By Brad Friedman on 11/7/2012, 2:30pm PT  

We've got a lot of mopping up to do around here today, tomorrow and in the days and weeks ahead. There are still races outstanding, recounts apparently coming and, despite encouraging reported results yesterday, an electoral system left in shambles. If you haven't noticed or guessed, yes, we intend to hold President Obama to this remark (and many more) from his victory speech last night.

Keep in mind, by the way, that while the President was promising to "fix that" problem, at 2am ET, voters were actually still reportedly in line to vote in Miami-Dade County, FL. An American disgrace.

For the moment, however, we're scrambling to prepare for our KPFK/Pacifica Radio show an hour from now, during which we'll have plenty to discuss, and will also be joined by Bob Fitrakis of Ohio's Free Press, to discuss the matter of OH Sec. of State's Jon Husted's last-minute, uncertified, "experimental" software installed secretly on the vote tabulators of 39 Buckeye State counties and Fitrakis' day in two different courtrooms challenging it yesterday. [UPDATE: That interview is now posted here.]

So, for now, two quick things. One: Our usual reminder that while much of the front-end voter suppression stuff yesterday was plainly obvious, it's often not until the days and, sometimes, weeks or more after any given election that the most serious concerns about election integrity issues having to do with things like voting machines and computer tabulators begin to come to light. And two: Since we were so buried yesterday chasing down incoming reports and talking about what was going on on more media outlets than we care to count, we didn't get to offer a compiled list of reporting voting system problems.

Here's a few of those problems that we can all start digging into a bit...

This list, compiled by Steve Watson, was published at a website I don't usually link to, for various reasons. In this case, however, the list is a very helpful roundup of just some of the news stories published by other sites which bear more investigation...

The AP reports that “cards used to clear tallies from machines before voting begins were improperly programmed,” meaning that around 500 machines had to be “reset”.

The Toledo Blade reports that some 100 voters were unable to cast ballots this morning in Bedford, Ohio, because a voting machine was not working. Officials said that a memory card had to be replaced. Long lines led to people walking away.

In Dubuque, Iowa, more voters were delayed when machines failed to operate for around 45 minutes after the polling station opened.

Reports from across North Carolina, one of the key swing states, are pouring in suggesting that voting machines are flipping votes from one candidate to the other.

In Greensboro, “a voter complained that they tried to vote for Mitt Romney three times but that the ballot cast was instead for Barack Obama. Other voters in Guilford County and in some other parts of the state said they experienced similar issues.”

In Charlotte, another voter reported the same problem.

In Rehoboth, Massachusetts problems with voting machines were also noted. The machines officials are using are 14 years old, according to the report. Problems were also reported in Tewksbury, Massachusetts.

In Milford Township, Pennsylvania, three voting machines stopped working after just one hour of voting. After a technician got them working again, one of them broke down a second time, causing waiting voters to begin discussing their distrust of the machines and the potential for voter fraud.

In Crawford County, problems with machines were also reported. They had not been set to the correct time, so were unable to be used for a short period of time.

In Missouri, the Secretary of State’s office has been forced to respond after numerous voters claimed that machines were flipping votes for Romney to votes for Obama.

In Pittsburgh, voters have reported multiple problems with voting machines.

In Sandy Springs, Georgia, hundreds of people were delayed when voting machines went down at around 11 a.m.

In Nashville, Tennessee, technical issues with the machines were reported by many voters, while in Chattanooga, machines malfunctioned, meaning some voters had to put their ballots in the machine without them being scanned.

In Fredericksburg, Northern Virginia, hundreds of voters were turned away as all of the electronic voting machines at one polling station failed to operate. Polling workers only had 50 paper ballots available. Worse still, some voters who used the machines were told that their votes would not count if they had placed them before 8am.

In Spartanburg County, South Carolina, voting machines have failed to work all day and election officials have twice run out of paper ballots.

In Faulkner County, Arkansas, machines were reported inoperable.

Some areas in Virginia reported voting machine problems.

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Article Categories: Election Irregularities, Election Reform, Election 2012