New Mexico: "I voted for Kerry and a check mark for Bush appeared"

[OneBlueSky]

glitch or setup? . . . you decide . . .

Some Voters Say Machines Failed, Incorrect Choices Appear on Screens
By Jim Ludwick
Albequerque Journal
Friday, October 22, 2004

http://abqjournal.com/elex/246845elex10-22-04.htm

Kim Griffith voted on Thursday— over and over and over.

She's among the people in Bernalillo and Sandoval counties who say they have had trouble with early voting equipment. When they have tried to vote for a particular candidate, the touch-screen system has said they voted for somebody else.

It's a problem that can be fixed by the voters themselves— people can alter the selections on their ballots, up to the point when they indicate they are finished and officially cast the ballot.

For Griffith, it took a lot of altering.

She went to Valle Del Norte Community Center in Albuquerque, planning to vote for John Kerry. "I pushed his name, but a green check mark appeared before President Bush's name," she said.

- more . . .

http://abqjournal.com/elex/246845elex10-22-04.htm

[Carla in Ca]

1. This story is all over the internets

And in reading about it and also in comments, there is one suggestion that I think is a good one. Everyone voting on these machines should take a camcorder into the booth with them. Get these errors recorded.

[phish420]

8. great point!!

As a poll monitor, I am taking my camera which allows me to record a 30 second clip with sound as well.

[are_we_united_yet]

15. WOW!

That was a brilliant idea!

This is why I love DU. Always thinking outside of the box.

:)

[The Backlash Cometh]

21. Are you allowed to bring cameras into the poll area?

[are_we_united_yet]

22. I don't know.

But, the Rethugs don't seem to care about law and order when it comes to elections so you'd think nobody would care about a Cam Corder.

:shrug:

[MetaTrope]

2. Isn't it funny how ATMs don't have this problem?

Not "ha ha" funny, either...

[Anakin Skywalker]

3. Maybe they are DieBold machines LOL

This is one of several problems I had foreseen with non-paper ballots.

[budkin]

4. This is happening to some in Austin,TX too

Here we are using "e-Slate" machines, don't know if they are Diebold or not but several people reported this problem.

[shelley806]

5. I don't believe it's a glitch

I think I'm going insane! Tonight at DU I read that right wing nuts are threatening to kill liberals if riots occur post election, I read that the October Surprise might be to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, that NRA funded Sinclair Broadcasting, and now this. And I don't think all of this is occuring because its the first election I've really devoted time and attention to. Rove is a very evil person. And he doesn't love our country. I'm really sick.

[phish420]

9. LOL..I hear ya...

interesting night on the board tonight...I must say that!

[mhr]

6. BBV - Dallas, TX - ES&S iVotronic Touch Screen Machines

Today, two more iVotronic machines were observed selecting a Republican when the voter had selected a straight Democratic ticket.

Case 1 - voter selects straight Dem and the review page shows the Republican had been selected for the Congressional race.

Case 2 - voter selects straight Dem and the review page shows Republican had been selected for the Railroad commission race.

Earlier in the week, voter selected straight Dem and the review page showed straight Republicans had been selected.

It is vital for every poll clerk to advise the voter that scrutinizing the final ballot review page is critical to insure that the proper candidates have been selected before casting the ballot.

You can see what an iVotronic looks like by visiting the following web page.

http://www.essvote.com/HTML/products/ivotronic.html

[seabeyond]

7. is anyone hitting repug and getting dem

butterfly ballots that go to repug.
kerry name left off ballot
ballots with bush on top and then first place to mark is kerry, so bush gets the vote


i have yet to hear a single thins go wrong with repug vote. i think it is pretty obvious voter fraud

[phish420]

10. agreed

[obiwan]

11. Don't forget, election bureaucrats are those who...

...aren't good enough to make it in the private sector.

[sweetheart]

17. thats a bit broad

The "bureaucrats" who conducted the london democratic caucus were
outstanding and professional. Surely you speak of "some", and
not "all".

[JusticeForAll]

12. Dammit

Why can't we just count fricking paper ballots?

I am so irritated and disillusioned with this stupid tyranny.

[radfringe]

16. I favor "box of rocks" method

here's my plan:

after clearing "voter approved" stations -- you are handed a bag of rocks

at a table are boxes with candidates names on them, you drop a rock in the candidate's box

counting is done by WEIGHT -- making the WEIGHT of VOTES a literal phrase. Whoever's box of rocks weighs the most - wins

after the winner is announced, the boxes of rocks are placed in a vault -- if the newly installed official ticks you off, you can go and take your rock back and throw it at the official(s)

if at any point the "winners" bock of rocks weight falls below his opponent's rock box weight -- the "winner" is thrown out of office and new election occurs

[sweetheart]

18. I really like your idea.

A system of weights, voting - tokens, weighing say 50 grams each.
There would be no errors whatsoever in counting, as weight speaks
more than a dimpled chad.

If the tokens were 10 grams or so, the ballot boxes would be as
manageable as paper ballots. And its anonymous. The system
is really ingenius. Has it ever been used in any state?

[Radio-Active]

19. Problem with that is..

Republicans would just have Diebold design a special scale to weigh the ballots

[farmboxer]

13. Anyone See The CNN Crap About Voting Machines?!

CNN appears to be trying to convince people that voting machines are the way to go?!

[cthrumatrix]

20. it's all part of the "smoke" to help awol "steal" ...beucause he can't win

otherwise

[Downtown Hound]

14. I actually doubt this is intentional

not that that makes it any better. But if they really were trying to rig voting machines, I doubt they would do it like this where the voter could clearly see that their vote was going to the wrong candidate.

But the fact that the machines have glitches is a huge cause for concern, and more than enough to warrant a paper trail.