Voter Fraud already underway

[ECSNorway]

http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/25511115/detail.html

LAS VEGAS -- Some voters in Boulder City
complained on Monday that their ballot had been cast before they went to
the polls, raising questions about Clark County's electronic voting
machines.
Voter Joyce Ferrara said when they went to vote for
Republican Sharron Angle, her Democratic opponent, Sen. Harry Reid's
name was already checked.
Ferrara said she wasn't alone in her
voting experience. She said her husband and several others voting at the
same time all had the same thing happen.
"Something's not right,"
Ferrara said. "One person that's a fluke. Two, that's strange. But
several within a five minute period of time -- that's wrong."

--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Rev Dark]

From the bottom of the article cited.

Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said there is no voter
fraud, although the issues do come up because the touch-screens are
sensitive. For that reason, a person may not want to have their fingers
linger too long on the screen after they make a selection at any time."Especially
in a community with elderly citizens (they have) difficulty in (casting
their) ballot," Lomax said. "Team leaders said there were complaints
(and the) race filled in."At any time, voters can go back on the
screen and review their selections. They are also allowed to make
changes and encouraged to double-check their ballot on screen and on
paper before it is cast.Lomax said voters need to have faith in the system."This
election, I think, more than ever," he said. "The two sides are very
fractured and each side is suspicious and we're caught in the middle.

Yep, check the screen, check the fucking paper trail.  Fraud my hairy Canadian arse.
This is the typical, poorly researched story and they are counting on their target audience to jump onto the hyperbole bus with both feet rather than engaging the mushy gray thing that is between their ears, finish reading the article, and applying critical thinking to it.  Paper trail.  User verifiable paper trail.
Second.  I could understand a husband and wife talking about who they voted for; I am less likely to talk others voting at the same time.  Is this an American thing?   Additionally, none of these voters thought to mention this odd phenomenon to staff at the location; as noted in the follow up story.  Yeah.... We might have a veracity problem here.  Odd that the other 137,000 early voters didn't notice or mention anything.  Just this small clique of like minded voters spontaneously comparing notes.
http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/25524494/detail.html
What is this good for.  Exploding over right wing blogs with dire threats and Glen-Beck-equse conspiracy mongering.
What utter tosh.

[Epsilon]

So, no proof but just some accusations?
Okay, I'll call your "voter fraud" and raise you:
PHYSICAL ASSAULT.

----------------
Epsilon

[Morganite]

the issues do come up because the touch-screens are sensitive. For that reason, a person may not want to have their fingers linger too long on the screen after they make a selection at any time.

This part really makes me say to myself, "Who designed these things?"

After all, the idea of making sure the button has actually been released before acting on the button being pressed again has been around for *decades*. Why has it not been applied here? Yeah, maybe the opportunity to make corrections is there, but it's still better to have things designed so errors are less likely to occur in the first place. Especially when it's something as basic as freaking debouncing.

-Morgan.

[Sweno]

voter fraud and mob violence, while both bad things, are different in scale.

the alleged voter fraud (and I don't know enough to call this as crap touch screens, crap software, poor maintenance, clueless users, malicious users, malicious programers, hacked machines, something else, or a combination thereof) tends to affect everyone.

The, apparently spontaneous, mob violence affects generally few (the attackers and the victim).

I'm not going to make a judgement call about which is worse, lesser crime against the larger group or greater crime against the few.

But (hopefully) we can all agree that these things suck, and the people who perpetrate them suck as well.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Bob Schroeck]

Any sufficiently motivated fraudster, with the skills to actually hack the voting machines to produce the results he wants, would not be so silly as to leave the fraud obvious to the casual user of said machines. Not if he wanted to actually get away with it. In this case I am inclined to trust the old saw, "do not attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity." We've seen dumb and dumber design decisions in electronic voting machines before, exacerbated by the arrogance of the manufacturers and their refusal to let outsiders audit the design and construction process. I'm willing to bet that this is just another case of stupid design error making the machines do something weird and unexpected.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Epsilon]

