Election Day Thread

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-11-02 11:26am

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-11-02 11:36am

turnout is heavy here in RI.

suck it down state legislature bitches! The GOP will rise up and your 80 year reign of terror will end!

as for President I voted for some guy who is a douchebag

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-11-02 11:37am

sketerpot wrote:
Durandal wrote:I've always wondered just how hard it would be to actually screw up an electronic voting system. I mean, seriously.
Code: Select all
if( choice == KERRY ) {
    JohnKerry++;
} else if( choice == BUSH ) {
    GeorgeWBush++;
}
Honestly, it must take effort to fuck that stuff up.
That's fine if JohnKerry and GeorgeWBush are simple variables and you can get the whole country to vote on one computer. The problems come when you're tallying the votes, and making sure that someone doesn't do some crazy shit with the voting system at some point. Network security is hard, and convincing people that nobody tampered with the results is even harder. For an example of some really funky shit, read Reflections on Trusting Trust, which talks about a self-perpetuating, invisible trojan horse that Ken Thompson wrote once, along with some good mind-bending.

Well I was being facetious mostly.

Anyway, who says that the machines have to be on a network? Wouldn't it make more sense if each machine had a removable hard drive that would house the vote tally and at the end of the day, election officials would take the hard drive out and plug it into a counter machine?

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-11-02 11:39am

Durandal wrote:Anyway, who says that the machines have to be on a network? Wouldn't it make more sense if each machine had a removable hard drive that would house the vote tally and at the end of the day, election officials would take the hard drive out and plug it into a counter machine?

You've described the system we use in Maryland. The individual machines
have their counter flash cards removed at the end of the day and driven
to the Montgomery County Board of Elections Complex at 10 PM where
they are tabulated by central computars.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-11-02 11:52am

MKSheppard wrote:
Durandal wrote:Anyway, who says that the machines have to be on a network? Wouldn't it make more sense if each machine had a removable hard drive that would house the vote tally and at the end of the day, election officials would take the hard drive out and plug it into a counter machine?
You've described the system we use in Maryland. The individual machines have their counter flash cards removed at the end of the day and driven to the Montgomery County Board of Elections Complex at 10 PM where they are tabulated by central computars.

That would seem like the most intelligent thing to do, as you'd basically avoid all network security issues. The next step would be to get rid of the GUIs. The voting should be done entirely through an ncurses-driven interface. The more complex the system, the more likely something can go wrong. I could write and debug such a system, and it'd be rock-solid, just as easy to use as a GUI and more reliable.

Alan Bolte · Post by **Alan Bolte** » 2004-11-02 11:57am

Ha ha, the Ohio School Board member in my district is the leading creationist on the board. He had three opponents, so I voted for the one who had something specific in his platform: getting rid of the fundies. Take that!

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2004-11-02 11:57am

Voted for Kerry

Governor of WV: Mountain Party candidate Jesse Johnson
Dept of Agriculture: Voted for the 19yr old challenger to the 10-time incumbent.
County Prosecutor: I was Sooooooooooooooo tempted to vote for the Dead Guy. Left blank.

Post by **fgalkin** » 2004-11-02 12:31pm

www.electoral-vote.com ,which is now updated live says this: Kerry 262 Bush 261.

The race is getting closer.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-11-02 12:37pm

LadyTevar wrote:Voted for Kerry

Governor of WV: Mountain Party candidate Jesse Johnson
Dept of Agriculture: Voted for the 19yr old challenger to the 10-time incumbent.
County Prosecutor: I was Sooooooooooooooo tempted to vote for the Dead Guy. Left blank.

Mountain Party?

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2004-11-02 12:52pm

Col. Crackpot wrote:
LadyTevar wrote:Voted for Kerry

Governor of WV: Mountain Party candidate Jesse Johnson
Dept of Agriculture: Voted for the 19yr old challenger to the 10-time incumbent.
County Prosecutor: I was Sooooooooooooooo tempted to vote for the Dead Guy. Left blank.
Mountain Party?

Local party formed because the Democratic party in WV is becoming Republicrats. Based around trying to change the state's economy away from chopping the tops off of Mountains.

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2004-11-02 12:54pm

Already voted via absentee ballot. Kerry, plus as many Democrats as my obscenely Republican district would allow, since all the Republicans want to fuck the public school system up more by removing funding. Having spent eight years in that damn system, I think it needs better hiring practices and funding. Not that they care, all their kids go to private school.

Some of the tickest didn't even have any Democrats on the ballot, including Mayor and Town Council, so I wrote in two people I know who I think would do good job, including my father for Mayor

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-11-02 01:01pm

fgalkin wrote:www.electoral-vote.com ,which is now updated live says this: Kerry 262 Bush 261.

The race is getting closer.

The radical change is due to a couple of Fox News polls that were conducted more recently than the previous Gallup polls. Kerry's 7-point lead in Wisconsin vanished and was replaced by a 3-point Bush lead. Ditto for Ohio. Gallup had Kerry ahead by 7% in Ohio yesterday, but Fox News has him down by 3% today.

