From Salt Lake Tribune in Utah, the state which ran the 23-year elected Emery County, UT Election Administrator, Bruce Funk out of a job when he dared allowed independent investigators to test the new Diebold touch-screen systems forced on him by the state…
Robert Nelson was among those in Provo and other locations in Utah County who were unable to cast their votes using the new voting machines when the polls opened. After arriving at his polling location at 7 a.m., Nelson said he spent an hour and a half hoping the machines would be fixed.
“The workers were earnestly trying to get the machines to work, but not a one in our precint worked,” Nelson said. “I work in Salt Lake City, so I couldn’t wait for the machines to work.”
Similar reports came in from other areas in Utah County, including Lindon. The clerk’s office said the problem had been solved and the machines were up and running as of 8:55 a.m.
In Salt Lake City, some locations only had one machine up and running when the polls opened at 7 a.m.
No voting machines were initially operational at Highland High School, although some 25 people were already waiting in line to vote when the location opened.
The local ABC affiliate is reporting the Lt. Governor (a big supporter of Diebold, as we recall) says the problem is in the voting card encoders…
Herbert says the problem is associated with voter card encoding machines, which have failed to function properly.
…
Many voters have experienced delays, and have been told to come back later.
Some voters have opted to use paper ballots, which are also available at most, if not all polling locations.
Herbert says the primary encoding machine problem has not been fixed, but provisional systems have been put in place and no one should be turned away.
Too late, Lt. Governor. Nice going.
Just got back from the polling place. No paper trail here in South Carolina either. The stoopit Governor got turned away from the polls too! HAAAAAAAAAAA!
MSNBC has an entire page devoted to voting problems today. My favorite story is called “Voter fraud alleged in Orange County, Calif.”
And these ignorant fucks running the show didn’t make sure paper was available.
I sure wish we could fire these incompetent pricks. This country is so fucked up right now it isn’t funny. People can’t vote in elections because the powers that be don’t want elections. So they game the process and the masses walk away in disgust and because of a sense of self preservation (don’t want to lose that job because you tried to vote! .. if you do, no more house, no more car, no more food, no more anything.. nice choice!).
But, this is exactly how the right-wing likes it. People with “cushy jobs” can take the day off, or show up late and get to vote. Those tend to be people who’ve been comfortable long enough to be fat and lazy and introverted and Republican.. People who live month to month and are already pretty disenfranchised by our economic system get crapped on again, and denied the ability to vote.
It’s getting close to time to find another country to live in.. one that actually gives a shit about people, and uses logic and reason to make laws, not religion and emotion.
All of these people packing the polls in an off year are not voting Repub, so you can take vote rigging to the bank if they pull it off
The only good thing I’ve heard, statistics wise, is.. Pukes tend to be early voters (those christians are used to being up at 6am for church!) and Dems tend to be later voters.
Though, with the little bit of info eeked out before this election, we’re probably seeing a lot of Dems not being able to vote at this point.. like I said, “republicans” tend to have cushier jobs and can wait around in line and not worry about getting fired..
We’ll see.. I’ll be watching TV and mainstream news tonight to see the “results”.. gonna be interesting.
Let’s see tonight, the corporate-controlled msm say things went “smoothly”…I haven’t seen any reports on the “robocalls” in the CMSM yet, has anyone?
Why is Utah County experiencing so many problems???? This is the heart of Chris Cannon’s Congressional District!!! Many voters say they won’t return later on today to vote!!! Thousands of voters have been turned away!!!
Is it just coincidence that Utah County is the most “Mormon” county in the state? have Mormons turned on the Cannons? If this happened in any other minority’s district heads would roll!!! They have had these machines running for a week! They break down today!!!
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=625122
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=625263
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?ni...;comments=true
This is an outrage!!!! What’s next for Mormons? Poll taxes? Poll questionaires? Are Mormons now 2/3 of any other person? Do you know how many bubbles are in a bar of soap? You better find out. That’s the kind of questions minorities get asked before they can vote!
WE ARE FILING A COMPLAINT WITH THE FEDS!!!! THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!!!
As an Aussie it is surreal watching what you people call an election these days.
How can you just put up with this shit?
I was wondering whether now that the Democrats have secured the house and possibly the senate, there will be a major “terrorist attack” where Bush will be able to use all of the powers that he has “secretly” legislated to override any opposition from the newly elected Democrats because after all, if he declares martial law or something close to that, what good is it that the Democtrats are now in the house and senate? Most, if not all of the laws that Bush needs to create another terror attack and take control of the country are already in place.
Dist. 13 Congressional race in Florida hacked
Christine Jennings was far ahead in polls but voters saw their votes disappear into touch screens :
In FL, Electronic Voting Shortfall Raises Eyebrows
By Paul Kiel – November 8, 2006, 11:03 AM
A recount battle is brewing, fittingly, in Katherine Harris’ old seat, where a voting shortfall on buggy electronic voting machines is calling the election results into doubt.
From The Herald Tribune:
Republican Vern Buchanan was clinging to a 368-vote edge over Democrat Christine Jennings for the 13th Congressional District early this morning.
Although Buchanan declared victory just before 1 a.m., the razor-thin margin kept Jennings from conceding defeat and will generate an automatic recount….
The results were loaded with controversy as nearly 13 percent of all ballots cast in Sarasota didn’t include a choice for Congress. That difference, and scattered reports of difficulty finding the race on Sarasota’s touchscreen ballots, raised concerns about under votes in the race.
Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent couldn’t explain why 8,000 to 10,000 fewer people voted in the congressional race than in other high-profile races for governor, attorney general or U.S. Senate. But she said nothing mechanical went wrong with the county’s $4.7 million touchscreen voting machine system….
Throughout the day voters complained that touchscreen voting machines were not registering votes for Jennings properly. Jennings campaign held a midday press conference to warn the problem was widespread….
Already Democrats were calling in lawyers from the Democratic National Committee to weigh in on the potential voting issues….
In Sarasota County, with all but one precinct reporting, 87,797 people voted for Bill Nelson, Katherine Harris or another candidate for U.S. Senate. In the governor race between Charlie Crist and Jim Davis, 87,678 county resident voted.
Only 76,549 voted for Jennings or Buchanan. In comparison, about 3,000 more people voted in the Sarasota Public Hospital Board election.
But a similar undervote was not recorded in other counties that voted in the District 13 race.
*****************
Sarasota County District 13 has a big voting scandal brewing.
Voting machines county wide did not show Dem Christine Jennings on electronic voting machine screens at all, or when voters selected Jennings, the page dissappeared. This was apparently occuring even 10 days ago, during early voting!
At least 100’s of people tried but COULD NOT vote for Dem, Jennings.
Repub. opponent Vern Buchanan right wing repub, (he got George AND Laura Bush and Cheney to attend rallies to support himin Sarasota!) is claiming victory with only 356 more votes than Jennings. In fact, he was declared winner, before it transpired that 56,000 votes and the Early Voting results had not even been counted yet….
It is apparent that possibly 1000;s of votes for Jennings are gone forever.
This is well supported by many people I know, and has been reported, if poorly, in the paper -Sarasota herald tribune, and on local radio stations.
Can you investigate this problem further please?
This is a key race, as Buchanan is a real right wing extremist, fought a horrible dirty fight in the primary, and is under investigation for shady financial dealings/bogus bankruptcy claims locally. He is the area’s (huge) largest Ford car dealer, former head of the Fl Chamber of commerce, and has an iffy bussiness reputation. A lot of money went into this campaign. And of course it is the infamous Dsit 13, Katherine Harris’ former seat.