[Editor's note: Sam Wood is reporting that long lines are being created throughout the Philadelphia region by malfunctioning voting machines, and at least one of the candidates is ascribing it to "dirty tricks." Here's where to go to report problems in your precinct. -- DN]
The Verified Voting Foundation is reporting that over 85% of Pennsylvania’s voters will be casting their votes today on paperless electronic voting systems.
Yep, no voter verified paper trail. Any hacker out there looking to cause mischief is gonna consider that a plus.
According to the Secretary of State’s most current voter registration statistics, Pennsylvania has 8,326,564 registered voters. 7,064,129 voters are registered in the 51 counties in which paperless electronic voting is the only method of voting at the polling places.
Verified Voting News has an explanation of which voting system is county-by-county, along with links to the Pennsylvania voter files and other statistical data. If you’re wondering about tonight’s results, read this for more background. The graphic above and the key to it can be found here.



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‘allo lhp!
Happy paper trails to you LHP
Cool chart.
Of course any result is going to be called into question by the Clinton camp. I knew that before this voting machine thingy…
Oh all these machine problems are just a coincidence, I’m sure.
And for the record, I never want to hear the word “glitch” again.
[Editor’s note: Sam Wood is reporting that long lines are being created throughout the Philadelphia region…
yeah, it *would* be Philly, wouldn’t it? That’s Obama country – eastern PA.
Betcha there are no such problems in Pittsburgh…
Philadelphia Inquirer reports machine malfunctions.
Head/desk.
2008 and we are still dealing with this.
Instant coffee and men on the moon.
Good grief.
close ears everybody
HOW CAN WE HAVE A DEMOCRACY WITH BROKEN VOTING MACHINES?
every election same dayyyyum thing…sheeesh
LHP – here in Broome County, NY(just over the border from Susquehanna County, PA), we are still using lever voting machines.
Wow….I hope you are wrong in that piece of gloom. Who knows?
Here is a google map broken down by CD.
Saw this on Think Progress. Once upon a time I would have felt comforted by the thought that the DoJ was monitoring an election. Now, not so much:
oh, and since you asked, I *am* accusing the Clinton campaign of nefarious activity…
glitch
oops sorry egregious, that was a glitch
I don’t know about that. If she wins,as she is projected to do, why would she question the outcome?
The voter protection community has several problem child states (including Ohio and Fla) that always bear special vigilence. Pennsylvania used to have a reel to reel paper trail system and they recently scotched it b/c it make is possible to figure out how each voter voted thereby screwing up the whole “secret ballot” thingy.
The problem is, they didn’t replace it with anything. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb
This is what happens when states rushed out to spend their HAVA money by the ridiculous and artificially short deadlines and wound up buying crap systems that do not actually comply with the statute or pre-existing aand still valid statutes.
Only NYS stuck to its guns and did HAVA implentation methodically and correctly, for which the Ashcroft Justice Depatment’s CIVIL FUCKING RIGHTS DIVISION sued NY State.
I tell you between the non quorum FEC and the un civil rights division it does not take any kind of conspiracy theorist to think they just want another chaotic election cycle.
Instant Runoff Voting. Paper-trail voting systems. Multiple-day voting periods. More than two (some would say one) parties. Voting monitors. Rapid legal response to voting fraud.
Campaign finance reform…
So yo, egregious – how you liking Cali?
Philly has had troubles of this kind for years and years
Jayt, the report just said “throughout the region,” and I read that to mean the Philly region. But it could in fact be intended broader. Though at that point I’d wonder why you wouldn’t just say “throughout the state.”
Someone sent me an e-mail saying that the Clinton campaign internal poll shows her leading by 11%, that statewide she is leading two to one in most areas.. .
and now I SHALL go bang my head against the wall…ouch in advance
Gotta go. Back in a while. At some point in the day I guess I should show up and vote.
1,820 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
If there is a “Florida” or “Ohio” experience with stealin’ this election, I think that it will spell the end of the McClintons and the DLC corporatist power in the Democratic Party. I’m almost hopin’ that they try sumpthin like that ‘cuz it’s gunna be right out in front a God and everyone…it’s what will get tens of thousands into the streets of Denver.
Listen folks, there has been a coup de main and it happened from 1981 thru 1988, the corporate fascists control both parties and have been determinin’ the Democratic nominees since 1988. Mrs. McClinton’s continuation in this race jest exposes more and more of the rot she and her husband have facilitated in our politics over the last 16 years.
KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION…OUR LEADER IS GUNNA NEED US IN FRONT OF ‘IM IF HE’S GUNNA GET THIS THING DONE!!
she said that LAST nite
That was a rumor spread by Drudge.
i wuve you!
EPU’d from below: Kos wrote about Obama’s hacked site on Saturday. Also MYDD. Apparently an “old” story. Anyone remember when the Obama campaign office was broken into (within last couple of days)?
