Voting machines destroyed in 3-alarm north Houston fire

[Lisa0825]

Source: Houston Chronicle

Harris County voting machines were destroyed about two months before early voting in a 3-alarm fire at a warehouse in north Houston early this morning.

The fire started about 4:15 a.m. at the county’s election equipment storage facility in the 600 block of Canino near Marnie, which is near Melrose Park, fire officials said. Firefighters extinguished the flames at the football-field size warehouse about four hours later. No injuries were reported.

The county’s voting machines, including eSlate equipment, were stored at the nearly 27,000-square foot facility, county officials said. The 10,000 pieces of election equipment were destroyed, said Hector DeLeon, a spokesman for the Harris County Clerk’s office.

DeLeon said county election officials are working to determine how to handle the upcoming election and expect to conduct it without problems. Officials said they are considering talking with neighboring counties to possibly use some of their voting machines in the upcoming election.



Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7173960.html

[Land Shark]

1. Neighboring counties shouldn't really have many extra machines, expect LINES

[LiberalFighter]

2. I agree. Their best bet would be for many many many neighboring counties

to have a few they can loan out. BUT, do all the counties use the same machine?

[Lisa0825]

3. If it's the same model used in my neighboring county, it is paperless.

I wonder if an increased push for a machine with a paper trail could get some traction since they have to be replaced now anyway?

[wordpix]

8. article referred to unverifiable machines

[valerief]

4. Yeah, I guess it's too hard to flip votes on paper. nt

[Hawkeye-X]

5. There should be an legislation passed to allow paper ballots

or go all-paper and fuck the bb machines.

[wordpix]

11. the e-voting machines should print out a paper receipt the voter can keep if there are questions

of course, some may get trashed but if voters know they're important, they'll hold onto them (we'd hope)

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

38. The problem with that is that it could open the door to vote buying.

The receipts should be verified by the voter and placed in a ballot box for a later hand recount to confirm the digital tally.

I, for one, would like to see a Voter ID issued with a number that can be confirmed in a publicly available database that shows how that number voted for candidates and propositions. This also doesn't get around possible vote buying. Maybe we just make vote buying a severe felony and live with the consequences.

Any non-verifiable e-voting system is for suckers.

[Bitwit1234]

6. Were the pre-programed voting results too hot to handle

I mean you know, sometimes even voting machines want to be honest.

[BradBlog]

7. BREAKING: Fire Destroys All 10,000 E-Vote Machines in Houston, Harris County, TX

Source: BRAD BLOG, KHOU, KTRH

BREAKING: Fire Destroys All 10,000 E-Vote Machines in Houston, Harris County, TX

First, we didn't do it.

Second, via KHOU in Houston:

HOUSTON – A three-alarm fire swept through a northeast Houston warehouse early Friday wiping out more than 10,000 pieces of voting equipment. City officials said they are unsure what will be done when voting begins in the next few months.

The Harris County Election Technology Center, located on Canino at Downey, caught fire around 4:20 a.m., and the blaze quickly grew to three alarms.

The warehouse stored more than 10,000 pieces of equipment, including voting booths and eSlates, the computer-based machines used for collecting votes.

The fire comes just months before the general elections on November 2, which include the governor’s race. Early voting is scheduled to begin in October.

MUCH MORE: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8017

Read more: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8017

[coffeenap]

9. Kinko's.

;)

[canetoad]

10. Look to future technology

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SrenEB-hwKg/R40wT-OEm1I/AAAAAAAAANU/9zxkDerSHJU/S310/paper+ballot.gif

[damntexdem]

12. Good, maybe they'll be forced to use a reliable voting method.

Of course, they may just stall and then have inadequate provisions for voting, thus hurting Democrats more than Republicans.

[RKP5637]

13. Next step is you'll just be pre-voted, no need to vote, we'll handle it for you, courtesy of RNC. nt

[TheWatcher]

14. This is fantastic news.

Now, if we can just get these kinds of fires in every single city, county, and state in the country, we MIGHT have legitimate elections again.

:evilgrin:

[WatchWhatISay]

15. Wrong, Harris County is one of the most Progressive areas in the state

I live in Montgomery County, just north of Harris County. Houston/Harris County elected a Democratic Lesbian mayor. My county always votes 70-75% Republican no matter how awful or corrupt their candidate is. And most rural areas are much more conservative than urban areas.

[John Kerry VonErich]

16. Yeah, and we might have some deaths as well if we're lucky!

:sarcasm:

Careful what you wish for

[TheWatcher]

36. Wow, tough crowd today.

Lighten Up, Francis.

Try to enjoy a little dark humor once in awhile.

Nobody is "wishing" for anything.

:hi:

[kpete]

17. All of Harris County's voting machines destroyed in 3-alarm north Houston fire

Source: Houston Chronicle

All of Harris County's voting machines destroyed in 3-alarm north Houston fire
By CHRIS MORAN and DALE LEZON
Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle
Aug. 27, 2010, 12:23PM


Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman this morning said she is confident of timely, clean elections in November, even as a fire that destroyed the county's entire inventory of 10,000 electronic voting machines still burned.

Kaufman urged voters to cast their ballots early to help the county cope with a possible shortage of equipment on election day.

"Because I don’t expect to have 10,000 pieces to work with, no matter what we do, I’m sure that we’re going to be putting on a full court press urging people to vote early," Kaufman said.

Kaufman said she expected that the fire in a county warehouse in the 600 block of Canino, in north Houston, has destroyed $30 million worth of equipment and caused another $10 million in damage to the building.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7173960.html

[activa8tr]

18. Well, gee, I guess they will have to use paper ballots, instead.

How does a metal and electronic voting machine get set on fire?

