Actor Tim Robbins, one of a few who've been very outspoken about election integrity concerns, was told he was no longer on the rolls yesterday in NYC, at the polling place where he'd voted for "more than a decade".

A "ruckus" reportedly ensued as Robbins fought to not have to vote on a provisional ballot, and eventually was forced to go see a judge in order to get to cast his vote.

Says Robbins, in the short video below, as he was in the process of getting the needed paperwork to fight to cast his vote in America: "This is what you have to do to vote... I had to go down to see a judge... My name was not on the roll, and I'm not the only one. According to workers, 30 people in 5 hours had been taking off the rolls. You can do the math on that. 6 per hour, per district across America..."

P.S. Note from Brad: Much to get caught up on today --- from the Al Franken mess in MN, questions about the Prop 8 results in CA, about Ted Stevens' Diebold re-election in AK, MO's close race for President and much more --- even as I've got a phalanx of promised media interviews, etc. to get through all day. Remember, most of the problems from Election Day don't begin to reveal themselves until the days following the election. So much catchup to come soon. My thanks for your patience, and for both Jim Cirile and Des' work in keeping this joint up to date-ish as I've been otherwise unable to do much BRAD BLOGGING over the last 24 or so...

UPDATE 12:20pm PT: The Nation's John Nichols notes the "Orwellian twist", given Robbins' appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher just over a week ago, urging people to fight for their right to vote not on a provisional ballot if they found themselves purged from the rolls on Election Day...

This morning there are some articles that were from last night after I sent the evening edition. Anything I entered this morning is strictly about problems with voting machines and tabulation of votes. Except for something that I feel needs to be in DVN that is not about technology and vote counting I will probably skip it unless it is a big story. I have also made things easier and added notes between brackets [ ] so the reader will know the manufacturer of the system and/or what the problem is that is being reported.

There are some problems with vote tabulation that will be followed. Hillsborough Co Florida is having problems with their Premier/Diebold system and with the vendor. Washoe Co Nevada is reporting 40 blank memory cards. Boulder Co Colorado is having problems because their Hart eScan optical-scan machines have problems with ballot dust and dirt...

Guest blogged by Jim Cirile

One of the more closely watched Senate contests is still undecided as of 11:30 PM Pacific time--Al Franken vs. Norm Coleman in Minnesota. Right now CNN.com is showing them in a statistical dead heat with 42% of the vote each with 94% of precincts reporting. However, at this moment Franken is behind by... 72 votes. That's right--72. Just minutes ago with 93% reporting, Franken was down by 6,500 votes.

As Brad notes during his broadcast on NovaM Radio tonight, Franken was the only Air America Radio host who never wanted Brad on his show, as he was apparently completely disinterested in election integrity issues. So it should be interesting to see if Franken changes his tune if the numbers remain this close. If Franken loses by two votes, perhaps he'll realize the importance of counting every vote. Of course, we hope Franken pulls it out. But right now it's a squeaker! Stand by...

UPDATE 11:40pm PT Franken now trails by 1,200 votes but the race is still statistically tied.

UPDATE 11:55pm PT Franken down by 1,400 with 95% reporting. But: a caller just reported that the New York Times website was reporting that exit polls had Franken ahead by 12%--that data has now been scrubbed. Election integrity experts, have at it. Even if Franken wouldn't stick up for election integrity, we shall stand up for him--and the voters in Minnesota. More on this to come, I'm sure.

UPDATE FROM DES, 11/5/08, 9:40am PT: The Associated Press announced this morning they are 'un-calling' the race they had previously rushed to call in favor of Coleman:

Franken has, wisely, not conceded. More from Brad on all of this, no doubt, when he's able to get caught back up from out of the prevailing whirlwinds...

UPDATE 11/5/08 9:02pm PT: More details on the race, and the flawed op-scanners used to 'count' it now here...

Brad's been anchoring along with Peter B. Collins earlier, and then sorta with Mike Malloy, and shortly he will finish it out, bradcasting live from Los Angeles for the rest of the night from 9p-Midnight PT (Midnight-3am ET).

