VOTING EQUIPMENT CRASHES IN CLERMONT CTY (Hackett -Schmidt )

[meganmonkey]

Holy shit!

There is a report that voting equipment has crashed in Clermont County and that the remaining ballots will have to be counted by hand.

At 10:41 pm, Paul Hackett and Jean Schmidt were neck and neck in the vote count, with the Republican candidate slightly ahead. All results were in, except for Clermont County which was yet to report the tally from 91 precincts. But, with Hackett 800 votes behind it is unlikely that he would be able to catch up. Unfortunately for Hackett, he is getting 30,000 less votes than what Democrat Charles Sanders got in 2004 against Rob Portman, meaning a lot of Sanders-Kerry voters stayed home today.

http://www.cincynation.com/

[Rick Myers]

1. The bullsh*t machines are going into overdrive!

We will see EVERY SINGLE VOTE in this election!!!

[tridim]

2. Hackett was going to win.

No doubt in my mind.

[FreedomAngel82]

14. When I left earlier

around 9pm est on AAR I heard a report that said it was Hackett- 52% and Schmidt-48%. :shrug:

[mconvente]

3. motherfucking a man...

fuck that recount them all

[AX10]

4. The GOD DAMNED GOP/Facsist are doing it again!

I have nothing but hate for those SOB's!

Hate, Hate, Hate!

:grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr:
:grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr:

[Cobalt Violet]

5. I have nothing but hate for the traitors too.

They should be caught and tried for treason. This has to stop.

[MelissaB]

6. We have got to use this to demand

VVPB

If there were no paper ballots...

[meganmonkey]

7. WAIT - REPORTS THEY ARE HANDCOUNTING!!!

Okay. hand-count detractors, do your best! :P

This could be a good thing - if it really malfunctioned and now they are fucked..

Unless they went back to good old-fashioned ballot stuffing...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1979682

[meganmonkey]

8. From mydd.com :

Ohio 02 Results ElectionThread IV
by Jerome Armstrong

It's tied 50-50 percent, with 870 votes separating Hackett from the lead. And all that's left is the 91 Precincts in Clermont County.
So close...

Updates (Chirs):

The reason the 91 precints have not reported in Clermont County has to do with problems with the voting machines there. They are being counted by hand. Stay tuned. Gather everything you can about voting "irregularities" in the district. Be ready to use the f-word, and I'm not talking about "fuck."

[Wabbajack]

9. a lot of Sanders-Kerry voters stayed home today

So did Bush voters. Turnout is always low in special elections.

[mod mom]

10. OK NON-BELIEVERS, see. Why haven't the dems joined John Conyers

in screaming fraud. Did they think the repugs would get tired of power and decide to play fair?

look at bolton

look at Plame

look at the swift boat liars

look at rove

All we are asking for is a fair court to prove our case.

[driver8]

13. Exactly! I wish someone would listen to what we are saying!

How can our elected reps. sit by and let election after election go down like this?

Fuckin' A...give us a freakin' chance!!

[autorank]

18. Why? Because they love the feel and look of their Pink Tutu's

The laughing warrior, LIEberman, Fraud, CT, is the perfect example. Everything is a big joke to him when it comes to Republican heavy handedness.

Mainstream Congressional Democrats -- Pretty in Pink

[meganmonkey]

11. Here's the shoddy explanantion of the machine malfunction:

With 88 percent of precincts reporting, Republican Jean Schmidt had 49,681 votes, compared with 48,811 for Democrat Paul Hackett -- a margin of under 1,000 votes.

We now know why it's taking so long for all the votes to be counted in a special election for an Ohio congressional seat.

The Board of Elections in Clermont County, east of Cincinnati, says it's optical scanners haven't counted all the ballots yet because it was so hot -- and humid -- Tuesday.

Board member Tim Rudd says the ballots pick up moisture when it gets hot, making it tougher for the optical scan machines to sort and count.

The race in the Second District is neck-and-neck tonight. Republican Jean Schmidt leads Democrat Paul Hackett by fewer than one-thousand votes with 88 percent of precincts reporting.

http://www.wcpo.com/news/2005/local/08/02/necktoneck.html

edit to add link ooops

[Cocoa]

12. don't they have air conditioning?

or were they voting outside?

[FreedomAngel82]

15. That is very strange

What would the weather have to do? Weren't they voting inside in a church? :shrug:

[harmonyguy]

16. Ballots can expand or shrink by up to 10% ....

...depending on temperature/humidity conditions. It's been a fairly common problem with optiscan ballots in the past. I recall hearing of some counties equipping their voting locations with hair-dryers to blow-dry each ballot before scanning it.
HG

[claudiajean]

19. Ballot expansion is a serious problem in humidity...

...I have personally seen it happen, and been involved in an election where we had to wait 12 hours until the humidity receded to be able to resume counting of absentees. The ballots, which are precision cut and scored with dies, will actually lengthen and widen in high humidity.

My understanding is that the county in question uses a central count procedure, not a precinct based count. Which would mean that the ballots are brought securely from the pollsites to one facility where they are counted. Often these count centers are located in warehouse environments, and even air conditioning will not help high humidity.

[harmonyguy]

20. Thanks Claudiajean

Come to think of it, it may have been from you that I learned this.;-)
HG

[claudiajean]

22. Or you may have read about our travails in the press...

...it was a new experience for us, as we don't get much high numbers humidity being where we are, but that election day was steamin' like New Orleans in August....

[dchill]

21. And yet the machines worked fine...

...in the six other counties that Schmidt is NOT from.

[claudiajean]

23. My understanding is that a number of counties are still on punchcards.

And there's your answer.

One of the opti-scan counties had a problem with the humidity, the punch card counties did not.

[starmaker]

17. Last 91 precincts 59/41 schmuck