Voting nightmare: Democrats seek extension (system crashes after voter overload)

[truthpusher]

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_4616285

Voting nightmare: Democrats seek extension
By George Merritt
Denver Post Staff Writer
DenverPost.com
Article Last Updated:11/07/2006 12:19:12 PM MST

Democratic party leaders are planning to seek a two-hour extension for voting in Denver, due to massive computer problems which have created long lines, and kept many from casting their vote.

(snip)

The problems began right at 7 a.m. as computer problems at the voter-check in stations bogged down, creating a bottleneck in the first hour of voting as a rush to the polls overloaded the system.

Power failures slowed voting at some locations, Denver Election Commission spokesman Alton Dillard said.


(snip)


At Denver Botanic Gardens, more than 200 voters backed up in a line that stretched out of the gates and down the block more than half way to 11th Avenue.

"We will not get to vote today," said a frustrated Lauren Brockman as he left the Botanic Gardens.

[aquart]

1. They bogged down in the MORNING???

[Justyce]

2. When the computers crash or lose power, are all the votes lost?!

yikes

[Kelvin Mace]

19. Supposedly not

but there is no way of knowing of the votes were corrupted, which is the same as lost.

[Turn CO Blue]

26. It's the registration computers that crashed...not the voting computers

They verify registration in Denver on laptops instead of a book. There were some 250+ laptops, but clearly they needed more. That's where the hangup was. The actual voting machines have backup generators anyway. The voter machines were just sitting there with nobody on them, while everyone waited outside for over an hour to be checked in to vote.

It's not quite as bad as everyone is saying. FairVote Colorado is *now* (as of afternoon) listing most of the voting centers with no lines. Anyone in Denver can vote at any of the 55 voting centers.

The city has said they will bring out more laptops and city workers to speed up the verification of voter part...

[Hav]

3. .

That's not good.
It could have been so easy: pencil, paper, that's it.

[ourvoicescount]

4. I don't know why we have to all vote at the same time...

Ohio started early voting this round, but beyond that, polls should be open for 3 day minimum and report the results of that day as you go...

[CountAllVotes]

5. Welcome to the DU ourvoicescount!

and I agree with you - we need to have the polls open longer and for a few days, a 3-day minimum sounds just fine to me!

:kick:

[Tunkamerica]

8. lots of places have early voting

north carolina started voting last week

[demo dutch]

14. Even Florida has 2 weeks of early voting

[LiberalFighter]

22. 3 day period YES end of day tally NO

Voting tally at end of each day would either suppress or increase voting depending on how you want the result.

[smoogatz]

6. It's all part of the Repig voter suppression strategy.

It's no accident--none of it.

[subterranean]

7. They should have paper-based ballots as backup

It's not like this scenario was not foreseeable. Too many election officials simply chose not to foresee it.

[gratuitous]

9. Wow, all those voters clamoring to endorse the status quo

I mean, with his soaring 35% approval ratings, people are just MAD to get out and vote for the policies and the party of George W. Bush, so much so that they're just overloading the voting machines in all the poorer and traditionally Democratic precincts. The working poor, the uninsured, the disenfranchised, military families, are all jamming the voting booth to ask for two more years of the same Republican governance.

Uh huh.

You know, when you spell it out like that, it looks really, and I mean really, asinine. And yet, that will be the subtext of a lot of commentary today about the elections, just you watch.

[Nickster]

11. I thought the same thing in 2004 and you're right, they spun it the exact

same way.

[Mist]

10. And power failures at the same time--what a coinky-dink. nt

[Peace Patriot]

12. It's that 'ol Bushite "efficiency" again. They promised us the "efficiency"

of modern electronics in our election system, run on TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code, owned and controlled by Bushite corporations. And we bought it. Or, our leaders bought it. They promised us a quick "efficient" war in Iraq that "pays for itself." We didn't buy it (56% of the American people opposed to it, way back in Feb. '03, before the invasion), but, again, many of our leaders did.* They promised us the "efficiency" of Republican-controlled government--those "conservatives" who run budgets so well--and they gave us the Katrina meltdown, the Iraq meltdown, and a $10 TRILLION deficit, with the vice president's own company stealing with both hands.

Beware of Republicans offering the "efficiency" of the marketplace--in war, in emergency services, in vote counting, and in anything else. The rat bastards.

And furthermore be skeptical of our own party leaders, and get on their cases, when they get conned, bullied or corrupted by that Corporate line.

------

*(To be fair, I have some compassion for the failures of our leaders during the Anthrax Congress. Really I do. God knows what kind of pressures they were under--of spying, blackmail or worse. But I have less understanding of their votes for the so-called "Help America Vote Act," and even less for their silence while these NON-TRANSPARENT e-voting systems spread like a cancer throughout the nation. All but two Dem Senators** voted for HAVA, a fascist coup of a bill engineered by major crooks, Tom Delay and Bob Ney (abetted by corporatist 'Democrat' Christopher Dodd and others). And even if our Dem leaders were ignorant of what it could do to our election system--and ignorance, on their parts, is a stretch--what are we to make of their MIND-BOGGLING silence as vote counting transparency was lost, everywhere these systems went in--in the lead-up to the 2004 election?)

**(Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer voted "no." Go figure.)

[Ethelk2044]

13. Voting

I understand if the wait time is more than an hour they can
request provisional ballots (if there are computer problems).

[tinfoilinfor2005]

15. Nice try.

Provisional ballots go in the nearest dumpster. Might as well write your vote on your McDonald's lunch wrapper.

[progressivebydesign]

20. WHAT? I just got a robocall from repubs saying to cast a provisional ballot!

It said that because of the weather and many polling places were closed,, I could just go to any polling place and cast a provisional ballot. Was this bullshit? (we're all registered dems here in this house, so I wondered WHY the repubs were calling us!) and it had a "blocked call" for caller ID.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

24. I would first go to my polling place. If it is closed there will be

an explanation posted and instructions as to where you should go. I would definitely call my dem party headquarters to see what information they have about the precinct.

I would NEVER rely on a robocall from the republican party. And I would have some pretty solid evidence in writing with signatures that my provisional ballot would get counted. These ballots are notoriously tossed because they are usually given to people who cannot prove their voter status. Please Be Careful!!

(I'm assuming that you were being serious because I didn't see a sarcasm sign!)

[heliarc]

27. RECORD the message and distribute

I let my machine pick up all the calls during election season so that I have a record of all of the calls. That is fraud and should be reported

[w4rma]

17. "… ran out of provision ballots shortly after noon."

"Westerly Creek, 8800 E. 28th Ave., ran out of provision ballots shortly after noon. Voters who were seeking shorter lines arrived, and quickly the line here grew to more than a hundred people long."

[Turn CO Blue]

16. Denver proper is very blue -- isn't it always the blue districts

that have long lines and computer crashes?

[SoCalDem]

23. and of course the republicans will fall all over themselves

reminding everyone that democrats are in charge, so it's their fault.

[Turn CO Blue]

25. But we have a Repub Sec of State...

[0rganism]

18. "vote by mail" is a possible solution

I'm in Oregon, where all elections are mail-in, and relatively speaking, it's heaven. Consider...

1 - there's a paper trail for the entire electorate, since everyone's essentially absentee voting
2 - you can take weeks to fill out your ballot, no pressure
3 - no long lines at the polls, even if you wait until election day to drop off your ballot
4 - no dipstick GOP poll challengers telling you not to vote because your skin is the wrong color
5 - no high-tech touchscreens to put your mark in the wrong candidate's bubble

Of course there are still concerns: the tabulators that count the paper ballots are made by the same pack of corrupt companies, absentee voting leaves room for coercion, and if you put your ballot in your mailbox, there's a chance some bastard could steal it before the mailman delivers it to the elections office. Overall, though, it's worth doing -- turnout is up ~25% statewide since we got vote by mail.

[Buddyblazon]

21. I live in Denver...

voted this morning. At 825 Ivanhoe Street. It took me about 30-45 minutes (bad me for not checking the time when I got there).

The machines had printers on them....and you could view it PRINTING up what you voted for....behind a clear plexiglass panel. The were small printers positioned so that only the voter could see them. It didn't give me a copy...but I was able to read it until it scrolled up to the...um....storage roll(?).

Everything went smooth.

There was even a nice lady who was a poll watcher. She said,..."for one of the parties."....but I winked at her and she winked back. I voted in Park Hill...and it is about as blue as it gets in Colorado.


My carpenter said it took him about 45 mins...he's putting in a new front door and we were talking about it about 10 mins ago. I am not sure how he voted...I know he is NOT a Liberal...but over this long project (redoing the entire front of the house) we've talked politics quite a few times. I think he is as most Coloradoans who are not Liberals these days....a Libertarian.


It sucks to hear people can't vote. My concern is our gubernatorial race. While Ritter is not a person I like very much...we won back the State House and Senate last election...and I'd like to see it all controlled by Dems here...maybe it will give us a shield from "the followers".

Besides...Bob Beauprez is a complete douchebag.

[Supersedeas]

28. voting made easy???

[KansDem]

29. HAVA--"Help Americans Vomit Act"

:puke:

[Ethelk2044]

30. It was denied

[pnwmom]

31. Did they give a reason for the denial?

[Zachstar]

32. NRPPA

"Nazi Republican Party Protection act" secretly signed by Bush in 2000 insures that any judge or official that denies the fair voting of Americans and insures victory for the fatherland will be rewarded.

Of course I have no proof and meant it as a Joke, but that isn't even as low as they have gone in the past 6 years.

There is the reason. You will not get truth from these bastards.

[pnwmom]

35. Welcome to DU, Zachstar!

What a day . . .

[Secure44]

33. Voting nightmare

This IS the 21st century, isn't it? How can we spend all that money on election systems that are so fragile. I can tell you why things are melting down in some precincts in Ohio...Ken Blackwell is in charge of this election (remember what he did to us in 2004) and he's running for Governor. Hm.

[Divine Discontent]

34. I would SO be demanding...

2 hrs additional, at the LEAST...



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