What is Digg?34 Comments
- tomboy501, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Stories like this are almost commonplace now - it is getting ridiculous. When is someone in an official capacity going to stand up and say: "These machines and their systems are flawed and my state is NOT going to use them until this is properly addressed and fixed." ???
In the meantime...I think it's worth paying those county clerks overtime to print enough paper ballots if necessary to ensure a fairly counted election. - benzzene, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12I worry about the state of democracy in the United States. How can a country founded on such noble ideals let this sort of thing happen? Why is there so much apathy?
I hope the US finds itself again. - wolferz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Rome was founded on *then* noble ideas too. It's worth noting that Rome was never conquered. It rotted from the inside out, finally collapsing under its own weight.
- Llan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11There's not enough time to print some stupid ballots in 6 weeks? They could be foot-written by trained bears in six weeks...
I only hope the voting will be seriously manipulated, like Mickey Mouse winning with 123.5% of the votes... - masamunecyrus, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12Why the hell is it so hard for our government to get a machine that is NOT CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET, NOR HAS THE CAPABILITY TO DO SO, in which you walk up, type in your name, address, other identification, etc..., and then touch your candidates, and it prints a damned paper receipt and adds your votes to a tally? Then, if there is controversy over the tallied votes, they can go back and count the paper receipts. Each receipt will have the name and identifcation of the person that voted, so it will be no more easily tampered than traditional voting problems (i.e., filling out the name of a dead person to add a vote)?
The whole thing would probably only cost about $800 for the machines, too. All it would require is a simple touch-screen program, a keyboard, a touchscreen monitor, the lowest-end computer that you can get your hands on, a printer, and a blasted box with a padlock that you can keep the computer in (at least so that it'll be noticable if someone is trying to tamper with the hardware). - newswise, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11When is it ever too late to correct a problem? We must change course immediately. Look at the mistake we have in power now, because of faulty elections. Four to eight years of the wrong leadership is hard to take!
- brstilson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Rome was a democracy only for the first few hundred years. If you're going to compare the US to it, keep in mind that for most of it's history, Rome was a totalitarian dictatorship.
- brufleth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6In other news: The Concept of a Fair Election has Died
A politician commented, "We could have saved it but it was nap time." - JonForTheWin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6WHAT THE *****
I WANT MY ***** PAPER TRAIL GOD DAMN IT.
This judge had better be hanged in public. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Yes indeed, we must stay the course. Even if the course is riding a psychotic horse toward a burning stable.
- neko, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5So... the machines have security flaws, we know the machines have security flaws, but we'll use them anyway because there's absolutely no way to hold an election without these new machines that are new....
- LordLucless, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Having all that detail on the paper is not needed. You didn't put all that on your ballots before these machines cam in did you? Even with nothing more than your vote on the ballot, a paper receipt system would be no more vulnerable to manipulation than previous systems.
BTW, the receipts aren't taken out of the polling station, they'd be left there to facilitate a recount. So there's no possibility of them enabling vote selling. - bitslayer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Don’t blame me, I voted for Kodos.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I wonder if the judge would feel the same way about other situations.
Lets say he discovered a building could not be secured.. there were all kinds of back way in, would they let the president hold a conference there? Even at the last second?
New school opening, right before they open they find the concrete is substandard and the building has a chance of falling, would he still allow it to open in time for school?
A plane with a faulty engine would he let it take offf?
I know it is just voting.. No wait it isnt JUST voting, this is our future and yes it can be a matter of life and death, look at all the kids dying in iraq. I dont see how this asshat can justify that something as criticaly important and as life changing as voting is ok to go with flawed equipment. And besides for indivual prefference, who gets voted in can make the difference of record proffits(haliburton) or mass layofff... You think some of those people wouldnt try to influence the vote? Hell HP wanted to spy on the media, they felt fine breaking the law, why not the vote?
Seriously there is NO excuse for allowing this to go forward, I dont know why the judge thinks voting is soo unimportant.. It is not like we havent known about diebolds problems for years. - brstilson, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Judges are elected.
It's very probable that particular judge was elected using one of those very same machines.
... - Avengelist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3... voting machines be damned. You need to go back to what works - a piece of paper with names printed on it, and pencil to put an X by the one you like.
