Experts Warn Of Nov. 4 Vote Meltdowns

Politico: Election Officials And Citizens Groups Worry About Surge Of New Voters And Bad Equipment

(The Politico) 
"To me it's the possibility of the long lines that's the issue," said Susan McManus a political science professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

In Ohio, where Democrats continue to complain that a Republican secretary of state tilted the rules toward George W. Bush in 2004, the shoe is now on the other foot. Ohio Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's directives on early voting, voter identification, and interpreting voter registration forms have taken fire from Republicans.

"What we're worried about is the registration lists," said Terri Enns, a law professor at Ohio State University.

Ohio courts are currently considering whether Brunner is required to supply lists of questionable registrations to county election boards.

Democrats say the county boards could unfairly remove voters due to technical glitches and similar names; Republicans have charged that people who shouldn't be allowed to vote will.

The result of the wrangling may be more voters casting provisional ballots, which require laborious checking and and time-consuming counting.

"It could mean that we don't know the outcome of Election Day as soon," said Enns.

There have also been machine problems. A glitch in the touch-screen machines used during the primary has meant that Cuyahoga County spent September scrambling to test and ensure that new optical scan ballots work.

A spokesperson for Brunner didn't respond to a call seeking comment on the litigation or the preparations.

The newest state on the list of potential troublespots is shadowed by a disastrous election in Denver two years ago. Denver County responded by scrapping its machines and reverting to old-fashioned paper ballots and printed lists of voters this year, but critics are still worried about the state's capacity to manage the surge of registrations in a closely fought race.

"I'm afraid that there will be problems - so many counties are doing so many different things," said state Senator Ken Gordon, a Democrat whose narrow defeat in the 2006 race for Secretary of State is attributed by some to the chaos in Denver that year.

"We're expecting huge turnout, we have a long ballot - and this is where I think the problem will occur," he said, noting that 18 ballot measures may lead to long voting times and long lines at the polls.

While many counties will allow voters to use paper ballots if lines get long, two key counties in the Denver suburbs don't have that option, Gordon said.

"There will be glitches, but the Secretary has confidence in the state of Colorado and the county clerks who have been working diligently,"said Coolidge, the spokesman for the secretary of state, who said that the fact that 40 percent of voters had requested mail-in ballots would keep lines short on November 4.

Observers of election administration, however, say it's hard to predict where the next perfect electoral storm will land.

New Mexico, for instance, was the site of a long vote count in 2004, and is again hotly contested. Tova Wang, the vice president for research at Common Cause, cited Georgia as a state that might have trouble coping with the 2008 contest, criticizing their voter registration requirements.

A spokesman for the Georgia secretary of state, Matt Carrothers, said his department had encouraged a massive surge in early voting, which will take pressure off the Election Day poll sites. And he said the state and counties had put in "an enormous amount of preparation" for the November 4 vote.

Wang also cited Virginia, which may be a crucial battleground this year, as a potential hot spot. Chris Ashby, a lawyer and longtime observer of Virginia elections, who supports McCain, said the "increased use of touch-screen voting machines" could lead to technical problems. But he said the state had passed a test in the high-turnout Democratic primary.

"It's impossible to make predictions," said Wang. "Probably what's going to happen is what nobody anticipates."

Another risk, said Susan McManus, the Florida professor: Even discussing potential problems could have an impact at the polls.

"What I've heard some people worry about is that too much discussion of a meltdown in Florida before it happens may keep at home the very people we're trying to bring into the system," she said.

[downsteamjim]

Fogleman''s Law: An election is fair only if a Democrat wins.

[eggy1620]

Posted by WRMSCVSUV

From an old proverb, He who knows not and knows not that he knows not, is a fool; reject him.

That pretty much sums up your monkey faced hero.

[oldguy4truth]

National ID. is the single most thing that can solve the most issues in our country. Voter Fraud, Illegal Immigrantation, Criminal "false" ID. Social Security, National Security, and I am sure I missed somthing. This is 2008, "We have the technology", and have had for about 20 years.

[bks59]

in the 20 years i''ve lived in minnesota, where there is high voter participation (75%)+, same day registration and optical scanners, there is hardly if any blip on the voter tabulations, what is the deal with all these other palces that can''t get their votes and voters counted properly?

[wrmscvsuv]

I''ve often wondered, which is worse, a president who is hated and vilified for standing up for what he believes to be right, or a trailor-trash lying excuse for a chief executive who cares more about his carnal needs than the American people?

I think I''ll go with the former.

[jjp735i]

This should have been resolved 8 years ago. We have a do nothing Congress and an idiot President. We are just as stupid for not demanding this problem be taken care of as we all knew it was still out there.

[khhammerle]

It''s amazing the vast majority of places with potential problems are controled by the democrats. Are they setting things up for another attempt at stealing the election as in Florida where all the problems were in Democrat controled precincts?

You need a license to own a dog but any fool can vote. Posted by john43218
----
john, i always heard that as "you have to have a license to drive a car but any fool can own a gun." You may have a point there. But I think this McCain dog don''t hunt. John reminds me of those dogs on the HeeHaw porch. Just lollygagging with tongues hanging out and ears all splayed out there, surrounded by pretty, long legged girls, sorta like Sarah, if you know what I mean. Come to think of it, Sarah might have been there; she''s young enough. John does remind me a lot of Grandpa. Bet Grandpa''s boots didn''t cost any $500.

