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Glitches cited in early voting
The Miami Herald ^ | 10/28/2006 | CHARLES RABIN AND DARRAN SIMON

Posted on 10/30/2006 5:57:29 PM PST by kenn5

After a week of early voting, a handful of glitches with electronic voting machines have drawn the ire of voters, reassurances from elections supervisors -- and a caution against the careless casting of ballots.

Several South Florida voters say the choices they touched on the electronic screens were not the ones that appeared on the review screen -- the final voting step.

Election officials say they aren't aware of any serious voting issues. But in Broward County, for example, they don't know how widespread the machine problems are because there's no process for poll workers to quickly report minor issues and no central database of machine problems.

In Miami-Dade, incidents are logged and reported daily and recorded in a central database. Problem machines are shut down.

''In the past, Miami-Dade County would send someone to correct the machine on site,'' said Lester Sola, county supervisor of elections. Now, he said, ``We close the machine down and put a seal on it.''

Debra A. Reed voted with her boss on Wednesday at African-American Research Library and Cultural Center near Fort Lauderdale. Her vote went smoothly, but boss Gary Rudolf called her over to look at what was happening on his machine. He touched the screen for gubernatorial candidate Jim Davis, a Democrat, but the review screen repeatedly registered the Republican, Charlie Crist.

That's exactly the kind of problem that sends conspiracy theorists into high gear -- especially in South Florida, where a history of problems at the polls have made voters particularly skittish.

A poll worker then helped Rudolf, but it took three tries to get it right, Reed said.

''I'm shocked because I really want . . . to trust that the issues with irregularities with voting machines have been resolved,'' said Reed, a paralegal. ``It worries me because the races are so close.''

Broward Supervisor of Elections spokeswoman Mary Cooney said it's not uncommon for screens on heavily used machines to slip out of sync, making votes register incorrectly. Poll workers are trained to recalibrate them on the spot -- essentially, to realign the video screen with the electronics inside. The 15-step process is outlined in the poll-workers manual.

''It is resolved right there at the early-voting site,'' Cooney said.

Broward poll workers keep a log of all maintenance done on machines at each site. But the Supervisor of Elections office doesn't see that log until the early voting period ends. And a machine isn't taken out of service unless the poll clerk decides it's a chronic poor performer that can't be fixed.

Cooney said no machines have been removed during early voting, and she is not aware of any serious problems.

In Miami-Dade, two machines have been taken out of service during early voting. No votes were lost, Sola said.

Joan Marek, 60, a Democrat from Hollywood, was also stunned to see Charlie Crist on her ballot review page after voting on Thursday. ''Am I on the voting screen again?'' she wondered. ``Well, this is too weird.''

Marek corrected her ballot and alerted poll workers at the Hollywood satellite courthouse, who she said told her they'd had previous problems with the same machine.

Poll workers did some work on her machine when she finished voting, Marek said. But no report was made to the Supervisor of Elections office and the machine was not removed, Cooney said.

Workers at the Hollywood poll said there had been no voting problems on Friday.

Mauricio Raponi wanted to vote for Democrats across the board at the Lemon City Library in Miami on Thursday. But each time he hit the button next to the candidate, the Republican choice showed up. Raponi, 53, persevered until the machine worked. Then he alerted a poll worker.

Miami Herald staff writer Linda Topping Streitfeld contributed to this report.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
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There's hope for the GOP yet!
1 posted on 10/30/2006 5:57:30 PM PST by kenn5
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To: kenn5
The biggest glitch will be that the MSM's effort to influence this election will fail.
2 posted on 10/30/2006 5:59:14 PM PST by msnimje (You simply cannot be Christian and Pro-Abortion.)
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To: kenn5

Yeah. Dems aren't the only ones getting more than one ballot because of a "typo".


