Diebold, Diebold, Diebold -- Arrgh, Arrgh, Arrgh!!!!

[beachmom]

I showed up at my poll today to vote and noticed a man demonstrating how to vote to an older couple. I'm thought this is new, then I looked and saw it's a computer. Then I look for more details and see it's a DIEBOLD computer. Luckily, this time they had just one computer and you could still choose a punch card, which suddenly didn't seem so bad a voting method in comparison. Unfortunately, the man said that next time we vote it will be ONLY Diebold computers. After I voted, I asked the woman taking ballots where the paper receipt for the computer was. She said, oh there's a paper trail INSIDE the computer that can be printed separately. I'll say it again -- ARRRRGGHHHH!!!!

As you all know, I am a skeptic as far as the Ohio election being stolen last year. I have never seen any evidence that told me that 60,000 votes had been flipped. Nevertheless, I was certainly alarmed by instances of voter fraud and suppression, although it didn't appear to me to be conspiratorial in nature. But here's the problem with Diebold -- it has the POTENTIAL for being rigged with no one knowing if it happened or not. That problem could be partially eliminated if a paper receipt came out of the computer, the voter verified it was correct, and then put the paper in a secure ballot box. But what this lady told me was highly alarming. Before my current vocation as a stay at home Mom, I was an accountant and I did a lot of reconciling. How dumb can one be to think that if you type something in a computer, and then print it from the same computer after the fact, that that is some kind of audit? That's called comparing apples with apples. Other than checking if the computer can add, it is absolutely useless. Having the voter verify the vote and putting the paper in a box -- that adds a step and creates an "orange", if you will, which would be very helpful in a close election.

I don't mean to be dramatic, but precisely why should I vote next year, when my vote goes into a black hole (otherwise known as Diebold), possibly not counted? And I vote in a heavily Republican district where it could be rigged before the vote took place, unbeknownst to the election workers. This is highly distressing, and I felt an unbelievably sinking feeling like we will be stuck with Republicans for years to come because they have the system rigged. I am very discouraged, and hope to God Tim Kaine wins in spite of this.

P.S.

Hey FedupinBushcountry -- I do have one piece of good news for you. I checked and there is a number by the candidate and it does indeed correspond with the punch card, which was a great way to double check that I voted correctly (which I did -- a good sign I voted right last year!). Your son probably voted right in 2000.

P.P.S.

As I stood in line to vote, I was suddenly brought back to a memory from 2004. I had a palpable fear that terrorists were going to attack the poll. It came out of nowhere, probably brought on by the recent events in that Russian school (just awful that was in Beslan a year ago) and that f**king poster of the WTC the Republicans put up. This year I felt none of this fear, not because such an incident was more or less likely to happen, but instead because the * propaganda "BE AFRAID" machine hasn't been in full force in a year. If I, a Democrat, was impacted by this, I think that is pretty much THE reason * was re-elected last year. Not Iraq, not the SBL, not the windsurfing. All of that pales in comparison to how we, the American people, felt last year.

[jillan]

1. It is very scary that here we are in another election, and

nothing changed.

Regardless - thanks for voting today!

[fedupinBushcountry]

2. ARrrrrrrrrrrrgh

Oh Beachmom what are they trying to pull. I am disgusted. I had the guy demonstrate and of course you know what my answer was , where is the paper. He said its all right here in the machine. :argh:

I can't believe this. They were actually laughing at me because I said that I will fight against this. How stupid are these people. :dunce:

Before I went in I asked the Christopher(D)worker if they had Diebold in there, he said what is Diebold? :argh:

Well I know that my vote was the 103 on punchcard, but I have no idea how many used the machine.

As I was leaving I told the guy I will fight against these machines, and said it sure would have been nice if we got a say in it.

Says to me they are gearing up for 2006 and beyond. I am livid right now.

[ginnyinWI]

3. I agree

And so does John Kerry, by the way!

As I knocked on doors last fall, I got comments like ,"well I've got to think about the best way to keep my kids safe" which probably meant voting for *. The exceptions, always, were the minority people--AA's and Hispanics were gung-ho for Kerry--usually very enthusiastic about telling me so!

But back to Kerry--one of his main points from that radio interview (mentioned in a recent thread) was that the bushies created the image of competency, and at the same time created and maintained fear in people. Those two things were enough to bamboozle enough voters to squeak by--but as ever, I'm open to reports of fraud as well! Yeah I was afraid too--afraid of the Bush administration!!

[_dynamicdems]

4. You can share your voting observations from today

at www.blackboxvoting.org

The news page lists all the complaints across the country from others who voted today.

[karynnj]

5. In NJ, I fear a self inflicted wound

One of our local papers, which endorsed Forrester, has printed at least 3 letters to the editor from "Democrats" explaining why they were going to write inActin Governor Codey. They also had at least one article on how many people wanted Codey and were going to write him in. There are reports that there are more "write ins" than usual -

I really wonder if this suggestion along with a million nasty ads is coming from the Forrester campaign.

[Mass]

6. Careful - this reminds me how Dems did not like Kerry and would

vote for Dean at the Convention, and also how so many people would vote Nader or Cobb.

Both these rumors were propagated by the RW (this is at least what I want to believe) and did not realize.

Do you have Diebold or ESS? This may be more problematic.

[karynnj]

7. This actualy has a little more basis in reality

There are people here who have heard friends say that is what they will do. (This can be discounted as talk, but there's a lot of it.)

[Firespirit]

8. You could insist on an absentee ballot next year...

They may run those things through the same machines if everything is done on paper ballots, but if you have DREs (electronic voting machines), then a paper absentee ballot seems like it could be a better option, and one worth looking into.

What we *need* is for Diebold and the other companies to be forced by law to have their code checked out by professionals and not used if it is easily hackable. (Which it would appear to be.) Elections are a national security issue just like anything else that could be tampered with by computers, and they need protecting too.

[beachmom]

11. You are not allowed to use an absentee ballot unless you will

truly be out of town or unable to come vote. It's Virginia law. Now it's on the honor system, but Kilgore's family got in trouble because people were encouraged to vote absentee for a mayoral contest for which Kilgore's mother was head of elections or something in their area. So, technically speaking, if you use an absentee ballot and you're in town, you are committing voter fraud. Call me the straight and narrow, but I'm not willing to take that chance.

Maybe if Kaine wins, the Republicans will realize how unreliable and frankly, quite scary, computer voting is. I wish it could become bipartisan, and then we can get voter reform passed.

[Island Blue]

9. Beachmom & Fedup I've never been so nervous about

an election outside of NC before as I am about this one! What time do your polls close? I was watching WTKR and they said this one is just too close to call - tonight I'll be glued to one of the three VA stations we get down here. Keeping my fingers crossed for you guys!

[fedupinBushcountry]

10. Polls close at 7

It is nerve racking.