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Recommended list when I wake up in the morning. People here can't bitch and moan about the voting machines and then not support an AWSOME SOS that kicks ass and does something about them. Sides, we need to keep Debra Bowen's name on the boards as I feel she should be California's Junior Senator in 2012 or even before if our DiNo DiFi retires. The tired of bag needs to be put out to Corp Pasture where she can graze with her fellow DiNo's and RiNo's. She is our Leiberman and we must do away with the bag.
It's Obamazing!!!!!!!!!!!!
by Chamonix on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 12:20:39 AM PDT
[ Parent ]
I agree with you about wanting this diary on the rec list, but I'm wondering if you ever found out why all those caterpillars died in your pool. ```` peace
Darcy Burner for Congress </war>
by peace voter on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 12:57:21 AM PDT
But we knew that when we voted her into the SOS office. She's cleaning house right now, and doing it with firm resolve.
Since I am a SF voter, I intend to find out why the city and county are "moving toward approval" of a multi-million contract to replace ES&S machines with Sequoia machines, which have already been shown to be easily manipulated. WTF?
Things are going to get a lot worse before they get worse. ~ Lily Tomlin
by vigilant meerkat on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 05:42:20 AM PDT
We use it here in Somerville, Massachusetts. Works great, inexpensive, never had any problems. We have one touch machine for blind voters, but that just prints out an optical scan ballot that is counted like the rest of them.
by Marcus Graly on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 07:17:01 AM PDT
We've been using them at my polling place for years. So long as it's not a touch machine.
by vigilant meerkat on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 07:25:24 AM PDT
How do you know a Republican is lying? Ask one: If the Republicans can lower gas prices for 60 days before an election, why won't they do it all the time?
by ca democrat on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 01:50:13 PM PDT
by HugoDog on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 02:03:23 PM PDT
[ snark]
The Canadian system is soooo.... rational.
Dixie Chicks, Amy Winehouse, Imus, and Rev. Wright. Overcome our evil with good.
by vets74 on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 02:38:15 PM PDT
has been the fireplug on this for years.
She of the HBO special.
Shoe of getting the goods on the phony security inside Diebold. The nonexistent security.
etc.....
Working with the California people is similar to their efforts all over.
by vets74 on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 02:40:46 PM PDT
but far from perfect.
I was an elections clerk last year and my city uses these machines too. I noticed that they are highly subject to user error. If people didn't feed the ballots into the machine slowly, which they often didn't, despite being advised by the election clerks, the machine does not give an accurate count. It was quite obvious at the end of the day when we opened up the machines that the count was not 100% accurate.
The good thing about this system is that the ballots are still there and can be hand counted. The bad thing I saw was that unless there was an obviously huge error, the machine count at each precinct stood unless a recount was ordered later even though we knew the total wasn't completely accurate.
I would prefer that all ballots be counted by hand right from the beginning. Fill in the circle with a pencil and count them all by hand. Sure, it would take some time and money, and we may not know who got elected the next morning, but I think democracy is worth it.
And who knows, it may even be cheaper to pay several thousand people to count ballots for a few days every couple years than to pay thousands and thousands of dollars a district for machines that don't work in the first place.
"The meek shall inherit nothing" - F. Zappa
by cometman on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 07:40:21 AM PDT
and we didn't have this problem. I think the problem was with your specific machines, not optical scan in general.
by Marcus Graly on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 08:10:32 AM PDT
The problems arose when people fed the machines too fast. On our machines, there were bins inside that were supposed to separate the ballots in the event a hand recount was needed, and they were all jumbled up.
I also watched the counter on the machine itself while people fed the ballots in. If they did it slowly, the machine would read them all. If they did it too fast, they may put two ballots in the machine( for local and state elections) but the machine only tallied one.
The problems that I saw were solely due to user error, not a problem with the machine itself.
All I'm saying is that if user error is going to be a problem when machines are used, we should probably just use the simplest machine available, that little lever called a pencil and a sheet of paper.
I'd be interested to hear others' experiences with various types of voting techniques if there are any other election clerks out there.
by cometman on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 08:24:11 AM PDT
so maybe that's why we didn't have that problem. On the other hand, our machines sucked in the ballots at a fixed speed, once it detected that you were trying to put it in, so I think we just had better machines.
If a machine has frequent "user" errors, then it is in fact a design error, not a user error. Especially a voting machine, which should be designed to be used by anyone and everyone.
by Marcus Graly on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 08:29:39 AM PDT
into the scanner very carefully and solemnly -- I know I did! And, a vigilant local pollworker supervised every second, quick to jump in if folks seemed clueless or the machine balked.
Here in NM we LOVE our paper ballots. And optical scan is not a problem BUT quality assurance measures are still desparately needed at evey step of the way.
I believe that among the most important are FULLY FUNDED random audits of 10% of all precincts.
"The extinction of the human race will come from its inability to EMOTIONALLY comprehend the exponential function." -- Edward Teller
by lgmcp on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 09:03:20 AM PDT
Everyone was looking for touchscreen problems in Fla.
The numbers came back from counties using Opti Scan and they were out of what with exit polling.
