James Webb's last name won't appear on ballots in Alexandria, VA

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/23/AR2006102301178_pf.html


Some Voting Machines Chop Off Candidates' Names
Computer Glitch Affects Voters in 3 Jurisdictions; Error Cannot Be Fixed by Nov. 7

By Leef Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 24, 2006; B04

U.S. Senate candidate James Webb's last name has been cut off on part of the electronic ballot used by voters in Alexandria, Falls Church and Charlottesville because of a computer glitch that also affects other candidates with long names, city officials said yesterday.

Although the problem creates some voter confusion, it will not cause votes to be cast incorrectly, election officials emphasized. The error shows up only on the summary page, where voters are asked to review their selections before hitting the button to cast their votes. Webb's full name appears on the page where voters choose for whom to vote.

Election officials attribute the mistake to an increase in the type size on the ballot. Although the larger type is easier to read, it also unintentionally shortens the longer names on the summary page of the ballot.

Thus, Democratic candidate Webb will appear with his first name and nickname only -- or "James H. 'Jim' " -- on summary pages in Alexandria, Falls Church and Charlottesville, the only jurisdictions in Virginia that use balloting machines manufactured by Hart InterCivic of Austin.

"We're not happy about it," Webb spokeswoman Kristian Denny Todd said last night, adding that the campaign learned about the problem a week ago and has since been in touch with state election officials. "I don't think it can be remedied by Election Day. Obviously, that's a concern."

WTF is wrong with these people? Are they just stupid?

Don't answer that.

F James Sensenbrenner Jr. is 5 characters longer... :grr:

the illiterate.

What a crock.

But check this out: "Every candidate on Alexandria's summary page has been affected in some way by the glitch. Even if candidates' full names appear, as is the case with Webb's Republican opponent, incumbent Sen. George F. Allen, their party affiliations have been cut off."

Of course the name "George F. Allen" is 15 spaces while "James H. 'Jim' Webb" is 22. This isn't an anti-Webb conspiracy, but it is a good illustration of the fucked up things that happen with electronic voting. I wonder why that is only happening in Alexandria? Does that mean that programming voting machines is happening not at a standardized state-wide level, or even a county level, but at a diversity of jurisdictions down at the municipal level?

I seem to recall a certain Supreme Court decision in Gore v Bush that dealt with stardardization of the voting process.

While we're at it, let's examine this "can't be fixed by election day" crap. That's 14 days from now. What on earth is preventing them from fixing a slight spacing glitch in their computers in the next 14 days?

James H. 'Jim' is 15 characters.. Webb is four plus a space.... Total of 20 characters......

George Felix Macaca Allen

James Webb will be cut off.
George Allen will probably we there in full---correct?:eyes:

Go figure.

Yeah that's a pretty long name all right. As opposed to say...George, six letters, Allen, five letters, eleven total. Now I'm not real sure, but I think 11 is still more than 9. At least in every other state in the union it is. Maybe Virginia is different.

on the ballot as James H. 'Jim" Webb (19 characters) rather than simply James H. Webb (13 characters) or James Webb (nine characters) or Jim Webb (eight characters).

It still sucks -- if it can be reflected properly when you vote, it should be reflected properly when you confirm your vote.

If Allen is on the ballot as George F. Allen, then that's 15 spaces. Anyone from Virginia here?

Not that it should matter.

As long as it's the summary page, hopefully what it will do is further prompt the person to go back to the main page and make sure their ballot mark is cast for Webb.

But how ironic, it's the Democrat's name that gets chopped, not allen.

Of course if you start dicking around with the font size you have to check to see whether all of the type shows up on the screen. And why shouldn't they be able to fix it before Nov. 7? That seems a little bogus. Wouldn't it be a simple software swap followed by retesting the machines?

when they go in to fix this "glitch"?

It would require only nineteen spaces to add 'Webb' to that. My name with first initial only would exceed the fourteen character limit. Hart InterCivic should have their techs in VA pronto to fix this, or those areas should print PAPER ballots for next week's election.

These are all very democratic areas. SO this is more stupidity then shenaningans by local elected officials, Whether or not Hart InterCivic is a GOP front is an intersting issue.