Man attacks voting machine in Cleveland
May 2, 2006 6:14 PM Subscribe
Just 'cause they're made by Diebold doesn't mean you have to kick them! A 61-year-old man was arrested after an alleged "poll rage incident" today, kicking over 2 pricy voting machines. See here for more fun & games from the Ohio primary elections. Thanks to malfunctioning Diebold machines and overall shenanigans, polls are open 'til 9:30 tonight. Congressional rep Stephanie Tubbs-Jones was on the case earlier...
Oh boy. Posted a few minutes ago on a local blog...it's worse than I thought.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 6:36 PM on May 2, 2006
posted by bitter-girl.com at 6:36 PM on May 2, 2006
Alright, I didn't vote today, but can I still complain?
From wosu.org: "a vote cast for Congresswoman Deborah Pryce registered for Senator Mike DeWine." Apparently the touch screen had become miscalibrated during transit.
Also, human error: 50 people were turned away from voting when polls opened "because poll workers were convinced they had to obtain a printout from each machine."
If Blackwell can't run an election, how can run state?
posted by imposster at 6:54 PM on May 2, 2006
From wosu.org: "a vote cast for Congresswoman Deborah Pryce registered for Senator Mike DeWine." Apparently the touch screen had become miscalibrated during transit.
Also, human error: 50 people were turned away from voting when polls opened "because poll workers were convinced they had to obtain a printout from each machine."
If Blackwell can't run an election, how can run state?
posted by imposster at 6:54 PM on May 2, 2006
Yeah, my voter access card kept getting rejected (it is a credit card inserted into the machine with each new voter that stores the ballot information), and only two of the three machines worked. finally, it worked and I checked the ballot over just in case.
The ballot workers were all pretty cheesed off about the machines and the fact that at one point the word on the street was that all polling places would be kept open until 9:30 p.m.. They kept saying "Don't answer the phone! We'll be here all night!"
Oy. Democracy in action.
posted by ltracey at 7:00 PM on May 2, 2006
The ballot workers were all pretty cheesed off about the machines and the fact that at one point the word on the street was that all polling places would be kept open until 9:30 p.m.. They kept saying "Don't answer the phone! We'll be here all night!"
Oy. Democracy in action.
posted by ltracey at 7:00 PM on May 2, 2006
odinstream: FWIW, at my polling place in Franklin County (Ohio) all the machines had printers attached. Each time I touched the screen, it printed a bunch of information. At the end, it printed a summary of the races in which I had voted and a two dimensional barcode which I assume was a machine readable record of my vote.
My only criticism could presumably be fixed with a firmware update: the machine did not print a "your votes in summary" for me to verify when I was verifying my votes on the screen. I imagine if the voting "receipt" needed to be verified by people, it might be a challenge to work through the record as it was printed. I know it was a challenge for me to confirm each touch on both the screen and the printer.
Still, as long as the machine works (mine did - no problem), it is a step in the right direction.
posted by Mr Stickfigure at 7:11 PM on May 2, 2006
My only criticism could presumably be fixed with a firmware update: the machine did not print a "your votes in summary" for me to verify when I was verifying my votes on the screen. I imagine if the voting "receipt" needed to be verified by people, it might be a challenge to work through the record as it was printed. I know it was a challenge for me to confirm each touch on both the screen and the printer.
Still, as long as the machine works (mine did - no problem), it is a step in the right direction.
posted by Mr Stickfigure at 7:11 PM on May 2, 2006
please don't support an election system that does not include human-readable paper records.
I've been wondering: how practical would it be to stage a protest that consisted of persuading as many people as possible to vote by absentee ballot?
Are there risks to voting absentee?
posted by weston at 7:20 PM on May 2, 2006
I've been wondering: how practical would it be to stage a protest that consisted of persuading as many people as possible to vote by absentee ballot?
Are there risks to voting absentee?
posted by weston at 7:20 PM on May 2, 2006
This man should be hailed as a hero. It's a national embarassment that our voting system is this unreliable. Diebold should never be allowed to deal with voting machines again, and there needs to be a verifiable paper trail.
Or we could just pass a law to let dead people vote. Might as well, we'd get better turnout rates from more informed voters who don't care about one issue and one issue only.
posted by Saydur at 7:27 PM on May 2, 2006
Or we could just pass a law to let dead people vote. Might as well, we'd get better turnout rates from more informed voters who don't care about one issue and one issue only.
posted by Saydur at 7:27 PM on May 2, 2006
Might as well, we'd get better turnout rates from more informed voters who don't care about one issue and one issue only.
Right, we'll get more of the kind that can distinguish between the lesser of two equal but diametrically opposed evils.
posted by IronLizard at 7:45 PM on May 2, 2006
Right, we'll get more of the kind that can distinguish between the lesser of two equal but diametrically opposed evils.
posted by IronLizard at 7:45 PM on May 2, 2006
Bitter-girl.com, your link doesn't work.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 7:48 PM on May 2, 2006
posted by aeschenkarnos at 7:48 PM on May 2, 2006
Or we could just pass a law to let dead people vote. Might as well, we'd get better turnout rates from more informed voters who don't care about one issue and one issue only.
I'd understood that historically, voters who returned from beyond the grave tended to cast their ballots in a quite partisan manner.
But maybe there's nothing like the afterlife to give you real perspective.
posted by weston at 8:02 PM on May 2, 2006
I'd understood that historically, voters who returned from beyond the grave tended to cast their ballots in a quite partisan manner.
But maybe there's nothing like the afterlife to give you real perspective.
posted by weston at 8:02 PM on May 2, 2006
Well, if anything good can come out of this, voting machine problems are the lead tease here in NE Ohio on all the 11 o'clock news(es).
Also, Blackwell just gave his victory speech (he's running for governor, natch). He is a hellacious crook.
posted by Nahum Tate at 8:03 PM on May 2, 2006
Also, Blackwell just gave his victory speech (he's running for governor, natch). He is a hellacious crook.
posted by Nahum Tate at 8:03 PM on May 2, 2006
Which one, aeschenkarnos? Just tried all 3 & they appear to be loading fine. (On my Mac at home -- different machine & browser than the one I used to write this).
posted by bitter-girl.com at 8:05 PM on May 2, 2006
posted by bitter-girl.com at 8:05 PM on May 2, 2006
typepad.com seems to be down, at least from where I (and at least a few other people) are. Maybe some big routing outage thingmie or something.
posted by beth at 8:31 PM on May 2, 2006
posted by beth at 8:31 PM on May 2, 2006
Also, human error: 50 people were turned away from voting when polls opened "because poll workers were convinced they had to obtain a printout from each machine."
If Blackwell can't run an election, how can run [the] state?
If those 50 people were predominantly democrats, I'd say he can run an election pretty damn well. Unfortunately, he could probably run the state just as "well".
posted by pinespree at 9:03 PM on May 2, 2006
If Blackwell can't run an election, how can run [the] state?
If those 50 people were predominantly democrats, I'd say he can run an election pretty damn well. Unfortunately, he could probably run the state just as "well".
posted by pinespree at 9:03 PM on May 2, 2006
I'd understood that historically, voters who returned from beyond the grave tended to cast their ballots in a quite partisan manner.
But of course they do. How would you feel if you were dead? I'd be rather vindictive, myself. "You'll get your health insurance over my dead ... uh, anyway: no drugs for you! No fucking, either! If I'm not getting any, nobody's getting any! Damn kids don't know how good you've got it!" Explains a lot, really.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 9:05 PM on May 2, 2006
But of course they do. How would you feel if you were dead? I'd be rather vindictive, myself. "You'll get your health insurance over my dead ... uh, anyway: no drugs for you! No fucking, either! If I'm not getting any, nobody's getting any! Damn kids don't know how good you've got it!" Explains a lot, really.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 9:05 PM on May 2, 2006
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I'm starting to get pummeled with email from friends who had problems voting today, too. (We're in Cuyahoga County, where Cleveland is...)
posted by bitter-girl.com at 6:30 PM on May 2, 2006