Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Democracy In Danger Election Day News Update #4

Wow, things have kind of gotten busy. I'll just get straight to the headlines and links in the order in which I find them in my browser tabs:

Votes being tallied in Williamson County
Williamson County election report error
WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) - Williamson County Elections is reporting an error that could affect the outcome of the election. An error in electronic poll books for Election Day means some voters got the wrong ballots. There are reportedly 16 precincts impacted so far.

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/home/Williamson_County_election_report_error

City Voters Face Long Lines, Great Stakes
The city expects a record voting turnout today, as voters elect a new president and will determine which political party will dominate the State Senate.

Balmy weather and clear skies have made waiting in line less difficult. Polls opened at 6 a.m., and many voters experienced long lines filled with people who had wanted to avoid such lines. After an early morning rush, the lines decreased with the start of the 9 a.m. workday.

Many city residents told NY1 that they waited for as long as an hour to vote. Some lines were made up of hundreds of people and stretching blocks.

However, one voter in Bushwick, Brooklyn e-mailed NY1 to say that there was no line at the neighborhood poll and wish that more neighbors had turned out.

Another voter, who identified herself as Michelle from Manhattan's Lower East Side, e-mailed NY1 to say that she arrived at the poll at 6:15 a.m., waited 45 minutes and then encountered faulty voting booths.

http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/88343/city-voters-face-long-lines--great-stakes/Default.aspx

Over 1,000 calls from Georgia
As of 12 p.m., Georgia Election Protection has received 1,034 phone calls from voters. The most common problems are issues with the registration rolls - such as voters being told they are not on the rolls - and polling place problems.
http://blog.ourvotelive.org/?p=274

50,000 calls to Election Protection
We just passed a milestone: today alone, 50,000 voters have called the Election Protection hotlineWe are receiving many reports from frustrated Ohio voters who have been inexplicably dropped from the lists of registered voters.

Voters in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) and Franklin County (Columbus) are reporting that:

after voting from same address for years, they suddenly have disappeared from the list at polls
they received a voter registration card/notice of registration and precinct, as recently as this fall — yet are not on the poll registry
they are on the statewide database (DB) but not on the poll registry

http://www.866ourvote.org/newsroom/news?id=0154
That sounds seriously shady...

Breaking news from Georgia: Federal observers sent to monitor controversy over college student registrations
Election Protection is working in Bleckley County, Georgia to ensure that students at Middle Georgia College are able to vote today after voting officials apparently extended, then suddenly withdrew, a deadline that would have ensured students were registered in time to use a regular ballot.

Federal observers have been sent to monitor the situation.

The controversy stems from a registration drive by the Obama campaign at the college, where 90% of the students are African-American.

http://www.866ourvote.org/newsroom/news?id=0149

And here are a couple more stories from BradBlog:

VA: 'Massive' Machine Malfunctions, Illegal Provisionals, Last Minute Pollsite Moves 'Plague' Voters
Groups Calls For Extended Voting Hours Due to Voters Turned Away from Polls
Virginia Tech Students Sent Miles to Remote Location to Vote...

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6622
Wow--this one is a big post. Seems like Virginia is a mess--scores of folks are being turned away from polling places due dead ballot machines and students at Virginia Tech are apparently getting maps that direct them away from their polling place.

AR: Pre-Election Tests Not Performed Correctly on Touch-Screens, Not Enough Paper Ballots, Voting Delayed
Voting Machines were not zeroed out after testing leaving votes on them
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6623
YAY, MORE INCOMPETENT ELECTION OFFICIALS!

OK, that's all for now. Sheesh...

Orignal From: Democracy In Danger Election Day News Update #4

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