Virginia Voting: Broken Machines, No Paper Ballots

At the Math and Science Center in Richmond, Virginia, an early breakdown of electronic voting machines led to a three-and-a-half hour wait to vote on Tuesday morning, according to one poll watcher.

"Some people have been here since 6 a.m., and the first voters are just finishing now," said Judith Browne-Dianis, adding that the Richmond location she was watching did not even have backup paper ballots in case of machine malfunction.

"They didn't even have the paper ballots required by state law," she said. "That's not even something we were supposed to have to ask for. I went inside and asked the polling judge, and he said 'we don't have 'em. They [the Board of Elections] were supposed to give 'em to us, and they didn't.'"

Browne-Dianis is also a lawyer with the Advancement Project. That group, along with the NAACP, unsuccessfully brought legal action against Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine as part of an effort to expand polling place hours this evening.

The groups had also hoped to get Virginia to provide more paper ballots for voters in case late evening lines proved prohibitive -- a request that was also rejected by a judge on Monday.

On Tuesday morning, though, Browne-Dianis said her group had succeeded in getting Virginia to announce that curbside voting will be in effect tonight for elderly and disabled voters. She also underlined the fact that anyone who lines up by 7pm will be able to vote, no matter how long the line takes to process.

As for her group's thwarted legal challenge, Browne-Dianis said the judge was sympathetic to the case during Monday's hearing. "He himself described waiting two and half hours, at age 85, to vote absentee. ... He said we need to go to the state legislature and get early voting, and that there is no remedy for voters for this election. And so we are monitoring the polls."

Comments

[BigMike75]

Please tell me how the most powerful country in the world cannot get their election process right? The third election in a row, where we have thrid world type problems.

[curocat]

We no longer have the RIGHT to tell other Countries how to run their election.

[M1]

This is unacceptable and someone (s) needs to go to jail or be severely fined!!

The art above is amazing!!

[Crit]

Wow, they've had ** 4 ** years to get this right and the incompetence or corruption still reigns [in Virginia]. This judge should be brought down. Where is the Governor? Is he incompetent as well? Man sometime I hate government. Bozos.

[fredfep]

New York State is being sued by the Feds for not accepting the faulty machines to replace the reliable, tamper-proof lever machines. The lever machines don't meet the HAVA "standards"

New York wants safe replacements, haven't seen any that fit this category and have been sued by the Federal Governement for this. So good luck having the lever machines nationwide, they put into the law taht only machines that can be tampered with are acceptable [well they didn't use the tamper line, that is mine, but in effect this is what was done; as with everything else, the Republicans twisted something perhaps needed- here, voting by the disabled- and twisted it for their own needs and gains, with absolutely no regard for democratic voting, fairness, or even, I would guess, for the disabled.

[Uncommon-Sense]

thanx fredfep

[TrooAmerican]

they did this because the republicans themselves hire people to tamper with them.
Its how they did it in past elections.
Its also because DieBold is a republican owned and managed business that gets almost all the contracts regardless of how pathetic their work is.

[louinphx]

Just got off the phone with my sister who lives in a fairly affluent suburb of Richmond VA and they had the same issue -- machine was broken and there were no paper ballots. Looks like it is royally messed up for everyone.

[solrac2002]

She knows how Richmond can screw things up..I'll be going to vote in 2 hrs. Let's pray.

[Figerre]

Isn't this exactly why the suit was brought? Not properly prepared? Is this a Republican Sec of State? What are we learning here? GOP SoS are the ones that seem to like shortened hours, little or no early voting, no prepartion for machines being over used and breaking down - and no back up paper votes. Looks like the next Congress will be able to go back to the drawing board and FIX THIS!!!! Why not use everyone's Social Security # and be automatically registered to vote? like other countries use their own national IDs. Great example to the rest of the world, eh?

[jobecky20]

Gov. Tim Kaine might be useless. This is beyond belief...n­o paper ballots?

[mapleman]

the world's greatest superpower stuck with a banana republic voting system.

still. after two dodgy elections

someone shoot me

[OutsiderSA]

bang - sorry I missed

[metalpipe]

Time to reprogram the voting machines. Perfect excuse to let the technicians into the machines. I hope someone is watching them closely.

