Baltimore’s Election Results Are Decertified as State Investigation Is Launched
Source: Truthdig by Emma Niles
Linda H. Lamone, the administrator of the State Board of Elections, said officials became concerned when city officials found 80 provisional ballots that had not been analyzed, and an unusually high discrepancy between the number of voters who checked in at polling places and the number of ballots cast. The number of ballots cast at the polls was higher than the number of check-ins at the polls, she said.
Lamone said state officials were working to determine the exact size of the problem. She expected the investigation to stretch into next week. Baltimore City was not able to investigate and resolve these issues to our satisfaction, Lamone said. We are doing a precinct-level review. We are doing this in fairness to the candidates and the voters.
Baltimores news comes at a time when voters around the country are alleging election fraud, and activists within the city have been voicing concerns about the election for months. Eight data files went missing for about a day after the election, and some polling precincts opened late, The Baltimore Sun reports, adding that thirty-four released felonseligible to vote under a new lawalso received a Board of Elections letter before the election erroneously telling them they might not be able to vote.
Read more: http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/baltimores_election_results_to_be_decertified_state_20160513
Human101948
(3,457 posts)Other democracies are not so incompetent. Both Sweden and Australia, for example, manage to get more than 96 percent of their citizens on the books. The Swedes pull this off through virtually automatic enrollment. Instead of relying on its shiftless inhabitants (accustomed to luxuries like universal health care) to get their paperwork in order, the Swedes maintain a national database that includes the name, address, place of birth, and marital status of each individual. The Swedish Tax Administration is responsible for updates, but the police and the municipalities help provide details. (Individuals pitch in by informing the local tax office of alterationslike marriages, divorces, or a change of address.) Prior to every election, the Swedish Electoral Authority simply extracts information from this database to compile an electoral roll for each district. The Electoral Authority then sends proof of registration to each eligible voter, which contains the address of the correct polling station and its hours.
Australia's system is closer to ours. Individual Aussies must fill out their own registration forms and wait for an acknowledgment card. However, as in Sweden, a centralized authority maintains a single national registration database, which the states and territories use to compile local election rolls. And since voting is compulsory (there's a $20 penalty for those without a good excuse), the government feels it has a responsibility to help out with the process. It does this by getting in your face.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/how_they_do_it/2008/10/doing_democracy_right.html
Akicita
(1,196 posts)PatrynXX
(5,668 posts)but yeah it's annoying. It happens because Conservative twits passed laws against VOTER fraud which rarely happens and not against ELECTION fraud which happens tooooo often.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,075 posts)marble falls
(57,537 posts)pnwmom
(109,025 posts)LiberalLovinLug
(14,180 posts)On the larger country...so what? You also have more population to work or volunteer at registration and at polling stations.
My country Canada is an example of a large country (larger than your own) with a diverse population stretching up into Inuvik into the north. We have national standards, and paper ballots. We know results just as fast as your own.
If you referring to a large population per square mile, look at any European country. All of which have higher densities.
Either way you mean it, others do it much better. And they use paper ballots. The least complicated, most secure method.
And why different standards?
The feds still have a Food and Drug safety standards over all States. I'm sure there are military training standards no matter which State has the base. There are public education standards. Why is voting in a democracy not regarded important enough to have national standards?
pnwmom
(109,025 posts)I was explaining a reason, not giving an "excuse." We have fifty different state governments and a long history of tension between states' jurisdiction and Federal jurisdiction.
Bangbangdem
(140 posts)Uniformity would simplify our voting system. Might even eliminate fraud. Or, are you just into shitting on other countries' electoral systems? Pretty weak.
pnwmom
(109,025 posts)We have a different system, with an emphasis on states rights and a de-emphasis on the federal system, at least compared to many other countries.
Bangbangdem
(140 posts)And excuse my french. I get what you are saying. I don't agree. But I think your arguement us valid.
LiberalLovinLug
(14,180 posts)I already pointed out to you that you have other institutions like the armed forces, food and drug safety, minimum wage laws that the federal government oversees. I mistakenly listed public education basic standards in my last post (I just assumed - it seemed obvious)
Hell, one could say that the Constitution is a form of national standards.
