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Colorado Bans Most Electronic Voting Machines
CBS News ^ | Dec. 18, 2007 | Associated Press

Posted on 12/18/2007 5:11:50 PM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts

Colorado's top election official decertified electronic voting machines used in many of the state's largest counties Monday, calling into question equipment used in past elections in a move he said could have national implications.

Electronic voting machines used in Denver, Arapahoe, Pueblo, Mesa and Elbert counties cannot be used in the next election because of problems with accuracy or security, Secretary of State Mike Coffman said.

A number of electronic scanners used to count ballots were also decertified, including a type used by Boulder County as well as more than three dozen small to mid-size counties around the state.

His decision affects six of Colorado's 10 most populous counties and three of the four equipment manufacturers allowed in the state.

The manufacturers have 30 days to appeal.

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: elections; electronicvoting; fraud; machines; voterfraud; voting
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Did the usual search for title and found no previous posts.

This is clearly a step in the right direction. Hopefully, more states will wake up and toss these electronic fraud enhancement devices in the landfill.

1 posted on 12/18/2007 5:11:54 PM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts

Great news!


2 posted on 12/18/2007 5:14:55 PM PST by nuconvert ("Terrorism is not the enemy. It is a means to the ends of militant Islamism." MZJ)
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts
Better yet would be getting the government out of elections.

Would you rather trust your money with an accountant or the government?

3 posted on 12/18/2007 5:15:13 PM PST by oyez (Justa' another high minded lowlife.)
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts
This is clearly a step in the right direction. Hopefully, more states will wake up and toss these electronic fraud enhancement devices in the landfill.

Hours of staring at chads by a select group of people via the news sure would make more sense. /s

4 posted on 12/18/2007 5:15:41 PM PST by EGPWS (Trust in God, question everyone else)
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts

purple finger good.


5 posted on 12/18/2007 5:16:45 PM PST by steveo (Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.)
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To: oyez
Would you rather trust your money with an accountant or the government?

Only a fool would trust their money with anyone but themselves....

6 posted on 12/18/2007 5:18:23 PM PST by EGPWS (Trust in God, question everyone else)
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To: steveo
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
7 posted on 12/18/2007 5:19:51 PM PST by digger48
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts
Doesn't sound any more dangerous than giving Democrat election clerks old fashioned paper ballot boxes they can stuff.

Last election in Washington and New Mexico they just kept "finding" more bags of ballots.

8 posted on 12/18/2007 5:20:27 PM PST by colorado tanker
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To: EGPWS

9 posted on 12/18/2007 5:20:46 PM PST by Rb ver. 2.0 (Global warming is the new Marxism.)
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts

Lyndon Johnson won a senate seat with paper ballot fraud in Texas in 1958, JFK won the presidency with paper ballot fraud in Cook County, IL, in 1960, and Christine Gregoire won the Washington governor’s race with paper ballot fraud in 2004. So how are paper ballots so much better?


10 posted on 12/18/2007 5:22:15 PM PST by RightWingConspirator (Redefeat Communism by defeating Hitlary in 2008)
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To: Rb ver. 2.0
You ahve one he!! of a common sense tag line! : )

Not all are duped!

11 posted on 12/18/2007 5:23:24 PM PST by EGPWS (Trust in God, question everyone else)
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To: jan in Colorado

ping


12 posted on 12/18/2007 5:24:32 PM PST by Gondring (I'll give up my right to die when hell freezes over my dead body!)
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To: EGPWS
Ooops!

I meant "Have".

Looong day.... ; (

13 posted on 12/18/2007 5:24:52 PM PST by EGPWS (Trust in God, question everyone else)
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts

This is a good thing.

There is no way that the balloting machine and the counting machine should be contained in the same unit.

One should simply print out a crisp, clear ballot with clear selections (and non-selections).

This should be handed over to the precinct workers who run them through a scanner to get a tally.

This gives a paper trail, a means of correcting a ballot before it is printed, and it gives a means of hand-counting ballots if necessary.

It should be a crime to have an election based purely on electronic digits in one machine. No paper trail = phony election.


14 posted on 12/18/2007 5:28:42 PM PST by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain! True Supporters of Our Troops Support the Necessity of their Sacrifice!)
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To: EGPWS
Hours of staring at chads by a select group of people via the news sure would make more sense.

I rather like the system my town uses. You must draw a black ink line next to the name of your intended candidate. The line completes the middle section of an arrow pointing to a name and the whole ballot is inserted into and read by an optical scanner. Early 80s technology and damned near infallible. No chads. No touch screens and most importantly...no Windoze programs needed to access the machine and tally the votes which are then entered into a database that allows various reports to be run...or modified.

15 posted on 12/18/2007 5:30:40 PM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (Res firma mitescere nescit)
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To: RightWingConspirator
Lyndon Johnson won a senate seat with paper ballot fraud in Texas in 1958, JFK won the presidency with paper ballot fraud in Cook County, IL, in 1960, and Christine Gregoire won the Washington governor’s race with paper ballot fraud in 2004. So how are paper ballots so much better?

Considering that it's Democrats demanding it, I think you just answered your own question :)

16 posted on 12/18/2007 5:34:28 PM PST by VirginiaConstitutionalist ("Freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things." -- Ronald Reagan)
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts

They are contemplating mail-in ballots this election in CO. That must mean that the polls are too close to call and they need a way to have untraceable voter fraud.


17 posted on 12/18/2007 5:40:51 PM PST by MtnClimber (http://www.fred08.com/)
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To: nuconvert; Bloody Sam Roberts
Rather than trust the old ballot system, I would rather the electronic gurus figure out how to ensure security with the electronic machines. I don't know what the problem would be with having a printed receipt that the voter then drops into a secure lock box that could be used for recounts.

I would also like to have biometrix that verify that you only voted once. Don't record the thumb print or eye scan with a name, just verify that it has only voted once. Next, we need to get rid of absentee voting the way it currently is done. Currently, absentee voting is a great potential for fraud.

18 posted on 12/18/2007 5:57:04 PM PST by FreeAtlanta (Search for Folding Project - Join FR Team 36120)
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To: xzins
It should be a crime to have an election based purely on electronic digits in one machine.

First the Rats said we needed electronic voting machines. Now they say we need something else. I agree with you. Electronic voting with a printed ballot that can be hand counted later for verification when necessary. Touch screen macines without a voter - visually verified - paper printed ballot have tremendous fraud potential IMO. The old punch cards were perfectly fine with me too.

19 posted on 12/18/2007 5:58:47 PM PST by SteamShovel (Global Warming, the New Patriotism)
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts

We scrapped electronic voting machines in Sarasota County after the 2004 election (Whiny Christine Jennings is still wailing about losing by 254 votes!). We converted to optical scanned paper ballots for the 2006 election. The instructions were quite explicit, “Use the supplied marking pen to completely fill in the oval next to the candidate you wish to vote for or your choice for each ballot initiative.” After voting the voter puts his or her ballot into a scanner and it either accepts a correctly completed ballot or rejects a ballot that is incorrectly marked. I was waiting behind an old lady who inserted her ballot three times and got it rejected each time. I glanced over at her ballot and saw that the woman had simply put a check mark next to her choice, missing the oval entirely. I guess that there is no voting system that can overcome stupidity.


20 posted on 12/18/2007 6:05:09 PM PST by RightWingConspirator (Redefeat Communism by defeating Hitlary in 2008)
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