Posted on 11/08/2006 9:20:58 PM PST by weegee
VOTING PROBLEMS
Predictions of disaster proved wrong
However, FBI is looking into few reports of threats
Election Day was tainted by complaints of dirty tricks that led to FBI investigations in at least two states, with some voters reporting intimidating phone calls, misleading sample ballots and even an armed man outside a polling place.
Nonetheless, poll watchers said voting across American went relatively well, despite machine malfunctions and long waits in some states.
"For 7,800 jurisdictions in this country, it looked like things came out pretty cotton-pickin' well," said Doug Lewis, executive director of Election Center, an nonpartisan organization of state election officials. "There were some problems, in some states, but overall it looks like all the predictions of disaster turned out wrong."
As polls closed nationwide, one of the worst waits appeared to be in Denver, where hundreds waited long past sunset at besieged polling centers. They continued to wait, 90 minutes after the 7 p.m. close of voting. It was a miserable end to a day fraught with new voting machine problems and the longest statewide ballot in decades.
"This is positively ridiculous," said Jack McCroskey, who leaned on a cane as he waited to vote. "At 82, I don't deserve to have to stand out here."
Voter intimidation accusations prompted others to claim that some voters were bullied from getting a chance to vote.
In Virginia, the FBI was looking at complaints of an apparently orchestrated series of phone calls in the hard-fought U.S. Senate race between Republican George Allen and Democrat Jim Webb.
Some voters reported they got calls telling them to stay home on Election Day, or face criminal charges.
A $250,000 reward was offered by the liberal voter group MoveOn.org for information leading to a conviction for voter interference, which is a federal crime.
In Indiana, the FBI was investigating allegations that a Democratic volunteer at a polling site in the college town of Bloomington was found with absentee ballots after counting had begun.
Other states reported similar problems.
In Arizona, three men, one of them armed, stopped Hispanic voters and questioned them outside a Tucson polling place, according to voting monitors for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which photographed the incidents and reported them to the FBI.
In Maryland, sample ballots suggesting Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich and Senate candidate Michael Steele were Democrats were handed out by people bused in from out of state. Democrats outnumber Republicans in Maryland by nearly 2-to-1.
An Ehrlich spokeswoman said the fliers were meant to show the candidates had the support of some state Democrats. They were paid for by the campaigns of Ehrlich, Steel and the GOP. Some of the fliers include pictures of Ehrlich with Democrat Kweisi Mfume, a former NAACP president.
More than 80 percent of the nation's voters were expected to cast some type of electronic ballot Tuesday, which was the deadline for major reforms mandated by the federal Help America Vote Act, passed by Congress to prevent a rerun of the 2000 election debacle.
In some states, long lines formed, prompting appeals to judges to keep the polls open.
Kevin Caffrey, 43, a school teacher from Denver and a registered Republican, was furious after he was forced to stand in line for more than an hour.
"Every individual who put me in line, I'm voting against them. I've been waiting in line like an animal. This is a nightmare," he said.
Computer glitches and poll workers' unfamiliarity with the new equipment were also blamed for long lines in states including Ohio, Tennessee, South Carolina and Illinois.
U.S. District Court Judge Dan A. Polster in Ohio ordered polls stay open until 9 p.m., 90 minutes after closing time, after the Ohio Democratic Party sued Cuyahoga County because of crowded precincts.
Cuyahoga County, home to Cleveland, suffered 14-hour voting lines in 2004. On Tuesday, problems with ballot-reading machines caused delays.
James Marquart said he walked out without voting after poll workers said his name wasn't on the rolls, even though he was holding a postcard from the elections board that told him which precinct to vote in.
"They did offer me a provisional ballot, but I have absolutely no faith in provisional ballots," he said. Such ballots are counted only if election officials can document the voter's registration.
Sure...but if the Dems collectively lost there would be bawling and gnashing of teeth about election irregularities. Only Rats cheat and then accuse Pubs of it when the results dont favor them. Hypocrite liars.
How can we know that the Dems didn't cheat and steal the election? It is typical for them to accuse the Republicans of what they themselves are going to do. I would be checking the software in the machines used in tight races. One case of such a software "glitch" was found in a machine in Texas.
The Dems are awfully quit after shouting election fraud such a short time ago. Hmmmmmm ....
Wiat til 08 when we the GOP retakes the House and Senate. Then the AP headline will be quite different.
Funny how the Dems aren't complain this year, ain't it
Absolutely amazing!
AP, ABC, CNN, and MSNBC will all claim America "threw another temper tantrum".
Texas glitch article (programming error):
Programming error miscounts votes in south Texas - official catches electronic voting problem
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1735322/posts
The voter fraud scare was just a built in EXCUSE just in case the Dems lost.
"Every individual who put me in line, I'm voting against them. I've been waiting in line like an animal. This is a nightmare," he said.
Wow! A whole hour of waiting that morphs him into an animal, which has nightmares. LoL!
Rush mentioned yesterday that ACORN is being investigated by the Justice Dept for submitting tens of thousands of fraudulent voter registrations in Kansas City alone. I doubt KC was their only target.
"At 82, I don't deserve to have to stand out here."
As a retired person, it's not like you HAD ALL DAMN DAY and could have voted when there was no line.
I agree that was part of it, it is a well established leftist tactic used worldwide, but I don't think it was all of it. See weegee's post #8.
How many programmers are involved during each election cycle and what is available for them to be "embarrassed" about? Do they just put in the candidates names and the offices they are running for or can they change the basic software? Can they siphon 10% of the votes from one candidate and credit them to another? Can they just drop every 100th vote for a particular candidate?
Those things wouldn't be noticeable like the blunder in Texas. Was that the only mistake in Texas or just the one discovered because it was so blatant?
Remember, it was the Democrats who were insisting on electronic machines because the butterfly ballots with punch-outs were too complicated for Democrat voters. Now we have electronic machines with no paper trail, motor voter for all who can get a drivers license and voters who don't have to prove who they are, all at Democrat insistence.
If what they are doing isn't plain to one and all I don't know why not. Once they get control of the election machinery and set the rules, they will stay in power forever.
Remember what Joseph Stalin said, "It doesn't matter who votes, only who counts the votes." With rigged machines doing the counting the results are predetermined.
I voted here in Southern Calif. not too far from LA and there was NO LINE when I voted mid-day
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