# Oprah's sees her own vote dropped by the voting machine! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 2, 2008, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oprahs-sees-her-own-vote-dropped-by-the-voting-machine/470696 "2008-11-02T08:08:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oprahs-sees-her-own-vote-dropped-by-the-voting-machine/470696/21 "2008-11-03T15:49:14Z")
> [@catsix](#): > > The ones in the PA precincts I have voted in are just tablet PCs running the Diebold voting software and mounted on a portable podium that can be folded up for storage. Since they aren’t really anything special in terms of hardware, they have the same I/O as any other tablet PC. They could be configured to disable USB ports. And before there were configuration changes for that, I heard of people just putting superglue in the ports on kiosks… USB ports aren’t an unknown security risk - the question remains whether the control environment is adequate. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oprahs-sees-her-own-vote-dropped-by-the-voting-machine/470696/22 "2008-11-03T18:55:54Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > You know, people scoff and mutter about tinfoil hats, but it has been confirmed from reliable sources within the company that Sequoia Systems deliberately sent a batch of [defective paper ballots](http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/08/sequoia-voting-.html) to Florida for the 2000 election precisely because they were trying to convince the county governments to invest in electronic voting machines and it was in their interests to “prove” that the electronic (and expensive) machines were “better” and “more reliable” than paper ballots. Reading your link, it’s far less clear cut (ha) than you make out. What you describe is certainly possible, and maybe even plausible, but I don’t think I’d describe a worker giving his or her personal feeling that it was deliberate as “confirmed from reliable sources.” The source says: > [@](#): > > My own personal opinion was the touch screen voting system wasn’t getting off the ground like that they-- like they would hope. And because they weren’t having any problems with paper ballots. So, I feel like they-- deliberately did all this to have problems with the paper ballots so the electronically voting systems would get off the ground -and which it did in a big way. No evidence is offered for this, however, and when someone goes out of their way to disclaim something as their personal opinion, describing it as fact is a bit of a reach. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oprahs-sees-her-own-vote-dropped-by-the-voting-machine/470696/23 "2008-11-03T18:57:15Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > Ahh, the old right wing conspiracy theory. Am I being whooshed? My point was that the free market wants to be able to build and program these machines, and if the government tried to make one reliable one, the CEO’s would cry like babies. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oprahs-sees-her-own-vote-dropped-by-the-voting-machine/470696/24 "2008-11-03T20:31:38Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > It seems to me that it would be much easier to _surreptitiously_ alter a vote count on a computer system than it would be with pencil and paper ballots, where (at least in the case of Canadian elections) you have two poll clerks (nominated by different parties or hired by Elections Canada), the count can be observed by party scrutineers, and the voter places his or her own ballot into the sealed ballot box. I’ve scrutinized the count in two or three elections and I didn’t see a point at which votes could be discarded without someone around to raise a stink. My first introduction to the American system of vote counting was the 2000 election - I didn’t get for the longest time why there was so much controversy. “Why don’t they just re-count the ballots?” I thought, in my naive Canadian way. I also thought, “People mark a ballot, other people count them - how hard can this be?” I have since learned that it can be much, much harder than it needs to be. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oprahs-sees-her-own-vote-dropped-by-the-voting-machine/470696/25 "2008-11-03T23:39:52Z")
> [@Dead\_Badger](#): > > Reading your link, it’s far less clear cut (ha) than you make out. What you describe is certainly possible, and maybe even plausible, but I don’t think I’d describe a worker giving his or her personal feeling that it was deliberate as “confirmed from reliable sources.” The source says: > No evidence is offered for this, however, and when someone goes out of their way to disclaim something as their personal opinion, describing it as fact is a bit of a reach. Regardless of their ultimate motive in sending out known defective paper ballots the very fact that they did indeed do so, which in turn caused some of the trouble and furor that led to Gore losing the election indicates to me that this is NOT an ethical enough company to be left in charge of our election process. The issue of defective paper ballots is not in question–the only question is the ultimate motivation for sending them out in the first place. It’s also not in question that Sierra had approached the Florida counties which received the crap paper ballots to try to sell them on electronic voting machines. Occam’s Razor indicates that selling spendy electronic voting machines instead of cheap paper ballots is probably our least hypothesis here. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2008, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oprahs-sees-her-own-vote-dropped-by-the-voting-machine/470696/26 "2008-11-04T09:02:04Z")
Like I say, that’s all eminently possible. It just hasn’t been confirmed by reliable sources, as you originally said. It’s essentially speculation. I’m not sure imputing a sales conspiracy is exactly what William of Ockham meant his razor to be used for, either. There doesn’t even need to have been a motive for sending out crap ballots, so assuming that there was one seems rather contrary to the spirit of Ockham’s rule of thumb. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oprahs-sees-her-own-vote-dropped-by-the-voting-machine/470696.md?page=1)