Silly question, but are machines used in counting any state caucus results?

[Emit]

In our caucus, (NV) we hand counted (actually, I did all the head counts and all the preference ballot counts myself at each step, with full participation of the crowd and with oversight of the caucus chair and the crowd participants). We did the math, on a large white piece of paper so the entire room could follow along. We allotted delegates based on the caucus math.

Those numbers were then called in to the State Democratic Party Headquarters, and all hardcopy paperwork was handed in in sealed envelopes. When I got home later that afternoon, I was able to go to our SOS website and see exactly the same numbers shown for our precinct that we had arrived at earlier in the day. I was able to call other caucus members, who told me the final counts in their precincts, and I was able to check those numbers against the results at the SOS's website.

Do all caucuses rely on a live, open handcount to count their results, or is anyone here aware of some caucuses using machines to count ballots? :shrug:

[Emit]

1. Anybody?

[Horse with no Name]

3. No

You sign in on a sheet that is in the custody of either an obama fan or a Hillary fan. They are counted by non-official, unelected Democrats who award the delegates based on THEIR count.
Think of it this way.
Shove everyone in a room and lock the doors.
2 everyday people get everyone to sign the papers and write down the name of their candidate.

After the process--these unelected members TAKE THE ROLLS HOME and then have a set number of days that they have to be turned in to the state Democratic Party.

The system is designed for corruption.

[Emit]

6. Is that how your caucus was conducted?

[Horse with no Name]

7. From talking to people involved

That is how they ALL were conducted.
on edit--I changed an important point in my response above. Make sure and note the change.

[Emit]

8. That is not how they ALL were conducted!

The caucus chair and co-chair (me) in my precinct were Edwards supporters, and we were outnumbered by far! Yet, we were fair and honest and things ran very smoothly. Your description leads me to believe that if people are upset with the way their party's caucuses are ran, then they need to volunteer and get involved to ensure that things go better in the future.

[Horse with no Name]

9. Sorry if the truth offends you

but that is how many of the caucuses were run. In many, the obama people stole the packets before they were supposed to be released.
There are many complaints filed with the state party regarding this.
Ours was held in an African American church. When we got there, the entire church congregation was getting instructions from their preacher on how to do the caucus. Many of us were shoved aside as they all came through the hallway and went to the front of the line behind their preacher.
One of my friends lives in the town next to us...said they all showed up at the caucus and nobody knew what to do so the party reps told everyone to go home.
In the county next to us, one of my work colleagues said that an obama supporter took the packet and never showed up so they didn't even get to caucus.
There were irregularities ALL over the state.
I am quite certain that the ones ran legitimately like yours were the exception, not the rule.
Google some of the state newspapers and start reading readers comments and their experiences.
They aren't pretty.

[Emit]

10. I've followed some complaints, mostly in my own state

I have not read about the accounts you have given as examples. Do you have links to support these claims? Some of what you detailed there seems so outrageous that it would warrant a call to your local radio or teevee stations. Voter disenfranchisement is a big deal to both candidates, and more importantly, to us voters. If that happened in my caucus, I would be calling the reporters, the campaign, the party, etc. We had people with video cameras in our caucus.

And all of these acts were allegedly committed by only the Obama supporters? Have you heard similar reports about Clinton supporters allegedly doing similar things?



edited to add 'video'

[Horse with no Name]

11. I'm in Texas--I don't know where you are

And you can google any newspaper in the state and find irregularities.

http://startelegram.typepad.com/politex/2008/03/the-worst-caucu.html
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2008/03/why-are-results-so-different-in-primary.html
http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/6/18334/57605
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/03/07/trouble_at_texas_caucus_refute.html
http://www.herald-democrat.com/articles/2008/03/09/local_news/doc47cf0aebaafe4184776760.txt

[BillE]

2. Yup

Touch Screens in Maryland. No paper trails and no way to to make sure your vote was counted correctly or at all.

[donheld]

4. Was Maryland a caucus?

:shrug:

[malletgirl02]

5. Maryland had a primary nt.

[Skidmore]

12. In Iowa, we do head counts and the results were entered

on a sheet and signed off on by the precinct captains and the person conducting the caucus. Results were sent to the state to report.

[Emit]

13. Are you aware of any caucuses using machines to do the count?

[Skidmore]

15. No, precinct captains count heads in full view of everyone

and the hand recorded counts must be signed off on by the other candidates' precinct captains. There are no machines involved. I don't know how you would use a machine. I have much more faith in our system than I do in any machine after the 2000 election.

[Emit]

16. And that's what I'm thinking

Folks here want to down the caucus process when, in essence, it is one of our last hand counted voting processes left. Weird, IMHO, especially since so many here on DU followed the election fraud issues and the biggest complaint was the machine count.

I don't know how you could use a machine in the caucus either, except, the reason I asked is that Republicans in NV had what they called a caucus on the same day, and I could be wrong, but I thought perhaps they had a machine count. As far as I know, they voted on a ballot much like our ballots in the GE -- it was not like our caucus on the Democratic side, although I did hear it referred to as a 'run-off vote'. These got put into a box and counted. Whether they got counted by hand or machine, I didn't ever find out, but I will try.

[powergirl]

14. Not in Texas - It depends on the type of caucus and which state you are in

They are all done differently. In, Texas, where I am from, you put your name on a sign in sheet - no confidentiality - and you write the name of your candidate in a blank. I think they used machines in Wyoming. But not sure on that one.