
[e-mail]

WINCHESTER -- Three out of the four Indiana counties that used election equipment from Voting Technologies International, including Randolph County in East Central Indiana, were still waiting on complete election totals as of late Wednesday.

In Randolph County, election workers gave up trying manually to tally the results from each precinct just before midnight Tuesday. On Wednesday morning a second official from the Wisconsin-based election machine company was supposed to fly to Indianapolis and travel to Winchester to help retrieve the county's election data. But County Clerk Claudia Thornburg said the employee's plane was grounded because of thick fog in Detroit, and his arrival in Winchester was delayed to late in the evening.

Thornburg now plans to resume tabulation at 9 a.m. today, with both a Democratic and Republican representative of the election board on hand. She hopes to have results by noon.

>snip<

-Cass County Clerk Linda Crimmins said she was missing a report from a single precinct.

-Boone County Clerk Lisa Garoffolo said disks at 13 of the county's 29 polling locations didn't retrieve complete data at the end of the 12-hour election day, but staff had paper printouts from each location as backups. Staff used those papers to calculate totals, Garoffolo said.

-In Parke County, a deputy clerk said the county was still waiting on "official numbers" after its first election using the new voting machines.

[autorank]

59. OTHER STATES:: AK, AL, MI, NC, TN, WV

Not much of a chance to match Ohio or even Indiana for he prize; but any action by a public official that dissuades one from voting or steals the right to transparency is an outrage. West Virginia and Arkansas seem to have responsible public officials who know how to manage in the midst of chaos and who keep the public informed. Please immediately come to Virginia and run our elections division.

[autorank]

60. AK: SoS Daniels: PAPER BALLOTS to be used, re E-voting problems. ESS !!!

How rational people behave…thank you ESS for screwing up.
New Machines Out For Most Early Voting
Arkansas News Bureau [e-mail]
http://www.swtimes.com/articles/2006/05/03/news/news05.txt


LITTLE ROCK — Most counties in Arkansas will be using paper ballots when early voting begins next week because of problems with recently purchased electronic voting machines, Secretary of State Charlie Daniels said Tuesday.

Electronic balloting will be available for early voting in the eight counties that comprise the 2nd Congressional District in central Arkansas because there is a competitive federal party primary on the ballot, Daniels said.

The federal Help America Vote Act requires the machines be available in contested federal races this year.

Daniels said he is confident that electronic voting machines would be available in all 75 counties by the May 23 primary.

Daniels spoke at a news conference Tuesday to address questions being raised about whether Election Systems & Software of Omaha, Neb., would be able to provide electronic voting machines, ballot software and absentee ballots in time for early voting that begins Monday.

[autorank]

61. AK: Touch-screen bombs in Little Rock

New ballots are not ready
Early voting starts Monday
http://www.baxterbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060503/NEWS01/605030303/1002
GEORGE JARED
Bulletin Staff Writer

Touch-screen voting may be on hold in Baxter County and other counties across the state.

Baxter County Clerk Rhonda Porter said the county has not received electronic ballots from the state for its iVotronics touch-screen voting machines. Porter said early voting begins Monday and paper ballots will be available to voters who want to vote early. "No matter what, it won't affect people's ability to vote," Porter said.

Arkansas Secretary of State Charlie Daniels said some counties will not be able to use their touch-screen voting machines during the early voting period, but the problem should be fixed in time for the primary election May 23.

"Come May 23, counties in Arkansas will be using electronic voting according to plan," Daniels said at a news conference in Little Rock. "All polling sites in Arkansas will have at least one electronic voting machine available to voters with disabilities, and many other counties will be using a full system of electronic voting at the polling site."

[autorank]

62. AK: Pulaski County: to use PAPER BALLOTS

Update: Paper Ballots For Pulaski County
http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=28023


In a THV update, paper ballots it is for early voting on Monday in Pulaski County.

The Pulaski County Election Commission tested new software Thursday afternoon and it's not compatible with the touch screen voting machines they received Thursday morning.

The county says the Nebraska-based software company must send new software and there's no word on when that will happen.

Election commissioners say the county could be in violation of federal law that mandates touch screen voting in federally contested races.

[autorank]

63. AK: Counties still struggle with voting machines

Counties still struggle with voting machines
http://www.arkansasleader.com/2006/05/top-story-counties-still-struggle-with.html

Staff and wire reports

Most counties in Arkansas will be using paper ballots when early voting begins next week because of problems with the recently purchased electronic voting machines, Secretary of State Charlie Daniels said Tuesday, but locally, Pulaski County and Lonoke County officials still hope to use their new touch-screen Ivotronics.