Way out of line with, also, with registration figures for Dems and republicans. In counties beyond the expected "Dixocrats".
by emmabrody on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 01:59:00 PM PDT
Most of the Florida counties in question are small, rural Florida Panhandle counties. The area has a high percentage of registered Democrats, but they're primarily elderly white voters who have been increasingly voting Republican without changing their party affiliation. Indeed, results for the optical-scan counties in 2000 showed the same disproportionate number of votes going to Bush.
link
by Marcus Graly on Fri Nov 23, 2007 at 03:17:24 PM PDT
looks like you got your wish! And Debra Bowen is THE BEST Secretary of State in the whole damn country. And I'm not just saying that because I personally door-knocked for her. Last year, I'd believed the SS race in California was more important even than the governor's race. She is setting an example that every other state can learn from.
"The Power to change this party, and the power to change this country is in your hands, not mine." - Gov. Howard Dean, MD
by deaniac83 on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 02:00:20 AM PDT
Is it too soon to plan her campaign? ;-) I believe she should be and will be our next Governor.
fwiw, she is also one of the few who truly understands and actively participates on Facebook. Debra is real.
we all live on Brand Street
by candace in sonoma on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 04:45:22 AM PDT
I want her to be our US Senator. :)
The times, they are a-changin'
by Malacandra on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 06:37:23 AM PDT
You don't think Schwarzenegger's Swiss bank accounts are swollen with gratitude?
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." - HST
by DocGonzo on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 07:11:57 AM PDT
That's one of the reasons the Republicans bow before him.
by Malacandra on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 11:37:53 AM PDT
The CA Governor's post could be a perfect springboard for a presidential run. It's the closest you can get to running an entire country. I think most people would prefer their presidential candidates to have executive experience anyway.
A word after a word after a word is power. -- Margaret Atwood
by tmo on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 12:50:20 PM PDT
she doesn't seem to be apple polishing for another job right away. She's gone to work in the very important and little understood SecState job. That Dept. seems to be working better in all it's many bureaucratic parts. If she decides not to go for higher office she can stay in the job for decades like March Fong did and just run things. Even her opponents seem to have grudging respect for her.
Charlie Brown for Congress
by Rolfyboy6 on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 06:46:41 AM PDT
for doing exactly what we elected you to do. I am grateful. We need you right where you are protecting us from the new votingscams the Rethuglicans will certainly pull. Falseflag robocalls in the middle of the night, now theres the hidden extra petition signature scam diaried right here, and ignored by the MSM...
Cars After The Age Of Oil: EVs in 2010
by dotcommodity on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 08:10:50 AM PDT
by keeping ALL California elections clean for decades at a time. And setting a standard that the rest of the states could be held to. That would accomplish more I suspect than she could even in senatorial or gubernatorial office.
by lgmcp on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 09:05:10 AM PDT
I had a little diary (last year, pre-election) about paper ballots being required in my county. She commented and shed some light on that requirement not being as safe as I thought it was. She is TRULY amazing. It's so nice to see someone fighting to make sure our votes are counted as we intend. And it's so sad that this is necessary.
"Poverty or wealth can make all the differences in securing the substance or only the shadow of constitutional protections." -Wiley Rutledge
by asimbagirl on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 08:49:44 AM PDT
OK, I've seen elected officials post their own diaries as hit-and-run press releases, and I've seen them post their own diaries and stick around to comment on them. But it's a red-letter day when one of them comments on someone else's diary, and it's useful and insightful. Well done.
by tmo on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 12:52:33 PM PDT
she was running for her current position at the time. Still, the diary only garnered 30 comments and never made it anywhere close to the Rec list.
BTW, re: your sig - LOVE Margaret Atwood. I learned of her when one of my college lit classes focused on Utopian societies, and The Handmaid's Tale was number one on the list of assignments. I've read everything of hers I can get my hands on since.
by asimbagirl on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 04:53:46 PM PDT
I worked for her for more than four years, and she is indeed the Real Deal on every level. I told all my lefty friends after she won the Secretary of State office that, at least as far as clean elections goes, we're very much in the right hands. She's ethical, extremely tech-savvy, states herself plainly and follows through with action. She has an uncanny ability to translate the most arcane, techincal matters into language anyone can understand.
I hope many of you got to see her work during the energy crisis of 2001, when she was the chairperson of the Energy, Utilities and Communication Committee. While Grey Davis made every wrong decision and pissed away every opportunity to confront energy companies that had contributed to his campaign, she rode the beast like a pro, negotiating piles of "fixit" bills with hundreds of hours of hearings. She was also the first legislator in California to have an email address and authored the bill that created the comprehensive Senate website, resisting amendments to charge the public for bill information they'd already paid for with tax money.
I think she's got her eye on the Governor's seat, and I think she can win it. Anyone who has encountered Bowen views her with tremendous respect.
Go Debra!!!!
Yay! The top 1% likes us better now!
by freshair2 on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 09:46:35 AM PDT
The truth about most of our Democratic "leaders".
by theyrereal on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 11:19:00 AM PDT
Faith and Politics from a liberal bent - Faithfully Liberal.
by Aaron Krager on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 03:17:43 AM PDT
by Zapp Branigan on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 06:34:53 AM PDT
Help Hillary make history today! :-)
by atdnext on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 08:01:37 AM PDT
Let's get some Democracy for America
by murphy on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 09:29:10 AM PDT
wide narrow
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