Cook County, Illinois, is a total train wreck tonight.

[WilliamPitt]

David Axelrod, the big-gun Democratic consultant who has been working with Duckworth, is on TV right now yelling and screaming about Cook County. He’s doing this as a Claypool representative. He is saying there are 200 precincts in Cook that won’t be counted until tomorrow night. Total train wreck in Cook.

This Cegelis race probably won't be called tonight without all those votes from Cook getting into the mix.

Jesus.

[NVMojo]

1. what did they vote with??

[SoCalDem]

28. Probably etch-a-sketches

:(

Freeps are crowing about "Mr Pitt" in Chicago...

[SeattleGirl]

2. Why tomorrow night?

Is there a particular problem with Cook County that the rest of the state wasn't having?

[tritsofme]

6. Cook County started using optical scan and touchscreen systems today

http://www.sequoiavote.com/productguide.php?product=AVC%20Edge&type=Introduction

http://www.sequoiavote.com/productguide.php?product=INSIGHT&type=Introduction

And its causing havoc.

[SeattleGirl]

10. Well, that 'splains it.

Thanks for the info.

[Ellipsis]

27. Is this the back up printer to be examined?

&title=Sequoia%20AVC%20Edge%20With%20VeriVote%20Printer




...Doesn't look like fun....readin' a cash register tape. What is the actual "bottle neck" in reporting the backup numbers? Is it at the DRE?

[AtomicKitten]

3. Great - more election chaos.

This can't be good.

[EFerrari]

4. That's fascinating. Cook County has always been creative.

You must be beat.

[tritsofme]

5. In what little of the 6th is in Cook

Cegelis is losing pretty bad.

I think this race is over.

[WilliamPitt]

8. If we lose

it'll be by two votes per precinct, if you average it out.

Not bad for an underfunded crew facing the entire Democratic establishment.

...oh, and this whole Illinois race has become the poster child for how fucked up e-voting is.

[wndycty]

11. As it relates to the County Board race. . .

. . .are you prepared to and do you have evidence to claim it impacts the 6th CD. The allegations concern the South Side and Evanston, which is nowhwere near the 6th CD, so please don't tie a potential Cegelis loss to this without any damn evidence.

[SeattleGirl]

12. Would there be an automatic recount if the vote is within

X number of votes apart? That's what we have in Washington, and one of the things that made our 2004 Governor's race so crazy.

[WilliamPitt]

15. There is no automatic recount trigger

A candidate has to ask for it. Calling for a recount costs $75,000.

[madfloridian]

17. She will get it if she needs it.

Between DFA and PDA, she will get it.

[SeattleGirl]

23. There is one automatic recount here. After that, a candidate

can ask for one, but does have to pay for it. Gregoire did that; got the money right away.

[LSK]

7. Being covered on WGNTV now..

These devices are having trouble reading but they have paper trails which would take up until tomorrow to check against.

[wndycty]

9. An important note about how this Cook County problem impacts 6th CD

The precincts in question are South Side of Chicago and Evanston, so it would have very little impact on the 6th CD.

[WilliamPitt]

13. The 6th is DuPage and Cook

More DuPage. We were expecting to get whomped in Cook, so there won't be any saving grace for Cegelis whenever they get the mess untangled. But it does mean we're stuck here, because they aren't going to call the thing tonight, likely.

[wndycty]

18. Will, I live in Chicago, I'm watching the results on TV. . .

. . .the precincts in question are not near the 6th CD unless you have some insider information I don't. The South Side of Chicago and Evanston, where the allegations are being made, are nowhere near the 6th CD.

[LSK]

19. it depends on if they all used the same system

If all the devices are from the same manufacturer, then the problem could be all over Cook. Is it the same device all over Cook?

[wndycty]

20. its not a device issue, its not a malfunction. . .

. . .what is being alleged is votes are just sitting waiting to be counted. So its not like there is a glitch in the system it seems like human error, negligence or just ignorance.

[LSK]

21. its a malfunction of the devices

I just saw the guy on WGN holding one. Once again, are they all from the same manufacturer?

[tritsofme]

24. Yes,

All the devices are the same throughout the county.

I posted a link to them on post #6.

[madfloridian]

14. Tell Christine we are all proud of her no matter what.

Tell her we supported her as a Dean Dozen, and she did us all proud this time. She is a winner just for staying in the race.

I find it hard to appreciate Durbin, Obama, and Rahm at all now. It did not have to be this way.

She's a winner, no matter what.

:cry:

[WilliamPitt]

16. I will

and you are absolutely right.

[preciousdove]

22. Evidently the last competent person in e-voting quit last week n/t

[LSK]

25. i dont see whats so hard about this, banks are a perfect science

Yet our votes are always fucked up electronically. Why cant they use the same technology? :shrug:

[Cleita]

26. I hope this can be fixed before November. n/t

[derby378]

29. Only one way to fix this - VVPB

Voter Verified Paper Ballots. Nothing less will do.

[MetaTrope]

30. Just wait until the bugs get ironed out of the machines next go-round

The electronic fraud will be totally undetectable...

[theHandpuppet]

31. This report really scares me

My county is switching to touchscreens in time for the next round of voting in June.

My partner and I were told that the county is desperately short of poll workers (over 150 short in a primarily rural county) so we signed up as volunteers. After several weeks and hearing nothing from anyone about being accepted as volunteers, we called the county registrar's office and were told that notifying/accepting volunteers was up to the parties, not the registrar, and that I should just wait. Well, it's been yet another month and we've heard NADA. Meanwhile, there are training sessions you're supposed to get and these new touchscreens have me worried about voter fraud.

In short, we're pretty disgusted. I think my partner and I will just vote early with paper ballots if we can get them.

[katinmn]

32. The country has spent billions on e-voting systems that don't perform.

Our whole government is a train wreck. They have been warned, sued, pleaded with to fix the problems for years now. Christ.