1/2 hour into it, 3 out of 5 machines down

[johnnie]

Went to the polls at 7 this morning and my precinct had 5 machines and only 2 were working. The workers seemed confused, but I don't put any blame on them. This morning on the local news they interviewed a worker and asked her how much training they received and she said basically none.

This was Cuyahoga county here in Cleveland. There was an older gentleman behind me that said "What is this electronic shit? You only need a piece of paper and a pencil". The man in front of me turned to me and said "The payoff checks must not have cleared"..lol

I double-checked my printout when I was finished and it seemed to be alright. Of course that's not saying what exactly went into the system.

Anyway, just thought I would report in.

[OhioChick]

1. Same here, Johnnie.

No surprise, is it?

[johnnie]

3. Machines down too?

It would be kind of strange if they tried to turn Cuyahoga, that would be red flags for sure.

[OhioChick]

6. Only had 3 here

with only 2 working and people waiting were pissed off. Many mumblings about Diebold. I came home and called the BOE and they sounded very busy and pissy.

[mikelewis]

7. They can't turn Cuyahoga but they can supress it...

New rules, long lines, voter intimidation, and just about any dirty trick you can imagine is going to go on today... all unreported by our local media no less. I'm hoping we'll get above a 30% turnout but our primary was only 16% so who knows. Our Dem leadership in this county is terrible. Frank Jackson should be on TV all day urging the City of Cleveland to vote but not one peep from our locals... it's disheartening.

[johnnie]

13. There were many more people this morning than the primaries

The other precincts didn't seem to have troubles with the machines. There is no doubt that the turnout was larger this morning than the morning I went in for the primaries.

[mmonk]

2. Thanks.

Let's keep up with problems to address.

[Richardo]

4. "Printout"?

I'm envious. :cry:

They tell us we don't need them here - everything is just fine, so shut up and pretend to vote :eyes:

[mikelewis]

8. Badges? We don't need no stinkin badges!

[TomClash]

20. Ok, dobbs

:-)

[johnnie]

15. Well, we don't get them

They show up in a window and you can look at it. But I only get a sticker that says I voted. :)

[OhioChick]

17. The way the printout

was set up here, you could barely read it.

[kath]

27. "shut up and pretend to vote"

That's about the state of it, sadly. We no longer have free and fair elections in this country.

[bigtree]

5. doesn't give much confidence, does it?

vigilance!

[acmejack]

9. Someone should get out a pad of paper and pencils and start doing it the old fashioned way!

Blackwell don't like it, well, let's reschedule a special election. No way you guys in Cleveland can let this crook do this to you twice.

[OhioChick]

10. Don't know if you saw this or not........

some investigator blogging from Cleveland while visiting precincts. (Updated throughout the day)

CLEVELAND -- 5 On Your Side Investigator Duane Pohlman is making sure that everything goes along smoothly at the polls.


He will be monitoring the activities at area polling locations to find out if there are any problems and providing up-to-the-minute details.


Be sure to check back often for updates.


8:38 a.m.

Alcazar Hotel and Grace Christian Missionary Alliance are voting by paper ballots. There are 43 poling locations that have some sort of problem, like partially voting paper or the text not showing up on the machines.


7:45 a.m.

How quickly things change. Beachland Presbyterian up and running voting with paper at Highland Heights Community Center. Robert Fulton Elementary turning people away. They are checking into. At Woodbury School in Shaker, there are lines out the door. Two machines are working.


7:30 a.m.

Everything running smoothly still using paper ballots at Boulevard School.


7:08 a.m.

At Boulevard School, one machine working but paper ballots are being used. Also, the election day technician had not shown up so a replacement is on the way. All polling locations are open.

6:56 a.m.

Some polling locations have not called in yet. About four polls had purple status but that was resolved within minutes. As I am writing this I am hearing about a problem at Boulevard School in Shaker Heights paper ballots are being brought out because machines are not working.

6:35 a.m.

