Four years ago, "The Simpsons" put together a short clip in which Homer wanted to vote in the presidential election. He stands in front of the electronic voting machine, pushes the button for Barack Obama, and the machine immediately registers a vote for John McCain. Homer keeps pushing the screen for Obama, and the machine keeps lighting up for McCain.
When this happens in real life, it's a lot less funny.
NBC News has confirmed that a Pennsylvania voter recorded this video today, using a voting machine's touch screen to vote for Obama/Biden, though the machine automatically interprets this as a vote for Romney/Ryan. Just like Homer Simpson, this Pennsylvania voter keeps saying he wants to support Obama, and the machine keeps saying otherwise.
The machine in question was reportedly taken out of service once the voter brought it to the attention of elections officials.
Update: Mother Jones reports that the machine in question has been "recalibrated" and is now back in use.
Leave a Comment:
It could be fraud, but hopefully the machine was just miscalibrated. If this turns out to be a pattern, then it's something that should be investigated.
Can someone explain this device?
After you put in all your votes does it print out a paper copy that you hand carry to a scanner? (Is there some alternate paper trail that the voter can double check?)
It seems to me that we need to move much more aggressively to electronic voting but we should not proceed until we have equally aggressive quality control, including:
In the description, he said he thought it was calibration and tried to compensate, but it was in fact rigged.
Hey guys... read comment #20 below...
The voting machine I used allowed you to go back and review your votes, verify them and then finally print out a copy of your votes, so there was a paper verification. After seeing this, next time I don't think I'm going to even mess around with the voting machine. Back to the good old paper ballot
(THIS IS WHAT THE GUY WHO SHOT THE VIDEO SAID...)
Pretty much ruled out, from his troubleshooting, it was not a calibration issue..
I'm the guy who shot the video, hopefully this doesn't get burried. You guys have questions, I have answers.
My wife and I went to the voting booths this morning before work. There were 4 older ladies running the show and 3 voting booths that are similar to a science fair project in how they fold up. They had an oval VOTE logo on top center and a cartridge slot on the left that the volunteers used to start your ballot.
I initially selected Obama but Romney was highlighted. I assumed it was being picky so I deselected Romney and tried Obama again, this time more carefully, and still got Romney. Being a software developer, I immediately went into troubleshoot mode. I first thought the calibration was off and tried selecting Jill Stein to actually highlight Obama. Nope. Jill Stein was selected just fine. Next I deselected her and started at the top of Romney's name and started tapping very closely together to find the 'active areas'. From the top of Romney's button down to the bottom of the black checkbox beside Obama's name was all active for Romney. From the bottom of that same checkbox to the bottom of the Obama button (basically a small white sliver) is what let me choose Obama. Stein's button was fine. All other buttons worked fine.
I asked the voters on either side of me if they had any problems and they reported they did not. I then called over a volunteer to have a look at it. She him hawed for a bit then calmly said "It's nothing to worry about, everything will be OK." and went back to what she was doing. I then recorded this video.
EDIT: There is a lot of speculation that the footage is edited. I'm not a video guy, but if it's possible to prove whether a video has been altered or not, I will GLADLY provide the raw footage to anyone who is willing to do so. The jumping frames are a result of the @!$%#ty camera app on my Android phone, nothing more.
EDIT2: I have been contacted by NBC Universal and BBC News.
EDIT3: A lot of news agencies are now messaging me here. Please email centralpavote@gmail.com instead.
EDIT4: This has blown up and I'm being bombarded by the media. I'm taking the second half of the day off and will be home in about 1 hour to start responding to the media
Cue Elvis singing "Suspicious Minds":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDhA4OH8ULo
IN ALL OF RECORDED TIME has any vote for a Republican been registered as a vote for the Democrat?
-I thought not. . .
As a programmer of touch screens for the restaurant industry. There are two possible scenarios. First it was just miscalibrated. Second, it was intentionally programmed this way.
Given that most of these machines should be calibrated a long time in advanced and tested, the second is what I think happened.