In other words, all night long, covering reported results and concerns about election issues around the country. If your local affiliate is not carrying it, listen live online right here.

The show thread started here earlier today, but everyone's page will load and reload faster if we split this up. Part two of the open thread is here.

I think you will be able to hear Brad on both Peter B's feed and NovaM's after 9pm, Pacific Time.

***DON'T FORGET TO CHECK BELOW FROM TIME TO TIME BECAUSE THERE ARE GOING TO BE ELECTION NEWS UPDATES COMING ALL NIGHT.***

love, 99

Guest blogged by Jim Cirile

Live from Brad Blog Election Center in North Hollywood, CA, we pause from election updates to bring you these reports of election irregularities, oddities and irritations coming in from all over our great nation. We haven't vetted these, so don't shoot the messenger. Or as the Bard (that's Bard, not Brad) once said, "Hey, I don't make the freaking news, I just blab it to youse." When the dust has cleared and the euphoria of the election has subsided, we'll still have to address deal with the dirty tricks and voter suppression and... yes, the machines...

Guest blogged by Jim Cirile

ABC could barely wait until the polls closed to announce Obama will carry the day with 284 electoral votes. Obama is projected to carry California, Virginia, Washington and Hawaii, putting him over the top.

The era of Bush is over. Thank God.

Guest Blogged by Jim Cirile

As of this minute CNN is projecting 207 electoral votes for Obama and 135 for McCain. 270 is the magic number to win. Once Obama scores California's 55 electoral votes, that puts him at 262--8 votes away. In other words, California plus pretty much any other state (okay, almost) and Obama wins.

Can McCain still pull this out?

We're watching with trepidation as McCain's numbers have been creeping upwards while Obama has been holding steady at 207 for some time. Of course, here on the West Coast the polls haven't even closed yet. But still, we here at The BRAD BLOG know from experience not to count our proverbial chickens. Frankly, I can't see how Mac can pull it out. But if there's a will, there's a way, and there certainly is a lot of will on the part of those who would do anything to keep the military industrial complex fully funded.

CNN also projects the Democrats now have 54 seats in the Senate, with another ten still in play. In the House, Dems have won 133 seats to 83 for the Republicans.

More breaking news to come, stand by...

Guest blogged by Jim Cirile

Into each life some rain must fall, only in the case of Senator Addison "Mitch" McConnell, we're talking a force 5 tropical storm. Republican Senate leader McConnell's seat was considered in play and was high on the Dems' wish list--not only because a win in Kentucky would get them very close to the magic filibuster-proof 60 votes, but because McConnell was a filibuster-happy Bush loyalist, crushing Democratic initiatives in their tracks (note to filibuster-petrified Democrats--you can learn a thing or two from Mitch. Filibusters--they're not just for Republicans anymore.)

McConnell survives to be a big ol' flat tire on (what will hopefully be the) Obama administration, stifling investigations, chipping away at what's left of the US Constitution and ensuring the money continues to flow into the military industrial complex. Sigh.

Guest blogged by Jim Cirile

Republican Congressman Tom Feeney, rated by nonprofit watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (C.R.E.W.) as one of the "most corrupt members of Congress" for three years straight, has been defeated in Florida's 24th district. Regular readers of The BRAD BLOG readers know Feeney as the man who allegedly asked computer programmer Clint Curtis to write vote-flipping software in 2000 and escaped all accountability in an investigation stacked with Jeb Bush loyalists. (Full Curtis/Feeney scandal story summarized here, indexed in full here, new documentary film about the terrifying story here.)

According to the official FL Sec State website, as of 9:25 PM Eastern time, Feeney is losing to his Democratic challenger, Suzanne Kosmas by 19 percentage points--59% Kosmas, 40% Feeney. While we here at The BRAD BLOG are of course saddened that it was not Clint Curtis himself --- who left the Republican party after his dealings with Feeney and ran as a Democrat to unseat him in '06 and again in '08 when he lost in the primary --- who finally ended Feeney's ruinous reign, hey, any way we can get rid of Feeney, we'll take it. Of course, Kosmas is a corporate blue dog Dem with ethics issues of here own, as we've discussed here previously, but at this point we'll take the lesser of two evils and happily discharge Mr. Feeney. Here are your walking papers, sir. Job poorly done. Now Go Away. Hopefully to jail. Until then, we're sure he'll land in a cush lobbyist gig within a week.

In other great news, Congressman Robert Wexler is projected to win Florida's 19th district handily with 69% of the vote. Wexler, one of the few Congressional Democrats with teeth, has been a proponent of impeachment and accountability for the Bush administration. His return to Congress to finish his work is a very good thing indeed.

Brad's anchoring along with Peter B. Collins from 3p-6p PT (6p-9p ET), and then with Mike Malloy from 6p-9p PT (9p-Midnight ET), and then he will finish it out, bradcasting live from Los Angeles for the rest of the night from 9p-Midnight PT (Midnight-3am ET).

In other words, all night long, covering reported results and concerns about election issues around the country. If your local affiliate is not carrying it, listen live online right here.

The show thread started here earlier today, but everyone's page will load and reload faster if we split this up.

***DON'T FORGET TO CHECK BELOW FROM TIME TO TIME BECAUSE THERE ARE GOING TO BE ELECTION NEWS UPDATES COMING ALL NIGHT.***

love, 99

[Like, I don't think I'm dreaming, I could swear I just heard them telling me that Tom Feeney is FINALLY losing in Florida.... Yes!]

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Problems with machines in Clay County, Arkansas. Pre-election tests were not performed and there aren't enough paper ballots to around...

Serious problems "continue to plague Virginia". The following info comes from the 866-OUR-VOTE website (via the Institute for Southern Studies)...

UPDATE: RAW STORY has more on "massive voting machine failures and voters being turned away from polls," and a call to extend polling hours in VA. VA uses 100% unverifiable DRE (usually touch-screen) systems across virtually the entire state. When machines of that sort break down, voters can't vote, unless there are emergency paper ballots on hand, and officials bother to give them out to voters.

UPDATE II: More on the dirty tricks at Virginia Tech, including a map to the remote pollsite students are being sent to.

Note: This is the same county in VA (Richmond) where the registrar had purposely distributed incorrect information to Virginia Tech students, as we reported back in early September, to warn them they might lose scholarships and ability to be declared dependents on their parents tax forms if they registered to vote there.

Some brief, mid-Election Day comic relief... It looks like The Onion is reporting that a Sequoia touch-screen voting machine has been elected to the White House. Congratulations are due to the first "non-organic life form" to achieve this honor. The horrible Sequoia Voting Systems company, apparently, has finally managed to be "successful" at something!...

"More than 100 voting machines in Kenton County have been shut down on a judge's order" after they failed to properly register straight-party votes in Kentucky.

The failed machines are Hart InterCivic eSlate DREs (Direct Recording Electronic devices, usually touch-screen, though Hart's machines use a wheel and a button instead of a touch-screen). These are the same machines which Hart spokesman Peter Lichtenheld had previously argued could not lose or flip votes after they were similarly reported to have not been recording straight-ticket ballots correctly in Houston last week. Details from WLWT, a local KY NBC affiliate, follow...

Minutes ago, on CNN, they reported that "mechanical problems" are their quickest growing category of problems coming in to their hotline. "They hadn't even registered on our ticker previously," said the host. Perhaps because the Obama/DNC campaigns didn't tell them about all of the problems they've been finding?

A press release issued from 866-MYVOTE1 and CNN...at 9:30am PT reports on an alarming number of calls coming from "key states, like Pennsylvania, Virgian and Florida," And yes, as predicted, problems in Philadelphia where "there are extensive reports of machines simply not working." A perfectly predictable issue, that this horrifying chief of Philly elections didn't seem to care about just days ago.

Details from the CNN/VoterAction.org press release follow...