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Getting out the vote

Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 7:23 pm
by woodchip
Harken back to the good 'ole days of paper ballots, hanging chads and stolen votes. Remember the glorious discussions we had here and how some of you thought going electronic was the way to get good honest voting. Well fear not me dearies, electronics are here and voting goes apace. Umm...wait a sec maybe I should re-phrase that \"fear not\" usage:

\"LAS VEGAS -- Some voters in Boulder City complained on Monday that their ballot had been cast before they went to the polls, raising questions about Clark County's electronic voting machines.

Voter Joyce Ferrara said when they went to vote for Republican Sharron Angle, her Democratic opponent, Sen. Harry Reid's name was already checked.\"

\"A Craven County voter says he had a near miss at the polls on Thursday when an electronic voting machine completed his straight-party ticket for the opposite of what he intended.

Sam Laughinghouse of New Bern said he pushed the button to vote Republican in all races, but the voting machine screen displayed a ballot with all Democrats checked. He cleared the screen and tried again with the same result, he said. Then he asked for and received help from election staff.

“They pushed it twice and the same thing happened,” Laughinghouse said. “That was four times in a row. The fifth time they pushed it and the Republicans came up and I voted.”\"

Worry not chitlins, service techs to the rescue:

\"Now there's absolutely no independently verified evidence of chicanery with the voting machines (yet), but it is worth noting that the voting machine technicians in Clark County are members of the Service Employees International Union. \"

Heh, SEIU. Now where have I heard of them before.

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 12:55 am
by Grendel
Just glitches. If someone really wants to cheat they would have the system change the vote after it was cast. Of course you could introduce these glitches for finger pointing.

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 2:03 am
by Gooberman


Necessary Simpson's moment.

Re:

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 6:54 am
by Will Robinson
Grendel wrote:Just glitches. If someone really wants to cheat they would have the system change the vote after it was cast. Of course you could introduce these glitches for finger pointing.
I find it hard to believe someone would be pro repub so they would rig the machine to default to dem so they could blame dems for cheating. That would be very stupid and probably result in more votes for dems.

I bet it is easier to simply set up the machine with one of the choices filled in as a default as opposed to installing code that will change a cast vote into a different choice than was made by the user. The choice of default selection probably exists as part of the operating system the other method requires altering the software itself.

The people that will try to cheat are not all Mission Impossible grade techno wizards, some of them are simply partisan hacks with access to the machines behind the scenes. Scrolling through the set-up menu and changing a default choice is quite possible where as re-writing the system code is well above the capabilities of the average person.

It also could be that the democrat voters have dirtier fingers and the touch screens are smudged with something over the place where the democrat choice appears ;)

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 7:26 am
by Avder
About the only potential benefit I can think of with touchscreen voting is that the order the candidates are presented could be randomized on every ballot. Lazy voters sometimes just vote for the first guy listed.

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 7:51 am
by Spidey
Good luck with that, considering stupid voters are actually told where their choice is on the ballot.

Re:

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 10:59 am
by Grendel
Will Robinson wrote:It also could be that the democrat voters have dirtier fingers and the touch screens are smudged with something over the place where the democrat choice appears ;)
:lol:, good one.

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 11:45 am
by Krom
I think it is something else entirely: user error, replace user and strike any key when ready. The people complaining that the machine selected democrats by default are probably the same kind of people that can't find the \"any\" key when prompted to press one.

So basically this just confirms what we all knew in the first place: people that vote republican are stupid. :P

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 11:54 am
by vision
I voted electronically the other day. It went well.

Re:

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 12:18 pm
by CUDA
Krom wrote:I think it is something else entirely: user error, replace user and strike any key when ready. The people complaining that the machine selected democrats by default are probably the same kind of people that can't find the "any" key when prompted to press one.
maybe so. but that doesnt explain why when one of the supervisors was called over to address a voters issue, it took him 5 tried before it registered for the republican candidate.

I saw the supervisor interview on the news this morning. dont know if there's a print story about it.

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 6:16 pm
by null0010
Electronic voting makes me uneasy, so I always vote absentee. Problem solved.

Re:

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 8:19 pm
by Will Robinson
null0010 wrote:Electronic voting makes me uneasy, so I always vote absentee. Problem solved.
Voting absentee gives the hacks time to check and see if they want to keep your vote...

Re:

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 8:22 pm
by null0010
Will Robinson wrote:
null0010 wrote:Electronic voting makes me uneasy, so I always vote absentee. Problem solved.
Voting absentee gives the hacks time to check and see if they want to keep your vote...
If you're that worried about it I suppose you could always join a radical militia group and conspire against the American government. :roll:

Re:

Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2010 7:52 am
by woodchip
Krom wrote:I think it is something else entirely: user error, replace user and strike any key when ready. The people complaining that the machine selected democrats by default are probably the same kind of people that can't find the "any" key when prompted to press one.

So basically this just confirms what we all knew in the first place: people that vote republican are stupid. :P
Really? Might want to look at this vid where a Union official discusses how pre-packed voting machines were brought to a non-voting precinct office then later had the "votes" added to the election results:

http://www.breitbart.tv/okeefe-top-unio ... ter-fraud/

Re:

Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2010 10:33 am
by Will Robinson
null0010 wrote:
Will Robinson wrote:
null0010 wrote:Electronic voting makes me uneasy, so I always vote absentee. Problem solved.
Voting absentee gives the hacks time to check and see if they want to keep your vote...
If you're that worried about it I suppose you could always join a radical militia group and conspire against the American government. :roll:
I'm not worried about it, you are the one who is "uneasy" with the process. I just pointed out that your reaction to your fear isn't "problem solved" like you claimed.

Re:

Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2010 10:35 am
by null0010
Will Robinson wrote:
null0010 wrote:
Will Robinson wrote:
null0010 wrote:Electronic voting makes me uneasy, so I always vote absentee. Problem solved.
Voting absentee gives the hacks time to check and see if they want to keep your vote...
If you're that worried about it I suppose you could always join a radical militia group and conspire against the American government. :roll:
You are the one who is "uneasy" with the process. I just pointed out that your reaction to your fear isn't "problem solved" like you claimed.
And like I said, if I was that worried about it... :roll: