by Taylor Marsh
Your candidate's full name is not on part of the ballot and your response is unhappiness? This is such an outrage it leaves me speechless. Why not just hand the election to George Allen?
Another question is why the Webb campaign is going to accept it. Read the comment from Kristian Denny Todd. "We're not happy about it" doesn't cut it. Get out there and FIGHT this outrage. The election hangs in the balance. Get off your ass and DO SOMETHING.
U.S. Senate candidate James Webb's last name has been cut off on part of the electronic ballot used by voters in Alexandria, Falls Church and Charlottesville because of a computer glitch that also affects other candidates with long names, city officials said yesterday.
Although the problem creates some voter confusion, it will not cause votes to be cast incorrectly, election officials emphasized. The error shows up only on the summary page, where voters are asked to review their selections before hitting the button to cast their votes. Webb's full name appears on the page where voters choose for whom to vote.
Thus, Democratic candidate Webb will appear with his first name and nickname only -- or "James H. 'Jim' " -- on summary pages in Alexandria, Falls Church and Charlottesville, the only jurisdictions in Virginia that use balloting machines manufactured by Hart InterCivic of Austin.
"We're not happy about it," Webb spokeswoman Kristian Denny Todd said last night, adding that the campaign learned about the problem a week ago and has since been in touch with state election officials. "I don't think it can be remedied by Election Day. Obviously, that's a concern." ...
Trapper John over at DailyKos offers more.
1) Two weeks before the election, we know that one of the two major party candidates for the top-of-the-ballot race in Virginia will definitely have his name truncated to "James H. 'Jim'" on the final voting machine screen seen by many NoVa voters before casting their votes. Meanwhile, his opponent, George F. Allen, will have his full name displayed;
2) We're being told that this error can and will not be fixed before Election Day -- ...
3) And there are no plans to shelve the goddamn machines in favor of substitute paper ballots.
This is what Markos has to say: "Can't be remedied"? And the Webb campaign is going to sit there and take it? -- kos." Amen. If the Webb campaign doesn't raise hell over this they're handing the election to Macaca.