The machines have been rigged to flip to repubs

[newmac]

Run time: 02:13 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5F-sXW6tCM   Posted on YouTube: October 27, 2008 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: October 30, 2008 By DU Member: newmac Views on DU: 2995

 
This is no joke. If it happens to one machine then it happens to thousands of machines. This will not be isolated.

[ksimons]

1. just like at the store, always check your receipt BEFORE you leave the store! nt

[lovuian]

2. in Texas we don't get a receipt

that sucks

[AldebTX]

7. Yeah

Its a VERY empty feeling. You just have to trust the machine. Never thought I would long for the punch cards.

[Just-plain-Kathy]

3. I wish Obama spoke about this kind of stuff last night.

The repubs chant "ACORN", while they pull THIS!

If people knew republicans were stealing the election, we would have a civil revolution where democrats would come out in masses and declare loudly who they voted for.

[HillbillyBob]

24. some of us have been yelling and telling about seeing our

ballots being dumped in truck mounted shredders out side our polling place in the wee hours of the night / early morning of Election day 2000. No one yet has said we believe you
I don't live in Broward county anymore for the harassment by the cops, strange threatening phone calls, emails, notes left on the door, getting pulled over for nothing, then when we moved away and kept up the noise, strange threatening phone calls and emails, and our house searched while we were out , the doors left open, nothing taken but every drawer open file cabinet riffled and out of order

[Just-plain-Kathy]

27. Have you gone to the press? Do you feel they were looking for pictures of the event?

Or, do you think they're trying to intimidate you? I remember there was a story about a female poll worker from (I think) Ohio, who was told towards closing time that there was a "terrorist threat" and she had to leave. She said she knew something up.

[stlsaxman]

4. moving a touch-screen lcd does NOT cause it to "loose calibration"...

they're LYING.

REQUEST A PAPER BALLOT- even optical scan.

[AldebTX]

8. We Use Touch Screen Tablets

For data collection at my work. They are in constant motion. I have units that have not been re-calibrated for months.

My partner points out to me that my iPhone is a touch screen. I have not re-calibrated that since I purchased it. Its been bumped around and moved quite a bit. :-)

[onlyadream]

15. There are MANY portable touch pad devices out there

from leapsters to cell phones....this sounds so fishy to me and I wouldn't put it past the repubs.

[brit54]

5. Screen flipping not relevant

This on screen flipping of votes is irrelevant. What matters is what the machine is recording which may have nothing to do with what is shown on the screen. There is zero way to audit the results and so unless a paper ballot is used which can be re-counted at a later date, there is no way of knowing what is the correct vote tally

[DS1]

18. Agreed. It doesn't matter what you see on-screen

In fact, flipping it on screen is typical short-sighted Republican bullshit. They can't even get theft right. Show people they are voting for Obama, even print it out, twice, carve it in stone, but record a vote for McCain. They'll never know. And it can't be audited.


LCD screens don't need calibration. The glass touchscreens used to. LCD do not.

[psychopomp]

19. Strange how you never hear about it flipping from R to D

The argument against paper ballots is that people can use them to commit election fraud by paying for votes if you vote for candidate X; the receipt could be used as evidence that you voted for X when claiming payment from a vote buyer.

I think the best solution would be printouts that were displayed before the voter in a manner that allowed for inspection. The voter could verify the vote and then make a selection that would deposit the printout into a bin. The printout would never have to be in the hands of the voter; it could be displayed through clear plastic. This way, printouts could be counted separately to verify the counters on the touch-screen machines.

[tclambert]

6. I hear in Oregon they vote by mail exclusively

Low tech. Paper trail. Manual recount possible and straightforward. But who pays for the postage?

[eagertolearn]

17. Oregon has a fantastic voting system! We can vote at home

on our own time without lines and those electronic voting machine "problems". There is always a paper trail. No one has to miss work. We have to get rid of the electronic voting machines!!! Every citizen must fight for the right of a true democracy which we lost 8 years ago. We are a laugh to all other countries. How can we be over fighting for another countries "freedom" and democracy when we don't have one. The republicans in charge are very corrupt and that party needs to fall apart and be rebuilt. Rove is sinking the ship and those of you still on board better jump before your totally seen as corrupt too. There are good republicans but they just need to reform in a new party. Wake-Up America!

[HillbillyBob]

25. it is not so much the machines it is the secret programming

open source programming can be kept secret, Dibold, their operators, ceo on down all nee dto go to fucking jail and every gd puke out there above dogcatchers, i realis the dems do commit crimes but they have not screwed the pooch like the Kreestian koolaiders have

[droidamus2]

9. Isn't it funny (or not)

Isn't it interesting that most the time these 'calibration' problems result in an attempt to vote for a Democratic candidate being changed to a Republican vote. If this was simply a calibration problem wouldn't the effect be random as to what the vote flipped to from machine to machine? I would also suggest that if this happened to somebody that they, as an experiment, try voting for a candidate further down the presidential list and see if it flips in the same way. So in the case of the woman in this video, if she went further down the list and lets say tried to pick Nader does it flip to the candidate above Nader, stay on Nader or what.

