Trust us.
Posted on 10/30/2014 11:38:13 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
A “calibration issue” that reportedly flipped Republican votes into the Democratic column isn’t the only problem plaguing Maryland voting machines. State officials say two touch screens malfunctioned during early voting, too.
Now the Maryland Republican Party is calling for an investigation.
“No matter what the reason, steps must be taken to protect the integrity of this election,” state GOP Chair Diana Waterman told the Baltimore Sun after Watchdog.org reported the glitches.
Nikki Charlson, deputy administrator of the Maryland Election Board, said the problems were limited to a handful of machines in just three counties.
“We took three machines out of service in Anne Arundel, Frederick and Howard counties for calibration issues,” she said. Two other units in Anne Arundel and Howard had faulty touch screens and were removed.
Charlson said she “cannot verify” if all 20 reports of mechanical vote flipping involved switches from Republican to Democrat candidates.
Robyn Sachs, president-elect of the trans-partisan group, Election Integrity Maryland, maintains that every ballot flip advantaged the Democrats.
“One-hundred percent of the reports we’ve had were Republican votes being flipped to the Democrat. Not a single report of the opposite occurred,” Sachs told Watchdog.
Watchdog also received reports of vote flipping in Queen Anne, Montgomery and Carroll counties.
Jim Reed, of Howard County, said the machine he used would not accept his GOP vote for governor after it flipped his choice to the Democrat.
He said the same thing happened in the partisan races for county executive and state comptroller.
“I had to go back and start over each time,” Reed said.
Other voters interviewed by Watchdog took umbrage at the state’s suggestion that “large fingers or long nails” could be to blame.
“I am suspicious of such a response, and certainly not satisfied. My wife has neither long nails nor larger fingers,” said John Sheldon of Anne Arundel County,
Charlson said election staffers could not replicate the vote flips on a dozen machines they tested. All votes from the impounded machines will be counted on Election Day, she said. Early voting ends Thursday.
True the Vote, an election-watch group that sued the Obama administration’s Internal Revenue Service, said computer glitches are to be expected.
“This stuff happens all the time and just needs a calibration,” TTV spokesman Logan Churchwell said from Houston. “Remember, these are machines purchased by cash-strapped government offices from the lowest bidder.”
Jennifer Bevan-Dangel, executive director of Common Cause Maryland, said the electronic voting glitches did not represent a “systemic problem.”
She advised: “Voters should always check their ballots before finalizing their vote, both in case of user error and in case of a machine glitch.
“But they can also feel confident that their votes are being cast correctly when they vote.
Frederick voter Donna Hamilton remains skeptical.
“The first time my candidate selection flipped I did wonder if I hit the wrong box with my nail,” she recounted. “After that, I was very careful to hit the box with the side of the pad of my finger, just as you have to do with a cell phone. It still flipped my vote over and over.
“I wonder how many people voted ahead of me that may have had their votes placed in error. Why aren’t the machines carefully checked and verified to be accurate prior to being put in service?” she asked.
Maryland’s Diebold machines — like the ones that misfired in Chicago last month— are programmed and tested primarily “in-house,” with occasional support by Election Systems & Software, Charlson said.
ES&S is also a contracted vendor in Illinois.
“The machines are only as reliable as the folks maintaining them,” TTV’S Churchwell noted.
Andrew Dodge, a lifelong Montgomery County resident, said he was a ballot box judge and then chief judge for several years before the advent of electronic machines.
“I have no confidence in them. There is no tangible record of anyone’s vote,” he said.
They are checked and are obviously programmed to do exactly what they are doing. How else could any democrat ever win an election if the voting isn't rigged?
I have no doubt that is what is happening.
They could! That's why I don't think there should be any automated counting of votes. I think it should be done by hand, with representatives of all candidates and parties there to supervise.
Just because computers and machines can be made to do something doesn't mean they should. Some things are just way too important to introduce the chance of fraud, and vote counting is one of them.
I know ballot boxes can be stuffed. But it takes a whole lot more widespread corruption to pull it off than paying or blackmailing a single programmer at a single company like Diebold.
So what if we don't get the election results for a week? What difference does that make at all?
No need to be redundant.
Ah, the old Democrat Deafness syndrome.
I’m going to spend some time looking around on this, time permitting: I’ve got bigger fish to fry right now (finding a job, housing, crap like that).
Bingo.
Best of luck.
“how do we know that what we see on the screen is what gets recorded?”
We don’t. Maryland says thet don’t know if this helps democrats? Each vote flipped is one legitimate republican vote lost plus one illegitimate cast for democrat if this done only 50 times it’s a hundred vote difference. a hundred votes here a hundred votes there. The democrats believe they are entitled to steal enough votes to give them any close election. When studying Voter ID I found a paper on the internet ay the NYU Brennan justice Center, which is againt Voter ID or anything else that would promote honest elections and for anything that allows theft anfd manipulation of votes and election results. The last line of one paper said Voter ID only makes a difference in a close election anyway.
But no, all the democrats tell us that vote fraud is a myth and there is no evidence of it ever happening anywhere ever. Silly me.
Sponsoring FReepers are contributing
$10 Each time a New Monthly Donor signs up!
Get more bang for your FR buck!
Click Here To Sign Up Now!
Liar. She should be charged with treason.
I am a veteran of the “old” days when elections were by paper ballot and we sat up all night in drafty garages counting the votes by talley hashes.
I worked as a vote counter in California in the 1960s. We arrived at the close of the polls (after my husband was home to take care of the kids) and counted all night. Because this was California, the ballots were as large as a double sheet of newspaper (both sides) and often had 25, or 30, referendums on them.
I was lucky to get home by breakfast in time to relieve my husband so that he could go to work.
Believe me, we made mistakes in counting then too. We’d have 3 people counting for each question — one reader and 2 making hash marks on a piece of paper. We’d do it all over again if we didn’t agree. And the precincts were small. Just one, or two blocks of people in each one.
I was the token Republican in my Berekley neighborhood. LOL.
And Voter ID is rasis, too!
Maryland “Flip State” PING!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.