Everbody in NYS that had lever machines is still using them. NY State only picked its new machines last month. The the great Bill Biamonte Nassau County commissioner of elections has started an email campaign looking for tech savvy people to become poll workers on Election Day (as oopsed to the 80+ year olds with rotary dial phones the BOE has been using up until now)
All of NYS state needs tech comfortable pool workers for this Nov. So call you local Board of Elections if you want to be hired for that day.
and now I SHALL go bang my head against the wall…
quit hoggin’ the wall, will ya? That’s my space – right over there….
Drudge, reliable I’m sure. Not.
Suffolk Co NY has a similar consent decree b/c of past discrimination against Hispanic voters. You don’t actually see the federal monitors and unlike the election monitoring program I help to run, they don’t try to fix problems on election day. They just document problems and turn the evidence over to DOJ, who doesn’t seem to do anyting with it.
At least that’s how it has worked in the past. Who knows what Monica and Brad cooked up though.
OT, but good news — the Chinese weapons ship is headed home.
1,820 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
Getcher own wall…I need all the room on mine!!
KEEP THE FAITH AND GET READY TA RUMBLE!!
Drudge, reliable I’m sure. Not.
I beg your pardon – Drudge is absolutely reliable – in a certain way….
I cannot count high enough to tell you how many pro bono hours I have spent on these specific issues. Out in the trenches 5 AM to midnight and beyond. Every election cycle.
Well, then join me in beating my head on Nancy Pelosi’s empty table.
why are we STILL talking about,broken or insufficient voting machines in the 21st century,in the richest country in the world? just askin
We’re going to need another one of these walls.
Getcher own wall…I need all the room on mine!!
I’d be happy to share…..
oy
“…who could have foreseen….” – take #3,943
why are we STILL talking about,broken or insufficient voting machines in the 21st century,in the richest country in the world? just askin…
Who’s handing out the contracts these last eight years?
If she only wins by a very narrow margin and people are not convinced of her gloriousness, then the accusations will fly. that is what I meant. her usual change the goal post thing.
I’m praying for an Obama upset, but hopeful for a single digit margin for HRC, which I would consider quite an achievement for Obama’s campaign in a state considered to be a “slam dunk” for hillary.
where are Hill,and Obama and the rest of the dems
SCREAMING ABOUT THIS??????
Do you have any idea how much money in lobbying and campaign money the companies that make these machines and their sofware spend?
Fucking Microsoft directly lobbied the NYS legislature b/c they didn’t want to escrow their source code and our rules require that. So a company would not be able to use any Microsoft code if they wanted to bid to supply NY machines. And the boys from redmond play rough.
ill take it
The elections and procurement official in the individual states
than dear BILL GATES and his very charitable wife
must be PUBLICLY shamed into doing better imo
where are Hill,and Obama and the rest of the dems
SCREAMING ABOUT THIS??????
The balls must only be displayed on a very few, select, occasions.
Harry and Nancy screaming? Now, that’s funny.
Not. Gonna. Happen.
Bill Gates, whose ‘paper’ wealth exceeds that of the combined wealth of the bottom 40% is above reproach.
Please remember that he is a hero to most of that 40% …
Look, every voter in every state regardless of party should be able to agree about one thing and to force their state elections officials to comply.
We need voter verified paper ballots in order to have a legitimate recount. We also need good chain of custody regulations and valid audit trail procedures.
This is not rocket science.
But it is the foundation of the social contract.
How freaking hard can it be to pass a law requiring a freaking paper trail. It’s not like the integrity of elections is a big deal…
that they do, and that they’ve always done.
Rush Holt has a bill requiring a paper trail, it has been stalled for years
Which the boys inside the beltway seem to be hell-bent on destroying. [heading off to adjust tinfoil hat]
Republics will block any and all attempts to require a paper trail.
By whom (bwahahahaha!) and how, please and thanks.
the boys from redmond play rough
that they do, and that they’ve always done
fuck ‘em – let’s play…
I was just reading about the Siegleman case over at Raw Story. I didn’t realize this:
Speaking of the social contract(this may be a stretch, but I can’t ignore it), let’s not forget the basis of our entire Constitution, the Magna Carta: “Tucked inconspicuously near the middle of the Magna Carta is what historians consider one of the document’s most enduring legacies. Habeas corpus, or the right to due process and a trial by jury, is a universal legal concept today, but didn’t exist in the law books until the barons noted in the Magna Carta that:
“No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled … except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livesc…..mhD9SyvtEF
If a law actually passed, Bush’s signing statement would render it useless and the Democrats would simply say “oh well, we tried”.