Thank you for being vigilant and purposeful in EXPOSING the rigging. Just think that there are hundreds of rigged voting machines out there and THIS is going to throw a blow to the entire election process today!! Were you able to vote at all, or did you change voting booths? Praying that our President get's 4 more years, no matter how the others try and mess it up for him! Keep on Keepin on!!
Mojo is reporting that the unit was recalibrated and put back on line.
It is baffling to me why a vote for Jill Stein would have worked if calibration was the problem. I wish the user would have videod that behavior as well.
I agree that nefarious schemes at electronic fraud would not be so stupid as to reveal to the user what skulduggery was being undertaken. Instead, you would see things like odd flickering of the device, evidence of hacked software, and so on.
There is a lot of really creepy things that can be done. Many people have a false sense of security and are unaware of even simple methods of covert intrusions, like Van Eck phreaking. With substantial financial incentives to swing an election a few points, I could easily see the Koch brothers or other plutocrats hiring some Chinese or Russian hackers to figure out ways to mess with US electronic voting machines.
There are arguments that control of elections should be federalized and put under the protection of agencies who understand countermeasures for electronic intrusions into government devices.
As I write that I ask myself how much I would trust the NSA under a George W. Bush to certify a fair election.
Humph.
Thanks Wereallpatriots for sharing all that. Good luck with your 15 Minutes of Fame! :-)
Actually, the guy who recorded this is a software developer by trade and suspected the same thing however when he tried clicking Romney, it registered as Romney. When he clicked Jill Stein, it registered as Jill Stein. Clicking Obama again registered as Romney AGAIN. Thus not likely a screen issue.
Also initially when he reported this to the local election official, he was told not to worry about it. I suspect that machine was not removed until his video went viral.
Wow this ticks me off! How many voters had their vote changed? I wonder if this is one of the voting machines owned by Tagg Romney & the company that donated gobs of money to Romney? I also wonder how the unauthorized Ohio vote counting software will count the vote? Sounds like a paper ballot might be safer if you live in a swing state or a state where they've tried to mess with voting.
Maybe they (Republicans) should try to find a decent candadite instead trying to cheat to win. I don't want cheaters running the government!
Its amazing how this website did not find a need to report on this issue when the reverse was happening in states across the country. I know for a fact that people in NC voted for Romney, but the ballot showed they voted for Obama. The same reason was used...a need for calibration..
The hypocrisy from the left runs wild once again...
just saying..
for those thinking that vote rigging has never happened before, you are 100% wrong. in both the 2000 and 2004 elections, voting machines were found to be faulty in counting votes.
most of the malfeasance was linked to diebold machines but there were also incidents with other machines (whose manufacturer escapes my memory).
the most famous ones were in florida in 2000 and ohio in 2004. i think it was in volusia county where gore actually registered a negative vote count.
the machine in ohio registered votes for bush when kerry was selected. coincidentally, all occurrences occurred in republican controlled states or precincts.
just saying...
there was an hbo documentary about the vote cheating by republicans.
To anyone standing in line to vote: every state has its own voting laws. In Washington state, the state mails a ballot to each registered voter weeks before election day. We then mail them back or drop them in person, but we know weeks in advance that we HAVE a vote.
Write, call or email your STATE legislators and invite them to the 20th century if not the 21st.
Then provide evidence for the claim. Anecdotal evidence and/or hearsay is not a compelling argument.
Here we have visual evidence that was then confirmed by the polling place in question. That is the difference. What you're calling "hypocrisy" is, in reality, following the evidence
Cartoon...
Board of Elections director admitting there was a problem...enough proof for you?
http://myfox8.com/2012/10/23/guilford-county-voters-say-they-voted-for-the-wrong-candidate/
once again..the point is that the left found no reason to report on the same issue because it benefitted their candidate . That is hypocrisy...
just saying..
I love the snarkiness in your attitude storm. How dare someone question you? You are the bringer of all knowledge and how can anyone not just automatically captiulate and agree that you are correct in your all-knowingness?! Get over yourself.
For the record MSNBC reported on similar voting machine stories:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49676237/ns/local_news-colorado_springs_co/t/voting-machines-changed-their-vote-some-say/#.UJmOa4b5VUY
You only assume that left wing sources aren't reporting on it because you don't read any sources that you believe to be left wing which is pretty much anything not Glenn Beck, Fox News, or Townhall. Because of that YOU make this giant leap in logic that the left isn't covering it not because other news sources actually are omitting the information, but because YOU personally don't bother to do research on your own.