Electronic balloting will be available for early voting in the eight counties that comprise the 2nd Congressional District in central Arkansas because there is a competitive federal party primary on the ballot, Daniels said. The federal Help America Vote Act requires the machines be available in contested federal races this year.

The eight counties in the 2nd Congressional District where electronic machines will be available for early voting are Conway, Faulkner, Perry, Pulaski, Saline, Van Buren, White and Yell.

Daniels said he was confident that electronic voting machines would be available in all 75 counties by the May 23 primary.

[autorank]

64. AK: ES&S "We got a little behind in Arkansas".

Contingency Plans Made For Primary Voting
http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=27884

As part of the "Help America Vote Act" electronic machines are required in each county and that's what Secretary of State Charlie Daniels says he expected to have in place. Tuesday he announced the firm hired to handle the new machines failed to do its job.

Daniels says it will have no effect on the outcome of the election. He says there are contingency plans in place and every single vote will count, no matter how it is cast. Others worry that may not be true and the say the problems could have been avoided.

Daniels says, "This is a deviation from the plan we had originally envisioned and communicated with our counties, and for that, I apologize."

Less than a week away from early voting Daniels decided to make changes after becoming convinced Election Systems and Software, the company that signed a $15 million contract with the state, couldn't complete programming and testing of all the machines in time.

And by the May 23rd primary election every county is expected to have those electronic machines.

[autorank]

65. AL: AL Voter DB so Bad Justice Sues Them - Wow

Justice Department sues state over voter database
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/local/14483390.htm

PHILLIP RAWLS
Associated Press
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The U.S. Justice Department is suing Alabama, contending it missed a deadline for creating a statewide computerized database of voters for this year's elections.

The suit says the database is needed to provide accurate voter rolls, and it asks a judge to require Alabama to develop a plan within 30 days to get its voter registration system into compliance with federal law.

Alabama Secretary of State Nancy Worley, who was named as a defendant in the suit, acknowledged the state was not in compliance and cited opposition from some counties and a lack of funding as some of the reasons for the failure to comply.

<snip>

"HAVA's database requirements are designed to ensure the accuracy of the voter rolls and the integrity of the electoral process in elections for federal office," said Wan J. Kim, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. "This lawsuit is intended to vindicate the rights of the voters of Alabama, who do not, at present, enjoy all of the protections that HAVA affords."

[autorank]

66. AL: Choose Diebold for Voter DB, Get Sued by DOJ - Priceless

Lawsuit against Worley could cost state millions

Wednesday, May 03, 2006
By TAYLOR BRIGHT
Times Montgomery Bureau [e-mail]
Justice Dept. sues, says Alabama fails to follow Help America Vote Act
http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/114664803673870.xml&coll=1

MONTGOMERY - <snip>

"It is certain that voters will be wrongly denied the right to vote on Election Day. It is certain that voters will encounter problems they did not create in the course of attempting to register," wrote the Department of Justice's civil rights division in one of the court filings.

"Whether these problems involve hundreds, or thousands, or tens of thousands or more voters will only be known at election time. Further, given the State's dismal track record in addressing its own non-compliance, these harms might continue through several elections."

The suit says that Worley has not complied with nearly all of the requirements for voter registration under the federal voting act, including not having a statewide voter registration system; not having a centralized computerized statewide voter registration list that includes the name and registration of every voter; and does not coordinate with other state agencies to verify eligible voters or remove ineligible voters.

Last year, Worley announced she had chosen Ohio-based Diebold Inc. to implement the system - against the recommendations of the federally mandated HAVA committee, made up of 24 officials ranging from probate judges to state representatives. The committee had recommended another company, Nebraska-based Election Systems and Software. Two months after choosing Diebold, Worley announced she had opened up the bidding again to other companies. She has not chosen a company to implement the system.

[autorank]

67. MI: Grand Rapids Mich: Barry county not alone in voting problems

Barry County not alone with voting machine problems
http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4862076&nav=menu44_2

By DAN BEWLEY

BATTLE CREEK -- In the wake of the 2000 election, a federal mandate said every state needs a uniform voting system. After Barry County's new Diebold electronic voting machines failed Tuesday, we made dozens of calls and found the 21st century technology is worrying people across the country.

In Ohio's Cuyahoga County, officials had trouble printing from Diebold's touch screen system and voters had to use paper ballots. The problem also forced workers to hand-count 17,000 absentee ballots. A Diebold spokesman said the problem was with the printer used by the county and the same system worked fine in 46 other counties across the state.

In Florida, we discovered the Leon County election supervisor was worried about security with the new Diebold system and performed a test last year. He said the result showed the memory cards could be hacked by election workers and change the results. The same Diebold spokesman told us those tests did not follow industry standards.

