It seems only fair to document my own voting experience, since I’ve asked you to document yours and send it to me.
Here’s video of me casting my vote for Kerry via the optical voting system used at my precinct in San Francisco, California.
These are the optical voting systems that need to replace the electronic voting machines that are currently in use throughout the country. I believe that electronic voting machines need to either a) implement voter verifiable paper trails or b) be replaced completely by the newest snazzy optical system models. Otherwise we have no control over the outcome. Period.
Also of interest is the Instant Runoff Feature for our local Representatives. I voted for Tom Ammiano, of course. That’s why it says “first choice,” “second choice,” etc.

Lisa Rein’s Voting Experience (Small – 5 MB)

This post goes with this one.
This is from the CNN election broadcast of 11/03/04 at about 12:30 am.
Wolf Blitzer actually did an OK job during the middle-of-the-night broadcast. I was surprised.
Here’s Harvard Law Professor
Laurence Tribe explaining the nuances behind last night’s Provisional Ballot situation.
CNN Legal Panel On Provisional Ballots
Quote from Laurence Tribe:

I’m told that as of now there was a Federal injunction that required that people who stood in the rain for five hours and learned that there were no machines there be allowed to vote on paper ballots and I’m told that they weren’t.

My pal Maura just emailed me this list she put together of voter disenfranchisement cases that were being covered yesterday on KPFA Radio, in Berkeley, CA.
After listening to them for a good part of the morning, she started writing some of them down. The reports continued into the afternoon, and so did her note taking.
When she told me about this list today, I asked her to email it over so I could tell you about it.
Maura’s List:

milwaukee-
people in minority communities recevied flyers saying
not to vote if they havent payed parking tickets or
child support cause they will be arrested.
madison, wi – flyers distributed saying if anyone in
your family has been convicted of a crime, youre not
allowed to vote. also, calls and doorhangers saying
“remember to vote nov 3rd”
ohio- people didnt receive absentee ballots. Some are
going to polls to get provisional ballot, on orders of
mr. blackwell, being denied provisional ballot saying
that they cannot use a provisional ballot.
restaining order eventually placed on polling
officials saying they cannot enforce mr. blackwell’s order.
one woman, went to 3 polling places, had been trying
to vote since 6:30am this morning, finally voted at
2pm requesting a provisional ballot, said she wasnt
leaving until she received one, however, since she
didnt vote in her correct polling place, her ballot
too might be called in to question. this is happneing
all over.
florida –
people’s names just arent on registrar’s list, being
denied right to vote.
voters being told by election officials that their
provisional ballots wont be counted, therefore, why
bother.
south dakota:
republicans working for john thume writing down native
american license plates at polling places-intimidation
effort claimed to determine if
they’re legal voters.
colorado –
one woman reported that she was called and told she
could vote early at a local baptist church. She went
there, voted, and was told today by her co-workers
that early voting ended last friday. what?
arizona-
reports of automated calls telling voters they’re
polling place had changes. they drove 20 miles across
town to find out that it wasnt true.
alameda county – electronic machines
breaking all over, error messages, one woman was
denied a paper ballot and given a provisional ballot.
this in our county, not even a swing state, think of
how many times this could have happened to those who
were ignorant.

Ohio Takes Election-Night Spotlight
By Henry Weinstein and Elizabeth Shogren for the Los Angeles Times.