[SnowCritter]

13. Touchscreen calibration

I maintain more than a few touchscreen laptops that are constantly in motion - they're mounted in squad cars. They rarely go out of calibration. However, it's not unheard of. But, the effect is never random. Touchscreen systems work by sensing the x and y coordinates on the screen of your finger (or stylus or anything that touches them). When they go out of calibration it is always by specific values of x and y. (Caveat: I imagine it would be possible to reprogram the coordinate sensing function(s) to skew randomly, but there's really no evidence of that happening - Republicans aren't complaining). For example, if you touch the screen at any particular x and y, it would be sensed as being touched at x+x' and y+y' (where x' and y' are always the same value).

I have fairly large fingers, so when I calibrate a touchscreen I use either the stylus that is connected to the unit or a smaller object - the eraser end of a pencil, the tip of a ball-point pen (with the ball retracted, of course), a toothpick even works in a pinch.

If you're voting on a touchscreen machine I would suggest taking a pen or pencil along and carefully touch the screen. Take note of any skew and, if you can, adjust your "targeting" accordingly. Naturally, YMMV. We use optical scan machines here, so I can't speak with any amount of authority on the specifics of how a touchscreen voting machine works.

Go Obama!

[droidamus2]

28. Nice explanation

I think your explanation makes my point in the fact that if the x and/or y are off by a certain increment, in this case, one voting unit then it should happen in a consistent manner. In this example, anytime you try to vote the vote should register in the box above the one you tried to vote in. If it doesn't then I would think something other than calibration is the problem (big fingers being another possibility).

[Believing Is Art]

10. I'll buy the fact that these machines need recalibrated often,

I doubt the government will spring for machines as stable as the iphone or even the touch screens at stores. But why does it always seem like the glitches benefit Republicans? I doubt the RW would let vote flipping from Republican to Democrat to not go unnoticed. I don't want to jump to a conspiracy theory, but the issues with these touch machines seem suspicious.

[lostnfound]

14. Seeing smoke, smoke, smoke; & concluding it's probably a fire isn't 'jumping to a conspiracy'

It just means you still have common sense!
The people who would set up a system that leaves 20% or more of their countrymen skeptical about whether or not their votes are getting counted are UnAmerican.
Even if these issues were accidental -- which they aren't -- the effect is still completely unacceptable.
And if the rightwingers are decent Americans they will care about it too.

[droidamus2]

29. Another question

A more important question is that if it is a known problem that moving these particular machines causes 'calibration' problems wouldn't you think that part of the election setup would be to put the machines in position, run the calibration software (don't even bother to check if the calibration is off just make it a requirement to recalibrate before they are used), and then run some manual tests to verify that there are no problems related to calibration?

[Best_man23]

11. They have touch screen checkouts at my Lowes

I once saw someone drop an 80 lb bag of concrete on the machine, which busted open, throwing dry concrete everywhere. Touch screen and the rest of the checkout still worked. Sneeze on these damn touch screen voting machines, and they go haywire.

They need to get rid of these damn touch screen machines. All of them. Voting is more FUBAR now than its ever been.

[formercia]

12. Let's assume that once you get your vote correct, it is recorded properly.

The big issue here is not the vote flipping but the time wasted by the voters.

A big part of the GOP voter suppression strategy is to slow down the process to increase the time that each voter has to spend in the process. More time equals less votes tabulated in a given precinct. If you install flaky machines in precincts that are heavily democratic, you reduce the overall number of votes for the democratic candidates.

[pedo]

16. this is a stupid question

but why doesn't my nintendo ds have to be re-calibrated every time i move it? it has a touch screen. so does my palm. i've never had to calibrate them.

[AlbertCat]

20. I love this post from YouTube

Someone writes:

"She looks and talks like a Republican. I don't trust her."

Can someone explain this post? What is it supposed to mean? achieve?

[Vilis Veritas]

21. I write applications for manufacturing lines.

We use touchscreens.

I have never had this happen. If it did and I shut down a line, I would not be writing applications for manufacturing lines.

This is total bullshit. They are utilizing ancient technology that is easily manipulated.

saddlesore.

[wildbilln864]

22. k&r! thank you. nt

[Kablooie]

23. I would doubt that they would try that for this election.

The chances of it changing the election are increasingly small and the ramifications of getting caught are large.

Particularly if the side you rig the machine for loses.

Those aren't the kinds of odds that people normally take.

In a close race I can see it being tried but not this one.

[trueblue2007]

26. The US needs to go back to PAPER BALLOT. In EVERY State

We vote by paper ballot in Oregon and we mail it in. We always drive to the county election office and drop them off.

No stupid machine made by Republican's is going to take away my vote!!!

Like this woman said......I don't trust the machines either

[machI]

30. Kick

[newmac]

31. Why not use mac laptops to count the vote

Cheaper and more reliable.