So there is an appetite for national standards in some areas, and so why not, if explained properly, have national standards, for the most important days in a democracy? Do you think this is impossible? Is the American mind so hell-bent on States rights that they cannot see the benefits of working together to have fair and equitably elections across the board? Not only that but it would probably end up being cheaper as everyone sets up the same way with the same equipment. That's always a big seller.
apnu
(8,760 posts)Like the US Patent System, the United States has left the electorial process alone for over a hundred years. I don't mean voting machines, I mean the actual process. The Primary System, leaving states to make up rules willy-nilly, letting the political parties make up rules willy-nilly. The whole point of the EC being invalid today -- all of it. America, simply, has not re-examined the election process and made it fair.
Our two political parties no longer function of the people and by the people. Instead they function to prosecute thier own agendas and everybody else, they feel, doesn't deserve their representation. If a voter isn't already 100% on board with which ever party's establishment, then the party thinks, "fuck you, you're not worth my time"
With this attitude, it is virtually impossible to get our two partisan parties to straighten this shit out and come up with fair election rules. The very second, we, all of America that is, start looking at election rules and regulations, both parties will co-opt that process to create a system that suits them best, effectively creating a one-party government.
The American experiment is failing right now because Americans aren't involved in the process.
valerief
(53,235 posts)Volaris
(10,281 posts)yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)I would hope we get most of our states like Michigan correct.
randr
(12,418 posts)and not be able to count a few million votes every few years?
The fact that we are told we need to use such an archaic system in order to stop abuse is evidence of abuse.
certainot
(9,090 posts)and because the left ignores talk radio they will have 1200 of the loudest radio stations in the country to spin it their way to half the country- like they did in 2000, and like they've been doing since then to pass voter suppression legislation and sell electronic voting systems
Igel
(35,390 posts)The problem are the workers. Often poorly trained, and those who have off all day to staff the polls. Often very partisan, as well.
I've seen poll workers invalidate ballots, sign in people incorrectly, pitch tantrums that produced chaos, get confused, insist on doing things because they distrusted their peers until they couldn't help but screw up. They've argued with voters and campaigned, they've mis-instructed voters and held things up. They've ended up so tired by the end they've misread tallies, they've written things down wrong and the official canvassing caught the mistakes. When swamped, they skirted corners and cross-tallies stopped agreeing.
Why? See my first paragraph. None of these things were planned or really intentional. But given hostility and suspicion and it's easy to (mis)judge them.
Boomer
(4,170 posts)Our training consisted of one evening watching a short video, plus asking questions. We were, thank god, handed a fairly good manual that I read several times over before showing up on election day. But the entire process is complicated, tedious and frustrating. It's also exhausting since it usually involves 14-hour days.
In my area, most of the poll workers are elderly because 1) they have the time to spend and 2) they need the extra money. The plus is that many of them have been doing this for years, so there's hopefully some continuity in each poll team (5 workers, with at least two from the opposite party).
Overall, the process worked pretty well and the inevitable errors were caught and corrected. What happened to the votes after we turned them in... well, that I can't vouch for.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Voter suppression. Every possible means and method of shaving points is in play, including creating the perception on the left that the elections are all rigged.
The Republikkkans would like nothing more that all the Berners getting disillusioned and staying home on election days for the next decade or two.
Betty Karlson
(7,231 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)They passed.
Kinda like Florida 2000 never happened.
Kinda like Ohio 2004 never happened.
A more cynical person might conclude that the Democrats in DC are no better than their Republican peers.
.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Might as well put the blame where it belongs! People need to either vote or not complain about the results.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Maybe they felt that the two parties are too much alike to bother.
It's up to politicians to give voters a reason to go to the polls. "Not quite as awful" is not a good reason.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)If you don't yet realize we have reasons to vote, why are you engaged here?
Scuba
(53,475 posts)The Democratic Party knows this, the Republican Party knows this, the Ruling Class knows this- and they've been astonishingly successful at making sure the Working Class never learns this. ~ Anonymous
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)We are the party of social security, minimum wage, health care, civil rights for all, voting rights, marriage equality, pay equity, the right to choose, ..... I could go on for a long time listing our great party's accomplishments, but hey, wallow in that depressive negativity bullshit if you want.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Thespian2
(2,741 posts)about voters...electronic voting machines can elect anyone...rigged 2000 election, rigged 2004 election...failure to rig 2008...Repukians thought Ohio was rigged in 2012...Ooops, it wasn't...
FlatBaroque
(3,160 posts)first voting machine was used in New Hampshire where George HW Bush beat Bob Dole in the 1988 primary. The 14% shift from the polling was the first major theft that we know of.
LiberalArkie
(15,739 posts)county clerks office for counting.
FlatBaroque
(3,160 posts)LiberalArkie
(15,739 posts)voting machine systems are easy to build, however no state would purchase them because the vote would not be able to be corrected.
