Florida Voting Machines Break Down On First Day

A local news station in Florida reports problems with machines on the first day of early voting:

People lined up to be among the first to vote at several early voting sites around Jacksonville Monday morning had an extra long wait and some left frustrated when machines at several locations refused to record the ballots.

"It was very shocking to have the very first ballot at 10 o'clock this morning not go into the machine," said state Rep. Audrey Gibson, who hoped to be first to vote at the Gateway location.

The Duval County elections office confirmed problems with voting machines at the Gateway Shopping Center and libraries on Edgewood Avenue, at Regency Square and Webb Wesconnett. Channel 4 heard from voters experiencing problems at other polling places, as well.

The Duval County elections office confirmed problems with voting machines at the Gateway Shopping Center and libraries on Edgewood Avenue, at Regency Square and Webb Wesconnett. Channel 4 heard from voters experiencing problems at other polling places, as well.

"I was frustrated with all the breakdowns of the machines," Westside voter John Lord said. "How long have they had to had this all fixed and ready to go and they knew it was an important election and that there would be a big turnout."

West Virginia voters have reported machines flipping their votes from Democratic to Republican.

If you know of any problems with voting machines in your area, please let us know.

Comments

[unite4change]

The problems always happen when the is a republican secretary of state and govenor. Remember Florida's Secretary of State, Ms. Harris in 2000. Please contact the following Florida representatives to let them know, we will not tolerate the voting problem this year:

Kurt S. Browning - Secretary of State
Telephone 850.245.65­00
Fax 850.245.61­25
TDD Line 850.245.60­96
Florida Relay Service (TDD) 800.955.87­71
Email [e-mail]

Charlie Crist - Governor of Florida
Telephone 850.488.71­46
Fax 850.487.08­01
TTY Line 850.922.77­95
OR
711 (Florida Telecommunication Relay)
Email [e-mail]

We must let Florida know, we and the world are watching them this year.

[RomeoinFl]

It is good that this is happening now. They just need to get their stuff in order

[alicante]

Why do slot machines always work?

[Dave01]

And why are they the MOST secure machines around?

[iPlato]

Is this why McCain is not worried about the polls?

[vernbvb]

Exactly. So does that mean he is part of the organized GOP electoral fraud bandits?

[Senella]

I voted absentee ballot, which is paper. Florida has paper ballots but they still have to be scanned through a machine. Did I hear someone say Banana Repuiblic?­??????????

[MsLiz]

Optical scan is better than punch card.

[enlighteninglad]

And better than touch screen but I've heard Auto-Mark is really the best and most secure.

[rhubardpi]

And we put a man on the moon? ......yike­s!

[enlighteninglad]

Diebold operates on the KISS priciple. Keep it Stealable Stupid.

[asus389]

How frickin hard is it to write a voting program? its the most simple exercise in programming ever. Amazon can take millions of orders a day from people picking from millions of products in an online system and we can't get a decent voting software to pick between a couple of candidates? Unbeleivab­le...

[MsLiz]

Don't you have local races where you live?

I get your point. The problem is, the Powers That Be want a system they can rig, and get away with rigging. That makes the programmers job infinitely more difficult, especially if he doesn't know that his program is supposed to be rigged.

[SeeDaddy]

Diebold and others touchscreen ATMs at banks don't have these problems. ATMs and voting machines use the same technology. If the voting machines were properly built and programmed, they would work correctly. As an IT professional, it seems apparent that the touchscreen voting machines have been intentionally programmed to make errors or to confuse voters into making mistakes. Proper, standard quality control at the factory would have revealed the problems and then the problems should have been fixed. The large number of problem machines reported in several states indicates the problem is too widespread to be unintentional. The user interface on these voting machines fall way short of professional, technical and industry standards. It has to be intentional.

[vernbvb]

Writing the program is no problem at all. The real problem is in all the tampering and rigging of machines. The real problem is in the very real electoral fraud which has gotten so out of control that it is time to put a stop to it.. Where is the pride?

[OneVoiceOfReason]

diebold voting machine flips votes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNYA5ggwG84

[rukiddingmerightnow]

nice

[Mugzi]

We need to contact all our congressmen to repeal HAVA -Help America Vote Act - created by you-know-who after the 2000 election. Voting machines are products of pro Repub Diebold (whatever they call themselves), Sequoia, etc. and hackable, rigged by those companies. We need what Canada does..pape­r ballots, pencil, and oversight of the counters by both/all parties. Oversight could be selected like jurors.

Paraphrasi­ng...voter­s decide nothing, counters decide the election - Stalin

[vernbvb]

I totally agree, the machines should be outlawed immediately.

[unite4change]

Here we go again. Let me guess, the breakdown is in a poorer minority neighborhood. We cannot allow this to keep happening. The machines are not functioning properly in WV - a vote for Obama is being counted as a vote for McCain. Want is being done about this?

I don't know Obama's policy on the changing of vote by these machines; however, I would suggest you notified a poll worker immediately, and ask them to have the machine removed or fixed, then ask for a paper ballot, or some type of proof of the problem with the machine.

We have been plagued by these machines before - not this time!

[NPA]

As a computer engineer, I don't understand why these simple machines break down. They are only used during elections but time and time again you here stories how these machines are "malfunctioning". My kids Xbox is a more complicating machine/computer that gets used for hours daily non-stop. The program for these voter machine is minimum at best maybe just a couple of lines of code!

[NPA]

And I'm in Tampa born and raised in Jacksonville, FL

[SwingVoter]

Could it be flip-flops issue?

[bbrecht]

Thank goodness for early voting.

[DiBaskin]

This happens every year. They have had four years to get this together. What is wrong with FL?

[MizFlagPin]

I'm sure they'll put it together or get some outside help.

[MsLiz]

Huh?

[jsarets]

This seems like a job for a concerned citizen with a camera (preferably video). If somebody catches these vote flipping shenanigans on camera and posts it on YouTube, we'll have some very interesting news cycles ahead of us.

I wonder if anyone is reporting machines flipping votes from R to D, or if this is a suspiciously one-way malfunction.

[MizFlagPin]

Why are so many posters negative tonight? Be prepared for something to jump off in your state too. Get ready, be prepared and show W.VA and FL some love. Dag.

Fight voter suppression EVERYONE

Help other states

Circulate numbers to call to report voter fraud

BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY, FIND A WAY TO VOTE!

[L0ve PEace]

Dirty tricks designed to mislead Texas voters have been spreading across the state, and many Obama supporters are getting incorrect information about the voting process.

Bogus claims about voting machines are spreading via email chains -- and in one reported case, even broadcast on a Houston radio station -- that could have a huge impact on voter turn out on Election Day.

Here is the truth that every Texan should know: If you vote a straight Democratic Ticket you will cast your ballot for Barack.

But Texans are not alone -- voters in key neighboring battleground states like New Mexico, Colorado, and Missouri are receiving deceitful automated phone messages and mailers from the McCain campaign spreading vile lies about Barack Obama.