Um.. How are the "early votes" being stored?? Anyone know??

[SoCalDem]

Are they being tallied anywhere?? Are the machines being "cleared" each day??

What happens if, after 10 days of early votes, a machine "dies" or disappears??

Has any agency addressed these questions..

With paper, it's easy to imagine that they would be locked in a vault somewhere, waiting to be added to the election day votes..but with "vapor votes", how do we know they are even being "saved"..

What a devilish way to placate the most avid partisans.. Get them to come in early...chomping at the bit, to vote...then send them off so they do not "bother you" on election day :(

[swag]

1. They're being packed in ziplock bags and cotton

up Katherine Harris' ass.

[Shopaholic]

2. I asked about that yesterday when I voted. . .

I went to pick up an absentee ballot but they were letting you go ahead and vote right then and there if you wanted to (I live in South Carolina). I was given a paper ballot which they said they'd use optical scanners to tally--the rest of the county (and state) will be using electronic voting machines on Nov. 2nd. Anyway, we had to seal them up in two envelopes and then stuff them in a normal looking ballot box which had a lock on it. I asked when these ballots would be counted and the woman assured me that they wouldn't be counted before the polls closed on Nov. 2nd. BTW-the papers are here are reporting lines at the election commissions throughout the state.

[xray s]

3. great questions

when i heard that people are e-voting before the election I couldn't believe it. I would think you could only vote with secured paper ballots.

I smell a big, fat Bush rat.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. kick

[soup]

5. from wmc-tv Memphis, TN

With eight days left to vote early, lines spilled out of the Agri-Center precinct Tuesday. Voter Hank Vallin said, "This morning, I came in about 10 after 10, the line was double, so I turned around and went home." This has been the busiest of the 19 early voting sites in Shelby County. Voter Curtis Null said, "From the time we got in line until we walked out the door it took about an hour and 10 minutes." Progress slowed to a crawl Tuesday when computers at the precinct crashed around lunchtime. Voter Adrianne Purselley said, "When we drove up, a gentleman told us that the computers were down and we were looking at other places around Memphis that we might be able to go and vote." It's a glitch that leaves some voters wondering if any ballots are lost during a computer shutdown. But that's impossible, according to election commission officials, who say early votes are cast on computers that function independently. After your ballot is cast, the information is stored on a memory card that's locked in a vault until election day. "Poll workers use PCs to communicate with the downtown election commission database to verify and input voter registration information. If those crash it would have no effect on these computerized voting machines or the votes already stored inside." The only thing the ballot box is plugged into is an electrical outlet for power. And officials say your power at the poll is never compromised. Election commission officials say a computer shutdown would never keep people from voting. Just slow it down considerably.
http://www.wmcstations.com/Global/story.asp?S=2452628

'It's impossible to lose a ballot.'
Don't worry. Be happy.
Trust the system.
Nothing can go wrong go wrong go wrong

on edit - human error detected - failure to highlight passage. all is well within machine.

[SoCalDem]

6. Let's hope those cards are numbered, listed and secure..

I have my doubts..