Keep us posted on that primary.

[sandrakae]

[woldnewton]

1. 9:45 PM, and still no results at the RI BoE (Elections, natch) site...

Might Carcieri (GOP governor of RI) be taking this time to rig the results so Chafee squeaks by in the GOP primary?

Link so you can see the site for yourself

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

2. It's impossible to rig the vote in RI

Trust me, I have enough family members who work at the polls to know you can't screw with the process at any level, too many checks and balances. I only wish the rest of the country had the machines we had here.

That BoE website is more about posting the final results.....go to www.wpri.com . They seem to be getting them at a good pace right now.

[woldnewton]

5. Hope so!

Though I refuse to stop being vigilant just yet, thanks for the attempt at reassurance, at least...

[woldnewton]

6. Question for you...

do those 'too many checks and balances' also exist in Republican (aka the party that *loves* to rig the vote) primaries, as well...?

I worry when I see numbers that look very much like the kind of numbers that we saw for Kerry and select, pivotal congressional seats that Dems barely lost in 2002 and 2004... and that's what I'm seeing right now, and Chafee *definitely* seems to be the beneficiary!

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

7. Yes it does

Basically, poll workers are picked at the city and town level....so many Republicans and so many Democrats....the board of canavassers in most of these towns are split too.

We all feed our ballots into the same machines as well.....regardless of which ballot you had.

I really am not surprised Chafee won (is on his way to winning). Republicans would be stupid to not vote for him if they want to retain this seat, even those who hate Chafee for "leaning left" and Laffey really is a total joker. There is no way in hell he'd ever win a general election, and his campaign tactics the last week (some of which he claims were not his) killed him.

[Chemical Bill]

9. You ought to read up on optical scanners.

Stellanoir has the rundown on the 2004 election results, she's not as trusting as you.

Bill

[woldnewton]

10. ProudToBeBlueInRhody...

please address this post by Chemical Bill, and the concerns of Stellanoir, whereever those might be found. Link, please, Bill...?

[Chemical Bill]

11. I didn't mean to put Stella on the spot.

I'm sure she has plenty to do and may not see this. As to links for optical scanners, I'll let google speak for me:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=election+fraud+optical+scanner&btnG=Google+Search

The first one I saw:
www.ideamouth.com/voterfraud.htm

Florida

The counties that used optical scanner machines to record votes showed a consistent pattern of far more votes for Bush and far less votes for Kerry than projected, based on the number of registered republicans and democrats.

The counties in Florida that used touchscreen voting had a relatively normal distribution of final votes for Bush and Kerry compared to the amount of registered democrats and republicans and the projected turnout.

Thanks for noticing, there's a big dungeon on election fraud. I didn't think that there could be problems with Little Rhody until Stella pointed it out to me. Sorry, I don't have anything specific to Rhode Island, I'm just saying that I'm not as trusting as the other poster.

Bill

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

12. Look, I understand people refuse to trust the machines

All I'll say is my father is an election official, who thinks Bush stole Ohio and Florida, and he doesn't think there is a chance it could ever be done in RI for many reasons some of which I stated already. For one thing, ballots are marked with a marker in Rhode Island, a solid line connecting an arrow. From what I know with Florida, it's done with the punch cards. Apples and oranges.

Chafee won fair and square. The idea of Laffey being the Republican nominee was a nice pipe dream (It would have sealed an easy victory in November for Whitehouse), but it wasn't going to happen. Old people, in this case old Republicans vote in these primaries, and they will always vote the Chafee name. Laffey is only liked by his cronies and those who buy the bill of goods that he's some sort of libertarian reformer, when he's really just a far-right kook.

[stellanoir]

13. It is not an issue with either the poll workers or the ballots.

The problem with optical scanners is the way in which the votes are tallied centrally. The tabulation hardware and software is entirely hackable and just as insecure as the touchcreen machines.

When margins of victory are greater than 3-5% the ballots are not ever reviewed. I called the Secretary of State's office in '05 and asked them and they said "NO it's not necessary and soon the ballots will be destroyed."

So all the venders of the optical scanners need to do is rig it so the margins of victory are greater than 5% and the ballots are completely irrelevant.

All of us who were concerned about EVM's were startled by how extreme the intense disparity between exit polls and vote tallies were in '04 in the swing states in many of which optical scanners were used.

I'm sure your father is a dedicated public servant but perhaps you might consider investigating issues regarding optical scanners further.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

3. Winners being declared

Whitehouse, Roberts and Centraccio being declared as winners in their races. Centraccio beating Kerry King is a huge blow to The Don and his hand picked stooge. ;)

No surprise with Sheldon, but early results show CHRIS YOUNG leading Sheeler. That's an embarassment.

Obviously Chafee/Laffey still too close, as is DeRamel/Mollis.

[Chico Man]

4. Link to results

http://wpri.conversent.net/election.html

US Senate
Republican
53% of 515 Reporting
LINCOLN CHAFEE 19,778 54%
STEPHEN LAFFEY 17,103 46%

[padia]

8. final results(almost) on chafee

US Senate
Republican
99% of 515 Reporting
(W) LINCOLN CHAFEE 34,042 54%
STEPHEN LAFFEY 29,431 46%