Guest Blogged By John Gideon, VotersUnite.Org
Misinformation being circulated, concerning straight-party voting in Texas (and elsewhere) is beginning to be a big problem, and will undoubtedly lead to voters deselecting their preferred Presidential candidate, and possibly flipping their own votes to another candidate. This from the Travis County today:
“He said… ‘Let me tell you, make sure you vote straight ticket, then you also vote for Obama to make sure the vote counts,'” said Erica Prosser, who witnessed the incident at Randalls.
In reality, pressing the button for a candidate whose name is already highlighted deselects that candidate.
These “poll cats” should be stopped by local authorities. But, unfortunately, the above incident wasn’t the only problem with straight-party voting in Texas, and even election officials, at least one in Williamson County, appear to have been circulating the same incorrect information to voters…
According to the Taylor Daily Press in Williamson County…
“A voter can vote straight party and have all of their votes count, the e-mail states. They can also vote straight party and then select every Democrat again, if they so chose.”
According to campaign officials, when an east Williamson County voter voted using electronic machines, she selected a straight party ticket, effectively selecting each Democrat on the ballot. She then went back and selected a Democrat’s name again. By doing so, it unchecked that selection, according to a release from one of the campaigns.
Mr. Barron, if this is all true, is sending out false information to voters. If the voters vote straight party and then go back and select every Democrat again they will, in fact, deselect those choices. Theoretically, the same would be true for Republican straight-party voters.
Jim Schutze in the Dallas Observer Blog reports a similar incident today:
Like this: He voted a straight ticket for one party. Then he wanted to deselect two judges he didn’t want to vote for. And he didn’t want to vote for the other party’s candidates. He didn’t want anyone in those races.
But when he deselected the first one, the machine showed him with a check mark for the other party’s candidate in that race. He complained to the election judge, who, he says, told him the machine did that automatically. The voter told the election judge he didn’t believe it should. She came over and watched the voter deselect the second judge. That one stayed blank.
He deselected the first one again, and it stayed blank. The election judge shut down the machine.”
VotersUnite has logged more problems that can be directly attributed to straight-party voting than to any other issue so far this election season. In the above instance when the voter deselected two judicial races those races should have stayed blank. He has a right to not vote in any race he wants.
We’ve got more info at VotersUnite here on concerns about straight-party voting in other states as well as Texas. It is clear that in the 15 states that allow straight-party voting voters need to skip the option; vote for each race separately.
Oh, but the gov’t appointed election protection committees say say this is ok because EVMs are the way to go for the future. We can suffer through a few minor glitches, they say. They say all the activists are koo-koo, that hardly anyone is being disenfranchised. *aaarrrggghhh*
As to this article … my understanding is that straight-ticket voting on EVMs disenfranchises the voter from a vote for the presidential candidate. This is built into the machine’s programming, right? And this is the way it should be???? Oh Help me somebody.
Kira
Help is here. When you choose Straight party voting in Texas it votes for all partisan races, including President. Other states are different.
You can find out about straight party voting in your state HERE
Ellen Theisen of VotersUnite has talked to election officials in all of the straight-party states and learned that many of them did not understand their own laws.
The big picture on straight-party is that the voters should skip the option and vote for each race; but vote for each race they should.
Thanks for the response John Gideon [one of my heroes 🙂 ] I was thinking about this song [selected lyrics]:
Help Me Somebody
NRBQ
Everybody’s looking for a brand new day
Everybody’s looking for a brand new way
Help me somebody,
Oh help me please
‘Cuz as a matter of fact,
I’m getting real tired of your act,
Help me somebody
I know you, you know me too
How am I ever gonna stop you doing those things you do?
Everybody’s looking for a brand new day
Everybody’s looking for a brand new way
Help me somebody, Help me somebody,
Oh help me please
‘Cuz as a matter of fact,
I’m getting real tired of your act,
Help me somebody, Help me somebody, please
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am glad you posted the links for those who might not know about all these shenanigans. And THANK YOU for ALL YOU DO!!! 🙂
John, I hope you’re still checking the comments …
Do you [or anybody commenting here] have a link to information that shows the REAL history of problems with Paper Ballots – not the voting machine propaganda.