SmittynMo
(3,544 posts)Last edited Sat May 14, 2016, 06:50 PM - Edit history (1)
Electronic voting should never be trusted. NEVER!!!!
Paper is the ONLY legitimate audit. To allow anything that is not audit able, should NEVER be allowed.
Better yet, make people sign the paper.
We are sooo fricking stupid to allow electronic voting, be an option.
Orangepeel
(13,935 posts)That's likely part of the problem-- it was a new system/process so poll workers and voters had some confusion.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)The discrepancy might not have been noticed with votes cast on machines.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)dynamo99
(48 posts)In my county, we use paper ballots that are optically scanned. So there's the "instant" results, but there's also the stack of paper ballots to go back to for audit. What's even better is that the system can handle RCV (instant runoff, which is used in my city's elections).
In 2008, we had a statewide hand recount. It took forever, but in the end the results,were very very close to the machine count (a shift of some 500 votes out of 2.9 million). Fortunately, the election itself was very very close, and that 500 vote shift was enough for Al Franken to win.
yellowcanine
(35,705 posts)So there is now a paper trail in Maryland, unlike in the past with the computer voting.
certainot
(9,090 posts)all over the country from 1200 radio stations. then they sold the idiotic idea from every local blowhard that electronic voting was cheaper and safer.
another eg of the utter stupidity of the left's continued ignore-ance of rw radio
Igel
(35,390 posts)I voted in Los Angeles in the '90s.
We used card-punch ballots just like in Florida. We had a ballot template, a little slot to put the ballot in, and we'd punch holes according to what the printed ballot template in the voting booth said each hole in the device meant.
I punched the holes and pulled the ballot out and went to put it in the ballot urn. I counted the number of holes and found that I'd voted for maybe 15 or 20 different people and things but only had 5 or 6 holes. I stopped, went back to the voting booth, and found that under each hole there was a small hollow. If it was full of the little bits of cardstock, it was difficult or impossible to poke a hole in the ballot over that hollow.
I think I pulled out the tray full of confetti and emptied it, then voted. Again. For real. The second time I noticed what it felt like as the card was perforated. Had the place been busy, had I been in a hurry, had I not chatted with the poll worker (a neighbor) and chanced to notice too few holes in the card, had she not allowed me to go back to the booth to have a second run at voting, I'd have cast my ballot without noticing that I didn't really vote. But there was nothing nefarious about it.
In Houston I've voted on eSlate machines. A couple of times I've gone to the machine as indicated after a person had left just to find that they hadn't finished. One apparently walked away in frustration. Another submitted her ballot but then was asked to review and confirm--and left before finishing the submission process.
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)Does that mean we would be able to see how everyone else voted?
Now THAT'S a good way to cut down on voting.
SmittynMo
(3,544 posts)It sure makes you think. Don't we already declare Dem or Rep in some states? I'd personally prefer to have the verification(signature) over the secrecy. Believe me, the government already knows I'm a democrat. Yet I have not signed one document that indicates so.
smiley
(1,432 posts)And it's not only republicans doing it.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Please enlighten us on who else has done it.
ViseGrip
(3,133 posts)The same when you look at counties in IL, MA. It's all been on DU since 2004. says who? many, and you missed it. Here you go:
start here:
and then this one here, again from 2004, congressional hearings from the theft in OH. (you see, GW Bush did not win either election):
http://www.c-span.org/video/?184728-1/voting-irregularities-ohio
Then here is the hearing on NY...no one is covering. Why did they certify when they have problems? Have they? Or is MSM just including NY numbers? 120K not allowed to vote! They just finished the examination of those voters and have concluded 20K should not have voted. But the other 100K should have. This is fraud...in another form. This is called 'caging'. The rest is electronic numbers being placed in counties. Even when Bernie wins, some states show deviations from counties, where Hillary would NOT have gotten all the delegates that she did, even where Bernie won. So when he wins, he still loses. Do you care about any of this? You will when you watch the two hearings above!
If you really care, you'll find the NY hearing yourself!
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Exit polling has a margin of error and each exit poll will have a diofferent margin of error based on variables, such as the number of people polled and how representative they are of the actual voting pool voters whose votes are counted. Unless you are privileged to the raw data about the polling, you may not even know the margin of error.
The only thing that video proves is nothing. It is hearsay. There is no evidence to back up what Clint says, just him saying it is so. Nor does he say an election was rigged, so the title is a lie. If you want to make a point, use real evidence. It is out there.
stillwaiting
(3,795 posts)It is not a transparent process, and it is not even verifiable in many places.