We should NEVER have electronic voting. NEVER. EVER. End of discussion.
There is a saying "don't believe anything you hear and half of what you see." I have seen enough computer programming to completely believe "half of what you see" in regards to what you see on a screen.
We refused it here in our part of iowa DWIA , they tried to sell them to us ,we said we didn't need any snake oil , but thanks
That's a good thing, Patango.
I don't allow myself to say much about myself on the internet, but I will say I know something about this. We should NEVER, EVER allow that shhit. It's that simple. There is NO excuse for it. NONE.
If you are one of the ones who have to stand in long lines, deal with intimidation, or record your vote to make sure it counts and you need some inspiration, remember there are men and women right now who are putting their lives on the line so we are free to vote. Who knows what hardship they are enduring right now? They are away from their family, friends and the country they love. Unless we put our lives on the line, there is no way we could equal this sacrifice, but every chance we get, to do as much as we can to say thanks and make a difference in their lives, we should. This includes voting for a commander-in-chief who has demonstrated effective and deliberate leadership.
All of our men and women defending this country always do a great job wherever their focus and resources are directed, so leadership matters. This President directed us out of Iraq and dedicated more focus and resources on Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden and the effects of such leadership are clear. Having a commander-in-chief who is better able to convince our international partners to share the burden of policing the world saves us money and lives while at the same time leading to successful international military campaigns such as the one that overthrew Qaddafi in Libya. We need to understand that leading from behind means LEADING others to share the burden in blood and treasure. This president understands that focus produces far greater results with far less costs for all of those involved.
One of the greatest ways we can serve those who serve us, is by caring for them after they return home. This president has deployed all of his resources, including the First Lady, to care for our Veterans. Beyond focusing our resources so our military isn't overextended he is a continually working to modernize Veteran’s services. He signed into law the extended G.I. Bill providing education to many more Veterans. He has fought on many levels to ensure our returning Veterans have access to job training. He has expanded healthcare, to more fully address the new injuries that are coming back from modern warfare. He has worked with the private sector to engage them in hiring more Veterans. He has increased focus on the family's needs as well and many more things. At the heart of it, this is what our vote is all about.
Yeah! Tell it!
R&R want to give Veterans Vouchers and Cut their Benefits, Some thanks that is.
INdeed. Standing in a line to vote is nothing like being in Afghanistan in the winter walking guard duty. Buck up and be a citizen.
Romney and Ryan want more money for the military but notice how not one cent of it seems to be going to pay the service men and women a decent wage.
When People who do NOT know hear that Big $$$ is going for Military spending, They assume that it covers every thing. That is Hardware. That spending doesn't help the Veterans after they get out. And to think that alot of Veterans just dont get it.
Very well said! Thank you!
I'm hoping there's enough veterans like you Sarge, who do get it! We can’t afford to elect Republicans who are ready to ramp up the military-industrial complex for another war that will only further spread out our resources and lesson our military's effectiveness. For the sake of those veterans who are still struggling to recover from years of war and for the sake of those new veterans that would be created by overextending our troops even further, we have to vote for President Obama.
I'm tired of this crap. Soldiers are not fighting for our right to vote. They're fighting for old rich white guy's oil money.
Bin Laden, Al Zawahiri and saddam Hussein were never a threat to my right to vote.
Enough of this nationalistic crap. We live in a nation where we cannot elect a president without some scandal rearing it's head. There will be no patriotism from me until this is fixed.
Jst1voice, OUR Veterans have been dealing with red tape or cut's in benefits for a long time, Heck, Pres. Bush stuck it to them. Romney and Ryan put them on a Laundry List of sorts at the RNC. What part of that do they not Understand, NO MENTION, NOTHING, How can a Veteran with any sense have a Loyalty to someone like that is just ridiculous. I will continue to Voice my concern until some wise up, and figure it out.
