Voting Machines Chop Off Dem Candidate Webb's Name...NOT Fixable

Before Elections...

>>>>snip

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.

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

:D

:D

.

And we all know that electronic voting machines can't be reprogrammed on the fly. :sarcasm:

Really?

Because if it only chops off Democrat names while leaving Republicans names alone, that would be actionable.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

there are more letters in George Allen, aren't there?

Convenient, eh? :eyes:

*that* would be the reason for it.

Similar to Faux labeling rethugs as Dems.

Public opinion is running strongly against rethugs, so they'd have good reason to want to hide their party affiliation.

James Henry "Jim" Webb. Apparently, the current formatting on the screen allows only for 20 characters, not the 22 of Webb's name.

Why the hell is there a 20 character limit? This isn't 1982 for fuck's sake.

younger voters support? :eyes:

I betcha this is all done on purpose.

And baloney. It is indicitive of poor QA on the machine, but this isn't the kind of thing that gains anyone anything by doing it on purpose. It's just as likely to affect any party.

-Hoot

It's not the Q/A' department's fault... nobody uses 20 chars for a combined name field. This is a design issue, the developer did it intentionally or just missed it during code review. The fact that it was deployed indicates there was no Q/A period.

I didn't lay blame anywhere, I don't have enough information to blame anyone, I just said "It is indicitive of poor QA on the machine" which you subsequently agreed with when you said "The fact that it was deployed indicates there was no Q/A period."

So how exactly is this bullshit?

-Hoot

:shrug:

Rethugs trying to hide their party affiliation again?

(See post #20)

:eyes:

Did they cut off the party affiliation?

I have talked to countless relatives and they are all voting "straight ticket Dem". They aren't paying much attention to the names, however.

Slimy bastards... :mad:

And the rethugs are probably also hoping to get votes based on name recognition.

Allen's the incumbent, so he could have an advantage for that reason.

:mad: is right.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20040816/dugger2

"David Hart, chairman of Hart InterCivic, said that because of the business he's in he doesn't contribute. A major investor in Hart InterCivic is Tom Hicks's investment firm, Stratford Capital Partners. Hicks was in the group of investors who bought the Texas Rangers from Bush and others for nearly three times their investment in it. Hicks has also been a lavish donor to Bush campaigns. "


And this from voters unite on previous problems with their ballots

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:IGjf3B1oU-8J:www.votersunite.org/info/Hartinthenews.pdf+Hart+InterCivic&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=4

They must have needed a "special patch" for him.

is that this is being allowed to go forth as though it's perfectly OK.

They should not use machines that are erroneously programmed. Give all these voters paper ballots.

The voters are getting a goood look at just how election manipulation happens. And a lot of it is because "mistakes" for whatever reason, are tolerated.

That ballots without the candidates' names should be considered valid.... :eyes: Too stupid for words.

I wonder whether this is legally okay. I mean, won't people be voting for somebody named "James Henry 'Jim' We"? (That's 20 characters, right? Or is it really going to be just his first and middle names?) Seriously, couldn't some guy who happens to have a 20-character name created by this program show up at the swearing-in and say "This is great--I've always wanted to be a senator"?

there's probably some loophole that gives the board of selections the right to proceed with one candidate compromised like that.

This is the kind of thing that has to change. Just not good enough.

hmmm...George "Macaca" Allen has 21 characters...and George "Macaca Man" Allen has 25.

Oops.

On edit: I used Customer Math to calculate that one, sorry...

Whoops, just a mistake. Like putting all the Reps in Florida first on the ballet! Makes it easier to count! :sarcasm: