New York Times Front Page Oct. 19 – ELECTION FREE-FALL- Catastrophe!!!

[autorank]

I’m no fan of the NYT’s coverage on Iraq and fake election 2004 but they’re coming around with some last minute attempted make up. Raw Story scooped their front page and portions of the article.

Tomorrow’s news today. Well for 8 minutes.

NY Times: 'Ill-equipped' states brace for Election Day chaos

RAW STORY
http://tinyurl.com/y2t8vp
Published: Wednesday October 18, 2006

Note: NYT Published their article and it's excerpted below, in two sections.
NYT Link Just Published: http://tinyurl.com/y8azde

“Election officials are scrambling to prepare for difficulties expected on November 7, the New York Times will report Thursday in an article to appear on its front page.”

Scoop from the

"As dozens of states are enforcing new voter registration laws and switching to paperless electronic voting systems, officials across the country are bracing for a chaotic Election Day with long lines, heightened confusion and an increase in the number of contested results," writes
In Maryland, Mississippi and Pennsylvania, a shortage of technicians has vendors for new machines soliciting applications for technical support workers on job Web sites like Monster.com. Oakley, who is also facing a shortage, raided the computer science department at the University of California, Davis, hiring 60 graduate students as troubleshooters.



"We've got new laws, new technology, heightened partisanship and a growing involvement of lawyers in the voting process," said Tova Wang, who studies elections for the Century Foundation, a nonpartisan research group. "We also have the greatest potential for problems in more places next month than in any voting season before."

Election officials in many of the states are struggling with delays in the delivery of machines in the lead-up to the election as old-fashioned lever and punch-card machines are phased out.

....and there's more...

See www.electionfraudnews.com front page...

The Bradblog EXCLUSIVE: FIRST BUSH-APPOINTED CHAIR OF U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION SAYS 'NO STANDARDS' FOR E-VOTING DEVICES, SYSTEM 'RIPE FOR STEALING ELECTIONS'!

and

Zogby Poll: Voters Question Outcome of 2004 Election

the Times Just Published....cool

http://tinyurl.com/y8azde">The New York Times 10.19.06 Front Page

Arizona, California, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania are among the states considered most likely to experience difficulties, according to voting experts who have been tracking the technology and other election changes.

“We’ve got new laws, new technology, heightened partisanship and a growing involvement of lawyers in the voting process,” said Tova Wang, who studies elections for the Century Foundation, a nonpartisan research group. “We also have the greatest potential for problems in more places next month than in any voting season before.”

Election officials in many of the states are struggling with delays in the delivery of machines before the election as old-fashioned lever and punch-card machines are phased out. A chronic shortage of poll workers, many of them retirees uncomfortable with new technology, has worsened matters.

Snip

New computerized registration rolls and litigation over new voter identification laws in states like Arizona, Georgia, Indiana and Missouri have left many poll workers and voters unclear about the rules, including whether they are in effect, as the courts have blocked many of the new laws. Problems with Centralized Computer Voter Registration Data Bases

[kpete]

1. K&R

[papau]

38. But techs should not be allowed near any machines on election day

if there is a claimed problem, then start using paper.

It is the Tech "magic touch" that wins elections for the GOP - and as the Princeton Video showed - the poor honest tech does not even know that he is doing the dirty deed. He is just adding some code to fix a problem, or he is using a memory card to test the machine, or he is doing a last minute part replacement, or he is just running a test program". We had all those tech stories in the last 3 elections - do we need another round - and another loss or smaller victory - this time around?

KEEP THE DAMN TECHS AWAY FROM THE MACHINES FOR 48 HOURS BEFORE AND 48 HOURS AFTER AN ELECTION.

[papau]

41. The study of 04 showed Rove fraud cut the size of the Dem victory in

Dem areas in Florida - to the tune of 300,000 votes which is just about what Bush won Florida by.

Rove "turn-out" in the last 72 hours is the con by which we accept all these new found GOP in Dem areas -

The GOP GOTV 72 hour super turnout in Dem areas didn't really happen.

