[QUOTE=elucidator]
You are welcome to think what you like, so long as we can remind you that you haven’t a shred of proof. Hasn’t bothered you yet, but we can hope.
[/QUOTE]
I assume that you have no problem applying the same standard of proof to the non-existent evidence that the 2000 and 2004 elections were “stolen” by the 'pubbies? DIO already stated that it was a fact that 2000 was stolen in this very thread. Still no proof though. :rolleyes:
[QUOTE=xtisme]
I’m neutral about them to be honest…I neither trust nor distrust them. They are a company who is selling a product…to the government. So, do I trust or distrust the government OVERSIGHT on the project? I would lean toward distrust, but then, I ALWAYS lean towards distrust when talking about a government project. After all, I’ve worked as a government contractor on and off for something like 20 years…I know the process.
I’ve certainly seen evidence that many of the eVoting machines have flaws…some glaring. However, I don’t think its some big conspiricy…I think its standard government incompetence and lazyness in following through the checks to ensure their RFP’s are well thought out, and the product delivered is what they wanted. I’ve seen very little actual evidence there is some vast Republican conspiricy, and a lot of evidence that the machines, flaws and all, are simply business as usual in the government contracting for services world.
-XT
[/QUOTE]
I generally agree with this assessment WRT government incompetence and conspiracy theory, but I’m not willing to be neutral. Because the potential for fraud is so large , i don’t think the epoll machines should be used-unless they are modified as I’ll suggest below.
[QUOTE=Mehitabel]
I’m a pollworker who has to deal with the 1962-vintage Shoup hulkin’ big gray machines o’ freedom, and we know those puppies pretty well.
You can’t vote twice on said puppies. You can’t vote for the “wrong” party during a primary. You can look over the your entire vote (see the little black lever pulled down next to the name and the big black X next to it?) before you pull the big red lever that records your vote and then resets the machine for the next voter. Once it’s reset, nobody can tell what you did and nobody can change it; and I suppose the only way you could “hack” those puppies would be to go in and vote repeatedly, voting and resetting and working the lever like you were a 1920s style switchman on the New York Central, but even if the little old ladies sitting four to a table a few feet away didn’t notice–and they’re sharp in eyes and tongue–the coordinators or the Mandatory Cop surely would.
[/QUOTE]
I honestly don’t know why we don’t still use those old fashioned machines. This whole electronic voting mess is a solution in search of a problem, coupled with a healthy helping of pork. Let’s throw away something that works fine in order to spend millions of dollars on a flashy, high-tech “solution” that does nothing but cause more problems. Government as usual!
[QUOTE=rjung]
One thing that’s not helping is that the Democrats – who tend to get the shaft in these rigged e-voting machines – are unwilling to raise more attention on the issue, out of fear that people who know their votes won’t get counted won’t bother to vote at all. The few efforts by the Dems to hold hearings on the matter have been successfully suppressed by the Republicans, who are all too eager to sweep the problem under the rug (why do you think Republicans have been the biggest supporters of the Help America Vote Act, which fast-tracks adoption of electronic voting machines?).
[/QUOTE]
Pure partisan wankery, as usual. Here in Maryland it is the Democrats who are gung-ho for evoting and the Republicans who want to scrap the system because of it’s flaws. It all depends on whose ox is being gored. I expressed real concerns on the SDMB after the primary about the lack of a requirement of ID to vote and the potential for fraud that that left open, only to be roundly told by the loyal lockstep lefties to STFU, I was just trying to disenfranchise the poor, the lame, immigrants and the stupid, all people whom they apparently felt would be more likely to vote Democratic anyway. Seems that concern about voter fraud that might benefit the left is nothing but sour grapes, but WRT Diebold machines where they think that it’s the Republicans who might benefit, then Katie bar the door! I have no idea why accurate voting should be a partisan issue for either side, but there you have it.
My solution to the problem is simple. Leave the electronic machines in place. After the voter makes his or her choices, it prints out a Scantron card with the voter’s selections marked. No hanging chads, no boxes filled in messily. The voter checks to verify that his selections are accurately reflected and hands his card to an election official who runs the card into an optical scanner where it is read, the vote is instantly tabulated, and the ballot itself goes into a locked box in case there is a need for a recount down the line. Simple, instantaneous and pretty damn secure. Anyone who has a problem with that system…well, I’d have to question their motives. Hell, even Diebold should get behind it, because they’d get a whole new contract to provide printers and card readers.
When I started voting in the early 80s, I was very disappointed to discover that I didn’t get to go into a little booth and pull levers on a big giant gray machine.