Because of this it is impossible for me to ever feel like election results in many places are legitimate. Being transparent and verifiable should be a prerequisite for everyone before giving election results legitimacy.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)I don't tolerate BS, and people exploiting this issue to suppress voting is even worse. But I'm not going over to the dark side and starting to BS to overcome BS. We have to stick to the truth and be intellectually honest.
stillwaiting
(3,795 posts)7962
(11,841 posts)Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)ViseGrip
(3,133 posts)Good for the board.....showing courage where there has been none!
blondie58
(2,570 posts)It is like we are a third world Country.
-none
(1,884 posts)The Establishment, the 1%, the 3rd Way and those that do not see the problem.
ViseGrip
(3,133 posts)But 12 points here in the U.S. of A. is just dandy!
ViseGrip
(3,133 posts)Rosa Luxemburg
(28,627 posts)- has affected the result of the whole state's results not just Baltimore City's? The results in Prince George's County were dubious too. When I voted the person scanning my ballot through the machine could see who I voted for!!!!
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-election-problems-20160513-story.html
cui bono
(19,926 posts).
Rosa Luxemburg
(28,627 posts)Igel
(35,390 posts)You have to vote in such a way that you can have your ballot validated. If you're not authorized to vote, then your ballot has to be kept aside and not counted.
However, after your ballot is approved to be cast it has to be cast in a way that makes it impossible to see who cast it.
It means you get the thing and keep it intact until after you've checked everything. That can take a while. While the BOE is busy canvassing machines, dealing with reconciling machine tallies and voter record tallies, verifying signature counts and machine integrity, recording which machines need maintenance and cutting checks for workers, they're validating ballots and sorting them into "yes", "no," and "needs more research". Is "Maggie Edsel"" the same as "Margaret S. Adelson" at the same address? How about "Margaret Edsel"? Or "Peggy Edsel-Huffington"?
If some idiot opens the "no" and "needs more research" piles too early, you have a pile of ballots that may or may not be votes. This has happened.
Provisional ballots would affect the results only if the results were very close or there was a really big skew in who used provisional ballots. Most valid provisional ballots occur because people have moved or there's a name mismatch, or possibly if the person hasn't voted in a long time.
jalan48
(13,916 posts)Who benefited from all this confusion and the initial election results?
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)And, a Jim Crow legacy. Cuyahoga County Ohio 2004 is a prime example, purging black voters in Florida 200 another.
Bush stole the Presidency twice by targeting black voters. This narrative is totally overlooked and immensely important!
jalan48
(13,916 posts)Was this infighting between black political groups there?
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)And no one says anyone is at this point. The article explains this well enough, read it.
jalan48
(13,916 posts)It sounds like the results of several local elections in a predominately black, Democratic city could change as the result of fraud. Did you read it?
7962
(11,841 posts)Baltimore is no stranger to voter problems. When there are plenty of ACTUAL examples of GOP wrongdoing out there, why dont you go with THOSE examples instead of watering down the Baltimore issue with lame accusations? The Dems are perfectly capable of screwing things up too, whether intentional or not.
Just look at how the primaries are rigged!!!
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)whatever that means to you, who knows, it is just a broad brush attack on my political party and a very lame one at that.
You have zero credibility when you attack the Democrats and make these treasonous accusations.
Show me one primary that was rigged. You got nothing but hot air and empty accusations against the one party fighting to defend elections.
Kingofalldems
(38,514 posts)7962
(11,841 posts)All the "superdelegate" bullshit is set up to prevent anyone who isnt part of the Dem establishment from gaining any traction.
Yeah, the "rules" are what they are. But they're set up the WAY they are for a reason. Thats the "rigged" part of it.
You dont like the criticism, fine. But a lot of others out there agree with me.
You want an example of democrats running fraudulent elections? Go look up Chicago history. No party is perfect when it comes to this.
ChiciB1
(15,435 posts)I first started watching this closely back in 2000 because I live in Florida. As time has passed it just kept getting worse. AND HERE WE ARE TODAY!
Every time I check in here I read "Hillary Has XXXX Number of VOTES" so why can't Bernie supporters understand this. Bernie needs to DROP OUT, Bernie is so far behind in votes and on and on and on and on!
NEVER have I felt so ROBBED by the system than this time around! State after State, Primary after Primary has found some sort of SCREW UP!
I just stopped reading the crap or listening to people beating this drum over and over because I simply DON'T BELIEVE IT!
