America's voting machines- a growing concern

Post by **Vympel** » 2003-10-14 10:13am

Extremely worrying

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-10-14 10:24am

Yes yes corporate america really runs the elections, HEIL BUSH!

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2003-10-14 11:06am

'Proprietary technology', yes.

In theory, we can trust companies not to interfere with the results. Anyone want to guess the practice? I give it ten years before we have a major set of bribery..

Sir Sirius · Post by **Sir Sirius** » 2003-10-14 12:10pm

You know, I always thought that the "Mega-corporations rule the world" scenarious so common in Sci-fi were rather unrealistic and silly... maybe the time has come to re-think my position on the subject.

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2003-10-14 12:15pm

SirNitram wrote:'Proprietary technology', yes.

In theory, we can trust companies not to interfere with the results. Anyone want to guess the practice? I give it ten years before we have a major set of bribery..

Yes, because up to this point, there has never been a case of election fraud or bribery with older systems.

But I digress, I rather have the bribery or fraud or whatever brought out into the open as soon as possible and fix what problems we can. Though it should be noted that I think the rush to change all of the voting machines in the first place, is idiotic. If you're to dumb to punch out the fucking 'chad', DON'T VOTE.

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2003-10-14 01:01pm

Back in Louisiana we got so pissed off with voter fraud that we overhauled the elections process and now we have uniformily across the state mechanical voting machines. These things work very well, and our problems at the ballot have mostly gone away.

Post by **Vympel** » 2003-10-14 01:06pm

WTF is a chad anyway?

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2003-10-14 01:20pm

Vympel wrote:WTF is a chad anyway?

The piece of perferated paper that is punched out (in the case of GorevBush, almost punched out but still slightly attached) to indicate that you have choosen that choise.

The donut hole, the piece of ear that falls out after being pierced, ect.....

Iceberg · Post by **Iceberg** » 2003-10-14 02:28pm

The term "chad" is a retronym - when a paper punch that caught the little circle of punched-out paper was invented, the inventor's name was Chadless, and of course, he put his name on the device. The Chadless Hole Punch. People, being the idiots they always are, assumed that since it caught the bits of paper, and the name "Chadless" was on it, that they must always have been called "chads."
<PaulHarvey>And now you know... the rest of the story.</PaulHarvey>

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-10-14 10:29pm

Iceberg wrote:The term "chad" is a retronym - when a paper punch that caught the little circle of punched-out paper was invented, the inventor's name was Chadless, and of course, he put his name on the device. The Chadless Hole Punch. People, being the idiots they always are, assumed that since it caught the bits of paper, and the name "Chadless" was on it, that they must always have been called "chads."
<PaulHarvey>And now you know... the rest of the story.</PaulHarvey>

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!!!! Wrong.

http://www.snopes.com/business/names/chad.asp

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2003-10-14 10:32pm

Knife wrote:
SirNitram wrote:'Proprietary technology', yes.

In theory, we can trust companies not to interfere with the results. Anyone want to guess the practice? I give it ten years before we have a major set of bribery..
Yes, because up to this point, there has never been a case of election fraud or bribery with older systems.

It's always a concern. But I find this 'Oh, only we can deal with the machines' attitude to be one ripe for corruption.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-10-14 10:39pm

In theory, we can trust companies not to interfere with the results. Anyone want to guess the practice? I give it ten years before we have a major set of bribery..

And we can government officials more? BRING OUT YOUR DEAD DALEY!

Worlds Spanner · Post by **Worlds Spanner** » 2003-10-14 11:49pm

Oh my goodness. I have a lot of issues with this country but I've always believed I have an obligation to try to make it better. Articles like this make me wonder if I shouldn't just bail. I hear the UK is rainy this time of year...

...wait....