Did Bush really lose NJ by only 7pts, or could have it been much more?

A friend sent this to me at work today. It's quite telling.

The exact makes and models of the machines scheduled to
be used in New Jersey have been deemed insecure by the
Secretaries of State in Ohio, California, Nevada and the Board
of Elections of New York City.

<http://www.eff.org/Activism/E-voting/20041021_NJ_complaint.pdf>

I believe Bush really did lose NJ by only 7 points. Believe me, there are many VERY Republican areas of the state. Bush support was frightenly deep here.

That doesn't excuse our voting method though. The Sequoia machines replaced the old mechanical machines a few years ago. These systems are the ultimate black box. They are easy to use but that's about the only positive thing to say about them

proof. I know my hair dresser in Ocean County was turned away from a Toms River precinct, refused a provisonal ballot, went to Ocean County Court Court House, waited 4 hrs, and was barely allowed to vote. She said people were being denied to vote and that there were hundreds of people mad as hell at the court house waiting to be seen by the judge. She said she saw an elderly black woman crying, (denied) as well as many others who simply left, not voting because they had to go to work.

From the linked case study:

Upon information and belief, in 2000, newly purchased
Sequoia Pacific AVC Advantage machines used in South Brunswick,
New Jersey failed to shut down or issue an alert when an internal
malfunction occurred. This caused zero votes to be reported for
certain major party candidates.

37. Plaintiff Stephanie Harris attempted to vote on a
Sequoia Pacific AVC Advantage machine in Mercer County, New
Jersey, on June 8, 2004 at the Hopewell Elementary School polling
location. She attempted to cast her vote on the machine four
times. After she believed she cast her vote, she was told to
return to the booth because her vote had not registered. The
poll worker on duty told her three times to return to the voting
booth and press the “Cast Vote” button because her vote had not
registered. She pressed it a total of four times. She has no
idea whether she voted once, twice, three or four times, or not
at all.

38. When she exited the voting booth the fourth time, the
poll worker tentatively advised her: “I think it went through.”
She was not offered any alternative methods to cast her vote
(such as an emergency ballot) and cannot be sure if her vote was
ever properly recorded. Upon information and belief, at a
meeting of the Mercer County Board of Freeholders a
representative of the Mercer County Board of Elections stated
that no incident reports had been filed for Hopewell.

39. Plaintiff Harris’s experience is not unique. Mercer
County resident Glenn Cantor had a similar experience when he
attempted to vote on a DRE at the Hopewell Valley Regional School

to open polling places. Machines did not work.

it's only because problems like this haven't been reported on.

GRRRRR.

:grr:

a :kick: