Glitch or fraud?
By grandpa_lash
@grandpa_lash (5225)
Australia
November 6, 2012 6:32pm CST
This item appeared on the 9MSN website in Austalia a little earler today.
[b]A voter in the US state of Pennsylvania has filmed a polling machine that altered his vote for Barack Obama to a vote for Mitt Romney.
The voter uploaded the video this morning to the social website Reddit, where he goes by the name centralpavote.
The video, recorded on a smartphone, showed the touch-screen button on the electronic voting machine highlight the Republican presidential candidate every time centralpavote tried to select Obama.
US news media outlets have since confirmed the incident and report that the voting machine has been taken offline.
Similar glitches reportedly have been detected at voting machines across North Carolina.[/b]
Officials are saying it's a glitch, but one has to wonder. There might be a lot of Florida type law suits coming out of this election.
Lash
3 people like this
10 responses
@AidaLily (1450)
• United States
7 Nov 12
Ah yes.
That happened to a few people today. It is rather disgusting and yet the right wing of this country are calling it a "glitch". It would have been a glitch if it happened once or twice, but as it happened more than that, it is not a glitch.
However, why on earth would anyone in the right wing want a fair election? They claim they want freedom for Americans and all Americans have the right to vote, but then the so-called voting machines are changing votes.
Another issue a lot of people from Ohio have been complaining about, is having their photo I.D. with the correct information and their picture, a bill, everything they were sent in the mail when they registered and then are being told they aren't in the system or they have to vote on a provisional ballot even with their photo and voter I.D.
However the right wing supports these "glitches", "ignoring up to date voter cards and I.D. cards for anyone not right wing", etc.
1 person likes this
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
7 Nov 12
There was apparently a report about connections between the Romney family and the manufacturers of some of these voting machines.
Frankly, from the outside some of the elements of the American election system not only look bewildering, they also look wide open to fraud, which astonishes me given America's place in the hierarchy of "democracies". At the risk of setting the zealots off, I would strongly suggest that the next honest (well, I'm ever hopeful) administration takes a good hard look at the system, investigates systems from other countries, like ours for instance, where there has never been even a hint of election fraud, and make some much needed changes.
They could possibly even look at other systems of candidate oversight and transparency.
Lash
1 person likes this
@AidaLily (1450)
• United States
7 Nov 12
Anything sets them off... hell my interracial somewhat open marriage probably sets some of them off.
However, I wish they would. No candidate should ever be allowed to have themselves or any family member to have any stock, power, etc. in any voting machines. That should make them automatically disqualified. Of course it is cause for suspicion and rightly so.
Want to know something worse? More people (mostly that reactionary bunch) is buying weapons, complaining about voter fraud, and more.
This isn't a democracy. It has never truly been a democracy. There is the illusion that we have a full democracy, but this is a democratic republic. However even with being a democratic republic, it doesn't mean we will get fair elections.
The only way this voting system will get fixed is if most of Americans get off their behinds and learn about third party candidates. The two main parties aren't going to change a system that both benefits and harms them both.
1 person likes this
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
7 Nov 12
Wow, the exact opposite problem - votes for Romney being changed to Obama by machines - was reported in Ohio, Colorado, Florida and North Carolina. Those other glitches were not instances of votes changing to Romney, but the other way around. If it is a sneaky vote-stealing cheat,it's obviously being employed by both sides. It could be that the machines are too prone to make mistakes. It could be that those voting machines which are not even remotely related to Romney, despite some convoluted rumors to the contrary, are simply not the optimal way to achieve a reliable vote count. However, the left leaning members on mylot have ignored the other instances of votes changing from Romney to Obama so they can wring hands over a non-existent right wing plot.
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
8 Nov 12
It is becoming clear that the fault lay not with either party but with the technology. To be honest, if anyone tried to bring in this sort of technology in Australia, I would be rolling my wheelchair along at the forefront of the dissenting demonstrations. This love affair with machines over humans is appalling.
As for the Romney connection, I have no idea how valid the claim is, and it was probably a bit of a red herring.
Lash
1 person likes this
@sjvenden27 (1840)
• United States
10 Nov 12
I think it is fraud.. There has been similar problems in past elections.. I do not understand why we still had problems this year.. If I am not mistaken the new machines were introducted in the 2000 or 2004 election.. That was many years ago.. I do not think it is right for who ever to be changing the votes.. This is wrong and should stop!!
1 person likes this
@iuliuxd (4453)
• Romania
7 Nov 12
The reason for why i hate Obama and i hope he will lose ( even if i`m not a US citizen ) is because his administration interfered in our politics when we wanted to get rid of our president, and just because he is a puppet they can control they kept him in power.
Now to be on topic, idk if this is real or just propaganda. Our president was very good at this type of tricks, he played the victim role for years even when he was in charge.He always accused the others for trying to steal the votes but i believe he did it every time in the last 8 years.
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
7 Nov 12
What would be the point in even considering arguing the point with you, your mind is set in concrete. Go waste somebody else's time, or better still, go play in the traffic.
Lash
1 person likes this
@vidhyaprakash_2 (7116)
• India
7 Nov 12
Hi friend, Obama is selected as US president for the Second time. I thought he got that place in good way, but after reading your topic i come to know it is due to glitch
. This kind of tactics are quite common in politics. There is no need to spend a lot of money for election purpose, if this kind of glitches are happened in the voting machine
. This kind of tactics are quite common in politics. There is no need to spend a lot of money for election purpose, if this kind of glitches are happened in the voting machine@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
8 Nov 12
I don't know what happened to the response I posted to this last night, but it's gone. Please reread the opening post - I said, in fact, quite the opposite to what you seem to think I said. The glitches were in Romney's favour, not Obama's, so Obama did not win because of the glithes but despite them.
Lash
1 person likes this
@irisheyes (4370)
• United States
7 Nov 12
I live in Pennsylvania and I voted here this morning. It would have taken a lot more than a few voting machine "glitches" and Mitt Romney's last minute Hail Mary sweep through the state to turn this very blue state red... Anyway, the election is now over. Obama won a second term and Pennsylvania helped him get it.
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
7 Nov 12
Our man still has Virginia and Florida as undeclared, but the popular voting trends tend to suggest Obama could get both, so the win is very comfortable indeed. A win for political sanity in the West. I sincerely hope it rubs off on our electorate next year.
Lash
@mzz663 (2772)
• United States
7 Nov 12
I've heard about a lot of problems with the machines. People were not getting any other option than Obama last week.
I think we need to go back to the good old fashion paper voting. It may take longer to count but why not be more precise and take the time to count the votes or maybe needing more poll workers them instead of trying to rush ahead with things that aren't reliable.
When you punched a hole in a little piece of cardboard, it couldn't be mistaken.
@purplealabaster (22094)
• United States
7 Nov 12
The thing is, especially in this particular situation, that actually neither of the candidates had anything to do with it ... at least not personally. There were some people yesterday (or maybe it was the day before) that were saying that Obama was "automatically selected" when they went into the voting booth, and they had to be careful to select their choice rather than Obama, although they did not say that once they made their choice it changed it back.
Still, voting machines are by county, and the state is supposed to be monitoring and controlling them. They are all supposed to be tested before each election, and the testing is supposed to be overseen by the state to ensure accuracy. If this is not done or not done properly, then it might be due to a particular political party not "playing fairly" but really it is not the fault of any of the candidates themselves, although the candidates do tend to take the blame for these things.
@mariaperalta (19073)
• Mexico
7 Nov 12
Sounds like the mexican presidents elections. Some small towns reported here just one candidates name on some paper ballots. of course they blamed the printer on the error.