Rove has chosen the areas necessary to pretend super GOP turnout so as to lose only a few seats, but still control Congress. Rove never goes national with his fraud because that would be too easy to notice (but still impossible to prove with electronic machine counting).

So based on the past, we need to watch out for techs in Dem areas fixing those last minute problems with the machines.

We have to stop it this time.

[cal04]

2. New Laws and Machines May Spell Voting Woes

New electronic voting machines have arrived in Yolo County, Calif., but there is one hitch: the audio program for the visually impaired in some of them works only in Vietnamese.

“Talk about panic,” said Freddy Oakley, the county’s top election official. “I’ve got gray-haired ladies as poll workers standing around looking stunned.”

As dozens of states are enforcing new voter registration laws and switching to paperless electronic voting systems, officials across the country are bracing for an Election Day with long lines and heightened confusion, followed by an increase in the number of contested results.

In Maryland, Mississippi and Pennsylvania, a shortage of technicians has vendors for new machines soliciting applications for technical support workers on job Web sites like Monster.com. Ms. Oakley, who is also facing a shortage, raided the computer science department at the University of California, Davis, hiring 60 graduate students as troubleshooters.



http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/us/politics/19voting.html?hp&ex=1161230400&en=cbb7481b529411c7&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[autorank]

10. California users are my favorite...

...unless I'm talking to Ohio users, in which case they're my faovrite, or users from Mexico...but I digress.

Thanks for the link. It allowed me to update the OP!!!:hi:

[Captain Hilts]

11. Hi Harry Lyme! I feel a song coming on...And I vote in Monty Cty MD...

where the primaries were chaos!

Monty Cty has more money than most small countries and we can't get thisright?

[autorank]

33. Right and you have a bunch of smart people there, good Dems too...

Although you don't have as many smarties as Fairfax County but I could be wrong.:evilgrin:

We had the same thing in 2003 when they went from Shoup to AVS, same old same old with crappier accountability but a "touch screen." Total nonsense. In that year, the Republicans got screwed and they wrote a nice white paper that embodied everything cutting edge about open access to source code, paper trails, etc. Nothing changed.

I couldn't believe how lame your elections guy was, "Uh, I forgot to send out the cards for the voting machines." Ding ding ding...he wins the booby prize.

I'll stop chatting and say: You are 100% right. When Montgomery County Maryland, home of the National Institutes of Health, leading edge software and networking companies, and the heart of the intelligence intensive biotechnology sector, can't run a reasonable election, who can? Some I suspect but not many.

That State Secty of State is pretty weak too isn't she?

:hi:

[papau]

39. GOP Manufacturers control all procedures - just how did GOP get screwed in

Montgomery County?

I lived in Fairfax, and have a very close friend in Montgomery, and a relative in DC - and I never heard of the GOP being screwed in any election - ever.

Indeed the Townsend (D) loss was a shock and I suspected GOP fraud at the time.

[autorank]

50. Nope Fairfax and the Democraats should have endorsed this report.

The election was 2003. Read the report. The conclusions are excellent for that time. The real solution has always been tightly regulated and observed hand counted paper ballots. But this report is way ahead of the Democrats in Virginia on this issue). Btw, I'm an active Democrat and have worked in the last three elections and I generally can't stand the VA Republican party.

Here's the report that they did after 2003 Report. There is a terrible irony here. In 2005, while Kaine was womping Kilgore by 6% and the anti Kilgore vote was almost 9% (adding the one liberal Republican left in VA, Potts, who ran as a spoiler to stop Kilgore and got 3%), the Lt. Gov. and AG races for the Democrats were very close and razor thin losses respectively. There were a lot of fishy results and if there was ever a time to do an independent investigation, which the Republicans in Fairfax asked for and did not receive, this was it. But guess what? No investigation, no real recount, no nothing. The Democrats had a Secretary of Elections who didn't even believe that the marginally adequate verified paper ballots were needed. In fact she opposed any paper trail. When the recount happened this person, appointed by Mark Warner, recommended AGAINST a hand recount of 200,000 Diebold optical scan ballots. What a massive betrayal.

