Maryland Republican Party photo
INVESTIGATE: Maryland GOP Chair Diana Waterman is calling for an investigation of machines flipping Republican votes to Democrats. Democrats, who control the state government, say they have not heard of any problems.
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.
Maryland Republican Party photo
INVESTIGATE: Maryland GOP Chair Diana Waterman is calling for an investigation of machines flipping Republican votes to Democrats. Democrats, who control the state government, say they have not heard of any problems.
So, if this is happening,
how do we know that what we see on the screen is what gets recorded?
Winner!
If your machine is like the touch screens here in WI, you check the tape in the little window on the lower, right hand side of the machine. When the tape records the vote you wanted to cast, then you cast the vote.
The screen doesn’t count; the tape counts.
“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.
That's easily enough rectified. The Democrats will simply plant some stories in the cooperative media about Rat votes being recorded as being for Republicans.
It's a total fabrication of course, but if necessary those stories will start appearing shortly. Wait for it.
” how do we know that what we see on the screen is what gets recorded?”
You DON’T !
Not all machines are created equal. In Wisconsin, we have a tape back up for every vote. Of course, if you don’t check the tape and just submit, you have no way of knowing whether it is right, or not.
“It’s not who votes that counts; it’s who counts the votes.” - Someone...
Just a “machine malfunction” when its republicans voting for democrats...
Democraps cheat it is how they win. If honest voting was the norm they would never win except in blue cities.
Stalin. Or Carville.
You would only have to do it a few times... Once if it were a Republican, but we are talking Leftist/union, here. /s
The fact that the flips go only from Republican to Democrat precludes a finding of randomness.
There is a sure fire way to tell if this is true. Have democrats ever accused republicans of manipulating voting machines?
Remember, everything a rat accuses a republican of doing is an attack to divert attention away from what the rat is doing. That’s their SOP.
“mechanical vote flipping”
I think that is ELECTRICAL flipping.
If we still had mechanics, this would not happen.
The "someone" you refer to was the inventor of that whole concept - the 'Rats, and the 'Rat party.
Oh, yeah... somehow the clairvoyant future-seer Joseph Stalin used the methods as well, knowing they would later by invented by the 'Rats.
“Can’t Verify”.
Yeah....
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