At some upscale (Mormon) juice bar somewhere, Tag Romney is nodding his head and saying, "Eh-h-h-h-xcellent!"
Aw it's probably just an electronic hanging chad stuck in the machine.
Taggie invested well.
So...how many votes were cast using this machine this election? And, how do you sort them out?
We have paper ballots here -- none of that new-fangled technology stuff. I still checked my ballot VERY carefully before submitting it.
My husband joked when we inserted our paper ballots that he hoped it was a counting machine and not just a paper shredder. Maybe he shouldn't have given them any ideas!
I have never once in my life been given the opportunity to vote on a paper ballot. It is all electric here. However, there are negligible lines.
What a surprise!.....The Presidents name should be first on the Machine anyway. He is the present president and he has priority.
Notice it is rigged to support the republican candidate......again I say "What a surprise"!
NewOrleansWinosaur: voted today (only day to vote in mass) paper ballot, negligible line. never have had to wait in line at any election more than a few minutes in the commonwealth.
if us "m@!$%#s" can get it right, whasamatta with the states with long lines and early voting.
stupid or venal?
We have to trust these machines and those who manufacture, purchase, and implement them. Personally, I don't.
We need a constitutional amendment to federalize and standardize the voting process across all states.
Yes. And we need to start working on that tomorrow, not the next election...
You got it Need More Coffee. No time to waste!!
We're behind you int he criminal state of Pennsylvania where our republican officials have outright claimed on national news that they intend to alter voting laws to allow mitt romney to win.
This could easily be a miscalibrated touchscreen. This happens often with touchscreens in public places. But it could also be evidence of something more sinister.
The problem is that unless it was videotaped as it was here, there is no way to prove exactly where any voter touched the screen, so no way to confirm their intent without going back to each individual voter to ask them. CJ above is right - there needs to be a standardized process, NOT determined by individual states, in federal elections. How can parts of this country be so inept in a process that should be so simple?
But generally, a mis-calibrated touchscreen will repeat the same error at different points. This one recorded all votes correctly-except for Obama. Fishy.
"easily"?
I can't imagine gambling casino's touchscreens "easily" miscalculating.
Will "experimental" software patches affect the Ohio vote?
by Bob Fitrakis and Gerry Bello October 31, 2012
Why did the Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted's office, in an end run around Ohio election law, have "experimental" software patches installed on vote counting tabulators in up to 39 Ohio counties? Voting rights activists are concerned that these
uncertified and untested software patches may alter the election results.
Full article at: http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2012/476
I have said this elsewhere but after seeing all I've seen today I don't think I can say it enough… USE PAPER BALLOTS!! Especially if you're in one of these 39 counties. Jon Husted is a disgrace.
In Vegas we have a paper trail with our touch screens. They have worked well for years.
I read that a Green Party member had filed a suit against SOS HUSTED, a Fed. Judge was to hear it at 0900 this morning, The story was on Daily Kos, have NOT heard any Update, Anyone from OHIO on here that knows anything about this, Pass the Word!!
I'm going to be an optimist and assume this was honest technology error. Fraud relies on the 'unseen' whereas this was very transparent and obvious to the voter.
Kudos to the person who brought it to their attention.
Absolutely. I am sure there are machines out there that are doing the reverse action: Checking Obama for people who press Romney. With such a large operation as a national election, there will always be a glitch.
The action of the election worker, however, was unconscionable. They should have verified the error and taken the machine out of service right away.
Agreed, these things happen, should be caught and corrected quickly. Here's one link to the same thing happening in reverse during early voting in NC.
I see Don's getting robbed again. Maybe he should stop carrying money in his billfold?
If this had happened in reverse, then wouldn't there be a video on the home page of foxnews.com? I mean, a freaking black guy with a hat stood near a polling station and that was up for two hours. The reported incident in NC is just hearsay, there's no video, so I'm more inclined to believe they just got it wrong. Or do only democrats carry smart phones?
@Daniel Kim:
You may be right about the electronic machines... but that is exactly why we need to go back to the old manual machines with the levers (we had them in NYC until I moved in 2007).