So that's the deal. I'm opposed to inefficient and wrong thinking election officials of any party. Remember, in all those lousy voting districts in Ohio, the boards were 1/2 Democrat.

[papau]

79. Excellent Report - no "bias" found - but a lot of no security and poorly

made machines and procedures.

The subtract one vote out of every hundred game looked like a test for 04 - Rove used something like an add a Gop vote and subtract a Dem vote in areas with very large Dem majorities in Florida in 04 - the idea I believe being we would look for theft in GOP districts, and would all low victory margins in Dem areas to be called a result of the different abilities of each party in the 72 hour GOTV game.

I do recall the Fairfax board as corrupt - roads were build where board members needed them for their real estate investments. I suspect the vendor was helping a few of the Commissioners and their staff with college tuition or the food bill, causing the no action.

In any case I agree the Democrats should have joined with the GOP to ask for changes going forward.

[cal04]

61. hi autorank

You're very welcome . Thanks for the post


:hi:

[Imagevision]

3. hiring 60 graduate students as troubleshooters? - sounds promising??

[autorank]

4. I swear that this is a true story...

In Ohio, in the special measures or primary election, the state was going to use members of the Delta Gamma Sorority to do maintenance since their vendor, Diebold, couldn't make it there (guess Ohio isn't a big enough customer, damn). Delta Gammas, graduate students...you decide;)

[Canuckistanian]

8. UC Davis troubleshooters, to boot

Eh, college students aren't too political, so I don't see any issues.

[druidity33]

36. huh?

college students aren't that political? Must have never been to the 5-college area of Massachusetts... a veritable hotbed.

unless of course, you just forgot your sarcasm symbol...

[Canuckistanian]

65. I'm just kidding

I'm a kidder. In fact, I have a lot of respect for college student activism on both coasts.

[KoKo]

42. College "Young Republicans" are very organized....would imagine they would

be very sure to come forward and volunteer. Rove keeps in close contact with them. :-(

[Canuckistanian]

66. Ah, but Young Republicans are not usually Comp Sci majors

They're usually in Bidness or pre-Law or Public Policy/Poli Sci. No easy money in Tech.

They'd stick out in a computer lab.

[KoKo]

75. But....can you be absolutely sure of that? They've had 6 years of Power

and the Computer "geeks" would be on their list for funding now...with all the rest except us "poor suckers" who are already in the "system" they've trashed. :shrug:

[Canuckistanian]

77. You may be right

Things are changing so fast in America, power structures are not what they used to be.

Hell, even pest controllers can get to be House Majority Leaders!

[KoKo]

78. HA....good point...if "Bug Man" got where he was in Gingrich Revolution

of '94...just think how fast it's moving since "Chimperor" got in there!

My own head spins!

[hvn_nbr_2]

25. 60 computer science grad students--guaranteed to be some geeks...

there who will take a close look at stuff.

And I can say "geek" because I am one.

[stevedeshazer]

5. kick

:kick:

[autorank]

53. Steve_DeShazer!!!

:yourock:

[Synnical]

6. Chaos will only be in close races

That's my prediction.

[The Count]

13. And who decides which are close? No exit polls, remember?

Pre-election polls were flipped in many states in 2002, exit polls were simply trashed that night.

[autorank]

15. Well, exit polls are just for Eastern Europe, not for the USA or Mexico...

...and if they're done here, it has to be the Media Consortium: NYT, WashPost, NBC, ABC, FOX...so they can hide the critical data that will prevent us from further establishing the obvious, that the election (fill in date) was stolen. Nice system.

[foo_bar]

31. do you mean the neocon-funded exit polls in Eastern Europe?

