Voting machines changing Republican vote to Democrat vote in Virginia...

From CBS-DC : VA GOP Voting Machines Malfunctioning in Several Districts

“Virginia Beach and Newport News are experiencing technical difficulties with their AccuVote TSX Touch Screen voting machines,” the Dept. of Elections said. “These technical difficulties are being addressed by both localities’ teams of voting equipment technicians in conjunction with AccuVote vendors. Based on discussions with local election officials, the issues appear related to touch screen calibration.”

Locations where the issue has been reported:

Arlington County
Ballston-0004

Prince William County
Buckland Mills-0110

Spotsylvania County
Gayle-0704

City of Virginia Beach
Bonney-040
Centreville-044Bayside
Great Neck
Stratford Chase
Acredale
Colonial
Alanton
Witchduck
Sherry Park
Homestead
Green Run

Arlington County (Majority Democratic leadership)

Prince William County (Republican Controlled Board of Supervisors, majority Republican in the US House, state House majority Republican)

Spotsylvania County (100% Republican Board of Supervisors, State House and Senate, 100% Republican)

City of Virginia Beach (Republican mayor, 2008 Presidential - McCain, 2012 Presidential - Romney)

a reply to: sheepslayer247

Then I go back to my original assertion: If these machines are so d*** twitchy that you have to be the exact right height to use one from the exact right angle ... they have no business being used in elections. They are not ready for prime time, and no one should be using them to vote. That the Democrat voters seem to have far less outrage over these things just goes to show you apathetic they are about the integrity of their vote and the process.

a reply to: ketsuko

I have an alternate explanation.

First, Democrats are concerned about it, as are reasonably-minded independents, but we understand that, in most cases, this is mechanical failure. And not once have I seen a Democrat claim "Massive Republican Election Fraud" when the issue falls the other way.

Secondly, in many cases, the evidence of machine failure is clear, but it is far easier to have an emotional reaction to the issue after being whipped into a frenzy by right-wing bias media over the last few weeks (months). Perhaps there are more reports of the problem by Republican voters because they are primed to shout "election fraud" and Democratic voters either keep trying until the machine takes the appropriate vote, or, they just get help and move to another machine.

In either case, it is, to my mind at least, ludicrous to believe that all Democrats everywhere are in on these massive plots. It seems much more reasonable to me that belief is the result of hysteria-producing propaganda.

Finally, I freely admit my Democratic-bias; can you admit your Republican-bias, ketsuko?

a reply to: ketsuko

That the Democrat voters seem to have far less outrage over these things just goes to show you apathetic they are about the integrity of their vote and the process.

Or it shows that Republican voters feel persecuted and have overblown emotional reactions to every media-invented slight?

a reply to: theantediluvian

OK, so you have a machine that can change your vote to something you never intended it to be because the thing doesn't work properly and you just shrug and don't worry about it because you're not a hysterical right winger?

No, I don't buy it. Either you care about your vote and having it counted properly or you don't.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: sheepslayer247

Then I go back to my original assertion: If these machines are so d*** twitchy that you have to be the exact right height to use one from the exact right angle ... they have no business being used in elections. They are not ready for prime time, and no one should be using them to vote. That the Democrat voters seem to have far less outrage over these things just goes to show you apathetic they are about the integrity of their vote and the process.

They shouldn't be used for voting. Period. But that means we will have to wait quite some time before we see any results. The news media and instant gratification hounds will be disappointed.

And how do you know the democrats are not outraged? Perhaps they are too busy debunking the BS conspiracies of the Republicans to take a moment to say "Hey....these machines suck".

But what we have seen here is that the partisan hacks will believe ANYTHING and will cry wolf as long as it fits their political desires.

a reply to: sheepslayer247

Ummm, no. If you want your vote counted correctly, it shouldn't be an issue of partisanship. Either you want it done right or you don't care.

This is like Ebola. It's not a political partisan issue. You either want it done right or you don't care or only care when it suits you to care.

Where would Republicans be without the fallacy of the false dilemma?

I wonder though, if these problems are experienced in districts where the Republican candidate wins, what will the cry be then?

May I predict "The People Have Spoken! We have a Mandate!"

We will only see outrage where the wrong candidate wins, i.e. Democrat.

a reply to: theantediluvian

I think both are true actually..

democrats are in general incredibly apathetic presently... they don't really care all that much, economics are boring, and either don't effect them, or appear unchangeable.

the GOP is as emotional as you were saying.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: sheepslayer247

Ummm, no. If you want your vote counted correctly, it shouldn't be an issue of partisanship. Either you want it done right or you don't care.

This is like Ebola. It's not a political partisan issue. You either want it done right or you don't care or only care when it suits you to care.