But Magna Carta was in 1215, a long time ago, which apparently renders Habeas Corpus as “quaint” as the Geneva Convention. /snark
This bill has been pending since February 2005
The House leadership (you know who that is) won’t let the bill come to the floor for an up or down vote. See the end of this press release from Rush
See what I mean about chain of custody and audit trail procedures being important? It’s that easy to steal an election
Republican like Pelosi and Reid?
Are the Clintons really going to create a fusion ticket with McCain and flip a two headed nickel as to who is on top? Is this really true? What does Lieberman think about this?
It’s not a stretch at all. These are basic fundamental principles that BushRoveCheney have under assault
It is good for voters to photograph the screens when they vote with their cell phones when they can.
This bill has been pending since February 2005
The House leadership (you know who that is) won’t let the bill come to the floor for an up or down vote….
ok – the longer I stray here, the madder I get. I’m goin’ down to the jail to talk to a few comparatively innocent defendants.
See y’all tonight.
later jayt
So, I guess Bush/Cheney is our stand-in for Prince John, huh?
I’m sorry, but the idea of providing a paper trail is inconsistent with Earth Day. Libruls need to decide which is more important, tee hee.
Thanks! The Bill is shown to be dead. How can it be brought back to life? Are there enough votes to pass and override a Bush veto? Can he really do a signing statement to kill it? Surely there must be Republicans with integrity! (Of course, in MN when Republicans voted against state leadership re transportation funding on the heels of the I35 bridge collapse, they were publicly pilloried and stripped of their plum committee assignments.)
Yup. He was just about as inept and out of touch as W.
hahahaha
lack of paper trail is no accident …
and we’re not going to fix voting fraud by the thugs in this election cycle. Instead, seems like we gotta try to win by a big enough margin that they can’t steal election no matter how hard they try. They will try …
I’d be delighted to compost the paper from that paper trail if it would make people feel happier…
That evolutionary branch went extinct decades ago.
We’re doing paper and pen in California. I love SoS Debra Bowen!
Regarding photographing your voting machine:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…..548/500835
OOOOHH… You said a bad word… (*G*)
Kagro X is the “how a bill become law” expert around these parts, not me. I think it can be reintroduced at a new edition of Congress and go through the committee process again like a new bill. But don’t quote me on that.
As fo whether there are enough votes to override a veto I have no clue.
Which is why it is important to inform all of you and virally everyone you know of the importance of passing this or an even better version ASAP
i like trying to create a trail. But how does this help unless the voting machines do the kind of totally over-the-top stuff from 2000 and 2004 (recording vote for thug regardless of what you actually chose and displaying that)? Cell phone photos don’t seem like they help for recounts… Am I missing something?
Who was it on a thread a while back that said that the totally mail in version worked w/o a hitch. Counting done at a leisurely pace which allows accuraucy. No last minute craziness. No exhausted poll workers accidently transposing numbers. Just smoooo, ooooth
BlackBoxVoting.org’s Bev Harris has been leading on this issue for years. They even won a settlement against Diebold in court that helped fund BBV’s activities. Anyone into this issue should probably read this (beware of the organizations pushing “paper ballots”):
http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-b…..73637.html
There have been people yelling from the rooftops for years about this stuff, but it remains a secondary issue even through much of the Liberal blogosphere. We all must spread the word far and wide.
veto? Bush almost never vetoes. He uses signing statements with the full cooperation of Harry and Nancy.
Voting by mail works perfectly in my county. A lot of people do it, and the returns come out so quickly that everyone is surprised. It’s been going on for years and would be an effective way to stop all this machine stuff.
Over on Kos this diary saying that the ballot can be photographed by cell phone.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/…..548/500835
The Cushing Spot price for oil is currently $199.40/bbl. Can you say “Insane”? We are so screwed.
Oregon? Or . . . ?
Ooops! That should read $119.40/bbl.
I’m stunned. When someone predicted $200, I thought “no, that can’t be right” and here we are. WOW
Just you wait…
California. Lots of people in the state – including me -
vote by absentee ballot. The people who count the votes love it and we have so many in this county that we almost always are first to get results.
Paper ballots are the best ballots. Touch screen voting systems, even with VVPT is still crap. It’s just better crap than no paper trail. If I gave the false impression that I am not a died in the wool paper ballot girl, I apologize.
It’s just tha Pa HAD A PAPER TRAIL SYSTEM, and got rid of it in favor of no audit trail at all. CRAZY. Batshit crazy–(I always curse alot on Election Day, don’t know why)
would that be the same house leadership fed us bs and fucked us over on fisa last august? or maybe the house leadership that buried holt’s fisa bill? or maybe the house leadership that then fed holt bullshit to get him to vote for the first-extra-fucked-up-version of the restore act – so that it could get out of committee? (youtube)
but, surely, lhp, you’re not talking about our beloved house leaders we worked so hard to put in the majority?