Western funders pooled resources to sponsor two exit polls.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A15131-2004Dec20

A key part of the media game has been the claim that Yushchenko won ‘exit polls.’ What is not said is that the people doing these ‘exit polls’ as voters left voting places, were US-trained and paid by Freedom House, a neo-conservative operation in Washington. They trained 1,000 poll observers who declared an 11 point lead for Yushchenko which triggered the mass marches claiming fraud. The current head of the Freedom House is former CIA chief and outspoken neo-conservative, R. James Woolsey. On the Freedom House board sits none other than Zbigniew Brzezinski. This is hardly an impartial human rights organization.

http://www.studien-von-zeitfragen.de/Zeitfragen/Ukraine/ukraine.html

In Ukraine, Freedom House helped organize the "largest civil regional election monitoring effort" in Ukraine, involving more than 1,000 trained observers. They also organized crucial exit polls showing that Yuschenko had actually won, which gave the Revolution its moral energy - as did their carefully-organized exit polls in Serbia and Georgia.
<...>
Indeed, Freedom House is not always on the side of the good guys, as evidenced by its choice in chairmen, as well as in the makeup of its board members - a cast of cartoon-villains which includes such prime-time ogres as Jeanne Kirkpatrick and Kenneth Adelman - the same Adelman who had famously predicted that the war in Iraq would be a "cakewalk." Freedom House's sponsors include the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, a far-right pro-big business foundation which, among other things, took a strong stand in the 60s against affirmative action, and once supported academics who pushed the Bell Curve theory arguing that blacks were genetically less intelligent than whites. During the early years of the Vietnam War, Freedom House argued that American intervention was justified because - yup, you guessed right - it helped the spread of democracy. Why'd they do that? Becuase that's what Freedom House does. It agitates for right-wing America's interests, cynically deploying appeals for democracy and human rights at properly chosen times to to serve the right's global mission.

http://www.exile.ru/2005-December-28/freedoms_just_another_word_for_fascism.html

Election fraud is not required. All that is needed is an infrastructure to CLAIM that there is electoral fraud. The use of exit polls is key to that. In the Ukraine, the exit polls run by the Americans, specifically the IRI, were used to claim a large Yushchenko lead and victory. These claims quickly were broadcast to media and thus the first reports out of the second round in the Ukraine was that Yushchenko's victory was assured. The real counting then happened and the results had Yanukovich as the winner. The exit polls were thus cited as proof of fraud. The British Helsinki Human Rights Group observed the conduct of an exit poll by perhaps the most reputable of the two US-funded organisations; the SOCIS Center. They found that the pollsters were clearly Yushchenko backers who proceeded in a most unscientific way. Naturally they claimed a large Yushchenko lead in their results.

http://nuralcubicle.blogspot.com/2005/02/lebanons-red-and-white-non-violent.html

In related news:

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice planned talks Wednesday in the Ukrainian capital with President Viktor Yushchenko, a year after the U.S. denounced his electoral defeat as fraudulent and joined calls for the rerun that brought him to power. Yushchenko and Rice were expected to discuss the pro-Western leader's ambitions of membership in the European Union and NATO. Also on the agenda are Ukraine's hopes to receive U.S. recognition as a market economy and to win the United States' backing for its World Trade Organization membership bid.

http://newsfromrussia.com/world/2005/12/07/69385.html

[TankLV]

44. As opposed to the RUSSIAN COLONIAL MASTERS who were ACTUALLY CHEATING.

and going against the will of the UKRAINIAN people (not their RUSSIAN COLONISTS)

Nice try to push BULLSHIT.

We ain't buyin...

[foo_bar]

45. I apologize for the cognitive dissonance, but...

you'll need to explain which part(s) are bullshit. I provided citations, not an editorial (besides "neocon-funded exit polls", which is difficult to dispute). On that note:

Western media portrayed Yanukovich as Vladimir Putin’s man and implied that he received lots of assistance, including finance, from Russia. The BHHRG is of the opinion that although Yanukovich got the nod from Putin, he got very little else. One thing is certain: he got nowhere like the assistance that Yushchenko got from the West, including from the US taxpayer, through monies donated to local NGOs which supported his campaign. The total amount will never be known, but it probably runs into tens of millions of US dollars.

