I voted in the Tennessee primary today. Although I didn't find the machine that complicated (in spite of the 10 PAGES of candidates I had to slog through), I agree about the lack of privacy - the pollworker was standing a couple of feet in front of the machine the entire time, and when, at one point, I took what I suppose was a little longer than he thought I should (I saw a name in the judge's races I didn't recognize, was trying to recall it), he started to come around and assist me.

I asked the pollworkers if they'd had a good turnout so far (this was just a little over an hour after the polls opened), and they said yes, been busy so far. I was one of only five voters in the community center at the time, and even with only two machines I only had to wait about 5 minutes - but then, when we had paper ballots, I NEVER had to wait.

I asked the pollworker who showed me how to use the iVotronics machine if there had been any crashes, and he said no (and was it just me, or was he slightly irritated at my question?) When I was done, I said, "Well cool, it didn't crash" - he didn't seem amused.

The majority of the people who vote at my polling place are farmers and ranchers, and very few of them have computers or even know how to use one. I'll be keeping my ears open at the co-op, farmer's markets, and art galleries and coffee shop over the next few weeks, will be striking up conversations with the locals to see if I can get some idea of how it went in other parts of the county.

Hats off to the Governor of Tennessee!!!!!

Well, my home state of Alabama makes the news again appearing as usual to be less than equal in it's governance of the people. A proper place for Republicans to try a new tactic concerning control of voter rolls. And they won. Who says Alabama is not a leader in reform? We are on the leading edge, giving you such outstanding people as Judge Roy Moore, who made a name for himself by placing a Ten Commandments monument in his courthouse in the middle of the night.
I recommend everyone read John Dean's book "Conservatives Without Conscience" for a great look at the winning strategy of the neocons. The better we understand our opponents, the better we are to defeat them. Unfortunately, Mr. Dean concludes his book by basically saying our only hope is to vote them out. Exactly why Brad and all the awesome people here are so important in their relentless work to assure an honest vote count. Carry on my Patriotic Heroes!

John

"Control Alt Delete Democracy"

Funny ... in times past we had a joke around the software developer area ...

Question: How can you tell which of these developers are developing Windows programs?

Answer: They are the ones with the worn Control Alt Delete keys.

One felt like a test pilot in those days ... cause Windows would hang or crash far too often.

Tom DeLay

If you are the darling of the republicans, why are they so desperately fighting to keep your sweet little tush off the ballot this November (link here)?

I hear them begging papa Alito, Thomas, and Scalia "Please don't make us keep TD on the ballot" ... and also pleeze ... can we leave the Scarlet Letter "R" off the ballot next to our names?

"D" seems to be much more American you know.

Here is a link to the DeLay decision in the 5th Circuit (mentioned in post #5) if anyone is interested (Republicans v Democrats).

John

The "Federal Judge Strikes Down Restrictive Registration Rules" link may be one of the most important judicial decisions going on.

I will watch this one as it goes up to the Ninth Circuit, assuming there is such an appeal.

This was one principle the republican dictatorship was going to use in California ... as they did in Ohio and in Florida.

Could be the end of that discriminating crap!

DaveM #3

Dean seems to be an honorable, gutsy guy, but that quote is unsettling:

"Mr. Dean concludes his book by basically saying our only hope is to vote them out."

He has said publically that he thinks there isn't any problem with the voting machines!