One of the oldest problems we found was in Alaska where the Democratic Party is still trying to get answers from the 2004 Presidential election. The statewide and district vote counts don't match up.

[autorank]

68. NC: Precinct workers don’t know how to close out machines. Good trainin

It’s all so unnecessary. They should have a pile of ballots, stored in secure boxes (see through), and count them in front of everybody who wants to watch. Who needs” new?” When we do that, we always end up with “strange.” Do you like “strange” when you’re selecting your leaders?

Machines hang up poll work
http://www.wilsondaily.com/Wil_region/Local_News/288691933513192.php

By Alex Keown Daily Times Staff Writer

The new voting equipment adopted by Wilson County caused some delays in the tallying of votes during Tuesday's primary election.

Once the polls closed at 7:30 Tuesday night, the telephones at the Board of Elections offices began ringing off the hooks as precinct workers sought instructions on how to close out the new machines. Over the telephone, deputy elections directors Joann Hickman and Rena Morris calmly walked each precinct through the close-out procedures. As soon as one call ended, the duo began work on another call.

"I think it's the newness of everything," said Ann Cone, director of elections in Wilson County. "I think people are very wary of the new machines and feel intimidated. After they've used the machines a few times, there shouldn't be any problems."

Before the election, Cone spent hours training precinct officials in the use of the machines.

[autorank]

69. NC: Voting machine rollout lauded

They deny the people the RIGHT to see their vote taken, counted, and tabulated and they’re happy. Jefferson weeps!

Voting machine rollout lauded
New system shines in Tuesday's vote
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/435595.html

Mike Baker, The Associated Press

North Carolina's new voting machines worked remarkably well Tuesday, despite a sharp learning curve for officials and legitimate worries about faulty equipment, elections chief Gary Bartlett said Wednesday.

The new machines, a product of the legislature's overhaul of voting rules last summer, arrived in February, giving election staffers two months to distribute and test the systems while also working quickly to instruct poll workers. Still, Bartlett cited only minor machine glitches.

"For a first-time rollout, we've got to be pleased," he said.

Officials had expected up to 150 failed memory cards, based on problems they had before the primary with the cards failing to properly read data programmed into the machines, Bartlett said. Instead, he knew of only 13 flawed cards, which were quickly replaced.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

79. we worked hard & all we got was this lousy critisism

It is soo darn easy to criticize, isn't it?

It took about 2 years to get this law passed with our State Board of Elections
Members and Administrators opposed to it.

Normally the lawmakers defer to the advice of state department heads.

We have had paperless electronic voting in our state for almost 20 years, yep
DREs have been around awhile, think Danaher.

Our biggest opposition was our election officials, and some county commissioners.

Most of the public is not aware of this issue, because it isn't on
tv, and it isnt' in the paper much.

I know elected officials in our state that don't know that Carteret lost
4,400 votes.

Please show me a state that has switched from having 7,363 paperless DRES to hand counted paper ballots.

We all would like to know how that can be done.

Chuck Herrin testifed to our legislature, and we did the best we could,
and all we get is this lousy criticism.

We have come a long long way. Electronic voting is not a new thing in NC.

Hand counted paper ballots would be a radical idea here. It didn't sell first go
around, but the law does give counties the right to choose hand counting if
they want.

[autorank]

70. NC: DUer Kevin Mace’s excellent first hand Assessment of NC

Click Here

[autorank]

71. TN: Delay in Ballot Counting – How hard is this?

Knox County to resume counting ballots Wednesday afternoon
http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=33990&provider=top
Last updated: 5/3/2006 9:07:27 AM

Election Administrator Greg Mackay said he wanted "fresh eyes" looking over the thousands of paper ballots, and felt it was best for everyone involved to get some rest, rather than make fatigue-related mistakes.

Election workers knew counting paper ballots would be a challenge. They were not planning on the technical glitch Tuesday night that delayed the results from machine ballots.

Election Chair Pamela Reeves said the technology that reads results from tapes of election results was unable to read that data. While the contents of the material were never in peril, the glitch delayed paper results by more than two hours.

Reeves apologized for the delay, but said that new election machines would be ready for August, which she hopes will make long nights like Tuesday a thing of the past.

Dan Farkas , Reporter

[autorank]

72. WV: ESS has another opportunity to shine!!! Who owns that company anyway;

Crunch time arrives for voting machines (ES&S)
Crunch time arrives for voting machines
Thursday May 4, 2006

http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=137310&format=html

by ROBERT SNYDER [e-mail]

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Despite assurances that Berkeley County's new electronic voting machines would be available in time for next week's primary election, continuing problems are casting the machines' readiness in doubt, a county elections official said Wednesday.