As far as a meltdown is concerned, get your crying towel ready for November 5th. John is scheduled for a "Wicked Witch of the West" ending, and how symbolic since John is from Arizona! "What a world, what a world!"

[hologram5]

Write in your vote, vote for the third party candidate. What is the worst that could happen? Ron Paul has a lot of things to say about the economy and if you listen, he is right. Write in Ron Paul, you could do worse with these two clowns running...

[john43218]

For the first time, I really feel scared about the future. These people are like the Germans in the election of 1933. They know what''s coming but they don''t care. Back then, all they cared about was that Hitler was going to give them a job and keep their lunch pails full. And stick it to the Jews. And restore Germany''s "rightful place" in the world. They knew full well that Hitler would destroy the independent unions, crack down on dissent, and turn Germany from a very free country into a fascist dictatorship.

Part of this is McCain''s fault. He bought into that populist *** about greedy Wall Street. Well, so as ye sow, so shall ye reap. And we''re about to reap the whirlwind.

In this kind of atmosphere any kind of a government is possible. And I don''t know if Obama can resist the kind of raw power these nincompoops are willing to give him. Who could?

You need a license to own a dog but any fool can vote.

[w95thst]

Is anyone else getting e-mail like this from abroad? What''s going on and what can we do about it?

From a US expatriate friend living in Germany:
"Dear fellow Americans,
Woe is us. I just (finally) got my vote-by-mail ballot and started filling it out when I thought "Hmm. This isn''t the kind of paper they usually print the ballots on." And in the envelope was an extra slip of paper with the fatal message:

''Due to printing delays, we are providing you a sample ballot on which to vote. When we receive it back, we will duplicate your ballot onto an official ballot and will tally your vote.

In other words, when my ballot arrives, a complete stranger (let''s hope it''s at least an election official, but they don''t even say who) is going to read my voted sample ballot and supposedly copy my votes onto a real
ballot, which will then be counted. Whether or not this person really copies my votes or decides to make a few changes is, of course, open to question."

And this in from another USA expat friend living in Belgium:

" I got my ballot OK, but my friend Kate, who''s from Massachusetts, has been told that there is a delay getting Massachusetts absentee ballots sent out."

[w95thst]

This just in from a US expatriate friend living in Germany:

"Dear fellow Americans,
Woe is us. I just (finally) got my vote-by-mail ballot and started filling it out when I thought "Hmm. This isn''t the kind of paper they usually print the ballots on." And in the envelope was an extra slip of paper with the fatal message:

''Due to printing delays, we are providing you a sample ballot on which to vote. When we receive it back, we will duplicate your ballot onto an official ballot and will tally your vote.

In other words, when my ballot arrives, a complete stranger (let''s hope it''s at least an election official, but they don''t even say who) is going to read my voted sample ballot and supposedly copy my votes onto a real
ballot, which will then be counted. Whether or not this person really copies my votes or decides to make a few changes is, of course, open to question."

And this in from another USA expat friend living in Belgium:

" I got my ballot OK, but my friend Kate, who''s from Massachusetts, has been told that there is a delay getting Massachusetts absentee ballots sent out."

Is anyone else getting e-mail like this from abroad? What''s going on and what can we do about it?

[truthspeake2]

Obama/Biden 2008...RIP GOP!

[skip523]

I''m gonna have a meltdown! Obama has no history and what he does have is nothing but selfish interest. We need real leadership at this time not a pretty hollywood pantywaist. Show your Vote at PitbullPalinNet

[closethippy1]

Posted by john43218 at 04:34 PM : Oct 15, 2008

Blah, blah, blah, blah, wah, wah, wah, wah!

[newslink]

There would not be a problem with elections. If People would be honest.

[kc629]

we need to go back to paper ballots to keep a paper trail

[john43218]

Nearly all of Obama''''s appeal requires his supporters to take on faith that he will do things he has never done. But on the question of whether Obama will ever take a meaningful stand against corruption or waste in his own party or stand up to vested interests and ideological extremists on his own side, we already know the answer: Obama is so thoroughly marinated in extremism and corruption that it would be nearly impossibe to extricate himself and still have a meaningful identity left.

You will often hear Obama''''s defenders argue that his ties to this or that extremist or corrupt figure is an isolated aberration, an example of "guilt by association"; that the various favors he dispensed with public money and private charitable foundation funds are nothing unusual in politics.

But when you look at Obama''''s record and biography taken together, what you see is that the favors, the extremists and the machine ties are all inextricably intertwined, and that far from being isolated incidents, Obama''''s modus operandi of mutual back-scratching with radicals and crooks extends to nearly every aspect of his life and career - his family, his faith, his home, his jobs and education, his significant election victories and legislative "accomplishments," his closest advisors and most important mentors, the money and organization that made up his campaigns.

[julez41]

I agree that with all the American technological expertise it''s unbelievable that we can''t get a voting machine that works right. Our country''s not better off than others when it comes to elections and apparently when compared to our European and Canadian allies'' we''re worse. What a sad state we''re in when we can''t even hold an honest, glitch-free election. I blame the republicans!

[aaabee-2009]

go ahead, GOP, just write McCain on all the ballets and voters won''t even have to make the effort.

Voters do their part: they get their registrations done, and get their ballets or go to their polling places, and cast their votes.

But the electoral places can''t get their act together with 4 YEARS NOTICE????

Less than a month out we hear there "could be problems"?

Is it not possible to just have an election anymore, without all the computers and questions and actions that never seem quite above board?