Why am I not surprised that it's Republicans who are challenging these infernal machines?

Say what you will about the GOP (and believe me, I enjoy being "uncivil" when it comes to Repubs), these guys know how to raise hell.

I wish my side was half as pugnacious.

Sigh.

Oh for God's sake. Why on earth didn't these Republicans not have guys with camcorders out videotaping these voting irregularities?

You know, like they do in them there Negro precincts?

Just get the Supremes to declare a winner and move on.

Just get the Supremes to declare a winner and move on.

uh, I live here. Don't even suggest they do that! As it is, they ran all over in the middle of night taking down those little SIGNS of the installed DEM base here, which are stuck all over the grassy medians on raodways. (pig-f*ckers) *sigh*

Just get the Supremes to declare a winner and move on.

err: roadways

You want an irony overdose? Do a site search for imminet threat and Iraq at Andrew "The Weathervane" Sullivan.

You will find this absolute gem, where he takes the New York Times to task for burying some Iraqi defector's story about Iraq's imminent nuclear threat.

Now, of course, he's all about how nobody in or around the administration never said Iraq was an imminent threat.

Oh sweet, sweet irony.

Don't they understand it's time to move on?

Time to move on? I'm not sure that it's ever time to move on from malfuncioning voting machines. I don't care which side has an issue with them, as long as the other side understands it to be an issue. Maybe it's the only way that real attention will be brought to this fiasco before Nov 2004. If both sides don't make a ruckous before then, I'd say that we're in trouble. Let them holler all they want now, even if it is ironic, and lets just hope that the hollering leads to some action on this issue, and not just a never-ending finger pointing contest.

It's only an issue if a GOP candidate loses.

Are y'all forgetting the rules?

kngdvd - pretty sure Billmon was displaying his highly amusing but sometimes subtle dry wit... Of course it's never time to just 'move on' from defective voting machines, but let me think... didn't we hear that very phrase in Florida??

However the votes are counted the GOP still seems to be getting the majority after reviewing the latest election results........the answer to all the bloggers main question: "when will the American people catch on to Bush and the GOP" may well be that they *have* caught on, and they like it. sadly.

Last night, I visited my local Fairfax Co. voting site and found out that the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles had not properly registered me to vote in the county. "It's been happening a lot today", said the precinct official. You'd think that an advanced industrialized nation could get voter registration figured out (...unless, that is, some people don't want to...).

Sweet irony indeed. The contest in question was pretty hard fought to replace an outgoing Dem chair. I think the Dems should line up in strong support of the GOP lawsuit, lest we be judged as hypocrites following Florida. (As an added bonus, the questionable votes will not swing the result, even though that should not matter.)

The BEST possible result would be to have this lawsuit gain some traction, get these dang touch screen voting machines perfected, and get paper printouts. AND HAVE THE REPUBS PAY FOR THE FIGHT! Whoo-hoo!

Vote machines that get "fixed"???

Yes it'll be interesting to see if for some reason these machines, especially if they had their memory wiped and reinstalled show more Democrat votes then Republicans votes by a strong margin as compared to the "other" machines --but is it because the fix was in "prior" to election break down to begin with??? If these machines don't produce a paper hardcopy for the county - I'm with the Republicans - I say we get rid of em, all of em.

En Banc has real good article on those horrid Diebold machines and a current lawsuit that should be of interest to everyone who votes and wants that vote to count. Voting is the most powerful tool a democracy has so US citizens should take great care in protecting the integrity of it with every precaution.

I wish my side was half as pugnacious.
i saw the documentary unpresedented on some cable channel again last night. See it if you get a chance.

there is a scene where the anti-recount crowd is rioting, and they slow down the film and put little bubbles over their heads to identify everyone in the crowd as a high ranking republican official flown in for the "riot".

Part of that link from en banc that I like:

"Instead of paying lawyers to threaten its critics, Diebold should invest in creating electronic voting machines that include voter-verified paper ballots and other security protections," said EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn.

Yes, why doesn't Diebold do that??? Very good question indeed.

Question: Why would the Republicans *alone* call for those votes to be outright disqualified? You don't think, perhaps, they were let in on the tallies for those particular devices during the "maintenance", do you? ;-)

Hi T2: The dem candidate won the election, and will still be the winner if the votes from the faulty machines are thrown out.

I live in Fairfax county, and we dems had a good day here yesterday. We actually picked up 2 seats in the state assembly, although both state houses are in rep control. But in Fairfax county, we won everything, despite reps running on a platform of capping property taxes, which have skyrocketed in recent years.

