Pew predicts ballot debacle for November 4

[babylonsister]

Ballot debacle predicted for November 4


Barack Obama

The excitement created by Barack Obama could result in a record turnout to the US election. Photograph: Ed Andrieski/AP


A "perfect storm" could be building for US election day on November 4 because of a combination of sky-high voter interest, new ballot machines and a shortage of poll staff, the independent Pew group warned yesterday.

The Washington-based group set out a long series of problems still facing the US despite reforms aimed at avoiding a repeat of the 2000 and 2004 debacles.

The launch of the 77-page report came as legal clashes over voter registration and hours-long queues formed outside booths set up for early voting in states across the US. Voting is now underway in 46 of the 50 states, though election day is still almost a fortnight away.

Virginia, a battleground state, said it will step up security at polling booths on November 4. Election officials fear trouble because of passions aroused by the election, by long queues, or by people being told they are not eligible to vote.

Doug Chapin, director of Pew's electionline.org, said: "People talk about meltdown. It is over-optimistic to think that 130 million people can vote and something does not go wrong ... We have spent eight years sorting the plumbing, but on November 4 we are going to crank up the system."

The excitement created by Barack Obama could result in a record turnout, with African-Americans and young voters, both previously less likely to vote, predicted to cast ballots in large numbers this time round. New voters are registering in record numbers in almost every state.

more...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/22/uselections2008

[truedelphi]

1. I wish that I could say that I am impressed by this Doug Chapin of Pew

He kept using the word "anecdotal"

Okay anecdotal is a new fangled term that has been parlayed by the Corporate Science community so that when an individual, or several individuals, observe phenomenon, the obserations are dis-allowed. No matter what you witness, and no matter how careful you are to report on what you witness, your individual observation is now dismissed - and never before in the history of scientific observations, were individual observations dismissed by a mere label!!

Here is what is wrong with that dismissing by labelling some observation to be "anecdotal." A lot of scientific breakthroughs came about because of fifty or fewer observations about phenomenon. (Edward Jenner's vaccination theory being one of them - he observed fewer than fifty cowmaids. And how many Apples did Newton observe? Etc.)

When I am president there will be serious penalties for using the word "anecdotal"

But the vote flipping phenomenon and the deliberate withholding of election machinery from places where it is needed - that is not anecdotal - even if I were to accept the word.

It is not anecdotal even by their definition because it does not involve a few instances:

Join me in the Wayback Machine of the most recent Presidential election
From the Dec 2004 Coastal Post, by Carol Sterritt - Across the nation, at least 400,000 people used voter hotlines to report the difficulties noticed on election day. Among those complaints, a full 50,000 instances were outright malfunctioning voting machinery. And in each of these 50,000 instances the vote went to Bush. If election day machine malfunctions were random, then logic dictates that Kerry must receive the benefit of the machine failures at least a few times. Unless the breakdowns were not random. And if not random, then they must be considered part of a network of fraud.

[babylonsister]

2. Wouldn't that be phenomena?

I kid! You're right, it's not anecdotal when there are so many proven instances of the network of fraud that was in place in 2004. But it might be a good thing that people are talking and writing about this more now, and the m$m is actually doing so also. If nothing else, since people are watching, maybe instances of deliberate fraud will be curbed. A girl can hope.

[Overseas]

6. That's the bright side for me, too -- More people will be watching this time.

I wish more people would have read all the evidence before writing their articles about "anecdotal" evidence. How about the Conyers report? Is that not official enough?

Wish more reporters would have seen "Stealing America: Vote by Vote" -- a calm comprehensive documentary on the several methods of election manipulation practiced in recent elections.

But I am glad that more people know and witness the various types of shenanigans Republicans use-- from vote flipping to voter intimidation (the snarly harassment of early voters is a new twist) to challenging voter registrations at the polling places to slow lines down so that it takes hours to vote and more Dems give up (done in Ohio 2004).

And we're hoping more people will be willing to count those provisional ballots and be patient for a few days if we need to check and recheck the vote counts in swing states. We're hoping Democrats will rise up and stop the media from pushing for an early concession if it looks like McLiar has won.

[truedelphi]

14. As far as correcting my phenom, er phenomenum, er ah-h my

Well you are dealing with someone who often spells statistican as statitician

I welcome any and all help in terms of my typings, spelling, grammer and manners!

[John Q. Citizen]

3. We know for a fact that FL implemented legislation designed to deny legal voters the

right to cast a ballot through fraudulent confusion with so-called felon's names on a list.

It's obvious it was a part of a larger strategy to keep voters from casting votes.

[Teaser]

7. bullshit

I teach a class on statistics. Feel free to sit in sometime.

[truedelphi]

13. Why not ask Berkeley Professer Michael Hout in my place

Some of us are better at words than numbers. (I am great at words, just not at typing them correctly.)

But why not ask a real statistician to sit in your class? My nomination would be for Michael Hout.

[Fly by night]

11. Chapin is a hugh tool.

I remember him saying in 2004 that there were no irregularities reported that could have influenced the final outcome. Yeah, vote-flipping reported in 10+ states in 2004, all going from Kerry to somewhere else.

When it comes to Chapin, Pew should be spelled Pee-yew.

[truedelphi]

15. Ya know something?

He is still using that quote!!

2004 was not an election theft - it was a few irregularities here and there!!

[opihimoimoi]

4. Since Pitchforks and Torches are in order but out of Vogue...we Revolt with our VOTE

Prepare to witness the Mother of all Voter Surges....

A TOTAL REJECTION OF BUSH and his MESS

Which includes Palin and the guy she running with...

Only the most steady of GOP holdouts will survive the election...many will feel the lash of the Ballot and wither on stage before their supporters as the numbers are spelled out....

Get your flavored Popcorn and drinks ready....this is gonna be a duzzy

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

5. VOTE EARLY

[Fly by night]

12. ... and often

[mrbarber]

8. Wow, I guess the repubs must really believe in God....

...if they think anyone or anything will shield them from the wraith of millions upon millions of people who had their votes stolen from them and their candidate losing because of fraud.

[scheming daemons]

9. I think early voting will really help alleviate the problems...

[Two Sheds]

10. it's up to us. We have to keep the momentum going...

Not for Obama, but for early voting. We're off to a good start but we must push for expanded early voting to the point that "the first Tuesday in November" goes the way of whalebone corsets.