Posted on 10/28/2008 8:38:12 AM PDT by george76
I cannot say is impossible. However, my response to another post follows.
Not true. The machine ballots are not the same as absentee ballots as far as I know. At least that has not happened in the past, and probably not since we are using voting machines that do not simply read a paper ballot.
The machines in Denver don’t work that way. I cannot say what other counties use but Denver does not. There may be a new feature this year, printing out a kind of receipt to the voter so the voter knows how they voted, but I’m not sure that’s true either.
From the pictures I’ve seen in the newspaper, Denver is using the same machines they used four years ago. If true, I am pretty familiar with them and it would be harder than people think. Nobody is allowed to be with the machines alone. Two people have to be in the room. The vendor cannot access the maching after voting starts unless election officals are standing there watching everything he does. The only time a vendor will access a machine is to correct operator error in downloading vote information.
Similar controls are in place for absentee ballots. One person opens a mail in ballot and their job is to use the signature verification program to verify the voter. Then the contents are passed on to another person who opens and stacks the ballot, without knowing who is voting. That stack is taken to into the vote counting machine and they are batched and run.
Denver works pretty hard to get Republicans, Democrats and Unaffiliated volunteers in every step of the process. Plus, both parties have poll watcher attorneys standing there watching what is going on. These attorneys have access and closely monitor every stage of the vote.
If there is voter fraud going on, the only way it could happen are ballots to people who are not eligible (out of state college students for example), fraudulent ballots (such as ACORN inspired) or ballots for deceased individuals and the elderly. These are the major concerns for us.
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