Don't they understand it's time to move on?

why do i feel some chad-talk coming on??

p.s. - congrats to mayor street! even though the GOP tried their hardest (illegally, we'll see) to push him out, he was able to win and hopefully be the cock-blocker to bush's fucking over pennsylvania next year.

It's good news - mayby now the bill to add printouts to the touchscreen voting machines will go somewhere. As mary said, the votes could be thrown out and it wouldn't change the results. It was a good day for Democrats - for some reason the Republicans ran book-banning Brickner. I don't think the Republicans realized how much her book-banning pissed people off.

I think we all ought to take this as an opportunity to move for standards to protect the integrity of elections. I will take the bipartisan support any day, as I really do care about this issue. I used the same kinds of machines in question, and I asked the election officer if they could produce a paper trail, and she began telling me that they have the equivalent of an "adding machine" inside, before she had to go to another voter, so I didn't get to hear the full story of their security features, though it sounded like there was some sort of "manual" recording taking place.

A lot of good tax dollars were spent making sure
those malfunctioning machines were not working on purpose! Don't those VaDems know the meaning of "fix"?

Billmon, you're just being shrill. Next thing you know Luskin will be stalking you too.

Or you could move on up to unpatriotic and have Instacracker and Sullivan, NRO, The Corner, TNR, Weekly Standard, UPI, Washington Times, blah, blah, blah, all attacking you!

Personally I like the second option.

So, who here is gonna emmigrate (sp?) in 2004?

The machines, made by Advanced Voting Solutions of Frisco, Tex., resemble laptop computers without keyboards.

Well now you know what all the fuss is. They weren't using Diebold machines. Of course the votes are suspect, the repubs weren't allowed to rig them.

A funny thing happened on the way to the quorum:
(The suggestion is conspiracy but I vote for sheer ineptitude)

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=452972

malfunctioning machines the R's didn't want fixed? Maybe "fix discovered" is more like it.

We have these stupid machines in my FL county. They are a very bad solution compared to the optical scanning option that was rejected {better lobbying and kick backs I suspect}. They suck on so many levels it boggles the mind. As someone with a lot of experience with dB technologies and data collection I can see so many flaws. They are also VERY slow to use on voting days and cause backups at the peak hours. They are one of those complicated solutions to a simple problem that just create a whole new problem that is worse. Wait until 04.

WKD, I will move to Spain if W. is reinstalled in 2004. I may move there, anyway, but I'll sure put the hurry-up on it if that happens.

Everybody, while we joke about the next election being handily rigged by our good friends on the right, there is a bill languishing in committee, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act, HR 2239, introduced by Rep. Rush (no, not THAT Rush!) Holt of NJ, that aims to remedy the major problems with the touchscreen voting machines that are being introduced all over the country after the 2002 Help America Vote Act. HR 2239 will require a voter verifiable, auditable paper copy of every ballot cast, and that machine source code be open for public inspection. As of today it has 65 cosponsors. No companion legislation is yet in the Senate.

If you'd like to feel like there's a chance that the next election will be conducted fairly, I suggest you get on the stick and write your representative and urge him/her to cosponsor this bill so it can get on its way toward passage. You should also write both your Senators and remind them that fair elections are a bipartisan issue, and that you expect them to support the companion bill in the Senate, or better yet, that they should introduce such a bill.

We can talk. Or we can do something about it.
Whattya say?

So, who here is gonna emmigrate (sp?) in 2004?

Only one "m" in emigrate, but if the Crime Syndicate steals the 2004 election, I am so outta here.

Bobo is right--this would be different if they were Diebold machines, which I am convinced have been helping the Repubs steal elections since at least 2000. Their president even told a group recently in Ohio: "We want to help Bush get the electoral vote in '04." How does a voting machine company do that, exactly? How many times have you heard the polls were close or had the Dem leading and the Republican ends up winning by a large margin? And in these cases, how many are linked to Diebold machines? Why is Diebold so adamantly against making their machines produce a paper trail? There is legislation in the House now to mandate these machines giving out receipts and I urge every one of you to contact your reps to tell them you want it voted up. Also see: verifiedvoting.org . . .
Now, I firmly believe that if there is a free and fair election next fall Bush will lose. But the Diebold machine problem must be fixed first. I also think the Diebold arrangement is half of Rove's strategy, and can account for the administration's general arrogance somewhat--they don't need your stinkin' vote. If that legislation does not pass (making the machines leave paper trail), I guarantee you that groups around the US will break into election offices and throw those goddamn machines into the river. If those machines are allowed to process our votes come '04 without the receipt system in place, there will no hope of democracy in America for a very long time.