- dallen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3In most of the country state judges are elected. I don't know if Colorado is like that or not, though.
- Snakedal337, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Between the stupid teenagers inherting america (not all, but I know you know who i'm talking about), the healthcare system, and our voting system, I fear for the future of this country.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I got my absentee balot signed up for...
had to tell them i would have to work on tuesday out of town
but i feel better voting absentee than diebold. - buggzero, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I live in colorado, and the reason why they are doing this is the fact that bureaucracy has made this year's CO Ballot the longest since voting on prohibition. And also there is some little clause for Colorado that says you cant spend more than 10 minutes in the voting both, so hence, someone came up with the idea of the e-vote. Original right?
This whole state is 10 years behind on everything from road construction to judiciary matters. So take this effort in the same light if someone were trying to make it in 1996.
[edit] And please, Vote Dole for Pinapple - Bhima, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4@the dude with teh stupid long nick:
Most paper voting receipts are forbidden as they enable vote selling.
About a billion years ago when this ***** first came up Bruce Scheiner described a system that could work... I guess Bruce isn't in tight with the NeoCon circlejerk of power or they can't accept fair elections...
Otherwise we would have had some like it already. - Katana, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5@masamunecyrus
If you had all that data on the receipt then your vote would no longer be anonymous. - mgreenwald, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Here are the counties that use Diebold machines as of *11/2005*:
Adams
Broomfield
Costilla
Delta
Douglas
Eagle
Paso
Gilpin
Hinsdale
Plata
Larimer
Mineral
Montezuma
Ouray
Pitkin
Saguache
Teller
Weld
Yuma
Here is my source ((Look at Voting Equipment Inventory - 2005)):
http://www.elections.colorado.gov/DDefault.aspx?tid=113
Thankfully Boulder County, where I live, uses HART. - mobilexile, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm a advertising art director / designer. If anyone in the Colorado election system would like, I can get their paper ballots run in time to meet their deadline. I challenge any one of you to give me a shot at proving you wrong about the ability to get them done by election day.
- masamunecyrus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@Katana:
Are votes anonymous? I'll be voting my first time in '08, so I didn't know.
In that case, ignore the identification and just print the receipts. I basically want people to be able to use a touchscreen to input their votes, and then it prints out something that is identical to the classic hole-punch voting card, except it's printed as opposed to punched.
...Hell, if they wanted to, they could just get a hole-punching machine. Basically, the computer would ideally be a front-end for the voting process. The voting process would still occur as-is in the background, it's just that people wouldn't have to get involved in the messy insides unless something unexpected occurred. - ollj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It is essential that votes are anonymous!
But who am I talking to, the decision between Coke and Pepsi has more influence on your society than the decision between political parties. - akzidenzgrotesk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Rome was a democracy only for the first few hundred years. If you're going to compare the US to it, keep in mind that for most of it's history, Rome was a totalitarian dictatorship.
@brstilson
well... if we arent careful, we could be heading in that direction too.
rome wasnt built in a day, and it didnt fall in one either. - positron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I like it. Change the pencil to iridescent ink pen though. A lot harder to erase and change, and easier to thwart and trace ballot stuffing attempts.
- CoachZed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Judges in Colorado (as well as most of the country) are appointed, not elected.
- positron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'd agree if you didn't add in that allusion to a socialist healthcare system.
- positron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That does seem to be the direction we're headed doesn't it? A corporate poligopoly.
- positron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If the public sector were run as efficiently as the private sector, we'd all be in a heap of trouble. The inefficiency of government bureaucracy is one of the few things standing between us and total state control of every aspect of our lives. Why do you think everything always seems to go down the ***** whenever a single party controls a majority of all three branches of government?
- akzidenzgrotesk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If you had all that data on the receipt then your vote would no longer be anonymous.
@Katana
that is why you would turn in the receipts also, just like you do with a paper ballot now. maybe dont print your name on the reciept, to keep it anonymous. ive heard this idea proposed every fall since 2000, so i dont know why someone hasnt done something about it yet. at the very least, make the method consistent from one county and state to the next, instead of having paper ballots with hanging chads, computers with faulty memory or whatever and who knows what else. even if it comes down to "check the name of the candidate you want", consistency would be better than the current system. - zorpscorp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I, for one, am voting for Chewbacca ;)
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