Just one question: Why do these machines never flip Republican votes to Democratic ones?* You’d think they were biased or something, kinda like our librul media.
* Yes, dear reader, it’s a rhetorical question.
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Thanks for keeping this concern front and center, Steven! There’s a good reason that such a large percentage of early voters are Democrats. The horror stories of vote suppression, long lines and machine malfunction from previous elections have enough Democrats concerned to not risk being rushed, railroaded and denied their chance to vote.
Just because politicians and major media (including some big blogs) haven’t dealt with this issue, doesn’t mean that voters’ concerns have been assuaged.
Diebold still owns them though they ran to change their name to Premier Solutions.
It’s not the GOTV, it’s the count.
Take a look: Huge turnout in CLeveland
Who guards the early voting?
I’m thinking that whoever is positioned at the top has an inherent advantage.
If your choice is between two other names, it’s easy for your finger to “roll over” to another ‘field’ as they say in computerspeak. But if you’re the name at the top, you can sort of overcompensate and push the name at the top almost halfway above it and not have to worry about the wrong check mark going off. Does this make sense to anyone?
And every time I see these touch screens, McCain’s name is on top.
If Obama wins, this is why. Voting by machine is sexy and hip, but if you want your vote counted (and recounted if necessary) demand a paper ballot if you have the choice.
If Obama wins, an overhaul of the awful HAVA legislation ought to be one of the first priorities.
And yes, it always seems like with every story about voting irregularities, it’s the Democrats who always get the short end of the stick…
I’d say scrap HAVA entirely.
We like the freedom of leaving such matters as how we vote up to our states, rather than have Federal mandates and laws, but maybe we have to cross that boundary just to get honest elections. What’s worse? Do I trust the Federal government, the Congress, the Executive Branch/Justice Department to do the right job for us? NO.
Keep this at least in the purvey of the states. We can’t trust the Dems or the Reps on this issue.
I have used an ATM machine thousands of times in my life, and I’ve never pressed $20 fast cash and have it shoot out $100. Why the fuck do these machines need to be “calibrated” so much? I have no faith in these things at all.
Let’s be fair. I once got an extra $20 from an ATM.
In 30 years of using them.
While I think a machine-assisted ballot solution is possible, I am just as happy to have my Washington State, mail-in, pen-and-ink paper ballot.
Um, didn’t we go through this in 2000? “We can send a man to the moon . . .” but our Boards of Elections can’t pick a voting machine that works?
Corruption, plain and simple, and HAVA has been the enabler. Just like “No Child Left Behind” turned into “No Profiteer Left Behind.” The Board of Education here in New York City has hired test prep corporation Kaplan to instruct students how to pass standardized tests. The Kaplan instructors make almost double the salary of an average NYC teacher, and that doesn’t include the fee Kaplan gets! Just so the schools can compete for NCLB funds! What an insane racket. Thanks Congress! Thanks Right Wing Agenda. More socialism for cronies.
Man, Democrats are idiots.
“Out of calibration”?!? WTF? Who is stupid enough to believe this is an excuse? If you hit straight Republican ticket and a check appears next to Republican, but a check also appears next to Ralph Nader, that is NOT a calibration issue. That is a programming issue.
If you try to hit Barack Obama and the machine picks a another candidate halfway down the screen, that is not a calibration issue. That is a programming issue.
If you try to correct your selection and the machine sends you to a write-in screen, that is not a calibration issue. That is a programming issue.
If voting machine companies have not figured out, in the past 8 years, how to write software for voting machines that doesn’t routinely result in recording glitches, counting errors, lost votes,etc., it isn’t an accident. It is intentional.
Remember, these same companies make ATMs and other devices for banks that require a high degree of reliability. An ATM can’t just start spitting out cash and forget to record how much was dispensed.
I completely agree.
Note these two links at Rawstory.com
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Georgia_voters_stand_in_line_for_1028.html
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Up_to_30000_voters_illegally_purged_1028.html
Don’t forget that even pen and paper ballots, if they are read by a scanner/computer, have a chance of being read “out of calibration”.
It helps retrace the paper trail in a recount but the entire process needs to be far more bulletproof