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Tuesday, November 08, 2005

RON: Day Begins With Vote Machines Problems

Posted by Tim Tagaris

The day got off the an inauspicious beginning in Ohio, and it had to do with voting machines...again. From the Toledo Blade:

Voting so far on new touch-screen machines has not been quite as seamless as local board of elections officials had hoped. Lucas County Board of Elections director Jill Kelly said some voters left the precincts this morning without voting because the machines were not up and running. She urged people who had problems to return and cast their ballots.

Lucas County is Toledo. But that wasn't the only place with problems...

Wood County residents in some precincts arrived at 6:30 a.m. only to find that the machines were not yet up and running, said elections director Terry Burton. But all precincts had at least one machine up by 6:40 a.m. and all machines in the majority of the county were available for voters by about 7:30 a.m., he said.

Only in Ken Blackwell's world is functional machines in *a majority* of the county acceptable. How about the entire county? No, that would be too much to ask.

Posted at 12:22 PM in Reform Ohio Now | Technorati

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Already reports are coming in of voting problems. NOT ACCEPTABLE. This is how Ken Blackwell handles one task. Imagine how he will handle running the entire state. (via SSP (via DKos)) [Read More]

Tracked on November 8, 2005 02:22 PM

Comments

Tim -- am I correct that Toledo is a pretty solidly Democratic area? If so, just once I'd love to see 6-hour lines and broken machines and completely outdated registration books in a heavily Republican exurban area. Then what would Republicans have to say? My guess is they would blame the Clintons or homosexuals or legalized abortion or something like that :)

Posted by: IndianaProgressive at November 8, 2005 12:47 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Indiana, you are correct about Toledo. Lucas County went for John Kerry by 60%. It was Ohio's fifth best county for Kerry...and I suspect it's one of the state's most reliably Democratic counties in every election. And I suspect you're right that we're unlikely to hear about any malfunctioning voting machines in Butler or Clermont counties near Cincinnati. Frustrating!

Posted by: Mark at November 8, 2005 12:56 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I live in Franklin County, and I personally witnessed all three machines for one precinct malfunctioning at 6:30 this morning. The county BoE's phone lines were busy. In my precinct, all three machines were working properly.

Posted by: Brian at November 8, 2005 01:07 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Mark -- it's not just frustrating, it's a glaring violation of civil rights that is going on all over the country every time we have an election. I live in central city Indianapolis, in a heavily Democratic, probably half-black neighborhood, and we had several elections in a row since 2000 that have had a multitude of problems. For one primary election, not enough ballots were delievered to several central city polling places. An election or two ago, when Congresswoman Julia Carson went to vote, with TV cameras rolling, her voting machine didn't work. It is criminal to tell voters to "come back later" -- when we know many of them can't or won't. A tremendous amount of credit needs to go to the Congressional Black Caucus for focusing on these problems. Where is the rest of the Party?

Posted by: IndianaProgressive at November 8, 2005 01:54 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Is anyone aware that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a 70-page report last month verifying what most of US already know?

"A newly released report on the security and accuracy of electronic voting systems, issued by the Government Accountability Office, confirms the seriousness of problems reported by members of the Election Integrity Community since 2002."

The MSM has not uttered a PEEP about this report which was released in tandem with a bi-partisan press release by the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the House Government Affairs, Judiciary and Science and Technology Committees, who commented:

'The Foundation of Democracy Rests Upon Security, Integrity of our Voting System." "[T]here is a lack of transparency and accountability in electronic voting systems." "I fear that this may just be the tip of the iceberg."

Please everyone who can write letters to the editor of your local papers, write your Reps and Senators, write about it on blogs - the fact that the MSM has totally ignored this report is yet another sign of how eroded and corrupt our government has become.

Also, BlackBoxVoting has a forum for people to discuss the election and/or file reports on any problems you may have experienced or witnessed. You can post comments in any forum - first timers, after you get to forums, just click "register" at left, follow instructions, and you're in!

Posted by: jen at November 8, 2005 02:33 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

We down here in Cincinnati aren't fancy enough to have those high-falootin' touchscreen thingamajigs -- all our ballets are good old-fashioned punchcards, replete with 6 or 7 varieties of chads. Mmmmm, chads.

Posted by: craigf at November 8, 2005 03:45 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I'm in Erie County(Sandusky) and we use optical scans(by far the best method) and there have been NO problems up here. Turnout seems pretty strong/moderate.

Posted by: OH-09Dem at November 8, 2005 04:40 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I think more states should use the Oregon Mail in Ballot. No problems with shortages of voting machines you can make a personal copy, you don't get y our ballot if you don't live where you are registered, and if you can't afford a stamp, there are voter drop boxes There is much less chance of fraud and results in higher voter participation. Oh yes it costs less.

Posted by: thirdexit at November 8, 2005 05:25 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

If Toledo has been affected disproportionately, it would be a gift to Taft and the republicans of Ohio. Toledo has a competitive mayoral race and some pretty lively council elections underway, which will boost turnout. This is true in Cleveland as well. The ballot measures--Issues 2-5--are the problem. Too many Democrats voting on those is Blackwell's nightmare. It's not in his interest to make sure our voting machines are up to snuff when the first line of one of the initiatives reads "...to take responsibility for elections out of the hands of [Kenneth Blackwell]."

Posted by: Benjamin Pryor at November 8, 2005 05:36 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment