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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNBC: PA elec voting machine-taken OUT OF SERVICE-after video shows votes changing OBAMA to ROMNEY
NBC News confirmed that the machine has been taken off line.Machine turns vote for Obama into one for Romney
Zachary Roth
12:52 pm on 11/06/2012
A man casts his ballot using an electronic voting machine November 6, 2012 at an elementary school in Bowling Green, Ohio. (Photo by J.D. Pooley/Getty Images)
A Pennsylvania electronic voting machine has been taken out of service after being captured on video changing a vote for President Obama into one for Mitt Romney, NBC News has confirmed. Republicans have also said machines have turned Romney votes into Obama ones.
The video was first posted on Youtube by user centralpavoter. It shows a voters finger repeatedly pressing the button for Obama, but a check mark coming up next to Romneys name:
My wife and I went to the voting booths this morning before work. There were 4 older ladies running the show and 3 voting booths that are similar to a science fair project in how they fold up. They had an oval VOTE logo on top center and a cartridge slot on the left that the volunteers used to start your ballot.
I initially selected Obama but Romney was highlighted. I assumed it was being picky so I deselected Romney and tried Obama again, this time more carefully, and still got Romney. Being a software developer, I immediately went into troubleshoot mode. I first thought the calibration was off and tried selecting Jill Stein to actually highlight Obama. Nope. Jill Stein was selected just fine. Next I deselected her and started at the top of Romneys name and started tapping very closely together to find the active areas. From the top of Romneys button down to the bottom of the black checkbox beside Obamas name was all active for Romney. From the bottom of that same checkbox to the bottom of the Obama button (basically a small white sliver) is what let me choose Obama. Steins button was fine. All other buttons worked fine.
I asked the voters on either side of me if they had any problems and they reported they did not. I then called over a volunteer to have a look at it. She him hawed for a bit then calmly said Its nothing to worry about, everything will be OK. and went back to what she was doing. I then recorded this video.
There is a lot of speculation that the footage is edited. Im not a video guy, but if its possible to prove whether a video has been altered or not, I will GLADLY provide the raw footage to anyone who is willing to do so. The jumping frames are a result of the shitty camera app on my Android phone, nothing more.
http://tv.msnbc.com/2012/11/06/machine-turns-vote-for-obama-into-one-for-romney/
SoapBox
(18,791 posts)It's now on Think Progress...and another site I look at, The Political Carnival ( http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/ ).
liberal N proud
(60,340 posts)Funny, you never hear of a machine flipping votes to a Democrat!
Not so funny actually, it is criminal!
Flashmann
(2,140 posts)Over this bullshit!!....For a long time!!!
mindem
(1,580 posts)Are the votes going to count?
faithfulcitizen
(3,191 posts)faithfulcitizen
(3,191 posts)realgreen
(47 posts)Is there video proof of it being removed?
kerouac2
(449 posts)but not displaying the change on the screen? So it looks like it selects Obama, but it casts for Romney in the end. These machines cannot be trusted.
Junkdrawer
(27,993 posts)If you steal someone's vote, you MUST show them you're stealing their vote.
Learned this from the MSNBC coverage of the issue for the last 8 - 10 years.
ChangeUp106
(549 posts)I'm told by a family member who works in PA govt. (on the D side) that this is NOT true and the PA Democrats are asking people not to spread this video around.
Dalai_1
(1,301 posts)An Expert Weighs in on That Viral Reddit Voter Fraud Video
( came in on my Twitter Acct)
http://gawker.com/5958114
cecilfirefox
(784 posts)Arazi
(6,829 posts)This is a good thing that these kinds of shenanigans are being exposed. Its long overdue that we look at the electronic voting boxes. We MUST go back to paper ballots.
StarlightGold
(365 posts)it was en electronic machine, but my final decisions were marked on the side on a roll of recepit paper, so I could double check before hitting the "cast ballot" button. I wasn't happy with e-voting, but at least there is tangible evidence of what I chose.
cui bono
(19,926 posts)hogwyld
(3,436 posts)Is to push congress to standardize the national voting laws. If electronic, we need transparent, open source software. Also need to make sure that there are sufficient resources allocated so that nobody has to wait more than 1 hour to vote. I'm tired of these GOP SoS's determining our elections!
AzDar
(14,023 posts)believe that they wouldn't try this shit again.
04 all over again.
flying_wahini
(6,641 posts)TahitiNut
(71,611 posts)Sheezuzfreakingkeeristonakrutch!! I am SO FUCKING tired of the grade school "Jimmy did it first" bullshit peddled by the Reich Wing and passed on like lard through a goose by a complaint media that NEVER demands evidence of these kneejerk ASSertions!
Supersedeas
(20,630 posts)Who has been disenfranchised due to "programming" malfunction?
Or was it programmed to disenfranchise?