Berkeley County Voter Registration and Elections Supervisor Bonnie Woodfall said that the county's store of touch-screen voting machines, of which one was to be placed in each of the county's 65 precincts, have not been able to be successfully tested.

"We're having a few problems," Woodfall said of efforts to test the machines this week.

Woodfall said two components of the touch-screen machines that prevented their being used at the start of early voting- a prepared election ballot cassette and a flash card which is mounted to the top of the machines- have been programmed and installed, but problems persist in being able to score vote tallies from the machines during testing.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

88. at least WVA has paper, and NC consolidated testing and other

well, it seems like the states with paper requirements and getting new
machines are having a heck of a time.

Agh.

New machines require twice the training.

NC centralized it's testing and programming the first go around -
plus requires the vendor to self report problems.

" "State officials then consolidated the buying and testing of machines.
Bartlett said that the set-up in Goldsboro is saving taxpayers $1.3 millions."
http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137834796788


It is a steep enough learning curve when you have lots of time, but
with a tight window, officials need everything possible to streamline the
process.

But, anyone with opscan was far better off.

My county had touchscreens for early voting, (opscan for election day)
but didn't get to use the DRES.
Instead, they used optical scan.

It is important to have procedures, checks and balances with the assumption
that something will go wrong.

That way you can recover and you can audit or recount.

[autorank]

73. WV: Bye bye Voting Machines...

Counties Ditch New Voting Machines
Two more counties in southern West Virginia are choosing not to use the new machines
http://www.wtrf.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=10672

Story by Aaron Mesmer Email | Bio

Greenbrier and Mercer counties announced plans Thursday to use paper ballots instead of the new voting machines in Tuesday's primary election.

Election officials in Greenbrier County say they are definitely using paper ballots. To comply with state and federal laws, the county will also have one handicapped accessible electronic machine in each precinct.

Mercer County Clerk Rudolph Jennings says the county wants to use paper ballots, but it doesn't have the necessary handicapped accessible machines to go along with them.

Jennings says Tuesday's voting process in Mercer County is now in limbo.

"Whatever we do, we'll come up with something that every registered voter, every legal voter gets to vote and their vote is counted," Jennings said. (Excellent! Thank you!)

http://www.dailymail.com/news/News/200605054 /

[autorank]

74. (& A word from our sponsor) OH- Blackwell to Investigate Self – FIN

Yeah, so what? Nobody else in Ohio seems to get off the ground investigating anything except our great citizen activists and Fitrakis and associates. Had some special top gun Federal attorney heading up a multi city group – zip, zilch, nada. Had some special state investigator who indicted a BoE official, mid level but otherwise – zip, zilch, nada. Give it up. Let Blackwell investigate everything. Make him Grand Duke of the Ohio Diebold Duchy. This is getting ridiculous. Ohio will soon be forced into “receivership” by a Federal judge for its own protection.


Ohio to probe problems that delayed vote tally in largest county
http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/politics-1/114686574970820.xml&storylist=cleveland

5/5/2006, 5:40 p.m. ET
By M.R. KROPKO
The Associated Press

CLEVELAND (AP) — Ohio election officials will investigate the glitches that delayed ballot counting in the state's largest county, which struggled with its first election converting from punch cards to electronic voting.

Michael Vu, director of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, said Friday the investigation authorized by Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell was expected because of the county's election problems.

The county, which includes Cleveland, continued searching for votes Friday.

"We welcome the secretary of state's office," Vu said. "We want to know what happened also. We're not going to start pointing fingers. It would be inappropriate and unethical to point fingers until we can research this issue. We do know something went

[DemReadingDU]

75. Highly recommended!

I live in Ohio, and I know it is a mess. But I grew up in Indiana, and now I see it is an election mess too. Arrgh


and thank you for all your hard work and informative articles!

[understandinglife]

76. K&R.

Peace.

[kpete]

77. Autorank - you are cooking today!

[mod mom]

78. one word: WOW

:yourock: Auto!

[autorank]

81. High compliment considering the source;)

Thanks!

[autorank]

83. Thanks. I drank a tall glass of "kpete Cola" and got inspired;)

[stillcool]

80. oh my....it's not a pretty picture....

K&R for better focus.

[autorank]

82. You should know, you've done great stuff on the lead up to the

primaries! I'm sure you recognize some of your posts.

Cheers

[MelissaB]

84. Ken Blackwell must be stopped

Thanks to BobcatJH here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2614473

[autorank]

87. This is one of the very best political statements I've read..Thanks!

[Me.]

85. K & R

[Land Shark]

86. More than just a bedtime story, it's AUTORANK

Cranking away again, I see,

[autorank]

89. Isn't that a song "Cranking away again in Margueritaville";)

So sue me...oops, don't sue me...forget I ever used that word.

Just check out the web page;)