The Ohio Secretary of State is mandating paper be an option for all voters in the 4 March primary; affected are 55 (57) counties with touchscreen machines.
The Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, wants all 88 Ohio counties to use optical-scan voting systems in the November election. One challenge for the primaries: she wants centralized counting; this means that if a voter makes a mistake, there will be no way to know about it or correct it. When ballots are scanned on site, the voter has an opportunity to fix any mistake (over or under votes) before submittal. (I voted with optical scanners at the polling place throughout the 90s, until I joined the ranks of permanent absentee voters.)
County officials are complaining about the short notice (two months). Paper ballots are already required for absentee voters and anyone casting a provisional vote at the polls. This edict means that counties must print additional ballots but does not require that voters be told they have this voting option.
According to WKYC, Brunner said "problems in November's vote with Diebold equipment like server crashes and unreadable printouts made change necessary. And she decided sooner was better than later."
Brunner also wants to reform polling locations, moving from "neighborhood polling places to large voting centers like shopping malls, libraries and other big buildings." This proposal requires legislative endorsement. Voting places would be open 15 days before election day; the government would also encourage absentee voting.
Brunner, a Democrat, replaced Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell, a Republican, who simultaneously served as co-chairman of President Bush’s re-election campaign in Ohio and Secretary of State, overseeing the election.
Also, see:
- eVoting Flawed : A GAO Review
- Help America Vote Act - HAVA
- The "Let America Vote" Act ... and Letting America Know
- Diebold Machine Found in Bar
- Ohio City to Re-Vote After Diebold Over-votes
- Election Equipment Vendors - Diebold
- Voting Systems - State-by-State
- Status of Electronic Voting Systems
- Election Fraud - An Overview
Comments
thank God! with all the technology we have at our disposal, it’s a wonder it took them this long to come up with this system.
Any measure we can take to make voting as personal as possible and fraud proof as possible should be taken immediately!
by the way, check out my site… it’s all about putting the power of the vote back into American hands, through choice.
http://www.WriteInYourVote.com
Quotes from Bloomberg Economic News
“Since 1949 the unemployment rate has never risen by this magnitude without the economy being in recession,” John Ryding, chief U.S. economist at Bear Stearns Cos. in New York, said in a note to clients. “We now put ourselves on recession watch.”
Factories have already slowed. ISM’s manufacturing index for last month fell to 47.7, the lowest since April 2003, the purchasers group said this week.
Factory payrolls decreased by 31,000 after falling 13,000 a month earlier. Economists had forecast a drop of 15,000 in manufacturing employment. Builders reduced payrolls by 49,000 after cutting 37,000 jobs in November.
Government payrolls increased by 31,000 during the month, indicating private payrolls declined by 13,000.
Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve will increase the size of two scheduled auctions of emergency loans by 50 percent to $30 billion as part of a global attempt by central bankers to restore faith in the money markets.
NYT
Of 1,000 owners surveyed nationwide, only 28 percent said they felt economic conditions for their businesses were improving, while 65 percent said conditions were getting worse.
After inching down in recent weeks, average gas prices across the nation rose by 7.3 cents last week to $3.053 per gallon, 71.9 cents higher than the same period last year, the Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday.
Business Week
“Staying at [the $100] level will mean inflation and economic hardship,” says Fadel Gheit, senior energy analyst for Oppenheimer Holdings (OPY). “The price has nothing to do with fundamentals, but it has a broad impact.”
Here’s a question for you. How many books on economics has your candidate read? How many has he WRITTEN? The best economist in the world can’t convince someone to whom he can’t explain the problem. It looks very like we are headed for a recession or a depression. Before you cast your all-important primary vote, shouldn’t you find out who has the most education on economics? This is not one of those times when you basically get bragging rights. This time, it may make the difference between you keeping your job and house or living on the streets. Remember, if we ALL sink there will be no one to give you welfare. Even people who OWN their house could be dispossessed by incredibly high real estate taxes. I know everyone says he is a long shot, but PLEASE do yourself (and me) a favor and research Dr. Ron Paul. The house you save may be your own.