Trouble in Kern County ----- Electronic Machines

[ronnykmarshall]

My mom lives in Bakersfield and they voted absentee already.

She said on the news this morning they are telling people to wait a couple of hours to vote.

It seems there are "issues" with the damn machines not working.

[CAcyclist]

1. So not surprised

If the elections get stolen , they will get stolen in the conservative counties. Prop 82 is supposed to be polling the best in the Central Valley, so if Prop 82 loses in one of these counties, I'll know we were Diebolded.

[EFerrari]

2. This has been happening all over the country.

As a dress rehearsal for November, it's a disaster.

[ebayfool]

3. They shut down 3 (that I've heard of so far) polling places.

Mine said all the sites were having alot of trouble. I was given a card to call w/complaints ... no one home - leave a message!

The damned machine wouldn't hold all the votes cast properly - I had to back the screen 3 times before the summary held. The funky little print sheet you're supposed to 'view' before pushing the final button is printed so friggin' small you can't see it well enough to check it. When I pitched a bitch they waved a plastic dollar store magnifier & said you coulda used this ... too late!

And we were told basically - get used to it, it's not going away!

Shitheads!

[ronnykmarshall]

4. Absentee baby

What shockes me is that in one of the most red parts of California this is happening.

Paper ballots!

These machines are shit!

[ebayfool]

6. Logically - yes. But it galls to basically be forced to absentee in hopes

of getting my vote counted - correctly. It's like being told to sit in the back row & have faith (hah!) that they'll handle that ballot better than the touchscreen memory cards. If they're so cavalier w/the voters in the front row then ... ?

I flat don't want to absentee vote - I don't trust that to be handled any better (in fact, worse!) than in person voting. I think it's important to be there ... in person, in-your-face, bitching long & loud where it can not as easily be ignored - like a mailed in piece of paper can be!

And I'm not done bitchin' at them yet!:evilgrin:

Yupper - most people have no idea just how RED parts of California are (till you point out where freeperville got it's start - Jim Robinson/Fresno!). I have a feeling that some of Kern County's problems w/the precincts crashing & closing on the eastside had something to do w/some pretty strong candidates for sheriff w/hispanic surnames. Alot of potential voters there were cut off at the knees today.

You're right, touchscreens are shit.

[Cleita]

5. Touchscreen too!

Kern county has to get rid of them before November. Seriously.

[rumpel]

7. Already in print here is the article

Breaking News
Voting problems
By Doug Keeler
Published: Tuesday, June 6, 2006 2:57 PM CDT

Embarrassed Kern County elections officials had to scramble Tuesday morning to try to restart voting after a software glitch halted voting at many polling stations and slowed it at all others.

Two different kinds of voter access cards were sent to Kern County polling stations, and only one kind allowed voters to cast their ballots

The problem became apparent soon after the polls opened at 7 a.m. when many voters found out that the access cards they were given weren't being accepted by the computer voting machines.

The problem was that new access cards carried the proper encryption codes, Kern County Elections Supervisor Sandy Brockman said. But older ones didn't, meaning voters couldn't cast their ballots.

http://www.taftmidwaydriller.com/articles/2006/06/06/breaking_news/breakingnews.txt