Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org
According to an ‘Opinion’ in the New York Times today, “Governor Crist is asking the Legislature to finance the purchase of new optical-scan machines, and it is expected to agree. Choosing optical scans is Governor Crist’s second good move. In optical-scan voting, voters mark a paper ballot that is then read by a computer. Polling place lines are shorter, because many voters can fill out ballots at the same time. These paper ballots are the official ballots, and can be recounted by hand to resolve a dispute. More than half the states “” including large ones like California, New York, Illinois and Ohio “” require computerized voting machines to produce a paper record. The addition of Florida would be a major defeat for election officials and voting-machine companies that have stubbornly opposed paper-trail requirements.”…
Our Opinion: A Paper Trail Improves Odds Of An Accurate Vote Tally LINK
Our position: It’s crucial for Florida to ban touch-screen voting machines. LINK
To assure every vote in Florida counts LINK
If Congress requires a paper trail, Johnson County must upgrade or replace its inventory. LINK
J.A.I.L. amendment proponents blame official for its failure LINK
**”Daily Voting News” is meant as a comprehensive listing of reports each day concerning issues related to election and voting news around the country regardless of quality or political slant. Therefore, items listed in “Daily Voting News” may not reflect the opinions of VotersUnite.Org or BradBlog.Com**
Boy, the Orlando Sentinal sure did a flip from a couple of days ago…I wonder what happened there ?
Did a flip how? What did they say a couple of days ago and how was it different from their previous position?
Oops, I guess it was the Sun sentinal, don’t matter anyway they’re both shitty rags anyway (unless someone works for them) 😀
…and not to pick on just those two either, almost every printed asswipe in this so-called country of ours just copy and paste from the main wire AP (aka Moonie) and corporate propaganda feeds
Not much left for original journalism out there anymore in the printed media, IMO, more of just the ‘imbedded’ crap
‘cept here at BradBlog, of course (but he ain’t printed)
“In optical-scan voting, voters mark a paper ballot that is then read by a computer. Polling place lines are shorter, because many voters can fill out ballots at the same time. These paper ballots are the official ballots, and can be recounted by hand to resolve a dispute”
Is the above quote opinion or fact? Does Florida not still hold that the machine count is the official record and the ballots can not be hand counted by anyone? If that is still the case then there is clearly a gaping hole in the logic of the above quoted opinion.
Will we get to read “Fooled Again 2008” because we choose to overlook this problem? How many more times will we get to read the latest version of “Fooled Again”?
Bob Young,
You are correct in part. Florida does prohibit the recount of the paper ballots. However, I believe that the courts can mandate that the paper ballots be inspected in cases such as Sarasota.
Here’s hoping that Crist will take the next, logical step and promote legislation to allow the use of the ballots for audits and recounts.
Thanks for your reporting John Gideon.
However, Omniscan is just another e-voting system that is fixed when the powers that be want to fix them.
Currently Team Clint Curtis is canvassing in Seminole County. Seminole Cnty uses Omniscan. It seems that in the precinct that Clint has picked for affidavits, there was supposed to be a 50/50 Curtis/Feeney total for Nov 2006. Clint assumes that all the republicans voted for Feeney (which I’m sure is NOT the case.) Feeney would have had to have a good proportion of the Dems, Inds, NPAs to be 50/50 in this precinct. However, after canvassing Dems, Independents and NPA’s, they are finding that overwhelmingly, Curtis won this precinct.
However, the total flip is so insignificant precinct by precinct, that a flip of 10 votes here, and 5 votes there are effective to flip a precinct from Rep to Dem or vise versa, but it is also small enough to fly under the radar of a need like in the “cases such as Sarasota.”
Crist is trying to redeem the Repug party in Florida; after all, they know deep inside that Florida went LEFT like the rest of the country, and with strategic rigging, they now have to appear like they are representing all voters and their important issues, so that it seems like the state actually voted for them.
But Omniscan is a wolf in lambs’ clothing (rather than sheeps’ clothing — touch screen voting) and Crist should not be congratulated. He’s blowing smoke; and most Floridians don’t know the difference.
I’m right with you in that hope John but I think we need a bit more than just hope before we canonize Crist a saint.
Thank you very much for all the effort you put into this John.
How about that South Dakota story? What a cat fight.
“Post-election controversy hangs over the Amendment E vote because of encouraging polling data that showed the issue winning. That is reflected in a memo by Stegmeier to supporters noting his concerns about the results of a Sept. 20 Zogby Poll commissioned by his group showing the issue winning 67 percent to 20 percent. Then a Nov. 4 KELO-TV poll showed proponents also winning by a 51 percent to 40 percent margin. But on Election Day, opponents won an overwhelming 89 percent to 11 percent victory.
That brought the J.A.I.L supporters to a decision to commission a post-election Zogby poll to see what the result would be.
Stegmeier writes to supporters: “And what a surprise. To my na(i)ve amazement, their numbers had us losing by 90 percent to 10 percent, just like the election results.”
Polls with different numbers?