Block The Vote

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Rule Of Law: Suspicious voting-machine malfunctions and cheating candidates are the stuff of banana republics, not America. With Democrats about to suffer historic losses, is our election's integrity in question?

'It can't happen here," most Americans would say about the chances of voting one way and seeing your votes recorded the opposite. But that's what happened in early voting in North Carolina's unfortunately named Craven County last week.

Voter Sam Laughinghouse of New Bern found that "an electronic voting machine completed his straight-party ticket for the opposite of what he intended," the New Bern Sun Journal reported.

Laughinghouse "pushed the button to vote Republican in all races, but the voting machine screen displayed a ballot with all Democrats checked," the local paper reported. "He cleared the screen and tried again with the same result."

Election personnel eventually straightened it out, but clearly a less observant Republican voter would have inadvertently voted for every Democrat on his ballot. Chuck Tyson, chairman of the Craven County Republican Party, told the Sun Journal he "got two or three calls" from voters experiencing the same problem and is not satisfied with state election officials' efforts to fix it.

In Boulder City, Nev., meanwhile, where voters use computer screens, another disturbing episode was reported by Fox News. When voter Joyce Ferrara and her husband went to vote for Republican Sharron Angle, they — and several others, according to Ferrara — found that Democratic incumbent Harry Reid's name was already checked. The county registrar's explanation: The high-tech voting screens are sensitive.

The Nevada case is especially disturbing because the seat of the most powerful Democrat in the Senate is at stake.

Beyond suspicious voting procedures, there are also practices better suited to children's playground games than the political contests of a mature constitutional Republic.

The Democratic nominee for governor in Florida, state chief financial officer Alex Sink, was caught cheating in CNN's gubernatorial debate Monday night, breaking the ground rules by viewing a text message from an aide during a commercial break.

In Pennsylvania, Democratic House candidate Bryan Lentz last week admitted to helping a third-party Tea Party candidate get on the ballot to siphon votes away from GOP nominee Pat Meehan.

Power is hard to give up, but when those in power compromise campaign and election rules, we cross a sacrosanct threshold.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/551736/201010261904/Block-The-Vote.htm

[The_Dude 1,142]

That's not voter fraud, that is simply a person's brain functioning. Blindly voting party line is ignorant.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Remember to vote early, and if you are dead, or Democrat, vote once.

[Heracles 417]

That's not voter fraud, that is simply a person's brain functioning. Blindly voting party line is ignorant.

Welcome to the United State of America. Left / right are just as guilty as the other on this one.

[JohnSmith2007 353]

Nevada voting machines automatically checking Harry Reid's name; voting machine technicians are SEIU membersBy: Mark Hemingway

Commentary Staff Writer

10/26/10 6:12 PM EDT

Clark County is where three quarters of Nevada's residents and live and where Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's son Rory is a county commissioner. Rory is also a Democratic candidate for governor.

Since early voting started, there have been credible reports that voting machines in Clark County, Nevada are automatically checking Harry Reid's name on the ballot:

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

Ferrara said she wasn't alone in her voting experience. She said her husband and several others voting at the same time all had the same thing happen.

"Something's not right," Ferrara said. "One person that's a fluke. Two, that's strange. But several within a five minute period of time -- that's wrong."

Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said there is no voter fraud, although the issues do come up because the touch-screens are sensitive. For that reason, a person may not want to have their fingers linger too long on the screen after they make a selection at any time.

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. The SEIU spent $63 million in elections in 2008 and is planning on spending $44 million more this election cycle -- nearly all of that on Democrats. White House political director Patrick Gaspard is formerly the SEIU's top lobbyist, and former SEIU president Andy Stern was the most frequent visitor to the White House last year.

Just in Nevada, the SEIU has given a lot to groups that are heavily vested in the state -- in just one prominent example, the SEIU gave $500,000 to the Patriot Majority PAC, which has spent $1.3 million against Reid's opponent Sharron Angle. They've and have dropped large sums directly on candidates:

NV-3

Joe Heck ®

Oppose

$140,000.00

NV-3

Dina Titus (D)

Support

$344,984.00

NV-Senate

Sharron E. Angle ®

Oppose

$225,000.00

Now the county voting technicians aren't unique here -- many of Clark County's employees are also represented by the SEIU. But it is worth mentioning, the SEIU is hyperpoliticized and has seen its fair share of corruption. (It certainly seems more questionable than Diebold, the voting machine manufacturer with Republican ties that was at the center of many conspiracy theories on the left during the Bush administration.)

Unions increasingly have a major financial stake in election outcomes, both as a matter of their own election expenditures, and as a function of what they stand to gain if their legislative agenda is enacted. Should they really be responsible for tabulating the votes? That's certainly something voters ought to think long and hard about.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Voting-machines-in-Clark-County-Nevada-automatically-checking-Harry-Reids-name-Voting-machine-technicians-are-members-of-SEIU-105815608.html

[Dan J 277]

So its taken years for Republicans to figure out that voting machines might be a problem?

In 2004, CBS News reported that a Diebold executive, Wally Odell, had stated in a fund raising letter that he was “committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president” when George W. Bush was running for his second term. Whether or not Odell had the ability to do that is unknown.

Ohio did at the time have voting machines made by Diebold. (Not really sure if they still do)

These potential problems have been known for awhile. Pretty much all voting machines are closed source, and the companies will not reveal the source code to anyone to verify. Its been demonstrated time and again that machines can be tampered with without leaving a trace. There is often design issues which lead to selections that the voter does not intend.

Conservatives seem to have more issue with people voting multiple times, which is not all that easy to hide, especially in a large scale. Rather than tampering with voting machines made often by companies that support the Republican party which can be very easy to hide.

I suppose as long as the tampering is benefiting the Republicans, its not really a problem. When it doesn't the sky is falling.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

If you want to geek out, I would refer you to a paper co-authored by a good friend of mine on open-source voting: http://gnosis.cx/publish/voting/electronic-voting-machine.pdf

[The_Dude 1,142]

If you want to geek out, I would refer you to a paper co-authored by a good friend of mine on open-source voting: http://gnosis.cx/publish/voting/electronic-voting-machine.pdf

I'll have to print that article out and read it.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

I'll have to print that article out and read it.

He has many more articles that he would only too delighted for you to read...

[The_Dude 1,142]

He has many more articles that he would only too delighted for you to read...

I'm actually finding that article very interesting. Just none about why I should turn my router into a free wifi

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

I'm actually finding that article very interesting. Just none about why I should turn my router into a free wifi

Oh, I'm sure he has one of those too. He'll just keep making logically irrefutable arguments that disallow any emotional pleas for retention of selfishness until you give in to shut him up.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Welcome to the United State of America. Left / right are just as guilty as the other on this one.

Actually I have voted for a number of local Republicans at the County level, I am open to voting for who I believe is the best candidate for me, not along Party lines.