BUT HEY, can't prove it for sure because those in charge are part of the political elite too! I've heard story after story that's been covered on REAL NEWS outlets other than the usual Corporate Crapatists who interview ACTUAL people who have come forward and report inconsistencies over and over. And even THEY get racked over the coals for speaking out!
So NO, I don't really think HILLARY has actually gotten all those votes! Believe what you want because I've seen far too many people here who ARE so willing to believe that Hillary can do no wrong! Facts be damned, it's Hillary's turn!
OF COURSE, can't prove anything... but voting these days is worse than any third world country! WE, the country who have been touted and blow our own horn about being this BEACON OF DEMOCRACY... what's even worse is that SO MANY, MANY people will NEVER see what's gone wrong!!
Republicans being put on the DNC RULES COMMITTEE at a Democratic Election!!! Yeah, things are just so FAIR!
NOT!
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Dig deeper, try to find out who the anonymous web site owners are who are spreading this propaganda.
Believe NOTHING! Acquire knowledge instead. Consider WHO benefits by causing people to think Dems are not honest politicians, or that one candidate is not a real Democrat, or that our fine candidates are not fair and principled leaders.
[center]
Bacum
(11 posts)?
Dirty tricks are covert, for one. The experts at doing dirty tricks, Nixon's Cuban Plumbers excepted, avoid detection entirely. That's why they call it covert operations.
Bacum
(11 posts)A former Maryland secretary of state said:
John T. Willis, a former Maryland secretary of state who has studied Maryland elections, said errors aren't unusual in large urban areas. The alleged problems in Baltimore's primary fall far short of the election debacle in the 2000 presidential election in Florida, he said.
"The administrative errors that occurred are not to the degree of severity that have happened in large urban jurisdictions around the country or happened in Miami-Dade County," Willis said. "It's nothing of the magnitude that is likely to have an impact on the outcome of the election."
Truthdig did not include the quote above, because including it would have worked against the outrage Truthdig sought to elicit from Sanders supporters.
libdem4life
(13,877 posts)caught with boxes of paper ballots in the trunk of their car. Think of the ones who weren't caught. Seems it would likely be in a district that favored one candidate over the other.
The perfect solution has yet to emerge, unfortunately. What is emerging is better and slicker ways to scam whatever system is in place.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)You might want to invest in a search engine. Oh wait, they are free. Here's a link to one: https://www.google.com
libdem4life
(13,877 posts)anyone. Try and be nice. Also, it was well before Meghan Kelley was ever heard of.
And "as I recall" it was not a national election, it was a state election.
Hope you have a better day.
saidsimplesimon
(7,888 posts)Hope you like my sig song from the past. Don't associate it with that cretin Ross.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="
libdem4life
(13,877 posts)She broke the mold.
7962
(11,841 posts)The guy carried the vote card in his car till the next day. Odd, but doesnt appear to be any fraud involved. But you werent wrong.
Hey! Those search engines work BOTH ways sometimes dont they!
libdem4life
(13,877 posts)Agnosticsherbet
(11,619 posts)"Deliver the Vote: A History of Election Fraud, an American Political Tradition-1742-2004" is a
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51XJ0BP8F4L._SX330_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
This is a great source for anyone who wants to learn about the process and history of election chicanery.
Paper ballots will not fix the system.
Orangepeel
(13,935 posts)Agnosticsherbet
(11,619 posts)Unless we come to a fair and honest way of counting the votes it won't matter what we use to vote on.
California uses paper ballots, but they are counted using machines. At least we have a paper trail.
TBF
(32,153 posts)with all the shenanigans. We knew the republicans would do anything they could to keep people from voting, but I never expected to see the democratic party do the same. It has been extremely eye opening.
7962
(11,841 posts)just for bringing it up.
TBF
(32,153 posts)(back PRE-NAFTA when we still had jobs in this country) and I have voted for every single democratic candidate for the White House since 1992.
I didn't leave my party - my party left me. Should Hillary succeed in stealing the nomination I will be voting Green.
If that is treasonous so be it.
7962
(11,841 posts)And WE are supposed to be "bad" for bringing it up?
TBF
(32,153 posts)putting up as much as I could find. We need the UN or someone to come in and monitor our elections. The people are getting screwed.
Response to kadaholo (Original post)
JEB This message was self-deleted by its author.
Kittycat
(10,493 posts)cui bono
(19,926 posts)MrMickeysMom
(20,453 posts)= ELECTION FRAUD
It sure is interesting lately.