McCain wants to suspend the gas tax. That’ll be a temporary drop in prices. It’ll take at least a couple of days for prices to fill that space as they keep rising. It’s a VERY stupid idea and not in any way a solution to the problem.
Cough..too early in the day for a heart attack please.
it was down around $20? when Bush took office. the price has increased by 10 times the original amount in only 8 years. Ye gods and little fishes!
it’s not supposed to be a solution to the problem …
Oh, so ony 5 times?
Then what’s the point of it? We really need a solution, not pandering.
many of our elections are mail based — Colorado. It seems to work. Although I also like actually going to the polling place, seeing my neighbors, and voting. Would certainly trade mail ballot w/ paper trail for polling place w/o paper ballots in a second.
Last time around, our precinct had both paper ballots and an electronic machine. I was horrified to see how many people wanted to use the electronic machine and how much the election folks were encouraging it. No obvious reason other than it was new and cool. And coincidentally hackable w/o recourse. Jeez!
Yes, Selise, that would be them.
you are talking mcsame, right? So, news headlines, temproary attempt to not seem so out of touch w/ regular people, consistent w/ taxes-R-bad message, and not coincidentally, ultimately funnels more money to oil companies. What’s not to like?
I just found this…it is amazing. I think you will really enjoy reading it. http://bostonreview.net/BR28.3/linebaugh.html
i thought for a moment that meant we’d (or israel) had started bombing iran.
phew.
bom dia, pups
I put my money where my mouth was and was doing GOTV calls this morning.
How is everyone doing today?
Good for you. Want every vote we can get today. Keep it up. Strangely enough, I have only gotten one phone call this entire primary season and it was from the Hillary campaign. Didn’t last long when I told them I was voting for Obama. Wonder why?
Hmm that is strange but I can tell you that my earlier phone lists consisted of old information so I spent a lot of time updating info when I could.
It is important to get out and vote and while I was doing this on behalf of one campaign, I still encouraged folks to get out and vote no matter who they were supporting
No matter who you vote for it’s important. We need to teach kids in school (and at home) that voting is a right and a privilege and a duty.
Thank You. I may even write about it
That would be the same house ‘Leadership’, Miss Nancy in particular, we can put out on the street this fall. It a can be done and must be, must be attempted at the least.
I can tell you that everyone I talk to in NC is sick and disgusted and above all enraged by her enabling of Bush and his Fascitii.
Just more evidence that some would turn this into a third world country and by ’some’ I mean folks who call themselves ‘Democrat’ as well as those who honestly label themselves ‘Republican.
Digital ballot with no receipt. Handful of college students doing their duty.
Thanks much for calling attention to this issue.
Re ”voter-verified paper trail.” Out in the world of normal folk who care much about democracy but aren’t spending all their time trying to hack through the weeds of the electronic voting controversy, the term ”voter-verified paper trail” is a completely reasonable term. Among advocates for verifiable elections, it’s become problematic.
Verified Voting Foundation, along with voting advocates, believe that paper-trail printer retrofits are not an adequate solution to the problem of paperless electronic voting: they lose votes to printer jams, and go unchecked by too many voters. Voter-marked paper ballots read by an optical scanner are a much better solution. See VerfiedVoting.org’s action alert on the latest federal election verification legislation (VV.org is the 501c(4) sister of the Verified Voting Foundation). VV.org notes the superiority of paper ballots over paper trails.
http://salsa.democracyinaction….._KEY=22334
Thanks again for spreading the word.
Midwest Millian
LHP said:
I’m so glad to see you acknowledge that the paper ballots ARE the one and only paper trail. It’s important that people understand that a separate, uncounted paper trail would be a very bad idea, as these machines could be hacked to display one thing on screen and print out something else entirely, voter unverified. (Note: I’m not against ballot marking devices [printers] for the disabled. At least the voter can verify the marks printed on his/her ballot.)
We need to get rid of electronic voting and electronic vote counting PERIOD! One paper ballot per voter. I also support IRV, but it would still need to be hand counted. We can afford to wait an extra day to two to get our verified election results.
- Tom
I made a windy comment below about why paper ballots are better than a paper trail. Sorry I did not see this first:)
Above meant to reply to looseheadprop@97
I know I’m deep in EPU land, but I just got some good news. NYS had only one county intencding to purchase a touch screen voting system. Because there is only one county that wants to buy there product, its not profitble for the manufacture.
Today the manufacturer has withdrawn as a vendor in NYS. NYS is now a toaly paper ballot state.
[LHP doin’ the happy dance]
the RFK jr interview with siegleman also points out that siegleman decided not to pursue a recount because the rnc had locked up the state supreme court with 8 of 9 of the judges being repubs. That’s how pervasive this corruption is.Just create the illusion of a conflict and leave the decision to the politicaly appointed judges.Kinda like florida 2000 and the election in mexico