I hope like Hell that this race doesn't wind up in the Supreme Court. Rehnquist isn't looking too good, and if he resigns due to health reasons, Bush might be allowed to appoint a judge who is not subject to senate approval. Talk about stealing an election.

theski · Post by **theski** » 2004-11-02 01:24pm

Durandal wrote:
fgalkin wrote:www.electoral-vote.com ,which is now updated live says this: Kerry 262 Bush 261.

The race is getting closer.
The radical change is due to a couple of Fox News polls that were conducted more recently than the previous Gallup polls. Kerry's 7-point lead in Wisconsin vanished and was replaced by a 3-point Bush lead. Ditto for Ohio. Gallup had Kerry ahead by 7% in Ohio yesterday, but Fox News has him down by 3% today.

I hope like Hell that this race doesn't wind up in the Supreme Court. Rehnquist isn't looking too good, and if he resigns due to health reasons, Bush might be allowed to appoint a judge who is not subject to senate approval. Talk about stealing an election.

*giggles*....

Post by **RogueIce** » 2004-11-02 01:40pm

President: Yeah, like I'm going to tell you people.

US Senator: I didn't really like either choice, so I flipped a coin and voted in Martinez. Yeah, yeah, negative ads and all that, but what're you gonna do? The coin hath spoken.

US Congressman: Jim Davis. Because I like him dammit.

Sheriff: David Gee. Current Chief Deputy, and it's pointless to do the write in, as he's the only one on the ballot.

And this is what I remember offhand. Let's see if I can find my sample ballot.

No luck. Ah well, on to the rest I can remember.

I voted to retain all the various judges up for reelection, and voted in Gill for the new spot open.

County Commissioner (county-wide): Brian Blair. Bob Buckhorn is an ass from everything I have ever heard.

County Commissioner (my district): Joe Redner. Yes, the owner of a strip club. I want him to win. Maybe then we'll get a little less of the stupid family values crap from Ronda Storms. Speaking of which, I would watch those meetings just to see her have to sit with Redner.

Temple Terrace Mayor/City Council: Just picked somebody at random, don't even remember now.

And the state amendments... I voted to repeal the high speed rail thing, voted for minimum wage increase, and voted down everything else. I don't feel like amending the state constitution (God knows it's messy enough) over medical malpractice stuff (though I did vote to disclose the mistakes), and I voted against having to notify the parent if a minor gets an abortion (well, before the abortion at least).

And that's about it for my ballot. There was some amendment to the county charter, too, to have the County Attorny appointed by the Commission; given what a clusterfuck our Commission generally is, I voted against that as well.

Post by **Zaia** » 2004-11-02 01:46pm

Just got back from voting for the Johns. I didn't have to wait too long, which was nice, but I did have to put up with my mom calling me on my way home to ask if I'd voted yet and then telling me that she wrote herself in for president and that my dad wrote her in too. Silly parents.

They were only playin', though. They really voted for Kerry & Edwards, just so y'know.

Post by **RogueIce** » 2004-11-02 01:47pm

Zaia wrote:Just got back from voting for the Johns. I didn't have to wait too long, which was nice, but I did have to put up with my mom calling me on my way home to ask if I'd voted yet and then telling me that she wrote herself in for president and that my dad wrote her in too. Silly parents.

I just got a call from the Kerry camp urging me to go out and vote. I was the last one in the family to do so.

They also wanted to thank my sister for her support. I had no idea she signed up with them. Then again, considering all the other crap she signs up for on the Internet, I'm not too surprised.

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2004-11-02 01:54pm

I voted for Kerry, sometime this morning.

And I think my neighbors voted for my cat, instead of voting for Bush.

Iceberg · Post by **Iceberg** » 2004-11-02 02:03pm

Just an hour ago I voted for John Kerry and John Edwards for president and vice-president... now it's in the hands of the nation.

Mayabird · Post by **Mayabird** » 2004-11-02 02:15pm

Ahhhh, skipping class to vote early in the morning before the long lines form is so nice... of course I would have skipped that class anyway, but it gives me warm fuzzies to think that I performed my civic duty while playing hooky. The number of uncontested local races bothered me, though.

I voted for the douchebag for president.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-11-02 02:23pm

Kerry is probably in better shape right now. Exit polls seem to be favoring him, plus there's also early voting to consider; that also probably favors him.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-11-02 02:58pm

Joe wrote:Kerry is probably in better shape right now. Exit polls seem to be favoring him, plus there's also early voting to consider; that also probably favors him.

Unfortunately for Kerry, facts cannot vote in an election, because those tend to favor him, as well.

Spice Runner · Post by **Spice Runner** » 2004-11-02 03:02pm

I went and Voted for Kerry/Edwards this morning. Down with the fundy administration!

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2004-11-02 03:15pm

John Kerry is a Douche Bag but I Voted for him anyway...

.com

THEHOOLIGANJEDI · Post by **THEHOOLIGANJEDI** » 2004-11-02 03:30pm

Durandal wrote:By the way, what kind of ballots did everyone have? I had a "Fill in the Bubbles" ballot, and I was given a special pen with which to do so.

Used a Machine. Pressed a bunch of buttons. Signed a Slip of paper when I did.

THEHOOLIGANJEDI · Post by **THEHOOLIGANJEDI** » 2004-11-02 03:31pm

Oh and voted Kerry/Edwards

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Election Day Thread

Who Did You Vote For? (or Who Are You Voting for?)