Many voters forced into provisional ballots in San Diego County, CA (address issues)

[Land Shark]

Initial reports from one of my poll watchers that at the rate of 5 per hour, voters are being told they have address discrepancies and on that basis being told they must vote via PROVISIONAL ballots, where the right to vote is still an issue and subject to investigation later on as well as LATER COUNTING.

In addition, those voters asking for an emergency paper ballot at the polls have been "promised" by the local registrar that they won't even start to count those ballots until Thursday. In a court ruling Monday, Superior Court Judge Vargas found that since it appeared the votes will eventually be properly counted, this separate but equal system did not violate any law. First, it's not really equal (we have to do an exit poll to track the differences by ballot type, and they can more strictly or loosely enforce rules on the later counted ballot types) and even if it is equal, "separate but equal" has been rejected by history and by Brown v. Board of Education. Bush v. Gore, by the way, applies these equal protection concepts to ballots, not just to protected classes like race, sex, etc.

At least in san diego county, IT IS VERY CLEAR THAT DEMOCRATIC VOTES WILL NOT BE COUNTED ON ELECTION NIGHT, at least not many of them.

PATIENCE needs to be preached to the media in all jurisdictions, especially in jurisdictions in which paper ballots are provided as an option at the polls, and where there is anything other than a very minor number of provisional ballots...

The election will not be over or announced tuesday night, and anybody that says otherwise without stating both the number and the source of uncounted ballots and what the partisan mix of those ballots are (they can't know that precisely, since they are uncounted) is speaking prematurely.

Democrats in close races will be playing comeback as later paper is counted...

[Warren DeMontague]

1. Bruce MacPherson...

...On The Case! :eyes:

[Warren DeMontague]

2. Yeah, that's if the provisional ballots are even counted.

I seem to remember the much-ballyhoo'ed ones in 2004 all ended up in the circular file.

[Tiggeroshii]

8. Mine was counted

I checked the stub number and went online to verify it. It was counted.

[Warren DeMontague]

10. That's good to know.

I was under the impression that they were kind of a scam to make people feel better about not being allowed to vote. :patriot:

[hang a left]

22. How do you do that??

Would appreciate the info.

[Tiggeroshii]

35. In 04 there was a website I could go to, but..

But today I talked to somebody and she told me that you could call your local board of elections and they should have a number for you to call to verify with your stub.

[bluetrain]

28. I had to vote provisional

in LA. I moved over the summer and sent in my reregistration form in the first few days of October, but never got confirmation. It was no suprise that I wasn't on the books when I showed up today.

Where do I look online to see if my vote is really being counted?

[Tiggeroshii]

36. Apparently there's a number to look at, maybe at the california sos website

they might have something. I will keep on looking.

This may or may not help you...

http://www.ss.ca.gov/

[aquart]

3. My sister and her husband are bringing absentee ballots to the polls.

Any word how they'll be counted?

This is an absolute outrage.

[slestak]

32. Here in NM

We had to bring our absentee ballots to the County Clerk's office. Of course, YMMV, but I just wanted to make sure to double-check before they head to their polling place.

[Nikki Stone1]

4. Land Shark, you are a journalist?

I just wondered how many SD news outlets have this information. I am home today and can do some emails if I have the right addresses.

[Land Shark]

6. I am an election attorney and a blogger, I need help to get word to media

[rumpel]

9. I just posted that SD talk radio is swamped with complaints in SD

Talk Radio Shows In San Diego Crammed With Calls About Voting Problems Here

http://www.themoderatevoice.com/posts/1162916035.shtml

[Land Shark]

15. multiple reports, do not scatter data in various piles, report more than once

easier to find it that way. 866-OURVOTE is one example

[Nikki Stone1]

27. Landshark, Channel 10 in SD just gave a lame report on poll problems

Reporter Erikson: "Everything has been worked out"

11:34 AM

[Nikki Stone1]

11. Calling or writing?

Your message is crucial down here.

[rumpel]

5. I will follow my daughter's expected "provisional" vote

here in Los Angeles County:

3. Spend 45 minutes election night working for Election Integrity.
Just before 8 p.m., go to your (or any) polling place and watch the
poll workers print out the results from that polling place. Copy the
numbers down and submit them to us via our web page. For details, go
to:

http://election-reform.org/monitor/close_of_polls.html

This will help us check for tampering or accidental glitches when
the official numbers are released.

[rinsd]

7. 5 an hour? The polls just opened.

How many poll watchers do you have?

I know you have a case and hope you aren't hitting the panic button to keep interest.

[Land Shark]

16. I am working with attorneys and I'm an election law attorney

while you have a habit of just causing ripples of interference. The figure is accurate, we don't know what variation there is among pollling places yet.

[LizW]

12. Just heard you on Thom Hartmann's show!

Good work, Land Shark!

[Tommymac]

34. Me too! Thanks for fighting for us. n/t

[kpete]

13. This is VERY important information

Continue to keep us informed Land Shark

[MindPilot]

14. I posted this in the Cali forum: voting problems reported on KLSD

KLSD callers reporting many problems with e-voting in SD
Several callers from around the county have reported long waits because of inoperative machines. One person from Kensington said he voted in a hall which is the polling place for two precincts. One of those is the precinct of Mayor Sanders and all the media was there to watch him vote. Of course all their machines were working while 10 feet away the other precinct had only about 10% of their machines operational.

Another caller said the poll workers at his place had lost track of which e-voting cards had been used and which were new. One woman said the line was too long because poll workers couldn't get the machines running and she had to leave before voting; about ten people followed her out.


And here is my girlfriend's report:
Here's my voting day report. There were 6 machines - 2 were down (due to "sensitive" buttons), and one failed while I was there but was fixed. There were about 3 people waiting in line when I got there - about 7 when I left. The process was reallllllly slow. It took a second or two for the machine to respond to turn the page or to change an incorrect entry. The printing process (while welcome) was very slow. You had to push the "print next page" numerous times before it actually printed.
If this is representative, things are going to be hosed all day.
I hope people hang in there, call the hotlines and make the problems known.

[Land Shark]

17. seals are broken on diebold machines in Carlsbad CA

these are sleepover machines and the pollworkers say it just happened in the morning by accident, but it could also be a hack with plausible deniability provided by all the voters that walk up to the machine all day long. It is being demanded that we go to paper ballots in that polling location and shut down the touch screens.

[Megahurtz]

25. "by accident"

LOL!

I don't believe that one for a minute.

[SoCalDem]

29. Ahh the memories.. "But but but Mommmm, It was an accident"

:)

[bleever]

18. 45% of registered CA voters voting absentee

according to the SF Chronicle.

No concessions or foregone conclusions until they're counted!!


K&R.

[mmonk]

19. Keep them honest Land Shark.

[NashVegas]

20. Anytime You Change Residence

You've GOT to notify your local elections board, OR vote early! With early voting, poll workers aren't swamped and easily have the three minutes it takes to get you fixed up with a regular - not a provisional - ballot.

[earth mom]

21. This really ticks me off!

:grr:

[Nikki Stone1]

23. Local News 10 reporting on voter problems in SD

Reporting "a few snags". More in a few minutes

[Nikki Stone1]

26. Talking at Registrar of Voters in Kearny Mesa

Dave Erikson

Talking about 50th district. Duke Cunningham's old seat.

Wow, long, long line at registrar of voters. (It's hot today; Santa Anas)

Bilbrae in LaJolla.

Touchscreen ballots

Mike Haas interviewed. Says: "Nothing systematic. Individual problems at individual precincts". Happy talk....
"Everything has been worked out" according to Erikson.

Erikson says that analysts predict low turnout.

Bilbrae/Busby race: Bilbrae might squeeze it out.


Talking about support and "backup ballots"

The Registrar of Voters: a very long line of people.


Wow, what a bland reporting of it.

[Land Shark]

30. sleepover machines now have seals broken on memory cartridges at polls

pollworkers claim it was just an accident. It may have been, but now chain of custody is really messed up, Haas just tells them to keep an eye on those machines, but if taken seriously that would invade the secrecy of the ballot for voters to be watched during voting since the screen is fairly open to see...

Plausible deniability, here's a method for wide open pollworker/sleepover fraud.

[Nikki Stone1]

31. I assume people have emailed Channel 10 news, but I'll send one

This is ridiculous and imperils democracy

[geomon666]

24. I had address issues also in Miami, FL.

But one call to the elections office by one of the workers fixed and I was allowed to vote.....into a black box.

[MindPilot]

33. A woman from San Diego was just on Randi's show

talking about the voting problems here. I don't think she mentioned the broken seals, but there was discussion about the paper ballots not being counted until Thursday.

[mirandapriestly]

37. LS, I heard you on Thom Hartmann this morning!

He asked you about your web site and you said you hadn't gotten around to starting one, but that you posted on Democratic Underground! Then, you informed listeners about the paper ballots in San Diego and how you are litigating. You are great. Thank you!