Of course we want it to be fair and accurate. That's not the issue.

The issue is that this is a KNOWN problem with these machines and it is being taken care of. In the meantime, we have to deal with the crazies thinking this is some grand conspiracy to steal the election....just because they fall for the propaganda from their own party.

This entire deal was just doom porn for the neocons......don't fall for it.

Related to this?

www.independent.co.uk...

US midterm elections: Florida vote hit by claims of malfunctioning voting machines

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: theantediluvian

OK, so you have a machine that can change your vote to something you never intended it to be because the thing doesn't work properly and you just shrug and don't worry about it because you're not a hysterical right winger?

No, I don't buy it. Either you care about your vote and having it counted properly or you don't.

Here's the thing. The machine is not actually changing the votes, the malfunction occurs BEFORE THE VOTE IS recorded to the card. It's clear when there's been a malfunction and that's why these issues are being noticed immediately and reported to polling staff who then take the machines out of service.

What should really concern people is the possibility of tampering with the machines that results in votes being imperceptibly changed in the background, without the voter ever being the wiser. Other parts in the process are vulnerable to attack such as the tallying and reporting of the votes. These should be the things that really worry people. Instead, we have a Republican driven media event intended to give the impression that Republicans are the victims of widespread vote tampering via vote flipping and it's BS.

It did not work as U.S. Rep. Scott Rigell's (R) won anyway.

When i voted today they had paper and touch screen ballots and i did the paper.

I also noticed a lot of other people were doing paper.

Are voters no longer trusting the electronic voting machines.

a reply to: Lil Drummerboy

That didn't work here is Scotland my friend....
...As you will know by now

Cheated

These voting machines are fraud within themselves anyway. They are not to be trusted, being easily manipulated as demonstrated. Videos came out explaining that last presidential election.

originally posted by: ThirdEyeofHorus
a reply to: Subsonic

just a calibration issue that the poll workers should be able to fix on their own

So when were they planning on doing that?

Right after I told them there was a problem with the machine. They immediately asked me if I wanted a different machine, but I declined, and after I was finished a poll worker immediately went to the machine to (presumably) run diagnostics.

If this was an attempt at vote fixing, it was probably the worst attempt ever. You would have to have been a complete moron to actually submit your vote for the wrong person even with the messed up touch screen.

When you make your choice, it highlights the candidate you selected, at which point you can change it if it selected the wrong candidate. Then at the end, you review all your choices, and you can again make changes to any of your votes. Then it prints your choices out on paper, which you can see, and confirm that it recorded your vote properly.

There is literally no way anyone with two brain cells to rub together could screw this up even with a faulty machine.

It doesn't surprise me. The Programmers today are the worst I've ever seen, except for the game programmers. I don't know where they get these morons from, but they are really terrible.

The screen should be programmed to refresh and realign-recalibrate after every voting session.

originally posted by: tavi45
a reply to: SkepticOverlord

Since both sides engage in a whole boatload of manipulation, I'm sure it evens out for the most part.

Let's not get too worked up.

I would have to disagree. The people are the ones that lose on this so no matter how much "evening out" is done it is unacceptable. On top of that we can't let this become every day event and stop questioning it.

a reply to: SkepticOverlord
In Hillsborough County (Tampa) Florida I asked for a copy of my ballot submission. It's a big paper ballot that is read by OCR.
They told me it was not possible.
Now ask me, do I trust these organizations to properly register my votes?

originally posted by: Kangaruex4Ewe
a reply to: tavi45

Both sides should get called out any time they do it. Saying they both do it, does not make this instance any less egregious IMO.

The Democrats have done this a 99 percent more than any republicans. That is how Obama won the election. That is also how Charlie Christ almost won in Florida again. People have seen how bad it was under Charlie Christ and would never go for him again especially after our Taxes doubled the first year he was in office. He somehow got 48 percent of the vote, My backside he did.

Florida got rid of that type of Voting machine only to have paper ballots that are filled out like the Lotto, Yet LARGER so the older people can see what they are filling out. They then are put into a automatic machine that counts your vote for you. Big difference in Fraud protection right? LMAO! Yesterday morning I seen the machine had counted 79 votes, I put the card into the machine and it said thank you for your vote but then still said only 79 voters. I just shook my head and walked out cause no amount of bitching to a 79 year old lady is going to correct anything. I also had an appointment to be at so it would have caused me to be late.

Those same machines can be hacked just like the old ones to count the vote a certain way. They need to have two people standing there, One Republican and One Democrat and yourself and if your vote is not cast the way you put it in as the whole system needs to tossed out for another one. Till it reads all the ballots correctly the vote should not be sent in to HQ.