Also, each machine should print TWO copies of a receipt with all votes recorded - one for the voter to 1) check immediately for any errors, and 2) keep safe (just in case). The second should be put in a lockbox at the polling place and then securely stored so that if there is a question about the vote count, the elections board has the paper receipts as a way of double-checking, and if that still doesn't resolve it, the voters themselves can produce their receipts for counting as well.
And we need early voting in EVERY state!!!
JT...the Board Of Elections director for the County where the problem occurred admitted that there was a calibration error. In most areas, it is illegal to take pictures or video inside the voting booth. I know this to be a fact, because it was where I did my early voting.
just saying..
jt1234: if you look at the whole clip of the fox "intimidation" video you'll see the big, scary, black guy, in the background as the "pundits" talk, opening the door for some random little old white lady just as pleasantly as you please. of course they're busy "analyzing" his "threatening," "parade-rest," "military-style" posture. the man did everything short of tipping his hat to her.
if it wasn't so sad, pathetic and infuriating it'd be funny.
wthELL!
Many persons have been extremely proud of their ballot being cast for Obama. So proud in fact, they are posting photos of it on Facebook, and Twitter, and other social media. Now they are worried they have invalidated their ballot. I have seen evidence in other states where this is illegal and disqualifies the vote becasue you cannot reveal your vote (the hope was to thwart buying votes and proving who you voted for ahead of time.
Please help, I am not sure where to look or how to search. Is a vote now potentially invalid in Ohio if it was posted on some social media outlet? I'm an Ohioan and don't want to give ANY reason for republicans to call votes into question...
Salon.com has an article:
http://www.salon.com/2012/11/06/it_may_be_illegal_to_instagram_your_ballot/
It is illegal in some states. It is not known if states are actively pursuing this activity as a crime. The law stems from vote-buying schemes, in which a voter needs to confirm that they voted as directed before being paid.
unfortunately... i found this for Ohio... http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/3599.20
please tell persons to NOT post pictures on social media of your ballot...
Election laws by state.
that's exactly what we are doing when we tell a pollster how we voted; need national rules, too many states are suppressing the vote in many different ways.
If someone does get caught posting their vote on social media, it is most likely going to be some time after they have finished voting and have walked away from the machine. At that point there is no way for election officials to verify that it was the voter who made the actual post, and unlikely they could find the voters actual electronic ballot, and unlikely (one hopes) that there is a means to then delete that persons ballot from all of the collected ballots. So I personally would not worry about getting caught posting video of my ballot. But from now on I will most certainly record my ballot using my phone. (I haven't investigated the law, but from what has been posted here it's the posting of the ballot that may be illegal, not the recording of the ballot). It seems the only way to have a record of your vote, at least here in UT where I asked for a copy of my ballot after voting and was told it was impossible and I was being an a$$hole for even asking.
I do not understand the need to put you vote on social media. I am sure most of the folks that know you on facebook know your political leanings already - since we tend to put every little detail of our lives out there.
I sent this video to a friend who tweeted it to Rachel. I voted on a machine that looked just like this in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. No secret who will win here since my precinct looks like a Romney rally except for the occasional African American.
Romney will not win South Carolina. He raped a few companies there and made out with Maddoff type money and fraud.
Stephen...you are so wrong regarding SC that it is hilarious. The way Obama allowed the state to be screwed over with the entire Boeing situation is much more important to the current residents of SC than anything else.
just saying..
Obama had nothing to do with that by Boeing's own statement. It's amazing how people attribute things to Obama that he himself has zero control over.
But I love the assertion that they won't care about jobs lost due to Romney, but they WILL care about those lost to Obama. *eyeroll*
What the hell is going on out there? Who's running the show, Maxwell Smart. Siegfried? KAOS?
Republicans, members of that "easily" miscalibrated party...
Miscalibrated for sure.
hahahahaha, KAOS. nice one. :)
My comment is not about the voter fraud but another issue in many places. A voter I know walked into the booth and found a Christian Right brochure with lies about the president. It was placed directly in front of the machine. She brought it to the attention of one of the voting watchers and they tried to ignore the issue. She complained to the voter oversight people. I wonder how many other people has faced this?
