Voting Is a Touchy Business
Some machines showing wrong choices in W.Va.By JOSELYN KING
Article Photos
WHEELING - Dru Kusic has never felt more disenfranchised as a voter than she did last Friday.
While taking advantage of early voting at the City-County Building in Wheeling, Kusic noticed that the electronic vote she cast for her chosen presidential candidate was wrong.
She attempted to fix her vote, but the same thing happened again - the vote was credited to the other candidate, even though she says she touched her candidate's name on the voting screen.
The problem soon was fixed, with Kusic being able to cast a vote for her desired candidate. However, the entire situation has left her frustrated.
"I felt so unempowered - like my vote was taken from me," she said.
Other incidents of electronic votes jumping to another candidate also have been recorded in Jackson and Putnam counties in West Virginia. That has prompted local and state elections officials to remind voters to check and re-check their ballots before finalizing their selections.
West Virginia Secretary of State Betty Ireland on Monday also directed Ohio County officials to recalibrate the eight touchscreen machines presently being used for early voting in the county. The same is being done in other counties in the state.
Ireland said she knows of no incident where a voter was not able to cast a ballot containing all their intended choices. She assured there was no intent to disenfranchise any voters.
"We are really sorry that voters are having a problem, but there is no conspiracy," Ireland said. "Our county clerks have been working hard, and all the machines have been tested."
Ireland said that touchscreen voting machines are programmed to read pressure points on the screen. Problems occur when the machine is moved on jostled, affecting the calibration.
In other cases, the voter may have touched not the candidate's name, but a nearby line - and this confuses the machines, according to Ireland.
"These are highly sensitive machines," she said. "If there is a problem, the voter needs to call the poll worker over."
Voters have three opportunities to check that the vote selection they've touched has been recorded before they submit their ballot.
- When a voter touches the screen to choose a candidate, the candidate's name then lights up and a check mark appears beside it.
If this is not the voter's intended selection, they should touch the incorrectly lighted name to clear the selection. Next, a voter should re-touch the name of the candidate they are choosing. If this doesn't work, the voter should continue to try until it does.
- As voters make their selections, they should be aware of the cash register-type tape at the bottom, left corner of the voting device. The name of each candidate selected by the voter is printed out on the tape, and if this name is incorrect the voter needs to go back and check their selection on the screen.
Again, touching the lighted name clears the earlier vote in the race.
The tape also indicates when a vote has been canceled and shows the next choice the voter enters.
- When the voter has completed all selections on their ballot, the screen will show a review of all the selection they have made. The voter should read through this to make sure all are correct before pushing the button to cast their ballot.
"The voter needs to watch what he or she is doing so that they vote for the right person," Ohio County Elections Coordinator Toni Chieffalo said. "And they should review their choices before casting their ballot.
"If there is a problem with one of machines, they should let a poll worker know," she added.
Ireland noted that election season is a stressful time for all involved, particularly in 2008. "Everybody needs to be part of the team if we are to have clean and fair elections," she said.
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WVtoMD1992
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10-22-08 7:36 PM
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Hey Ellis: It is real simple. Obama raised that amount because Obama has more supporters that believe in him than McBush. I bet Obama could have squeezed a few bucks out the Russians, unlike McBush.
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WVtoMD1992
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10-22-08 7:32 PM
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Come on Ellis, say it, I triple dog dare you to say it, just say it in your next post: Obama is cheating to win. He is going to spend that 150 million on votes and ACORN. Then I heard, he is going to have several top advisors to include Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro just to name a few. All because someone left a mailing for me, so it has to be true.
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WVtoMD1992
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10-22-08 7:26 PM
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Ellis: You want some Whine with that cheese. The board is so tired of your unfounded accusations - I have seen with my own two eyes, donation requests that are doubled for Obama - sure you have - just like I saw the Virgin Mary in my waffles. Just face it and I know it kills you, the best man for the job is going to win and that man is OBAMA.
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wonderwhy
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10-22-08 6:56 PM
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ellis- a repeat request- commnents on YPM mark jacoby or Linclon stategy , nathan Sproul??????? you know the convicted voter fraud of your party?
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wonderwhy
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10-22-08 6:52 PM
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ellis- the average donation to Obama is 86 dollars. you are so bent on ruining the best candidate this country has had since JFK. mind you, JFK's daughter is supporting Obama. and i have a sneaky feeling, that she knows a whole lot more than YOU!
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EllisWyatt
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10-22-08 6:35 PM
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The liberals obviously have their marching orders from Obama. They must have received their talking points by email. "Vote Obama, say that it registered McCain, scream voter fraud, etc. If Obama wins, great. If he doesn't, we have a fraud argument lined up!" I have seen mailings from the Obama campaign and the DNC. They say "any gift you give will be doubled by a matching donor". Why won't the authorities look into this? If you give $1,000, do the Dems funnel another $1,000 into the campaign or do they have a person who wants to give $1,000 and has been told to wait for a matching donor? Where is the money coming from? How has Obama raised $150 million in 30 days. We can't even get data as to where the money is coming from! We know that two Palestinians have donated in excess of $35,000. We know that Hollywood has bundled donations in excess of limits. Boycott any idiot who gave to Obama. How can George Clooney give $30,000 when we are limited to $4,600?
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wonderwhy
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10-22-08 4:17 PM
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destroy- thanks again!
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Destroyallmonsters
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10-22-08 1:36 PM
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"Diebold makes voting machines. They are run by Liberals." Liar!!!