You started this shindig Norway, let's continue to ride!
Tea Party plans to actively suppress votes.
Yes, you read correctly. The Tea Party plans to send special squads around on election day, harassing people, videotaping them, challenging them to "question individual voters at the polls whom they suspect of being ineligible." (Read as black or hispanic.) Harassement and intimidation is endemic, and somehow always targets groups who are seen to support Democrats. Isn't that funny!
Yup, the problem here is obviously some old farts in Vegas who can't figure out how to work a voting machine.
----------------
Epsilon

[Black Aeronaut]

*SIGHS* Okay, you guys know how I didn't really take a shine to the Tea Party before, but figured that it'd be okay since they're just Americans (albeit stupid ones) trying to make themselves heard and they'll self implode anyways?

Well, I'd like to see them self-implode now. Or even yesterday. Or better yet, I'd like to see them messily explode, bringing about the revolution they so desire by throwing themselves on their own Swords of Self-Righteousness.

[Morganite]

Can you please try to keep in mind that one group of people calling themselves part of the Tea Party does not necessarily represent the opinions of everyone else calling themselves part of it?

-Morgan. They're not the freaking borg, for Urd's sake.

[ECSNorway]

Can you please try to keep in mind that one group of people calling themselves part of the Tea Party does not necessarily represent the opinions of everyone else calling themselves part of it?

-Morgan. They're not the freaking borg, for Urd's sake.

Indeed. There is documented proof that at least one fake Tea Party group was created by pro-Dem agitators to try to discredit the movement.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Dartz]

I could be snarky and remark that this thread makes me glad I live in a free and representative democracy, but I won't. The only party ever to try and bring Us-style politics here was Libertas. They made a lot of noise, and seemed to be everywhere on the TV... which no other politician in this country does. But nobody voted for them, and they just sort of dissolved.

The whole US electoral system always to me seems to have become a choice between "We stand for everything they don't," and "They stand for everything we won't,". With 'everything' being whom or whatever paid the bills for the election with the aim being to stop the other side from running the country, rather than actually running the country. Or maybe that's just the impression we get over here.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[Bob Schroeck]

I find myself wanting to pronounce a snarky epigram about the United States having the 1.0 (alpha) release of representative democracy, and how we really ought to upgrade to the latest release, but I'm not sure I could pull it off right.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Epsilon]

Can
you please try to keep in mind that one group of people calling
themselves part of the Tea Party does not necessarily represent the
opinions of everyone else calling themselves part of it?

-Morgan. They're not the freaking borg, for Urd's sake.

Ah, the ubiqutious "just a few bad apples" defense. I'll be waiting for the Tea Party to repudiate these actions (and all the others like it) but won't hold my breath.

ECSNorway wrote:

---

Indeed. There is documented proof that at least one fake Tea Party group was created by pro-Dem agitators to try to discredit the movement.

Cite?
----------------
Epsilon

[Ayiekie]

Can you please try to keep in mind that one group of people calling themselves part of the Tea Party does not necessarily represent the opinions of everyone else calling themselves part of it?

ECSNorway's response? "Indeed."

I've tried learning more about Islam for the better part of a decade in
an honest attempt to "understand" and the more I learn, the more
contempt and disgust I have for the "religion of peace".
I've finally come to the conclusion that there is no true coexistence possible.

ECSNorway's response? "QFT."
I love intellectual consistency.
Oh, and incidentally? The Tea Party is not the borg, but it is a political movement (please do not try to go "gotcha" with the statement above and oblige me to explain why a religion that 1/5 of humanity professes to is not a political movement, because this will make me sad). It is not somehow unfair to criticise the movement based on opinions and attitudes that repeatedly are expressed at all levels of said movement, nor is it unfair to criticise a movement for encouraging extremism against its opponents. It is unfair to say "the Tea Partiers tell you to stomp the heads of leftists", but one can not seriously argue the movement as a whole does not engage in whipping up hatred towards them, and that this is a contributing factor to that attack. And yes, I would also apply the same logic to certain movements and organisations on the left in a similar incident. Dehumanising your opponents is never a good thing, no matter how absolutely wrong you believe them to be.