Polling location at wiley middle school in university heights nobody there to open polls yet

6 a.m. So far so good. Polling locations are starting to call in to say they are on line and ready to go.

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/10262102/detail.html

[klook]

26. "Robert Fulton Elementary turning people away."

What the hell is that?! Under what circumstances is it OK to turn voters away from a polling place???

[hughee99]

11. Who's in charge of training the election workers,

the State or the local BOE?

[Igel]

28. For just about everything, in most jurisdictions, the local BOE.

Recruiting and training poll workers. Purchasing and maintenance of voting equipment. Frequently they even make low-level decisions about interpreting election law. They do the counting on election night, verify and certify electoral totals over the next few days, and then report them to the state.

[hughee99]

30. You would think after 2004, that

the election workers would have received some training. It's not like they didn't know they have a problem. It's extremely frustrating to donate, work for a candidate or the party, and find out that the people who are in large part responsible for many election day problems are doing NOTHING to improve their process, and aren't even training their people on the basic things they're supposed to know.

[Igel]

32. Somewhere I read that a third of the districts have new

equipment. That's a lot of training, but let's not mention that where they had the electronic equipment in '04 was pretty much a train(ing) wreck.

When I worked the polls in NYS most of my colleagues were retired and getting on in years. They had trouble setting up the lever machines, even with the instructions in front of them and a decade of practice. I can only imagine how they'd handle the new equipment (I think NYS is still using the lever machines, but I might have wrongly inferred that).

You're right, though. You'd think they'd have put more money into training the pollworkers. But no ...

[lonestarnot]

12. OMG! Starting so early!

[lizziegrace]

14. Delaware County, OH (Columbus ex-burb)

2 precincts with 4 machines each. Only one functioning machine at each location. Not a good start.

[Skidmore]

16. Post this to the thread Skinner pinned to the top of the forum.

And call the numbers there to report this.

[lizziegrace]

18. I tried

I was on hold for 15 minutes and I don't have that many cell minutes to spare. I'm not allowed to call from work either. :(

[Skidmore]

23. Can one of us do it for you and have them contact you later?

Would you be willing to PM some one with your info?

[lizziegrace]

24. That would be terrific

I'll PM you the details and my contact info.

Thanks!

[MoonRiver]

19. Our voting system is a farce.

Yet one more reason why we are becoming the laughing stock of the world. :cry:

[CitizenLeft]

21. I'm in Cuyahoga County...

...here we go again. :grr:

I tracked problems in 2004 from that voteprotect.org site, it was phenomenal in pinpointing suppression in Cuy. County. But of course, with Blackwell and these corrupt bastards in charge, nobody expected anything to change.

Well, it's going to change NOW.

I'll be voting this afternoon, will check in when I get back.

[libertad]

22. My precinct had about 5 or 6 optical scan machines and 1 electronic

machine. I got there a few minutes after 7 and the electronic machine had already malfunctioned and was not going to be used for the rest of the day. (I am in Florida.)

[mikelewis]

25. I just voted and its starting to get interesting...

My wife tried voting for the local court of common pleas and the votes wouldn't register. There were about 6 or 7 judges in that list. I told her she should have told the poll worker but she was nervous because she had already asked the lady 2 other questions. She had tried to vote for one cadidate but another came up and she had to ask how to get the right candidate. She said she felt bad about asking her too many more questions and just submitted her ballot without registering a vote for any of the judges.

Also, a line was beginning to form and at the rate people were voting it would take roughly 30 minutes to 45 minutes to get to a machine. We got there at 9:00 and left at 9:45. There weren't that many people in line either so I can imagine what it's going to be like after work hours.

All the machines were working but it there were only 4 for each precinct. The vote only took me 5 to 10 minutes once I got to the machine but I was prepared. Many people were at the machines for about 10 to 15 minutes.

[johnnie]

31. I wonder what it is going to be like tonight

Lines still at 10:00PM? This whole process has turned into a farce.

[OzarkDem]

29. Tom Hayes is going to be unemployed

If this is the best he can do, its not good enough.