Voting machines are down in PA (Vanity)

November 7, 2006 | Kaslin

[Kaslin]

A friend I chat with in a political room just told me that most of the voting machines are down in Pennsylvania. Did anyone hear about this?

[Mo1]

LOL!!

[Miss Marple]

LOL!

[rightwingintelligentsia]

I tried to vote outside of Pittsburgh at 7 this morning, but the campaign workers still hadn't figured out the machines. I'll have to try my luck after work.

Someone called into a local radio station saying that at their precint, all the machines were in Spanish (this is by no means a Hispanic area) and things were in chaos.

[pgkdan]

Jeez, all the morons who screamed over a few hanging chads are going to saddle us with a more "sophisticated" counting sistem that is undertested, underperforms, fails to come through and will allow the Dems to sue us into oblivion if we win!

There is just no way to avoid a fight with the 'Rats when we win...they've rigged they system to produce doubt long before this election. In 2000 there were no legitimate hanging chads. It's been conclusively demonstarted that the only way to produce a hanging chad or a pregnant chad is too attempt to punch multiple cards at once. Hanging and pregnant chads were de-facto evidence of voter fraud but the atmosphere was so bitter and partisan that nobody touched it. You'd think that some bright bulb in the media would have asked how come there were so many questionable ballots and how come they were all for Gore.

[Arrowhead1952]

There were two callers from heavy Republican districts in South Austin who called KLBJ to report that 1/2 of the machines were not working. This county is run by RATs, so that seems like the best place for voter suppression.

[OldFriend]

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL......sheesh, do you think I could vote in PA too. Don't live there but why should that matter. I can just say I'll vote dem.

[mwl1]

where are you in PA and how is weather/what is forecast?

[MplsSteve]

Hugh Hewitt said the same thing at the close of his show last night.

He also posted as much as on his web site.

http://www.hughhewitt.com

[Kaslin]

This is what my friend replied to me, when I asked him if it was only in his precinct

1022 PM: Stayingpower -- Tue, Nov 7 5:43am pst

Mr Somebody

Kaslin: no not just my precint, all over the entire state machine are down.........not all, but a lot

[Mo1]

I'm in Montgomery County .. so far the weather is nice

But here is the forecast

Today: A chance of rain after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 58. Southeast wind around 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Tonight: Occasional rain. The rain could be heavy at times. Low around 49. East wind around 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible

[zook]

Here in State College PA, we're already having serious problems with the new touch screen machines at several precincts. A couple of polling places did not open at the regular 7:00 AM time. Lines are longer than usual in our little town, according to local radio, and some of that seems to have to do with voting machine problems and slow downs.

[JohnCliftn]

At my precinct they were working, but slow.

It took four tries before the machine recognized the poll worker's key card. I got to watch as the machine rebooted.

And there's little privacy. It is difficult not to see how others are voting at other machines.

[Antique Gal]

I just voted in Lancaster County,Denver Pa. No problem.

[ILikeFriedman]

I voted at 7:10 in Pittsburgh suburb with no problems. Heard stories on the radio about many problems in the region - generally, machines not booting properly, etc.

[RasterMaster]

The DUmocrats have to PAY thier volunteers and have to offer food, drugs, booze or sex to get their BASE out....that should tell everyone ALOT about this election.

[Seattle Conservative]

"Problems with the voting machines were reported in Washington County."

Isn't that Diana Irey's and John Murtha's county?

[angcat]

No problem in Drums PA this morning.

[dawn53]

Yep, but don't worry. It is only in Democratic districts.

Yeah, I heard Republicans are supposed to vote today, and Democrats are supposed to vote tomorrow. (end/sarcasm)

[untrained skeptic]

Such problems are almost inevitably the result of poorly prepared and poorly trained poll workers and judges (the people overseeing the polling places).

History has shown that heavily democratic areas do a worse job at electing officials that prepare for and execute elections competently.

However, this mainly makes it a bit more inconvenient to vote for some people. It does not prevent people from voting.

If having time to vote on election day is a problem for people, they should request an absentee ballot and vote that way.

There are plenty of options for voters. Laziness and procrastination is not an excuse.

I do have sympathy for those who attempt to vote and have it made more time consuming and difficult by incompetent elections officials. However, voting is important and is worth waiting or coming back later if necessary.

[NonLinear]

Now the PA voting machines have carjacked an SUV!

OMG! They are taking hostages! Reports from the scene say that officials are desperately seeking a negotiator who speaks binary!