'We need to outlaw those Diebold and blackbox voting machines.'

[Eric J in MN]

Howard Dean said that on Rachel Maddow Show tonight.

I credit "Democratic Underground" for making blackbox voting an issue. I think this website did more in that regard than any other website.

[WA98296]

1. My signature hasn't changed in years..."The people who cast the vote..."

[polichick]

2. I love Howard, but what the hell is taking so long??

[KewlKat]

3. We really need to implement standard voting nationwide

We ALL cast are ballots on the same device, pick one. However IT MUST HAVE A PAPERTRAIL for contested elections, recounts, etc. Some of us use scanners, some diebold, etc........Actually, why not just mail them in like OR does?

Anyway, after we get through this someone needs to take the lead on this issue. I wish President Carter would run with this since his organization oversees elections in other countries.

JMO

[lonestarnot]

5. I agree! Should be uniform all over the U.S. with uniform practices all over the U.S.

Move to NM from Mississippi and vote the same!

[marlakay]

6. My whole county in rural WA is by mail

I enjoy that so don't have to wait in lines and can help out with phone calls on election day.

[annabanana]

9. no

It must have a voter-verified paper BALLOT. The legal instrument must be the ballot. Recounts must ALWAYS be done in sufficient quantities to assure statistical accuracy. Any and all tabulators must have open source software. There must be no proprietary software there.

OR...

We could do it like India (the most populous democracy) and use paper ballots, marked with a pen and counted by hand, in public.

It could be a 5 day festival every four years or something

[Mark Baker]

19. Not sure how well hand-counting would work in the US

We use hand-counting in the UK, and it works very well for us. But we only have one or two races, maybe three at the most. (If there's more than one, they're on separate ballot papers, and the colour-coded papers go in separate boxes). I think it's great that you get to vote for so many more things, and I can't see how you could do that with hand-counting.

I don't think the time taken to count is a problem. The polls close here at 22:00, and the first declaration last time was at 22:43. But that was in a very safe labour seat so they were maybe a bit sloppy with their counting on the basis that it didn't matter much. Most declarations come in at around midnight to one o-clock.

[annabanana]

21. My feeling is. . . What's the hurry?

I believe that, on reflection, the vast majority of Americans would far rather have the results two days later and be more assured of the accuracy of the count, than get results 20 minutes after the polls close and be unsure if the will of the People has been expressed.

[Mark Baker]

23. I agree with that,

I'm just worried about the confusion that would result from having more than a tiny number of races going on at the same time. Two or three works well with colour coding, but much more isn't going to work.

I suppose you could have multiple races on a single sheet, and not start to count one race until you were happy with the previous one.

Oh, I've just thought: or you could make sure all the ballot papers were the same way round and guillotine a whole stack of them so different races could be counted separately in parallel.

By the way, another benefit of hand-counted paper voting: I've never had to wait more than about 30 seconds to vote. That's with no early voting and with higher turn-outs than are typical in US elections. I was shocked when I first read reports here of people waiting five hours or more, because I'd be pissed off if I'd had to wait that many minutes.

[deaniac21]

22. Thousands of people counting paper!! Now that's what I call

progress AND accuracy!

[RC]

11. Forget the damn machines!

We need to go back to paper and ball point pen. If optical scanners are used, then a random polling place or several random polling places get a full hand recount, each and every election!

[marlakay]

4. Can the president change it back to voting by hand?

We need to go back to old fashioned voting until they can find a way to make it fool proof and let carters group check on it...i think our country needs it more than others!

[Eric J in MN]

7. Dennis Kucinich introduced a bill to hand-count the presidential race.

If Obama asked Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to get that bill passed, then it probably would pass.

[annabanana]

10. As usual. . . . Dennis has it exactly RIGHT . . . . . . n/t

[Trajan]

8. Absolutely MUST toss the Fraud Machines ....

I am not against using touch screens to GENERATE ballots ... (IE; Be the human/ballot interface that records the voter's choices on a paper ballot, which the voter then holds, and verifies, after which the voter THEN carries the ballot to the ballot box, and drops it in .... This will maintain the capability for the disabled to vote with relative ease)

We dont need Vapor Trails ....

[kath]

12. Howard. Where. The. HELL. Have. You. Been. The. Past. Eight. Years???????

Are you just figuring this out NOW? People have been screaming about election problems since 2000, and Dems showed minimal interest in the issue.

[Laelth]

13. Hear, hear.

I want hand-counted paper ballots for all Federal elections by 2010.

The United States is a LIBERAL Country.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Bushfire]

14. OMG, only took him 4 years

to read the salon articles i printed out for him to read...and deliver personally at our state convention

[kster]

15. Joe Biden wants Standardized Federal Elections, May I Suggest

Transparent Ballot Box, for 500 - 800 Paper Ballots, with Deposit Trap and Counter
Easy to use, sturdy and stackable. Lockable with two individual locks. Deposit trap is operated using a lever which is coupled with the counter. Can be safely stored in the reusable protective box.




Joe Biden, Why Tuesday...

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDfqqKurwv8

K&R

[Hekate]

16. I was very cheered when I heard Dr. Dean say that! He heard us and he gets it...

Now on to making it a reality. :bounce:

Hekate

[Fly by night]

17. "Better late than never" is not always a good thing.

Here in Tennessee, we passed the TN Voter Confidence Act mandating that DREs be junked in favor of paper ballots/opscan AND mandatory random manual audits.

HOWEVER, our very corrupt State Election Coordinator convinced the legislature we couldn't possibly make the change-over until 2010. Too much chaos at the polling place, doncha know? Now we have vote-flipping reported in at least four counties so far and we don't have a clue how the votes are being counted inside the black box.

Waiting until 2010 to implement secure and verifiable voting procedures is akin to outlawing thalidomide because of its horrendus birth defects, but then waiting to implement the ban until after we sell all the thalidomide.

Many of us have tried to get Dean's attention re: DREs. But when he assigned Donna Brazile to investigate election fraud in Ohio (2004) and she couldn't find any, I stopped wasting my breath.

GOBAMA. Vote free or Diebold.

[Vinca]

18. It drives me crazy. When we carp about this right after an election

is stolen we're regarded as tin foil hat wearers. Now . . . days before an election . . . same thing happening and MSM is covering clothing purchases. One thing is for certain. If McCain wins, it was stolen.

[goforit]

20. Yes we do. But how long have DUrs known this and they are still out there.