3 posted on 10/30/2006 6:00:17 PM PST by Just Lori (Thank you, United States Air Force! Sixty years of awesome service!)
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To: kenn5
I didn't read about any GOP votes malfunctioning for Democrats. Either the machines are rigged (doubt it) or the dems are liars (most likely).
4 posted on 10/30/2006 6:01:18 PM PST by kinoxi
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To: kenn5
Glitches cited in early voting

Translation: "Broken glass Republicans" are making their way to the polls! ;-)

5 posted on 10/30/2006 6:01:28 PM PST by Right_in_Virginia
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To: kenn5

Funny the way Karl Rove controls the votes in all these Democrat precincts.


6 posted on 10/30/2006 6:01:33 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: kenn5
Mauricio Raponi wanted to vote for Democrats across the board at the Lemon City Library in Miami on Thursday. But each time he hit the button next to the candidate, the Republican choice showed up. Raponi, 53, persevered until the machine worked. Then he alerted a poll worker.

Dang it!!! He FAT-FINGERED his way arond the Rove.exe TROJAN.

7 posted on 10/30/2006 6:02:17 PM PST by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: kinoxi

Here they go again....


8 posted on 10/30/2006 6:02:25 PM PST by Youngman442002
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To: Youngman442002
Where's chad at? How's he hangin these days?
9 posted on 10/30/2006 6:03:09 PM PST by kinoxi
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To: kenn5

Glitches? lol! Their problem is they can't get ahold of Rove's internal numbers, so they have no idea how many fake votes to cast. Guess that could make them a little antsy;)


10 posted on 10/30/2006 6:10:57 PM PST by small voice in the wilderness (The dems. can't have a fool-proof plan. There would be no one left in their base.)
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To: kenn5

Witches cited in early voting. Trick or Treat


11 posted on 10/30/2006 6:11:01 PM PST by Rodm (Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings)
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To: kinoxi

So they are so smart to make the machines voite for Republicans but they are so dumb that they leave evidence?


12 posted on 10/30/2006 6:12:25 PM PST by Holicheese (Beerfest could be the greatest movie ever made!)
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To: Holicheese
Apparently, according to this article, it is only detectable by dems.
13 posted on 10/30/2006 6:16:13 PM PST by kinoxi
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To: kenn5

Aren't the Miami Dade elections run by Democrats? I would not put it past them to deliberately screw up a few machines to spark the mass tinfoil conspiracy.


14 posted on 10/30/2006 6:18:08 PM PST by Sender ("Always tell the truth; then you don't have to remember anything." -Mark Twain)
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To: kenn5

And so it begins...


15 posted on 10/30/2006 6:21:07 PM PST by Siena Dreaming
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To: kinoxi

I want to see them recreat this "event". I will bet dollars to donuts it only happens when Dems are voting in a dem district with Dems looking on.
Never will work again.


16 posted on 10/30/2006 6:22:20 PM PST by Holicheese (Beerfest could be the greatest movie ever made!)
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To: Sender

That's it. South Florida cannot vote anymore. They are too ignorant to even punch a screen correctly.


Bet they can find CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, CSPA or even MTV with their remote...but VOTE? HECK NO WAY


17 posted on 10/30/2006 6:25:25 PM PST by Bushman2 (Truth is a battleground not a playground)
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To: Holicheese
Rove has it planned that way to make them look foolish of course. Those dastardly disenfranchising Republicans. /s
I'm waiting to see what kinds of things they (dems)try to do to these machines this election. (hammers,liquids,etc.)
18 posted on 10/30/2006 6:28:38 PM PST by kinoxi
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To: kenn5

Mark-sense balloting ... the ONLY way to go.


19 posted on 10/30/2006 6:33:00 PM PST by NonValueAdded (Prayers for our patriot brother, 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub. Brian, we're all pulling for you!)
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To: Siena Dreaming
And so it begins...

Again. Isn't this the third time in the same precinct this has/is happening?

20 posted on 10/30/2006 6:34:14 PM PST by Cobra64 (Why is the War on Terror being managed by the DEFENSE Department?)
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