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Dem playbook in action, voting machines stealing Colorado
Some of you may remember how much fun the vote count was in Florida back in 2000. It seemed destined to go on forever until the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in. More of you may remember 2004 the last time we had a brutal get out the vote fight down to the wire. The DNC’s 2004 Colorado Election Manual is a helpful reminder of what Democrats can be expected to do to try win President Obama’s reelection. Page 54 of the manual instructs:
“If no signs of intimidation techniques have emerged yet, launch a pre-emptive strike…“
With the presidential contest too close to call, Obama’s Justice Department dispatching hundreds of lawyers to 23 states and Democrats having 2,500 lawyers stationed across Ohio, 600 in Cuyahoga County alone, to “monitor” elections there are bound to be more shenanigans than we can imagine. Don’t forget Obama’s Attorney General decided not to go after the New Black Panther Party members who were intimidating voters in 2008.
So it is troubling that we are hearing numerous reports of voting machines recording votes intended for Romney as votes for Obama.
Colorado’s KRDO NewsChannel 13 reports that the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office is investigating after more than a dozen Pueblo voters say voting machines switched their pick from Mitt Romney to Barack Obama.
One Romney voter, told KRDO that when she hit the touchscreen for Romney, a check mark appeared next to Obama’s name. She said she asked for help to fix the problem, but still feels unsure about her vote:
“I wonder where my vote really counted,” she said.
Pueblo County Clerk and Recorder Gilbert Ortiz says that voters have several chances to change their ballot before casting it, and said everyone who’s experienced a problem has gotten help and voted how they intended to.
According to KDRO, some are worried that some voters may not notice the machine error, and this problem could persist on election day.
Chuck Schneider, a poll watcher who said he learned of the problem from a Democratic election judge said:
“How many more times has this occurred? None of us know. This could have a significant effect on the election in this county.”
Pueblo Republican Chair Becky Mizel said this highlights the importance of voters double checking their print out ballot before casting their vote. She also expects the clerk’s office to notify voters of the problem:
“At the very minimum, we would expect the county clerk’s office to post a note on the door (of polling places) and have judges tell our voters there could be a problem with the DRE machine.”
Similar “machine voting error” is also being investigated in Mesa and Arapahoe counties and, Fox News reports, in six other states — Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio. You can watch Eric Shawn report on the Ohio voting machine machinations here.
The Republican National Committee has sent a letter to election officials in the seven states where voters have reported machines switching votes from Romney to Obama demanding tighter controls on touch-screen machines. In the letter the RNC asked for the following:
- All voting machines be re-calibrated before Election Day.
- Additional technicians in the event of further issues.
- Sign notification reminding voters to double-check the correctness of their ballot in the machine before final submission.
- Verbal guidance to remind voters to make sure that the ballot they cast is correct.
You can read the entire letter here.
When I first first heard the claims of voting machines stealing Romney votes I didn’t put much stock in it. But now that there are so many such reports spread across seven states, the complaints must be taken seriously. It also makes one wonder whether the false allegations that Romney was rigging voting machines was actually a cover story for some nefarious scheme to steal Romney votes.
It’s going to be an interesting week.
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