Money from the West funded the exit polls after the second election, which, by purporting to show that Yushchenko had won by a distance, were the trigger for the agitation which eventually led to the re-run of the election and Yushchenko’s final victory. President Clinton’s favourite pollster, Dick Morris, boasted after the event that he had provided advice on how to conduct the exit polls (Washington Post, 2 January 2005).

http://www.david-morrison.org.uk/ukraine/clockwork-orange-revolution.htm

The International Republican Institute, though billing itself as an independent nonprofit unaffiliated with the Republican Party, acts essentially as a wing of the GOP. Its is chaired by party presidential frontrunner Senator John McCain (R-AZ), and Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Representatives David Dreier (R-CA) and Jim Kolbe (R-AR) serve on its board of directors. Many of IRI’s high-ranking staff members have at some point worked directly for the Bush administration.
<...>
During the Afghan presidential election of October 2004, IRI's pre-election poll showed Hamid Karzai with a strong lead, and its exit poll, released immediately after the vote and well before the ballots were counted, also gave him over 50% of the vote. The British Helsinki Human Rights Group subsequently suggested that these polls might have helped head off scrutiny of an election that had initially been met with well-founded suspicions of fraud.

http://inthenameofdemocracy.org/en/node/86

Once again, with feeling:

In the Ukraine, the exit polls run by the Americans, specifically the IRI, were used to claim a large Yushchenko lead and victory. These claims quickly were broadcast to media and thus the first reports out of the second round in the Ukraine was that Yushchenko's victory was assured. The real counting then happened and the results had Yanukovich as the winner. The exit polls were thus cited as proof of fraud. The British Helsinki Human Rights Group observed the conduct of an exit poll by perhaps the most reputable of the two US-funded organisations; the SOCIS Center. They found that the pollsters were clearly Yushchenko backers who proceeded in a most unscientific way. Naturally they claimed a large Yushchenko lead in their results.

http://nuralcubicle.blogspot.com/2005/02/lebanons-red-and-white-non-violent.html

edit for multimedia impact:

[Synnical]

16. Yeah, I know that

But remember the entire House of Reps is up for re-election! 435 races!

And, yeah, I'm pissed about no exit polls, too!

So much for the "Fourth Estate".

[autorank]

54. And it will occur primarily in areas with heavy minority populations.

Whis is the way it always is with this election fraud.

Fundamentally, it's a race and class crime.

But you're right.

[Land Shark]

7. Have any activists been predicting these things for a long time?

I know, don't ask dumb questions. Of course they have.

[autorank]

14. Dumb questions allowed counsel...

They make your job easier;) Let them ask away, feel comfortable then...



How'd you like to cross examine her?

[Straight Shooter]

9. Election officials finally notice runaway train heading their way.

Even though that train has been coming down the track at breakneck speed for, oh, about a thousand miles now.

[autorank]

12. Here's the guy with the bragging rights, DUer John Gideon

Check out the date...damn, that's foresight...


E-Voting 2006: The Approaching Train Wreck
Tuesday, 11 April 2006, 12:30 pm
Opinion: John Gideon
E-Voting 2006: The Approaching Train Wreck
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0604/S00137.htm

Nice sig line;)

[Straight Shooter]

18. I hope it looks more like the GOP Titanic.

Thanks for the reference to the train wreck article.

I am sooo glad I live in Oregon. There is infinite peace of mind in having great confidence that my vote will be counted.

============

The sig line, I've always been a fan of Daniel Webster, as well as all the other great orators in the history of this world. We never have truly profound statements anymore by politicians, everything now is so carefully weighted and scripted for its sound bite effects.

[pocoloco]

17. No wonder * and rove are smiling!!!!

[DoYouEverWonder]

40. You got it

They want the system to fail. It was built for failure. They did it deliberately.

They want to cast enough doubt into the results of the 2006 election, that no one will win. Then they will contest every election that is close, tying up the outcomes for as many seats as possible.

Anyone who thinks that the Repugs are going to let the Dems take the House in January better buy a clue.

We are on our way to a constitutional crisis no matter who wins.

The 2006 election will once again be decided by the courts, not the people.

[gumby]

19. The "October Surprise"

has been delayed until November 7. That is all. Over and out.

[understandinglife]

20. # 15.

Be The Bu$h Opposition - 24/7

[autorank]

52. I'm working on that opposition thing...

...but do I get to sleep:evilgrin:

[understandinglife]

76. well, ok, if you really must ....