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UNCOMMONSENSE
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10-22-08 11:28 AM
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Many states and counties have now abandoned the use of electronic voting machines. These are the WISE ones, the forward thinking ones. West Virginia is neither. Just as a Professor once told me; SMALL errors can and will be produced while using a slide-rule. HOWEVER, an electronic device like a calculator can and will produce MASSIVE errors! I have the strangest feeling that if he were alive today, he would condem the use of electronic devices for voting calculations as well.
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annied
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10-22-08 11:11 AM
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I have to agree with you on the hatred in these blogs. Everyone is so quick to attack everyone else, even the reporters, and this isn't the place for that. It's for debate and opinion. The way I understand it, if a story doesn't always list an author, it, more than likely is an editorial.
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wonderwhy
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10-22-08 11:00 AM
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annied- i respectfully disagree about some of the articles. as i read some they are clearly tainting BUT, some don't even list the author. I got on here a couple of months ago seeing what the area was talking about concerning the election. i found some of the titles of articles alarming and also false. but the hatred in the bloggings on these posts are unacceptable. i got on here to debate issues, and instead ended up constantly defending myself, and got pulled way away from the issues. i then started doing more research and have clearly made a decision. rambling reply i know. since it is being reported nationally that the votes in wv are being switched from dems to rep, i thought that was an important part of this story
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annied
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10-22-08 10:55 AM
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But, I could be wrong, even though I hope I'm not. FYI-I don't support either candidate
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annied
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10-22-08 10:53 AM
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And, just so you know, when I speak of NR articles, I mean articles written by the local staff, not the Associated Press.
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annied
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10-22-08 10:51 AM
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"mostly it would be lack of reporting , but i will be glad to share future comments of the nr that i feel are not true. i believe that ll jouranlism has the reponsibility to it's readers to report information to the public. the fact that the NR is sorely for one candidate, and titles articles like 'obama is muslim' and many other false accusationas about the senator, is only opinions by the editor. how about 'troopergate' far from scandal. when gov palin clearly violated ethics laws. in any event, i will be glad to point out future articles, and hopefully some in these posts will join me. " Wonderwhy, While I agree 100 percent that a newspaper should not be a vehicle for political agenda, even in editorials, unfortunatelty, it happens. And I know it happens in this paper. However, I don't see a political agenda in this article and I don't see how there was incorrect reporting, or even lack of reporting, here. I also can't recall NR stories where it has happened in the past.
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wonderwhy
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10-22-08 10:43 AM
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dme- well, namecalling again. i want to make one thing very very clear. i am a patriotic American, as many democrats, independents and republican. I have an American flag that has flown outside of my home, b4 911 and after. and is still up everyday and taken down every night.and fold it correctly and respectfully. i have never ever missed an election, primary or general. i respect the military, and pray and count on them daily. i pray and attend a Christian church, that i serve on the board the fact that you and i may disagree on where we get our information, does NOT make that information false. stop your namecalling. it is nothing but bullying. Your type of hate is what is dividing this country!
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dmxem20011
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10-22-08 10:35 AM
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You are quoting the NY Times for one thing. You may as quote the Sierra Club, or the San Fran Chronicle, Maybe even a Venezuelan Newspaper you SCHMUCK! Do you ever read the facts like government websites or nonpartisan or do you just quote everyone under the ANTI-American Liberal sun?
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wonderwhy
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10-22-08 10:31 AM
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nytimes- speaking on the owner of diebold Some people find Mr. O'Dell's pairing of interests -- as voting-machine magnate and devoted Republican fund-raiser -- troubling. To skeptics, including more than a few Democrats, it raises at least the appearance of an ethical problem. Some of the chatter on the Internet goes so far as to suggest that he could use his own machines to sway the election.
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wonderwhy
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10-22-08 10:28 AM
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dme- mother earth news That label sounds ominously accurate to the many who are skeptical of computerized voting. In addition to being as decisive as the 2000 polling in Florida, they worry this year's vote in Ohio could be just as flawed. Specifically, they worry that it could be rigged. And they wonder why state officials seem so unconcerned by the fact that the two companies in line to sell touch-screen voting machines to Ohio have deep and continuing ties to the Republican Party. Those companies, Ohio's own Diebold Election Systems and Election Systems & Software of Nebraska, are lobbying fiercely ahead of a public hearing on the matter in Columbus next week.
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dmxem20011
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10-22-08 10:10 AM
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How are the Republicans at fault for the voting machines? The problems are in Ohio and WV, these states are run by Liberals. End of story! PLease stop blaming the mistakes on us. The Democrat Leadership added all the pork to the Financial Rescue Bill. Democrats tried to add 20 million dollars for ACORN to that bill.
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dmxem20011
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10-22-08 10:07 AM
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Diebold makes voting machines. They are run by Liberals. Just check into it
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wonderwhy
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10-22-08 8:07 AM
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tmoore- mccain said the same thing at his rally yesterday
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tmoore
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10-22-08 7:49 AM
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I think I saw many of Murthas racists driving on I 70 yesterday.He cant figure how to get out of this one
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tmoore
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10-22-08 7:48 AM
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She can call Chris Matthews to see if his leg still tingles when he heres Obama sqeek. His poor wife. Only Obama and Keith make him tingle. Its fun watching Buchannon having him for lunch.
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wonderwhy
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10-22-08 7:47 AM
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tmoore- comment on YPM, mark jacoby, or Lincoln strategy Nathan Sproul?
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tmoore
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10-22-08 7:45 AM
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She should immediately call Obama and ACORN and go register 70 times in Ohio where the sec of state will not permit counties to verify voter registration. She can become part of that 600 million pie Obama has fraudulently baked.
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