The same thing happened in reverse at several other locations during early voting. A vote for Romney was registered as for Obama. In addition, there was a picture of Obama, his campaign logo, and a quote on display inside a Philly voting place that required a court order for it to be covered up. These things are happening innocently and probably not so innocently on both sides.
The previous story about campaign watchers should have included how Republican watchers had to go to court to be allowed in again in Philadelphia. Don't think both sides are not on edge...they are.
I'm more inclined to agree that this wasn't intentional. I have had this problem with my GPS and my cell phone before when attempting to select one thing and it selects another. It has to do with how the screen interprets where you're pressing and the coding on the page. The fact that it registered other points correctly does make me somewhat more suspicious. But suspicions don't mean anything: evidence means everything. Just because it seems weird to me, a person who didn't have to deal with this problem, doesn't mean that my tertiary experience equates to the real situation. My hope would be that these are programming errors that have nothing to do with anything other than the complications of the machines and computer programming.
Heh maybe the machines are coming for us! RUNNN!!!!!
Cartoon, my technology experience (certainly limited) tells me it would be fairly easy to miscalibrate the entire screen and much, much more complicated to miscalibrate one small area of the machine. The latter would require very sophisticated knowledge and access to the internal software of the machine.
Your gps/cell phone experience (and mine) illustrates how easy it is to get the entire screen touch to be off. But to narrow it down to a small spot? Much more difficult.
I'm trying to figure out why there are so many long lines...real reason, not conjecture. I mean, if we know the number of people registered for a polling place, we know that about 60 percent of those participate, isn't it just simple math to determine adequate resources needed? Even if record turnout occurs, surely it is only 10 percent more or something.
Certainly, problems at the polling place can create lines. Excessive numbers at any given time can produce lines. But to have 3 or 4 hours of conintunious waiting just seems avoidable.
It's because there aren't enough polling places and/or machines available in areas where they are having higher turn out. I'll meet you half way here and agree that conjecture here that this is some Republican conspiracy or Democratic conspiracy is just silly. It seems to me that this has more to do with layoffs and states having to cut back on funds and/or hours at buildings in which polling used to take place.
Budgets in motion I guess you'd say.
For me personally I think this is evidence of why all states need to switch to mail-in ballots for their primary form of voting. I still think you should have voting machines just in case people can't do mail in (if they don't have a place where they can receive mail, for example), but if every state did that on a national level you'd have very little crowding for in person voting. Then there also wouldn't be this uproar about who owns what or conspiracies about people tampering with machines.
Congrats on the Obama win, Cartoon. Although I don't agree with many of his policies, he is still our President. I hope the House finds a way to work with the President and vice versa.
Well said jst1voice what is a few hours wait in line to vote for your President who cares for the middle class if you were in Fallujah charging an occupied enemy building under deadly machine gun fire or entering the Taliban-held town of Garmser, southern province of Helmand when all hell broke loose. We have it good in America, so go out and VOTE and don't complain.
Meanwhile, I hope the Obama people are taking care of this voting machine issue, they can't play chicken with these people, they definitely want to steal the election.
In my former job, I worked in a retailer that allowed customers to use touchscreens to order prints from their digital photographs. Trust me when I say these things can be a nightmare to keep calibrated. Untrained poll workers may not know how, or how often, they have to be calibrated. These machines are simply not up to the task.
Sounds like the perfect machinery to use in pivotal elections...but if Robdon is okay with it, regardless of whom the miscalibrations benefit...who can complain? /s/
I think every vote that was cast on this machine should be double checked!---something smells rotten in Pa.--It's probably one of Tag Romney's machines.
This is a state where our elected officials outright said they intend to change voting laws to allow Mitt Romney to win. The common wealth is void.
Yes Rachael, it probably is.
In 2004 I went to New Mexico with Election Protection. Voters kept coming out of the polling place I was at saying their Presidential vote had been flipped. I don't even know which way - we were instructed not to ask people's party affiliation.
It took hours to get the polling officials to stop sending voters to that machine - and one of our group members who was a lawyer had to actually call the police to get them to do it. It's crazy how hard it can be to get a polling place official to take voting seriously.
This happened to my husband as well, in Coldspring, TX. He went back at the screen to verify and changed the vote, which stayed on Obama the second try.