;)


Peace.

[autorank]

80. .

:rofl: u2

[Kurovski]

21. I haven't been this nervous since my parents had major surgery.

K&R.

Edit.: GOTV!

[autorank]

29. Get OUT The VOTE GOTV GOTV GOTV

Everybody call your friends who you think might be marginal. Have them go vote, cajole them, offer them a ride. Huge turnout, match 2004...rokken.

[EC]

22. Planned disenfranchisement... n/t

[autorank]

26. Great phrasing....that will enter the lexicon...used heavily post election

Very very very good stuff. Thanks!!!

[mnhtnbb]

23. It's government for the corporations at work. Wouldn't counting paper

ballots be easier and less costly?

[autorank]

27. Yes.

There are new paper systems out there that can get a count done faster than the 'machines' can be accessed etc. Really amazing stuff out there coming down the road. It's going to happen after Nov. 7, by acclamation. That's not enough, we need to get friggin' private money of all types out of the campaign and have Federal subsidized elections with free TV!!! You are correc ton paper, I believe.

[Pastiche423]

24. Tonight, I caught a ride home

from a LNG community meeting w/a repug. Although we are total opposites on the political scale, we manage to talk to each other w/o screaming. :shrug:

He told me he had been listening to Rush today. Rush told his audience that there would be so many lawsuits (by repugs) following the election, that nothing would be decided about who actually won for at least eleven months.

A set up?

[autorank]

28. You bet. Land Shark has this figured out in detail but...

Bush v. Gore lays it out - equal protection equals equal opportunity to get your vote counted and means everyone should vote on the same machine. Nice huh, with different machines out there. Also, various lawsuits will arise on emergency paper ballots claming they don't meat Help America Vote Act 2002 standards...

But Rush may be confusing his legal situaiton with that of his party.

If the Republicans try that, the courts may not cooperate. If there is that delay because of frivolous law suits, then God help them. They're screwed.

[symbolman]

34. You make not be taking into account

how many Judges are OWNED by the right wing - think FEDERALIST Takeover of the Judicial system, been going on a LONG TIME. :)

They BREED CHAOS and reap the rewards, all they do.

[autorank]

47. Ola symbolman...

Oh, I have a very low regard for them. It's some where beneath contempt and just above violent retching. Make no mistake, they DO NOT work for *, he's just the station agent.

The worm has turned and the major domos have lost patience. The franchise is revoked;) Go directly to jail, Do not pass Go, Do not collect $200.

Count on it. Watch the next three weeks and the utter devastation of the current crew. It's time for them to go, and go soon.

They've sowed the wind, not it's time to reap...

[Bozita]

30. Bernie Ward is referring to this NYT headline article NOW -- streaming

http://www.kgoam810.com/listenlive/listenlive.ram

Too big to be ignored.

Recommended.

[SammyWinstonJack]

35. Thanks for the link.

[lies and propaganda]

32. AZ voing is great, i dont get it!

We dont have machine voting. We feed into a machine once finished that sucks it through to a lock box, and it always guarded by one Dem, one repug.

Electronic voting is a menance, but AZ has one of the best systems, imho.

[Disturbed]

37. My family is voting via Absentee Ballot and

I wil take them a week before the election to the Post Office to make sure the correct postage is on them.

[City Lights]

46. The $64,000 question is, "What happens next?"

What happens to your ballot once it's sucked into the lock box? My guess (I lived in AZ from 2000-2005) is the ballot is tabulated using GEMS software. If you're not familiar with GEMS, you may want to do some Googling on 'Gems tabulation software.' Who's Counting? has some good information on how easily votes can be manipulated when they are tabulated using GEMS software.

AZ Fair Elections has good info on voting problems in AZ too.

:hi:

[autorank]

55. We can't disagree because...

...we suck!!! Raiders W: 0 L: 5 Oh, the pain is unbearable.

Optical scans can count all the ballots, match the ballot book, and come up with a fraudulent total: a) they can be hacked - they were, easily...see. b) They can have malicious code written likely this:

Begin Kerry (-) 400; Bush (+) 200. You'd never know it, those witnesses wouldn't but you'd get kerry's first and it would count as (-) 399 while *'s would be (+) 401. Take an expert to figure it out, and an expert for each machine. Imagine...