If it is necessary to count the provisional votes and the margin narrows, that could precipitate a recount. Under Ohio law, if the candidates are separated by one-quarter of a percentage point or less, there automatically would be a recount.
In Columbus, Daryll Judge, 44, a satellite technician, and his wife Michelle got in line at New Salem Baptist Church to vote at 5:30 p.m. It was raining steadily. By 7 p.m., they finally let the people wait inside the church. It wasn’t until 9:50 p.m., more than four hours later, that he finally voted…
As the clock struck midnight in Gambier, Ohio, Lauren Gray, 18, waited in line to vote at a precinct near Kenyon College, where she is a sophomore. An electronic voting machine broke down earlier Tuesday, creating long, slow-moving lines of hopeful citizens waiting hours to cast their ballot.
“When it’s coming down to having Ohio be the deciding state, everyone at the college and in the town knows we could be the next Florida,” Gray said.
After a day of nerves wearing thin from mechanical delays, hurried legal challenges and the adrenaline fatigue that comes from dashed hopes, Ohio found itself in the unwanted spotlight. As the count of the presidential vote moved into this morning’s early hours, Ohio emerged as the key big state to decide who becomes president.
Despite several projections that President Bush had defeated John Kerry in Ohio, the challenger’s campaign insisted the count was too close to concede. In some areas, the voting was still under way.
“The vote count in Ohio has not been completed,” campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill said in a statement. “There are more than 250,000 remaining votes to be counted. We believe when they are, John Kerry will win Ohio.”
Mark Weaver, the chief Republican attorney in Ohio, said he was pleased that it appeared that Bush had prevailed in the Buckeye State. However, he quickly added that it appeared that the president’s margin of victory would be less than the number of provisional ballots that have been cast, which would mean that the result would not be finalized for at least 10 days.
Both sides agreed it would take a while for Ohio to straighten out the vote.
According to Cincinnati attorney Phyllis Bossin, the southwestern Ohio legal coordinator for Kerry, there are still thousands of votes to be counted in Cuyahoga County, the state’s largest county, where Al Gore trounced Bush in 2000. She said some polls had just closed in Columbus. Perhaps most significant, Bossin said, “The whole provisional ballot thing is a nightmare.”
Cincinnati attorney Daniel J. Hoffheimer, the chief lawyer for the Kerry campaign in Ohio, said at 1:45 a.m. Wednesday that “this is the situation we all feared” – where the margin was the less than the number of provisional ballots, creating the possibility of further litigation.
Joe Rugola, the Ohio AFL-CIO’s political chairman, said the outcome in Ohio could become clear in a couple hours or not for weeks.
“If Kerry’s margin in Cuyahoga County is in line with historic margins, we could end up with a difference (between the candidates) that could be smaller than the number or provisional ballots outstanding.”
The provisional ballots would then become a “supercharged” legal issue because there was so much legal wrangling over who could cast a provisional ballot and where they could cast it leading up to the election.
Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell said on CNN that if the margin of victory in Ohio is less than the number of provisional ballots, “everyone should take a deep breath and relax” because those provisional ballots won’t be counted for at least 10 days under Ohio law.

Continue reading →

I can’t believe he gave up without a full investigation of yesterday’s events, but CNN is saying that Kerry called Bush and conceeded, and will be making a speech today to officially do so at 1pm eastern.
I can’t even imagine the horrible things that this President is going to do to hurt our own country and the rest of the world over these next four years.
Sure. Hilary will come save us in 2008, but what will be left of our country by then?
Well, I’m not convinced, actually. It’s hard to believe that with a 70% voter turnout, the Shrub was able to squeak ahead. I think they cheated. Between the electronic voting machines, purge lists, and the various other illegal methods consistently employed by this administration, they’ve managed to pull another fast one on us.
It’s up to all of us to continue to document whatever we can about the election — while the trail is hot.
I’m not looking forward to what will inevitably be another four years of Election 2004 horror stories…trickling out little by little, with little or nothing that can be done about them when they finally surface.
I’m a bitter loser. But I’m a bitter loser with my eyes open.
We’ll have to stick together more than ever over these next four miserable years. The Shrub will continue to attempt to drive us farther apart. We can’t let him.
Also, for those of you with children of draft age, I’d suggest moving away to another country, and fast. Seriously.

What perfect timing. I was putting up the last post when I realize that CNN had a little panel of legal professors talking about Provisional Ballots and their legal implications.
The tricky part, apparently, lies in the processing of those ballots, which is left to the States’ discretion in the Help America Vote Act.
All of the guests agreed that these people deserve to have their vote counted and that their votes could make a difference in the outcome. Especially in Ohio. But really in all states, and that it was fairly irresponsible for networks to claim any victories at this point.

This just in from Joseph Sickel:

here’s my little voting story…
When I arrived at our polling place in Southern California, about 300 people had voted. I asked for a paper ballot, saying I didn’t trust the DREs.
The volunteers asked, “Why?”
I said, “I’m a programmer.”
We laughed.
But it was an old joke for them. They said nearly all of the 20 or so people requesting a paper ballot gave the same sort of answer.