By 11am in Houston, numerous problems, including MACHINES BEING SWAPPED OUT!

[Mugsy]

By 11am this morning here in Houston, The Houston Chronicle has already reported a number of election day issues with machines not working or displaying incorrect data.

Most disturbing of all, a race I've been watching exceedingly closely, they swapped out TWO voting machines in Tom DeLay's old district after voting had already begun.

Voters across the Houston area today were already finding long lines and problems with electronic voting machines as they tried to cast their ballots.

In Fort Bend County, where there is a contentious battle for the Congressional seat vacated earlier this year by former Rep. Tom DeLay, poll workers discovered that electronic machines had been switched in at least two precincts, delaying voters and casting some uncertainty on ballots already cast.

Voting had already been under way for at least 45 minutes at Oak Lake Baptist Church in Sugar Land, when it was learned the the machines were labeled for Lexington Creek Elementary School in Missouri City.

(more...)

Here is why I've been following this race so closely:

Media’s baseless claim of a possible “upset” in race to replace Tom DeLay.

[hang a left]

1. Report it in the pinned thread. nt

knr

[dmosh42]

2. Naturally, they wouldn't have any DOJ monitors!

All those lawyers will be in some districts where everything runs like clockwork.

[Mugsy]

4. An odd thing when I was there.

When I early voted last week, an odd thing happened while I was there.

One woman complained that the machine wouldn't accept her ID# (which you must enter before voting), but immediately after said, "Oops! Never mind." Dunno if she was experiencing a real problem or just fumble-fingers, but I was there only a few minutes and someone was already having trouble. How many times a day might these things happen (even if was just user error, that's still a problem).

[elehhhhna]

10. Wanna bet? They showed up about 10 minutes after the Chronicle & ABC13

[asjr]

3. Wholesale theft is going on all over this

country. I have read and heard horror stories this morning about voting. It is all very blatant too. Rpubs. have no shame.

[Mugsy]

5. It's the machines swapping...

...that has me the most concerned.

[Mugsy]

6. I updated the post for proper display on homepage. :)

I inserted text from the actual story to the post.

[The Count]

7. Sooo..what happened to the pre-swap votes?

How blatant can they be?

[Mugsy]

8. Votes were pre-tabulated.

Here in Houston, we use the "e-Slate", which uses a wheel instead of a touch screen.

According to the story, the preceeding votes were printed out and will be "included in the final results". The process by which this will be done was not stated. But if the vote totals were printed out on paper, someone will then need to load the database into Excel and change the totals by hand.

Does that make anyone else besides me nervous?

[elehhhhna]

12. The total # of votes CAST were printed. Who they were for is another story --

--that info's still in the black box control units

All the serial numbers & poll tape totals, for the original & swapped machines (at the polling place that stopped voting for one full hour this a.m.) have been recorded and forwarded to the proper party authorities.

[elehhhhna]

9. CORRECTION: THEY SWAPPED THREE...

all in high minority precincts.

How do I know?
I caught them.

All the credit goes to Andy Stephenson. I know he's watching.

[renate]

11. details?

There's got to be a story behind "I caught them." What happened next?

By the way, good for you (and for Andy)!

[elehhhhna]

13. I'll post more later or tomorrow -- gotta go poll watch another location.

Look upthread, I've added some details there.

Meanwhile, see this for more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4316180.html

[renate]

14. bless your heart!

Sorry, I didn't see what you'd added about the Chronicle and ABC there (woo hoo for that, btw).

And thank you for everything you're doing! You're fabulous!