AZ has a VoterID law that they may enforce even though the court said it's bogus. It's also had a centralized voter registration database purge. If the Dems who run the state house were on task, this may actually help if they told the elections officials, be inclusive, verify anyone you remove, err on the right to vote.

Good luck!!!

Is Davis still calling the plays. What the heck is going on. Its no fun to be a long term fan of the bad boys when they get beat all the time. I grew up with Raiders on my milk cartons and in my post office ("Wanted for..."). I miss that. In the 70's they'd party Saturday through game time and win. Every playoff game that they ever lost to Pittsburgh was a result of Mr. Rooney fixing the refs (don't believe that business of everyone liking him;) Just kidding on Rooney. Wish we had one like him take over. A clas act.

I saw them play the Ravens in Baltimore. It was great, Ravens ownership,unlike my home town team, the Skins, loves the fans. These Ravens could be the old Raiders. You've got your "criminal element," crafty QB (the ex Nashville guy), great fans (really outstanding and they're friendly to outsiders or took pity). Ray Lewis is God by the way, the guy is amazing. Oh well...we can only hope and I mean "only."

[autorank]

58. wrong place.

:dunce:

[KoKo]

43. Interesting large quotes from NC's Cherie Poucher who caused voting

rights advocates in NC endless headaches. NC is mandated to have a verifiable paper trail and Ms. Poucher did everything she could do to limit the optiscan machines in favor of DRE's and she worked very hard to underestimate the amount of machines that would be needed for this Primary.

Quote from her and bad news about the "voter data base" which might deny new voters or first time voters their rights because they might have gotten married and forgotten to change their name or keep their maiden name and with the influx of thousands of people into NC in the last few years there will be big problems. THE FIX IS IN!

--------------------
QUOTER FROM NYT'S ARTICLE:
Still, this is a year of firsts for some local election officials. Cherie Poucher, elections director for Wake County, N.C., which includes Raleigh, said she expected 350,000 voters on Election Day, up from the 30,000 in the May primary. She worries that the county’s 218 optical scan machines may be unable to handle the increased load. During the primary, 12 of the new machines would not boot up and needed to be replaced.

“In the end, we were lucky,” Ms. Poucher said. The machines were replaced within hours, she said, and since her county uses optical scan machines rather than paperless machines, voters were able to deposit paper ballots into a ballot box until replacements arrived.

“I’m an optimist,” she said. “But if we have more failures than we have total machines, it could be really difficult even with the paper ballots.”

-snip-

North Carolina, for example, requires that information provided by voters for registration forms match information in the motor vehicle or Social Security databases.

“If someone is listed with their maiden name in one list and their married name in another list, that voter will be blocked from the eligible voter roll,” said Mr. Levitt, adding that these voters may show up in large numbers and not realize that there is a problem.

[autorank]

48. You nailed it KoKo my friend...

There is simply no excuse for this, none. There has been so much positive input down in NC by activists and others that they know that they're on notice and that this has to work right. This sounds like a total CYA:

“I’m an optimist,” she said. “But if we have more failures than we have total machines, it could be really difficult even with the paper ballots.”

She's going to "have some 'splainin' to do!

[KoKo]

72. Keep it going!....

[KoKo]

73. Kick!

[burythehatchet]

49. If anyone wonders what a lack of Habeas looks like

look outside your window on Nov 8.


on edit - to be clear, there will be thousands of us in the streets screaming bloody murder. We will be called enemy combatants because we will be a threat to security.

[autorank]

51. That's a major concern.

Lousy election systems get us dreadful governments.

Thisone is the worst.

[savemefromdumbya]

57. did we have lousy election systems before Bush stole the presidency?

[savemefromdumbya]

56. do you think there will be an election on November 7?

[autorank]

59. What a great thread, intelligent comments...you're on "Front Page"

Thanks for putting us there DU mgt.

