"Machine Error Gives Bush Extra Ohio Votes" -AP

[Questioninggeller]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041105/ap_on_el_pr/voting_problems

Machine Error Gives Bush Extra Ohio Votes

7 minutes ago

By JOHN McCARTHY, Associated Press Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio - An error with an electronic voting system gave President Bush 3,893 extra votes in suburban Columbus, elections officials said.

Franklin County's unofficial results had Bush receiving 4,258 votes to Democrat John Kerry's 260 votes in a precinct in Gahanna. Records show only 638 voters cast ballots in that precinct. Bush's total should have been recorded as 365.

Bush won the state by more than 136,000 votes, according to unofficial results, and Kerry conceded the election on Wednesday after saying that 155,000 provisional ballots yet to be counted in Ohio would not change the result.

Deducting the erroneous Bush votes from his total could not change the election's outcome, and there were no signs of other errors in Ohio's electronic machines, said Carlo LoParo, spokesman for Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell.

Franklin is the only Ohio county to use Danaher Controls Inc.'s ELECTronic 1242, an older-style touchscreen voting system. Danaher did not immediately return a message for comment.

Sean Greene, research director with the nonpartisan Election Reform Information Project, said that while the glitch appeared minor "that could change if more of these stories start coming out."

In one North Carolina county, more than 4,500 votes were lost in this election because officials mistakenly believed a computer that stored ballots electronically could hold more data than it did.

 

[aerocontrols]

Franklin is the only Ohio county to use Danaher Controls Inc.'s ELECTronic 1242, an older-style touchscreen voting system. Danaher did not immediately return a message for comment.

They should have used a more reliable machine. A Diebold, perhaps.

MattJ

 

[Brown]

In 2000, there was a screw-up with butterfly ballots in Florida. People who thought they were voting for Gore ended up voting for Buchanan. Although Bush supporters whined that (1) these people intended to vote for Buchanan and (2) these people were too stupid to know how to vote properly, the fact is that neither was true. The butterfly ballot was ambiguous, and careful, intelligent voters were misled into casting their ballots for the wrong person.

The screw-up favored Bush. (In fact, this screw-up, by itself, gave Bush his margin of victory).

There was also a screw-up in regard to votes from military personnel. Over 600 ballots were blatantly invalid, but were counted in Florida anyway.

The screw-up favored Bush. (Once again, this screw-up, by itself, gave Bush his margin of victory).

In 2004, according to snopes, a screw-up in Texas voting machines recorded votes for Democrats as votes for Bush.

The screw-up favored Bush. (According to Texas officials, the problem was corrected.)

Now we hear of a voting screw-up in Ohio, and why am I not surprised....

The screw-up favored Bush.

 

[Rob Lister]

In 2000, there was a screw-up with butterfly ballots in Florida. People who thought they were voting for Gore ended up voting for Buchanan. Although Bush supporters whined that (1) these people intended to vote for Buchanan and (2) these people were too stupid to know how to vote properly, the fact is that neither was true. The butterfly ballot was ambiguous, and careful, intelligent voters were misled into casting their ballots for the wrong person.

The screw-up favored Bush. (In fact, this screw-up, by itself, gave Bush his margin of victory).

There was also a screw-up in regard to votes from military personnel. Over 600 ballots were blatantly invalid, but were counted in Florida anyway.

The screw-up favored Bush. (Once again, this screw-up, by itself, gave Bush his margin of victory).

In 2004, according to snopes, a screw-up in Texas voting machines recorded votes for Democrats as votes for Bush.

The screw-up favored Bush. (According to Texas officials, the problem was corrected.)

Now we hear of a voting screw-up in Ohio, and why am I not surprised....

The screw-up favored Bush.

Brown, I know it probably felt good to post all that. I feel for you bro. You know what. You're right. Gore won in 2000. He Won! You Win! Feel better?

What did you win?

 

[Ion]

Brown,...
...
...You're right. Gore won in 2000. He Won! You Win! Feel better?

What did you win?

What about 2004?

Who wins the 2004 Presidency?

Because this is questionable since there is a pattern of cheating the voting system by the people who hijack the 'moral values' to go to war for oil.

 

[corplinx]

Not surprisingly I made a thread that involved this error and Upchurch has made one too.

You have a localized error that when reported was fixed. The votes have been taken away.

Or if you are a Kerry voter you see "dark insidious pattern".

I'd hate to see what these guys are seeing on Rorshach tests right now.

 

[Eleatic Stranger]

I'm a Kerry voter, and I don't necessarily see a dark insidious pattern.

I do suspect vote tampering, but I doubt it seriously affected Bush's win.

 

[Elaborate]

From the article:

Deducting the erroneous Bush votes from his total could not change the election's outcome, and there were no signs of other errors in Ohio's electronic machines, said Carlo LoParo, spokesman for Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell.

Despite my voting for Kerry, I see no way that this could be construed as anything intentional or significant.