Austin voters (maybe Texas in general) - a warning.

[Richard D]

Found this from a FB friend:

PLEASE CHECK YOUR BALLOT BEFORE YOU COMPLETE YOUR VOTE:

A friend who voted this morning at Randall's (Brodie and Slaughter) sent this message: "We cast a straight Democratic vote, and my husba
nd saw on the 1st page that his vote was for Obama. When he got to the end summary page, much to his surprise, his Presidential selection indicated a vote for Romney. He called one of the monitors over, and the man verified his concern. They went back page by page. Every vote was for a Democrat except the Presidential vote. He helped change the vote and brought this to the attention of the Deputy Election Judge on site. They couldn't explain how this could have happened, and our concern is that THEY DID NOT appear to be overly concerned. We, of course, are!

[RKP5637]

1. Election rigging is going to become more and more common in the US. Many vote

with a back box machine, no auditing and who knows which way the vote ends up tallied. We are becoming more and more a third world country each day ... problem is many do not seem to get this and many do not care. These folks are the exception, but many wader around with deer in the headlight looks and thinking abilities.

[Cha]

8. That's Why It's Uber Important to Vote in DEMS..because

they don't screw around with our VOTES!

[RKP5637]

12. Well said, Cha! The R's only know how to get ahead by being bullies, cheats, liars and

buying elections. They are a wholly dishonest, threating and dangerous political party and dangerous to the survival of the US. IMO this election is not just about R vs. D, it's also about the survival of the US as a democracy. With Obama/Biden we have a chance, with Romney/Ryan the future of the US as a democracy is gone.

All one has to do is look at the companies and what happened to the employees as Bain Capital took over. Replace employees with citizens, and that's the future for most citizens, a dystopia many seem to be welcoming with open arms if they vote for Romney/Ryan. Just the strange smirk Romney perpetually wears should tell even the most naive what's going on one would think.

[defacto7]

20. hear, hear!

[reusrename]

33. have you seen this article by Mike Collins (autorank)?

OpEdNews: Rigged Elections for Romney?


http://www.opednews.com/populum/pagem.php?f=Rigged-Elections-for-Romne-by-Michael-Collins-121022-13.html

[RKP5637]

35. No, I hadn't seen this. Thanks for the link!!! n/t

[progressivebydesign]

2. I don't have the numbers, but please ask your FB friend to report this right away.

I'm sure other DUers have links to whom they should call. You need to follow up with this, if you can, as I doubt it's a random error. This is how they steal the elections. I remember this from 2004, too!!!

There was a video done where it showed someone trying to vote for the Democratic candidate, and it kept reverting to Bush.

[Tigress DEM]

3. F*ing VOTE FLIPPING!!! GRRR - needs to be reported.

[gateley]

4. Kick

[GetTheRightVote]

5. This is not good...

I hope the UN observers know about this problem...
No wonder Texas does not want them there at the polls.

[rachel1]

6. K&R

[JackN415]

7. If real, this needs to be investigated seriously

[AndyTiedye]

9. Strange That They Would Need to Steal Votes in TEXAS

Does anybody really consider Texas to be in play?

This looks like an attempt to steal votes from Obama, but why would they bother?
Does he have any chance of winning there?

[Columbus Free Press]

27. Two reasons

1) Texas uses Hart Intercivic Machines... which Romney's friends and family functionally own

2) Vote flipping in "safe" states for Republicans creates the meme of a "popular mandate"

3) If the vote flipping in some places fails, and Romney looses the electoral vote, but not the popular, it creates a very bad dynamic for 4 years

[oswaldactedalone]

10. Occasionally

voting machines fall out calibration and where you touch the screen, it "thinks" you touched it somewhere else. They're supposed to recalibrate the machines each morning and I believe a good faith effort is made to do this. I saw this happen in a sherrif's race some years ago when helping a disabled person vote.

Bottom line, carefully review your ballot before you submit it.

[Indpndnt]

17. True, but this was a straight Democratic vote. Only one spot was checked.

And it was nowhere near the names of the candidates. Not even on the same page. This is something entirely different.

But your advice about careful ballot review is excellent.

[NoPasaran]

24. Having voted just Monday in the same county

The option to vote straight ticket is right before the Presidential choices. On the same page.

[Indpndnt]

26. I remember it as being on a separate screen.

But that is my recollection from the last election. My mistake. Still, there is no way to vote straight Dem and have the entire ballot filled out with one click, while 'accidentally' choosing a repub candidate with a misplaced touch. As you pointed out, especially on the machines we use, since they are not touchscreens.

[NoPasaran]

25. The e-slate used in Travis County is not a touch screen

It uses a dial-a-prayer wheel to highlight ballot choices and then you press a button to make your selection.

[PDittie]

34. Hart InterCivic e-Slates aren't touchscreen

They're scroll-wheel.

[Catherine Vincent]

11. Thanks for the warning

I'll be sure to let everyone I know that will be voting to double check their ballot.

[JackN415]

13. I voted in TX, did not recall, but probably did not have the problem...

because on the summary page, I made sure no Repub candidate gets my vote. Either Green Party if no Democrat, but not Republican. If only Repub, I left blank (I live in deep red county). If Romney were selected, it would have jumped out in front of me.

But it's good to call to attention.

[Gothmog]

14. Be careful of Emphasis voting

I am running the voter protection operation for my county for the County Democratic Party. Your advice is very good and I urge all voters to check the summary screen at the end to make sure that the proper selections have been made.

There is an e-mail going around telling people that you have to vote separately for President if you vote a straight party ticket. That e-mail is true for North Carolina but not Texas. North Carolina law prohibits one from voting POTUS on a straight party ticket and so in North Carolina, you vote for POTUS first and then get to vote a straight party ticket for the rest of the races.

In Texas on a number of machines, voting a straight party ticket and then voting for the candidate also is called emphasis voting and messes up the software. That is why it is always a good idea to check the summary screen at the end to make sure that your vote is accurate.

This e-mail is going through my county and we have to do a robocall and e-mail blast trying to warn people that this e-mail is not accurate for Texas. Snopes has debunked this e-mail. We are telling our voters to be careful and check the summary screen at the end before they cast their ballot.

[LisaL]

16. They are confusing the hell out of people with these rules.

Hopefully voters in NC know about this, because that really is a big problem-if they vote straight democratic but don't vote for Obama separately they didn't vote for president.

[defacto7]

21. How can it possibly be so difficult

to vote? Why has it come to this?

(rhetorical)

[Dustlawyer]

31. What county? I just voted here in Jefferson Co. Tx. I did straight Dem but review looked ok.

Hated to see so many R's and Libertarians w/no Dems even running!

[budkin]

15. I'm going to another Randall's tomorrow to vote

I'll try it out and see what happens.

[TexasTowelie]

18. Cross-posted to Texas group.

Thanks for sharing the information.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

19. Thanks for the heads up!

[defacto7]

22. Be vigilant, people

in every state!

We cannot let these people get by with treason. Similar things could happen anywhere.

Don't let your guard down.

[Rstrstx]

23. How much of TX is using electronic voting?

This is the first time I've voted in a (blue) border county in south Texas and they were using, to my surprise, a real paper ballot !!! Don't know if it's budget reasons or they just don't trust those oversized Newtons but whatever the case I LIKED IT.

[Columbus Free Press]

28. You get a paper ballot

and an electronic tabulation machine...

thats where the fix is

[Hutzpa]

29. Oh snap! it is the Texas shenanigans my cousin talked about.

send this info to the FBI - 281-514-1888

[ProfessionalLeftist]

30. What type of machine?

I used an optical scan (and voted straight "D&quot . It does not display who you voted for, it only counts the number of ballots it collects.

[Rider3]

32. GOP rigged

this election, as well as the ones that got Bush (W) in. I was concerned with OH, since Tagg Romney just purchased the company supplying the voting machines to OH. Isn't that a bit of a conflict? Just a tad? Now, we go to TX and see the bullshit happening again. The only way these people are going to win is by cheating, and they're good at that. This is scary.