[Glidergun]

Misinformation fliers in black neighborhoods in Texas

Misleading fliers are showing up on the windshields of vehicles at a
predominately African-American polling place in Houston that claim to
come from a non-existent group called the "Black Democratic Trust of
Texas."
...
"Republicans are trying to trick us!" the flier reads. "When you vote straight ticket Democrat, it is actually voting for Republicans and your vote doesn't count. We are urging everyone to VOTE for BILL WHITE. A VOTE for BILL WHITE
is a VOTE for the ENTIRE DEMOCRATIC ticket. We have fought too hard to
let Republicans use voting machines to deny us our basic rights. We
must guard the change and NOT VOTE STRAIGHT TICKET DEMOCRAT!"

I really wish I felt more outrage than resignation over this.

[Morganite]

... You'd think if they were going to do that, you might as well at least try to get them to vote for the republican candidate.

-Morgan. The movie about all the other elections getting zero votes for all candidates is writing itself in my head...

[Foxboy]

Makes me wanna use this vid. (ignore the comments if you go to YouTube. Clip speaks for itself)


''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Black Aeronaut]

Morganni, that happened in film Richard Pryor starred in called Brewster's Millions.

In an effort to blow the 30 million he had to blow in order to earn his real inheritance (an analogy to forcing a kid to smoke a whole pack of cigarettes to make him/her sick of cigarettes) he started a campaign to vote for "None of the Above".
EDIT: Oh fer cryin' out loud....
You know, I'm just gonna disregard any commentary that has Youtube vids in it unless I'm in port.

[ECSNorway]

Can
you please try to keep in mind that one group of people calling
themselves part of the Tea Party does not necessarily represent the
opinions of everyone else calling themselves part of it?

-Morgan. They're not the freaking borg, for Urd's sake.

Ah, the ubiqutious "just a few bad apples" defense. I'll be waiting for the Tea Party to repudiate these actions (and all the others like it) but won't hold my breath.

ECSNorway wrote:

---

Indeed. There is documented proof that at least one fake Tea Party group was created by pro-Dem agitators to try to discredit the movement.

Cite?
----------------
Epsilon

Okay. How about the New York Times for a source.

In Nevada, conservative radio listeners have heard an advertisement promoting the Senate campaign of a “Tea Party of Nevada” candidate, Scott Ashjian. The ads criticize Sharron Angle, the Republican nominee and favored candidate of the actual Tea Party movement in the race against Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader.

The ad was sponsored by a group backed by unions and casino and mining companies supporting Mr. Reid.

Nevada is one of several states, including Florida, where “Tea Party”
political committees have appeared on ballot lines without the knowledge
or support of leading Tea Party activists, who have generally chosen
not to support third-party candidacies. In most of those cases, local
bloggers, reporters and lawyers have traced connections to local
Democrats, drawing lawsuits, complaints and, in a couple of cases,
admissions of involvement.

--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Black Aeronaut]

.... Why do I suddenly have the image of some person trying to flush a mutant thing they created in their lab down a toilet and desperately stomping at it with their foot to get it to go down?

[Dartz]

If it's making your head spin... don't worry, that's just the entire system circling the bowl as it goes down the toilet.

Okay. That people are bare-faced lying to get a vote, is probably nothing new. But outright trying to trick somebody into voting for you... that's despicable.

And I'm sure it's all happening on both sides of the political divide... dastardly doings are not just a Republican or a Democrat thing. All we're seeing is who get's caught, magnified through the lens of a media which has it's own political agenda.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[Foxboy]

A political agenda best summed up as RATINGS WHEEEEEEE!
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Bob Schroeck]

Ratings and Strife! Ratings and Strife! Wheeee!

(Do I need to link the video? )
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Logan Darklighter]

Dirty Laundry By Don Henley
(Don't bother watching the actual video unless you want 80s Miami Vice nostalgia. Just play in the background otherwise.)

[Bob Schroeck]

I was thinking of one with a squirrel and slightly different lyrics, but this works.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.