:toast:

[nealmhughes]

60. For once the Most Serene Christian Republic of Alabmama has a virtue

in its "technological backwardness," and that is that the ballots are paper and read by an optical scanner...

If any question ever arose: count the paper ballots.

[JPZenger]

62. PA electronic system got its test in the primary

PA's new electronic voting system got tested out in the primary, when there was much lower turnout. By all appearances, it worked fine, although we never know without a paper trail.

They did have many old poll workers quit because they didn't want to learn new-fangled machines.

The latest issue in PA. is whether poll workers are allowed to push the button to record a vote if the voter forgets to do it. Some people have been told to clear the machine and not register the vote.

[WI_DEM]

63. This is the GOP's secret weapon

[global1]

64. Today's Chicago Tribune Features This Article "Voting Glitches Feared ....

Nov 7th - Officials still haven't fixed electronic problems behind a virtual meltdown in spring elections".

Here's a link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/

Looks like the media is getting us ready for the stealing of the Nov 7th 2006 elections.

[faithnotgreed]

67. kicking - this

the bill the emperor just signed himself and the iraq tragedy are among the most crucial threads right now

[IWantAChange]

68. Never ever discount how low Repugs will go

to stay in power. Now that the election machine fiasco is a 'known' problem you don't think Rove and the minions will say the problem goes both ways and Repugs are as likely to be hurt by 'tainted' returns?? 'Cept in most cases they will be in control of the machines.


:hurts:

[Imagevision]

69. GOP installed receiptless machines for the purpose of voter theft

Why else would anyone specifically request there be NO paper trail, why the Dems allowed this to happen is stil a mystery?

[leftchick]

70. if Election Chaos was the plan

it worked. Do we have hope auto? :(

[msedano]

71. this'll have bounceback in califas

The race for Secretary of State pits a pro-Diebold GOPper contra a sensible Dem. Check out the LA Times' coverage before the Gray Lady's piece:

"At first blush, they appear similar — two respected politicians with long tenures in the state Legislature, where they showed a keen interest in the state's electoral system. They support many of the same principles, such as making the office nonpartisan and pressing for campaign finance reform. But they disagree sharply on whether the state's elections are run properly, and particularly on the trustworthiness of electronic voting machines.
. . . .
"The biggest difference of opinion I have with Debra is that she doesn't trust the systems, and I do," he said.

Bowen, who has represented the South Bay in the state Legislature since 1992, readily agrees."

Looks as if the article could give voters on the cusp a shove toward Debra Bowen's slate.

Interestingly, McPherson, the R, was appointed to the seat by Arnie after the elected D resigned in disgrace.

recommended.

registration rquired...
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-debate19oct19,1,1144002.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-state19oct19,1,1338298.story


and there's more! From Sacramento's BEE...

"...two weeks ago, when officials began programming the machines, the directions for use by voters with vision disabilities came out in Vietnamese.

The timing of the discovery -- about one month before the Nov. 7 elections -- lessened the shock. But the county's top elections official said the error shows just how sticky the move toward electronic voting can be."

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/42236.html

and that'll be the final edit.
mvs

[Martin Eden]

74. What does a smiling Harry Lime have to do with it?

I know it's a bit off-topic, but I'm curious about the photo of Orson Welles. Does it have anything to do with his little speech to Joseph Cotton on the ferris wheel about how insignificant the little people below are and how he had few qualms about snuffing them out for profit?

[mkb]

81. Machines Make No Sense For Our Elections

     I don't think anyone should believe that elections can be
fair if electronic machines are used.
     The paper ballots worked fine and machines are always
subject to error and manipulation.  Many people are rightly
concerned about voting period, but having machines count their
ballot just makes it worse.
     I think if people are used to voting, it's probably a
good idea to continue voting, even though there are countless
ways the authorities try to find out who you are and who you
are voting for.  The machine count is clearly to me the worst
way of tabulating votes.
     Try to put some thought into your actions, but remember,
nobody is going to make life or your decisions easy, unless
enough people work for the society's progress, which isn't the
case right now.  So a democratic victory would be helpful, in
my opinion, but the struggle will undoubtedly continue, no
matter what the outcome.  Good Luck.