[Uncommon-Sense]

I posted this earlier, and though people have agreed, no one has been able to answer this; and i'm hoping that someone can:

Today my NY district had us vote on the "ancient" lever machines. They're simple to use, accurate, and aren't prone to the issues that computers, chad-punchers, or #2 pencil scan-sheets have... So my question is, why don't we nationalize the use of lever machines?

[Zhonni]

I think it would make too much sense, perhaps, it might make an elitist of us all.

If softwares can't give a 99.99% accuracy and can't be rigid enough to protect against tampering, then why bother with it?

[ProfessorXYZ]

The lever machines are nice, but they are slower and more expensive than optical scanners. In Maryland, where I used to live, and California, where I live now, we use optical scan sheets where you use a black marker to complete the center of an arrow line (as opposed to the #2 pencil sheets with the ovals). With this approach, it's easy and cheap to set up a HUGE number of privacy stations for people to fill out their sheets. You just hand in the sheet as you leave. With this cheap technology available, it's hard to imagine why there are so many precints with intolerable waits.

[frappe]

This approach seems fine -- if -- they confirm the vote tallies vs. the scanner by forcing an objective, non-partisan review and count of the paper ballot tallies to confirm that they align with the optical scanner's results.

[Paralogos]

Tabulation takes too long for a large voting population?
Impossible to get spare parts anymore?
Campaign contributions from DIebold?

I live in France, where they have separate election days for president, parliament, and local officials, so one can't have a split ballot. Using technology available to the ancient Greeks, each voter puts a physical piece of paper indicating his preference into an "urn" (really a bulletproof-looking plexiglass box). After the polls close, the votes are counted, at the local precinct, by teams of at least two people, representing multiple parties, and recounted until the whole team agrees on the count for their box. Crude and slow - but utterly transparent and pretty hard to pervert.

[Frustrated53]

Hey idyllick, I read your post and appreciate the information. Problem is that if the Secretary of State is responsible for running the elections, and isn't doing his job, then the governor should ask the Attorney General for advice concerning resinging or prosecution. I don't give 2 Sh**s what party affiliation they are with. I have been a supporter of Barack Obama from the getgo, however what does it take to get a fair and reputable voting process? Maybe if somebody would step up and prosecute or ask for a resignation, we would see no more problems in the future. It's called Balls!

[idyllick]

I agree. The sec of state and the VA court system are the problem. Not sure if laws or balls would prevail here.
I suggest you VOICE your opinion to Gov. Kaine's office. I did.

Here's the number - 804-786-2211

[qdog112]

Report voting problems : CALL 1-866-MYVOTE1.

[harriettubman]

Who's running the state of VA? Goodness. Someone needs to take responsibility for this mess.

[Tommygun2146]

I think you will find this is all part of the pub's plan to steal the VA vote by default. No other explanation.

[muggles5]

Kaine is a Democrat. Not saying there's no shenanigans, just saying that Virginia may be messing up this election for reasons other than GOP scheming.

[13lotus]

rachel maddow interviewed the mayor and ex gov of virginia..­.and he called it. he hoped kaine would do something.­..or to have at least paper ballots in case of this scenario. i hope they get it together.

[ebanks84]

Well, they didn't get it together and Tim Kane is a rethuglican for not doing so.

[Ramirez]

Governor Tim Kaine is a Democrat and a outspoken supporter of the O. He knows what he's doing. Let the process work.

[Bafun]

Some Americans think that they are living in the greastest country and democracy in the World.
Even America overviews elections like in Iraq to avoid cheating..­. In this great democracy people are fighting hours and hours to exercice their right to vote but they don't even know if their votes will be counted or discarted because the voting machines are not working. What a mess. Where is the greatest engineering in the world? or are the machines made in China?
Some Americans are looking down at the "Old Europe" thinking they are better. At least in France and Germany we can vote and all our votes count!

[Marie9]

The Bush admin. and RNC promoting ignorance appear to have had wide-spread affected.