Portsmouth will have story on machine irregularities

should pass tomorrow morning on the website and be in tomorrow's paper

it appears to be a local problem, but worth watching

unfriggin believable.

http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/articles/2005/11/09/news/local_news/1news_chaos.txt

‘Election chaos'
Diebold blamed for election delays

By Mark Shaffer
PDT News Editor
Wednesday, November 9, 2005 2:44 AM EST

Scioto County Board of Elections Chairman Steve Mowery had a very clear message when summing up Tuesday night's first fully computerized election run by Diebold.

“They failed miserably,” he said of the company hired by the state to replace all the punch card systems in Ohio with optical scanning equipment. “I don't want to sound like we are casting blame, but I don't know how else to answer these questions.”

As of 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, there were no unofficial election results and the best estimate was that some results would not be known until Wednesday's early-morning hours. Most people who gathered at the Scioto County Courthouse were expecting results by 10 a.m.

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Just a note -- I just find it "odd" that Scioto County, which went for Hackett by 65% to 35% in the 2nd District race, had its punchcard system replaced with Diebold machines right after that election. Coincidence? Perhaps the timing of it, but the results are still the same -- Diebold is FUCKED UP!!!

(Please note that the online articles are abridged from the printed version of the paper.)

http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/articles/2005/11/1...

Board seeks answers

By Rick Greene
PDT Managing Editor
Wednesday, November 9, 2005 11:18 PM EST

Calling Tuesday's night's election an “embarrassment” to the board of elections and the county, Chairman Steve Mowery and board representatives were looking for answers at a meeting Wednesday evening in the courthouse.

Bob Urosevich, Director of Strategic Planning for Diebold, and David Keeler, president of Dayton Legal Blank, Inc., fielded questions from the board, apologized and promised prompt resolutions and future improvement....

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Folks, we need to encourage the PDT to keep pushing the story of Diebold's fuckups in Scioto County! This may be the smoking gun we've been waiting for!

You can practically hear the sarcasm dripping from the headline of this one!

http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/articles/2005/11/1...

Scioto unique in election problems

by Mark Shaffer PDT News Editor
Wednesday, November 9, 2005 11:18 PM EST

Scioto County was apparently unique in the amount of troubles it had with its new computerized voting system.

The results for Tuesday's election came in late, around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, and the Scioto County Board of Elections put the blame squarely on Diebold, the company hired to computerize the county's voting system, and Dayton Legal Blank, Inc., the company that supplied the ballots.

According to the Ohio Secretary of State's office, of the 44 counties that switched to computerized voting systems for Tuesday's election, most counties went with a touch screen system....

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By the way, if there are any folks here with access to the printed versions of The Portsmouth Daily Times, could you fill in some of the missing text of these articles? The online versions are abridged.

The Diebold Debacle in Scioto County


Many thanks to the Portsmouth Daily Times for the continuing coverage of the Diebold debacle. When I first heard that Scioto County was switching to the Diebold computerized system, I was truly mortified. There have been too many reports of possible corruption of the system -- not to mention Diebold's cozy relationship with both Kenneth Blackwell and the Bush administration -- for any citizen not to be alarmed that the process of democracy itself could be imperiled by those with vested interests in controlling the voting process.

To the Portsmouth Daily Times and the Scioto County Board of Elections -- keep up your vigil in protecting our rights as voting citizens. Just because Mr. Blackwell's office deems Scioto County to be an aberration (re: Scioto Unique In Election Problems, Nov. 9th] doesn't mean it truly IS one. Perhaps the questioning of Tuesday's voting process simply means that the citizens of Scioto County aren't as cowed or as gullible as some in Columbus would presume them to be. If anything, Portsmouth and Scioto County just may lead the heart of patriots who are determined that ineptitude and corruption at the highest levels will not swallow Ohio whole.

it was very good (I was hoping for more, but maybe we'll get some this week) and I moved it to the front of the pack.

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