Haven't they heard of fire extinguishers and water sprinklers in Texas?

Why would any government or industry store their ENTIRE INVENTORY of 10,000 critical pieces of equipment in ONE LOCATION?

[Blue_Tires]

26. why, indeed?

maybe the machines had some kind of evidence on them...

[Igel]

27. That would be a nightmare.

Not as bad in an off year as during a presidential election year, but still. . . .

In 2008 there were over 80 different ballot items, where my ballot was different from the ballot a few miles away because of numerous district lines within the county--judicial, state, federal, city lines crisscrossing. Some were people, some were yes/no ballot measures. Imagine counting those ballots. .

We have early voting that starts in 1 1/2 months, where I can vote at any early voting site. They're reduced in number from election-day sites. So if I vote 30 miles from here they have to know on election day that I've already voted. No mistakes allowed, mind you. And, when I vote, I have to have access to the right ballot. See previous paragraph. At any single early voting site they'd have to have a dozen ballots available, they'd have to keep them separate and secure, and then they'd have to record that I'd already voted so I don't vote twice.

Other countries have nice paper ballots. Fifty years ago, with simpler elections, they had paper ballots. Now? We'd have to simplify, meaning either there are fewer elected officials or we have lots more elections.

Houston's not in a deep recession, but the expense isn't something we can afford very well. Not wise. Probably a good reason--not good enough, of course--for having them all in one place.

[BeFree]

30. No

Electronic vote counters are a nightmare.

Paper ballots are far simpler. For each precinct there would be one unique ballot. Easily checked and easily made.

In all electronics such uniqueness would be a nightmare of computer programming that only a few eyes could check.

So you walk in to the early vote place and tell them which precinct you live in, and they hand you your precincts' ballot. And it only takes one scanner to read each precinct, whereas it takes 3 or 4 DRE's per precinct.

With paper ballots the county may only need 1,000 machines. Not the 10,000 DRE's..

[elehhhhna]

32. it's the smoke & heat that wreck 'em...plus water (sprinklers, hoses) ...

How could RIck Perry benefit from this. Hmmmm.

Bill White was H-town's mayor & he's catching SlickRick. Lots of Dem votes here in Houston.

[T Wolf]

19. Now, if they would destroy the machines in rural areas so that THEY will have to stand in line

for hours to vote...

That is a fire I could enjoy.

But, it is machines for an urban area that mysteriously go poof.

Very interesting...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

20. Aw...what a shame!

[global1]

21. Let The Dirty Tricks Begin........nt

[mike r]

22. Is Rove consulting for Perry?

Programmers are hard at work on the new machines.

[Evasporque]

23. after voting on paper...out come in fall "Democrats Sweep Harris County Races"...nt

[Stevepol]

24. Can't remember when I've been so happy about a fire.

[Dover]

25. Only way Texas has a chance to turn blue again...

I hope there are many more ...um..."accidents" like this.

But still I wonder why the Dems haven't been actively challenging electronic voting
in a big way.

[dixiegrrrrl]

28. "I wonder why the Dems haven't been actively challenging electronic voting"

Things that make ya go hmmmmm......

[Dover]

29. A little background info on the e-Slate voting machines and Texas

posted here on DU:

EXCLUSIVE: Hart InterCivic Whistleblower Warned of Texas, Ohio E-Voting 'Fraud' Concerns in 2004!

100,000+ Votes Were Errantly Added by Hart Machines in a Single County in Last Tuesday's Primary via Flawed, Paperless 'eSlate' Touch-Screen System!
Former Hart Employee, Tarrant County TX Election Worker Notified State, Legal Authorities in 2004 About Serious Voting Machine Problems, Procedures...All Warnings and Complaints Ignored

Continuing in an exclusive BRAD BLOG series of Voting Machine Vendor and Election Fraud whistleblowers, another insider, from yet another voting machine company, has now come forward to reveal a...

Continuing in an exclusive BRAD BLOG series of Voting Machine Vendor and Election Fraud whistleblowers, another insider, from yet another voting machine company, has now come forward to reveal a myriad of known problems inside both the company and in several states and counties with whom they do business.

During last Tuesday's Primary Election in the state of Texas, scores of "computer glitches" -- as voting officials and electronic voting machine vendors like to refer to them -- were revealed occurred across the state. Many of those "glitches" occurred on electronic voting equipment manufactured and supplied to various counties in Texas by the Hart InterCivic company.

One such "glitch" occurred in Texas' Tarrant County, which encompasses Fort Worth. That "glitch" resulted in some 100,000 votes being added to the result totals across the county's paperless Hart-Intercivic "eSlate" touch-screen voting system.

Election Officials in Tarrant claim they didn't look into the problems on Election Night as the problem emerged because, as reported by the Star-Telegram last week, "they were dealing with a new system, new procedures and some new equipment."


More >>

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002542.htm



Problems in Texas With E-Slate and Straight-Party Vote

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x93886

[pgodbold]

31. Excellent! This is now a hand counted county. Imagine the skew relative to the machine counties nt

[Doctor_J]

34. I think Bill White is a little too popular for the TX repukes

it will be very difficult for people in Dem area to vote in Nov. Expect more of this.

[lavenderdiva]

35. my thought EXACTLY Doctor_J

I live in Harris County, and I think Rick Perry may be getting a little nervous, with how popular Bill White is here, and how popular he may become state-wide. Today's event sounds a little fishy to me.

[humblebum]

33. And barring any injuries, this is bad news why?

[alp227]

37. Well well well! If it was arson, who'd be the suspect?

Folks concerned about e-voter fraud? Disillusioned Democrats? The producers of Hacking Democracy?

Otherwise, this might force paper, hand-counted voting, a more honest system.