Slog - Comments on "This doesn't happen in America—maybe Ohio, but not in America!" http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio This clip from The Simpsons... ...got it wrong. This happens—it's happening—but in West Virginia. Virginia Matheney and Calvin Thomas said touch-screen machines in the county clerk's office in Ripley kept switching their votes from Democratic to Republican candidates. "When I touched the screen for Barack Obama, the check mark moved from his box to the box indicating a vote for John McCain," said Matheney, who lives in Kenna. When she reported the problem, she said, the poll worker in charge "responded that everything was all right. It was just that the screen was sensitive and I was touching the screen... Copyright 2008 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:55:28 -0800 Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:43:44 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Eli Sanders Yikes. See the upcoming Stranger for this scenario graded on a helpful terror alert scale...

]]> Eli Sanders http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178834 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178834 2008 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:09:56 -0800 Comment by I'm a liberal! QUICK, TURN OFF YOUR BRAINS!!! CONSPIRACY! THEATRICS! EMOTIONS! ESTROGEN!

]]> I'm a liberal! http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178836 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178836 2008 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:11:31 -0800 Comment by I'm a neocon! QUICK, TERN OFF YER BRAINS! ANTI-CHRIST! MUSLIM! TERRORISTS! I-RACK! I-RANISTAN! QUEERS! JEWS! PENIS ENVY!

]]> I'm a neocon! http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178861 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178861 2008 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:31:55 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle Time to LOCK and LOAD!

Democracy has a price.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178869 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178869 2008 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:44:20 -0800 Comment by Chris in Tampa Proof Positive that the Democrats are, in fact, committing mass voter fraud:

http://tinyurl.com/53ylsb

]]> Chris in Tampa http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178874 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178874 2008 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:45:30 -0800 Comment by parsley Paranoia is irrational. Fear, at this point, is completely rational.

]]> parsley http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178875 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178875 2008 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:45:43 -0800 Comment by kinaidos plenty of time to send in a legal team and force them to use paper ballots

]]> kinaidos http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178881 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178881 2008 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:49:33 -0800 Comment by Greg Step 1. Go to a poll worker, demand a paper ballot.
Step 2. Hire a lawyer and SUE THE FUCK out of your county.
Step 3. Democracy!

]]> Greg http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178889 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178889 2008 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:00:28 -0800 Comment by flamingbanjo If you're not paranoid you're not paying attention.

]]> flamingbanjo http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178890 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178890 2008 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:00:36 -0800 Comment by adrian i am with #9.

]]> adrian http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178901 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178901 2008 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:06:46 -0800 Comment by max solomon i really like that homer voted for obama.

]]> max solomon http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178913 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178913 2008 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:14:36 -0800 Comment by Fnarf The biggest threat to your ballots isn't Republican conspiracy, it's stupid and incompetent election officials. I don't believe this episode is part of a wider conspiracy to change Dem votes to GOP ones; I think it's part of a wider conspiracy to rely on piece-of-shit voting machines that nobody knows how to maintain properly. If our voting system is ever compromised on a wide scale, it won't be by Diebold or the Republicans; it will be by Russian mafia spam gangs, because we're too stupid to secure our systems.

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178926 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178926 2008 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:22:09 -0800 Comment by Dubcek Step 4. ???
Step 5. Profit!

]]> Dubcek http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178934 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178934 2008 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:25:35 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle @7 for the win.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178937 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178937 2008 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:27:00 -0800 Comment by Original Monique @13:

Step 4: Degregulation
Step 5: Profit
Step 6: Clusterfuck
Step 7: ?!?!
Step 8: PROFIT!

]]> Original Monique http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178985 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178985 2008 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:06:04 -0800 Comment by anonymous computer scientist Sadly, concerns about electronic voting machines are not paranoia. It is very possible for this technology to be abused, as has been shown repeatedly by researchers, notably Princeton's Ed Felton [youtube].


Whether it is being abused, I don't know --- it's easy for speculation slip into tinfoil hat territory --- but everyone should be seriously concerned about this problem.

]]> anonymous computer scientist http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178986 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178986 2008 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:06:16 -0800 Comment by skeptic If it's just a simple "computer error", as fnarf argues, shouldn't such errors be split about 50/50 rather than favoring republicans? And the fact that the CEOs of the companies that make the majority of voting machines are republican should be of no concern to us?

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/presskit.html

http://stealingamericathemovie.org/multiple.html

]]> skeptic http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178996 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1178996 2008 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:15:44 -0800 Comment by flamingbanjo If it's just a simple "computer error", as fnarf argues, shouldn't such errors be split about 50/50 rather than favoring republicans?

You'd think so, wouldn't you?

]]> flamingbanjo http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1179003 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1179003 2008 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:19:22 -0800 Comment by DOUG. It's funny that the guy who doesn't know who Greg Palast is is writing an article on stolen elections.

]]> DOUG. http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1179046 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1179046 2008 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:51:56 -0800 Comment by Sleestak Maybe the electoral college and/or supreme court is overriding the votes right there at the video voting booth?

]]> Sleestak http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1179140 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1179140 2008 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:21:18 -0800 Comment by Richard M. Nixon Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

]]> Richard M. Nixon http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1179499 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_doesnt_happen_in_americamaybe_ohio#c1179499 2008 Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:43:44 -0800