There is a growing body of evidence that electronic votes can and have been maniputlated in some states. Lawsuits are uncovering errors like votes being entered before the election, machines rebooting hundreds of times on the day of the last election. And there is the question of the significant discrepency between the exit polls and reported election results in several key states. How do you think your state is doing? Please post the state you are voting in. Newsweek, May 29, 2006 issue --- Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the voting booth, here comes more disturbing news about the trustworthiness of electronic touchscreen ballot machines. Earlier this month a report by Finnish security expert Harri Hursti analyzed Diebold voting machines for an organization called Black Box Voting. Hursti found unheralded vulnerabilities in the machines that are currently entrusted to faithfully record the votes of millions of Americans. How bad are the problems? Experts are calling them the most serious voting-machine flaws ever documented. Basically the trouble stems from the ease with which the machine's software can be altered. It requires only a few minutes of pre-election access to a Diebold machine to open the machine and insert a PC card that, if it contained malicious code, could reprogram the machine to give control to the violator. The machine could go dead on Election Day or throw votes to the wrong candidate. Worse, it's even possible for such ballot-tampering software to trick authorized technicians into thinking that everything is working fine, an illusion you couldn't pull off with pre-electronic systems. --- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12888600/site/newsweek/ also see: http://www.filmstripinternational.com/film...mstrip=election For more info: http://www.bbvforums.org and here is a blog on voting issues: http://www.bradblog.com/
In MN to my knowledge, there is a paper trail on all voting. Where I vote, it's a paper ballot, mark the ovals and run through a scanner. The ballot is retained in the bin of the scanner and can only be opened at the county level. In addition there is a seperate signed reciept that goes with the ballots in a seperate container, number of receipts must match number of ballots.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tleonhar @ May 21 2006, 11:44 AM) [snapback]258884[/snapback]</div> Similar system in WA. I'm glad to see that BlackBoxVoting.org is out of Seattle.
I'm not answering the poll for the following reason: The poll title asks if my vote actually counts, but the question asks if the vote count is actually reported accurately. The problem is that my vote does not count even if the counting is on the level, because I have no say in who gets on the ballot, and because candidates are elected by plurality rather than by majoity. We hear a lot about "majority rules" in this country, but that's not the case. The majority does not rule. The plurality rules. That means a candidate who is hated by 70% of the voters can win, if the 70% divide their votes among several different opposing or protest candidates. There is an easy solution to this: Include "None of the above" as a choice, and if this choice gets more votes than any single candidate, another election must be held in which none of the candidates from the first election may participate. But this government, which is willing to spend trillions of dollars on a stupid, illegal, and economically-crippling war, insists that a second election would "cost too much." (Though many European countries have run-off elections.) Why shouldn't the voters be permitted to reject both parties' nominations??? I have no idea whether the votes are correctly counted in my state. But it makes no difference. My vote does not count, regardless.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Begreen @ May 21 2006, 01:24 PM) [snapback]258866[/snapback]</div> It requires only a few seconds of post-election access to ballot boxes to stuff them with fraudulent ballots, or to replace the boxes all together.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Marlin @ May 22 2006, 08:00 AM) [snapback]259203[/snapback]</div> True, though much more likely to get caught during an audit.
Election fraud is an American tradition. Voting machines (especially if they leave no paper trail) just open the door to more sophisticated methods of fraud. It is disturbing, however, when the company making the machines is a major contributor to one particular political party. If they ever give us a real choice of candidates, I'd get upset about the way the votes are tallied.
Cuyahoga County, Ohio - I thought it was really odd that all the republicans that i know that properly and legally requested absentee ballots never had them provided in time to vote during the last two presidential elections (2000 and 2004). Could it be that the election board which is controlled by the overwhelmingly democratically controlled county is preventing republicans from voting? Seems very strange to me. Then the heavily democratic strongholds in the county have the gall to complain that the republicans are preventing their votes from being counted. I guess they can't comprehend that the elections in Ohio are run by the county and it is their own democratic incompetence that causes the problem - for example, it took over a week to tabulate the votes of our May 2006 election in cuyahoga county - Cuyahoga county is a joke and its votes should not be counted in any state or national election because they cannot be shown to be accurate. I live in cuyahoga county and would gladly give up my vote - they probably don't count it from my republican stronghold are anyhow. Nearby medina (a republican county) had no problems. Neither did other democratic counties. Corruption and stupidity make a lethal combination. There is a limit to genius, but no limit to stupidity.
being from WA St and having voted for the "other" guy in the much contested and protested governors race. my vote should be obvious. yes i do live in a state where 2 out of 3 DOES NOT win
Albuquerque, New Mexico. I don't think the state polling is corrupt. I say this mostly based on knowledge that local government lackeys tend to be democrats, but governor and national elections have gone to the republican party. Interesting, because local government is horribly corrupt. Bribery, favoritism, and incompetence are rampant.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(redbird @ May 23 2006, 07:35 AM) [snapback]259691[/snapback]</div> Like I say, it's an American tradition. Both sides do it. Chicago, at one time was famous for rigged elections, and when LBJ ran Texas, all his elections were rigged. In 2000 Jeb rigged Florida and swung the election to his brother. That's why Gore challenged the counting, but never the outright fraud (of illegally turning 5,000 black voters away from the polls). Since both sides do it, they are loath to speak about it, even to accuse the other side. It might make the voters realize that their votes don't make a difference.