I know! When I filled in the circle for Obama on my paper ballet, it flipped to the Romney circle....no, wait. It didn't.
Paper ballets!
and he got a poll worker to fix it? What happened?
Paper ballots rock, even better vote by mail where your state permits. Fill out at your leisure over that morning cup of Jah. In CA if not mailed in time, drop off at any polling site within ones county of registration, no waiting.
Vote early. And ask for a receipt.
Well. the Republicans managed to get the vote count stopped in Miami so that Bush could win...
Let’s see if the Democrats can get the vote count in Pennsylvania (see photo) Colorado and Ohio (and who knows how many more?) stopped so that the real winner can win.
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2012/4776
As Ohio Faces vote-rigging lawsuit, are dems, liberals, election officials ready to safeguard votes?
There's mounting fall-out from reports, first broken by The Free Press, that a Mitt Romney-linked company owns the Hart Intercivic voting machines used in key counties in Colorado, Ohio and other states. The stories have stoked new fears about a "stolen" election.
UPDATE: Those worries about a rigged election were given new urgency today as The Ohio-based Free Press editor-in-chief Robert Fitrakis, also a Green Party candidate for Congress, announced plans to file a lawsuit later today seeking an immediate injunction against Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted and the ES&S manufacturer to halt the use of secretly installed, unauthorized "experimental" software in 39 counties' tabulators in an alleged violation of state election law. His attorney, Cliff Arnebeck, has also referred the case to the Cincinnati FBI for a criminal investigation. Arnebeck says, "It's a flagrant violation of the law. Before you add new software, you need approval of a state board. They are installing an uncertified, suspect software patch that interfaces between a county's vote tabulation equipment and state tabulators."
He adds, "This may be criminal conduct. If they're not doing something wrong, why are they covering it up?"
http://www.salon.com/2011/09/27/votinghack/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVTXbARGXso
http://www.bradblog.com/?cat=166
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/allan-brawley/vulnerable-voting-machine_b_2020044.html
So glad to hear someone has already moved to secure these 39 counties in particular. We have to throw everything we have at Jon Husted and the like. We already know how little we can count on the mainstream press to give this the importance it is due, so all of us have to make sure no matter what happens tonight that we keep this issue alive and on the front page. With Pres. Obama serving a second term and not having to worry about being reelected, I believe he will work across the board to bring big change to our voting process, getting big money out of politics and doing whatever we have to, to make Congress an effective problem solving entity.
The judge threw it out.
Wanna bet?
Well the Republicans are certainly going to say that... on the other hand, we all know in this election anyway, they lie through their teeth.
I've never understood the argument that the opposite side is doing the same thing so it's justified. It is NEVER acceptable for either or both sides to behave this way. One man, one vote!!
Actually, some voters in CO say they are having the opposite problem - a vote for Romney counting for Obama. Obviously the Romney folks have a problem with that - as they should. As an Obama supporter in a swing state, I have a different concern. I don't want to give the Republicans any reason to say that Obama won because the machines were rigged. :(
You can just visualize Rs: the giddiness, rubbing hands together, villainously.
When are we going to make examples of those people in public ridicule and shame, throwing tomatoes while they are yoked in the public square? With people yelling commie dictator loving pig at them. Democracy is in trouble with these worms.
I am not convinced this is just a fluke.
Make it a haiku.
Rs: with giddiness
they rub their hands together
saying: "we got this, high five"
then Ds respond:
Not so fast, you punks.
The people are vigilant
They see through your schemes.
We most certainly should NOT be moving toward electronic voting. I am no technophobe, but there are a few tasks for which the analogue behavior is of penultimate importance and voting is one of them. The Dibold scandals should have taught us this a decade ago. But Americans don't learn very well do they?
We use paper ballots and Sharpies and it works just fine. I don't trust electronics that can be hacked/programmed/viruses. It's getting to the point we have to do something more non partisan and more efficient.
I liked my mail in ballot, as I mailed it at the P.O. very early, went to website and verified it was received. We also have a county office not too far, where they have a drive through window, where you can hand it directly to them on certain days.