From the The Albuquerque Journal:
Kim Griffith voted on Thursday — over and over and over.
She’s among the people in Bernalillo and Sandoval counties who say they have had trouble with early voting equipment. When they have tried to vote for a particular candidate, the touch-screen system has said they voted for somebody else.
It’s a problem that can be fixed by the voters themselves — people can alter the selections on their ballots, up to the point when they indicate they are finished and officially cast the ballot.
For Griffith, it took a lot of altering.
She went to Valle Del Norte Community Center in Albuquerque, planning to vote for John Kerry. “I pushed his name, but a green check mark appeared before President Bush’s name,” she said.
Griffith erased the vote by touching the check mark at Bush’s name. That’s how a voter can alter a touch-screen ballot.
She again tried to vote for Kerry, but the screen again said she had voted for Bush. The third time, the screen agreed that her vote should go to Kerry.
She faced the same problem repeatedly as she filled out the rest of the ballot. On one item, “I had to vote five or six times,” she said.
…Bernalillo County Clerk Mary Herrera said she doesn’t believe the touch-screen system has been making mistakes. It’s the fault of voters, she said Thursday.
NewMexiKen expects to have trouble voting for County Clerk Herrera next time around.
As I filled out my Oregon mail-in ballot in black ink (as directed) completing the line between two marks on each candidate or issue as I saw fit, I got to wondering whether those black lines would show through the paper to the other side, making it look as if I had marked things I actually hadn’t. Sure enough, some of the things I voted for on one side make it look like I voted for different things on the other side when any light appears from behind the paper. Now I am wondering what kind of maching reads the ballots and whether there might be light on the screens that could make it look like I voted for Bush just because I voted yes or on on some measure from the other side of the page. If so, it could look like I voted for 3 Republicans and one Libertarian that I didn’t vote for and never would have voted for in a million years. Also a heavy black line printed all the way across the front of the ballot could make it look like measure 36 on the other side (one man, one woman) is a yes vote on every ballot. If the machine perceives more than one mark on any one thing, I should think it would cancel that vote altogether, so all no votes on Measure 36 would be void, assuring its passage. What a mess. I intend to inquire about this before turning in our two ballots.
HAHA. I voted on a piece of paper.
You know, when it all comes down, we should make the news media pay for all new voting machines. The rest of us can wait until all the ballots are counted, even if it takes a few days. But Hannity’s head would spin around and come flying off if he had to wait three hours to call Ohio for Bush.
I can wait. Why should I have to pay?