HEADS UP: Alert of possible election fraud in West Virginia:

[Blondiegrrl]

Highlights:

At least three early voters in Jackson County had a hard time voting for candidates they want to win.

Virginia Matheney and Calvin Thomas said touch-screen machines in the county clerk's office in Ripley kept switching their votes from Democratic to Republican candidates.

"When I touched the screen for Barack Obama, the check mark moved from his box to the box indicating a vote for John McCain," said Matheney, who lives in Kenna.

When she reported the problem, she said, the poll worker in charge "responded that everything was all right. It was just that the screen was sensitive and I was touching the screen too hard. She instructed me to use only my fingernail."

Even after she began using her fingernail, Matheney said, the problem persisted.

Calvin Thomas, 81, who retired from Kaiser Aluminum in Ravenswood in 1983 and now lives in Ripley, experienced the same problem.

"When I pushed Obama, it jumped to McCain. When I went down to governor's office and punched Manchin, it went to the other dude. When I went to Karen Facemyer , I pushed the Democrat, but it jumped again.

"The rest of them were OK, but the machine sent my votes for those top three offices from the Democrat to the Republican," Thomas said.

Thomas, who brought his daughter with him to the polls, said she had the same problem.

"After I finished, my daughter voted. When she pushed Obama, it went to McCain. It happened to her the same way it happened to me. If the poll worker knew that, why didn't she tell me before I even pushed the button?"

Full story here:
http://www.wvgazette.com/News/200810170676?page=2&build=cache

[AzNick]

1. They are making me sick, really

This has to stop, with the voting machines not functioning.

[ThePhilosopher04]

2. This needs to seriously be investigated...

if three people have the same problem, at the same location, I'm calling bullshit on the error being blamed on the voter.

[Hope And Change]

3. We must send this to the Obama camp.

[KewlKat]

4. I don't suppose anyone used a cell phone to video this crap

So, did they end up casting votes for McKKKain then?

[KewlKat]

5. WTF does this double speak mean?

"Sometimes machines can become miscalibrated when they are moved from storage facilities to early voting areas," Bailey said Friday. "We get a couple of calls about this each election year."

Most voting machines in most counties do work properly, Bailey added.

Don't they CHECKOUT the machines before being used in the election? And MOST machines work? WTF!!!

[Lyric]

6. For what it's worth, both I and ThinkBlue1966 early-voted in WV 3 days ago.

We used the video touch-screens too, and had no problems at all.

However, I wish we could return to paper ballots. At least with those, there seemed to be fewer mistakes.

[Blondiegrrl]

12. That's a relief. What county are you in?

I plan to vote on Monday.

[Leftist Agitator]

14. She's in Monongalia County, and so am I.

I didn't have any problems voting for Obama in the primary. I'm hoping that that's still the case in a few weeks.

[Blondiegrrl]

16. I hope those are just isolated cases, but then there

have been some problems reported in Putnam County as well. It's so frustrating that we don't have a better (and more consistent) system in place.

I think Monongalia will go blue. Go Mountaineers!

[catgirl]

7. Do they have paper ballots in WV?

MSM needs to get on this now, not after the election!

[Blondiegrrl]

11. All WV counties are different.

In my county, Kanawha, we use the optic scan (I think that's what it's called?) system, in which you color in the circle next to the candidate for which you're voting. Other counties use touch-screen voting, but I'm not sure how many of them do so.

[and-justice-for-all]

8. How they do not give you a receipt...

showing you whom you voted for? Like the PAY AT THE PUMP does after you get gas..

[MagickMuffin]

9. Maybe the voters should stand outside the polling places to inform other voters

Although it should be the responsibility of the poll workers to provide the information to the voters. I don't understand why there isn't clear instructions on how to use the machines.

Instead of just placing blame on the voters who might not understand exactly how to use the machines, the BOE's office should be making the voters feel comfortable using these worthless machines.

[Blondiegrrl]

10. BREAKING: More reports of voter fraud, this time in another WV county.

Story will update tonight. I'll post a link when it does.

This is scary stuff. :scared:

[salguine]

13. First of all, the poll worker in charge

should never have dismissed the voter's concerns. The voter(s) should have gotten the name of the poll worker. The police should have been called immediately to the polling place. Local and regional newspapers should have been called immediately as well as any local or regional TV news outlets. The local Obama office should have been contacted as well; they would know how to spread the word, and who else to call to both alert more media and who to contact for possible legal action. The biggest stink in history should be made over this. If anyone has problems like this when you're voting, make the biggest scene you can! Alert all possible media! The reason they get away with this shit is because it hasn't come back to bite 'em hard enough. They need to be shown that the Democrats won't tolerate another stolen election, not this time.

[glitch]

15. Good advice. nt