Reno blames JEB (Return to Chads?)

Knight Ridder Newspapers ^ | 09/14/02 | PETER WALLSTEN AND LESLEY CLARK

[SES1066]

[Exerpt]Reno's camp may sue over touch screens used in Florida primary
MIAMI - (KRT) - Janet Reno's campaign for governor is trying to build a sweeping case against the now-infamous touch-screen voting machines that campaign officials believe may be responsible for Reno losing the Democratic nomination.

The case, summarized in a draft document obtained by The Herald, would not be used to challenge the results of last week's election, even if Bill McBride is certified Tuesday as the nominee, campaign officials said Saturday.

Instead, the evidence would become part of a larger effort to put the blame for Florida's latest election fiasco at the feet of Gov. Jeb Bush and the election reform law he signed with great fanfare last year.

"What we're doing is far more important than whoever the nominee is," said Reno campaign manager Mo Elleithee.

[FreedomFriend]

I'm against touch-screen voting, myself, as they have the ability to be manipulated. There's no hard-copy.

However, Americans, you should be weary of what's going on here. This could be an attempt to get Americans on the side of touch-screen voting machines, being that the "despised" Janet Reno is against them.

[onedoug]

No matter who, or how they lost, these democtrats would have made Bush the reason why. No election will be right unless it puts one of their values derelict minions in power.

[Erasmus]

[...]Broward County SOE Miriam Oliphant's head [...]

Ironic name for a Democrat.

[MacDorcha]

they print out the records as they come, like a reciept. there is ALWAYS a hardcopy, even in your comp, it has SOMEWHERE an inalterable source of ghosts of everybit of information that has ever passed in it. dont believe me? how do they catch people whove done illegal things on their comps? werent the people smart enough to delete sources and websites, files, etc.? they were, comps have a failsafe beatable only by magnets, and eevn then, some of your info is somewhere in cyberspace anyway.... no, im not paranoid, my dads a cop. trust me, comps have records of everything.

[Polybius]

....the now-infamous touch-screen voting machines....

Why is it that anything that Democrat poll workers in Democrat-controlled precints touch ends up being "now-infamous"?

A. Democrats voters are dumb.
B. Democrats pols are corrupt.
C. The news media is comprised mostly of Democrats.
D. All of the above.

[MacDorcha]

D... no wait, i meant to hit "l", but i didnt see that as an answer. what was the question?

[FreedomFriend]

Yes, but how often will that be checked, and couldn't the voting machine be rigged to automatically vote for one candidate a certain number of times, regardless if they touched that candidate's name or not?

As far as the computer tracking everything? I've wondered why the computer makers took it upon themselves to track your ever move of websites, regardless if you've deleted the files or not.

[Polybius]

...poll workers in the precinct should have inserted a cartridge in the machines, which would have collected the votes when polls closed. But they did not, he said, so the empty cartridge made it appear that no votes were cast.

With paper ballots, Democrats were forced to cheat one ballot at a time.

By giving them computer controlled voting machines, Democrats can now cheat thousands of votes at a time with a little computer mischief.

[MacDorcha]

could be rigged, but then again, anything can.... ballot boxs can too, as a matter of fact, they can be rigged much easier. its not orwell's 1984 though, you gotta have alittle faith, if you don't trust the people doing the ballots, dont vote there, register somehwere else.

[MacDorcha]

you think bill gates was alloowed to release his comps without the govn't having a little say in regulations first? thats how trackers got in there...

[MacDorcha]

good point though.... hmmm, either way though, its possible to cheat. trade offs on both ends.

[cksharks]

The only thing disenfranchizing blacks in FL is stupidity.

[FreedomFriend]

Yes, a ballot box can be rigged. However, at least there is a hard copy. With electronic voting, there may be nothing to challenge the vote. Thus, there's double the chances for fraud on an electronic system as opposed to a ballot box system.

Why should I trust the government when they lie all the time?

[FreedomFriend]

Tyrannical, I tell you.

[Ann Archy]

Maybe Miriam Oliphant the Supervisor of Electios in Broward County is Uncle Janet's lover....anyone got her picture??

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Miriam Oliphant...

Ironic name for a Democrat. (^:

Bye, bye,
Ms. Oliphant...

Early vote plan goes awry; poll sites shut (Prelude To The Coming Broward Election Mess). Miami Herald, Sept. 8:

About two dozen angry voters showed up to cast ballots at a regional polling place in Plantation Saturday, only to learn the site was closed -- even though Broward Supervisor of Elections Miriam Oliphant had urged residents to cast early ballots there as a convenience.

''Someone just didn't do what they were supposed to do,'' said Ruth Thomas, 56, of Weston, one of several people who left the West Regional Courthouse Saturday disappointed and angry they couldn't vote. ``I wonder how many people would have voted and won't vote.''

Oliphant did not return phone calls seeking comment about the mix-up Saturday.

As recently as Aug. 22, Oliphant indicated the main elections office and five regional sites would remain open from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays until the election. Oliphant had touted the regional locations as a way to avoid delays at the polls on Tuesday, when Broward's $17.2 million investment in touch-screen voting technology debuts countywide.

Rick Riley, Oliphant's spokesman, said the regional polling sites, including the courthouse at 100 N. Pine Island Rd., were only supposed to be open on the previous two Saturdays, Aug. 24 and 31.

Asked why the polls weren't open Saturday, Riley responded: ``She just chose not to.''

He added, ``The offices were not scheduled for early voting today.''

Saturday's snafu came on the heels of a storm of recent criticism leveled at Oliphant's office, questioning her preparedness for an election that will be the biggest challenge yet for the first-term elections chief.

Thomas said she arrived at the courthouse at 9:30 a.m. Saturday with her mother, Lucille Jones, 79, of Weston, and daughter, Cindy Thomas, 36, of Tamarac. All three intended to vote. But they never made it inside.

Instead, they found 20 to 25 would-be voters venting their frustration. Two men distributing campaign literature for Alan Marks, a candidate for Broward Circuit Court judge, pulled out their cellphones and called the other regional polling places, but no one answered, Ruth Thomas said.

Still, thinking the polling place might open later, Thomas did not give up. She and her mother and daughter drove to a nearby Denny's on Sunrise Boulevard, ate breakfast and came back about an hour later. Again, they left without voting.

In recent weeks, Oliphant's office has struggled with a shortage of poll workers and fielded complaints about inaccurate and duplicate voter-registration cards.

On Thursday, state officials ruled that Broward had to have a more diverse pool of poll workers.

For Broward voters still haunted by the November 2000 presidential election, patience with Oliphant's office may be running out.

''I would like to know why this happened,'' said Ruth Thomas, who still plans to vote on Tuesday -- at a new polling place in Weston.

``I would think that with everything that happened in the presidential race, they would have gone above and out of their way to say things that were true and they would be there.''

[glock rocks]

[RJS1950]

These machines are made to be pretty much idiot-proof, but the manufacturer never anticipated the supreme stupidity of democRATs running and using them. Oh yeah, it's the GOPs fault that these machines are way too simple for the simple-minded dems to fathom. The fact that they, and only they are this stupid should be spread far and wide in and outside of Florida.

[ChadGore]

This is soooooooo staged, it's pathetic.

[RJS1950]

These machines are designed to provide secure and tamperproof backup of the votes properly registered in the machine.