I know I’ve seen data compiled somewhere, but can’t seem to find it.
There is a problem with paper ballots – it happened many years ago in an election I was involved in. If paper ballots are ‘inadvertently’ left outside during a rainstorm, they get ruined.
Tedeger #5
If we used the tried and true Canadian method, the paper ballots would be counted immediately after the election in plain view of the public and in about 4 hours.
The entire process from start to finish is done securely and transparently and costs only a few dollars per vote — the cost per vote with the EVMs is $54-plus. Along with the rest of the malfeasance – priceless.
Kira,
Other than TEDEGER’s comments I have no idea where to go for a history of problems. I’ve never seen one.
Since all electronic voting machines contain features specifically designed to throw elections, I’ve been wondering where the specification to do that came from?
And how widespread was the practice before that (going back 100 or so years)? I’d bet that at least a few elections have been thrown the hard way; I remember the thought of a recount, before IBM cards, was daunting, so they seemed to be rare. Races lost by a few hundred votes went unchallenged.
No, I’m barely old enough to have seen this, but my first several ballots involved a stamp pad and a rubber X stamp and a big sheet of paper put into a big box.
My sister and I are poll greeters in Irving. We are giving people the correct straight ticket info – that they DO vote for Obama when they select the straight Democratic Party box. A lot of people have heard this malicious info, and we’re happy to set them straight. Be assured that Obama Dallas is all over this.
Obama08 comment #9 says it’s ok to vote the straight ticket. Texas Democrats Org. gives more information.
Apparently, if you vote the straight ticket you should NOT go back and check any other box – if you do, the machine unchecks your vote for president.
Gotta get rid of these machines.
But, PERSONALLY — I wouldn’t risk voting straight ticket. It’s all just too important this time around.
@wereallinthistogether
All four EVM manufacturers are managed by reich wing @ssholes who can trace their pure Republican ancestry all the way back to Adam and Eve.
I think that this answers that question.
(Yes, I know that the GOP doesn’t really go back that far, but these folks believe in Creationism and other miscellaneous fairy tales, so we have to just nod and say “Whatever.”)
There has probably always been election fraud to some extent. Richard Daley is supposed to have used his political machine in Chicago to win the 1960 election for Kennedy. They say that all the folks in every cemitary in Chicago voted for Kennedy. The Chicago Democratic machine also brought us the line Vote Early – Vote Often.
Brad and John can probably point to sources of info on election fraud.
I’m here because, like Brad, I know that the EVMs have to be replaced by a transparent process or else we can kiss democracy goodbye (if we haven’t already).
Ain’t there a modified tree chipper machine to grind up all the electronic voting machines yet?
I would like to invest in that company!
Hell, I would like to just film it!!
What is wrong with simply skipping the ‘straight party’ vote and just voting in each race? If there is a question, that is definitely the way to go.
I voted yesterday using the e-voting machines in Austin, and there is a screen at the end of the process to verify your vote in each race before hitting the ‘cast ballot’ button. It’s not rocket science!
Texas has other problems (Harris County at least) and they may extend far beyound TX. I don’t know I’ve never heard anybody complaining about it.
I went and voted for the first time in the 2004 debacle. I spent my time in line and then got to the table with the election officials. They looked my name up in the voter role found it, then produced a big fat roll of 2 up printed labels. They gave me a sticker with a code on it to enter in the touch screen and peeled the other identical label and placed it over my name in the voter role.
I tried to vary the code a little but the machine would not let me vote until I entered the code excatly as it appeared on the sticker they gave me which matched the other sticker they stuck in the voter role over my name. These labels had the same type of glue as a posted note and could easily be removed from the voter role.
There is but one reason they would be doing this and what I would like to know is, is keeping a database of how people voted legal?