Comments on: Tax Dollars at Work: Richland County Edition

By: Ben Keeler

Ben Keeler — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:41:04 +0000

Rev,

You are talking about two different issues. I am talking about left wing lunatics thinking their votes are being stolen or not counted. They are being counted.

When people commit vote fraud, but registering fake voters, voting twice, signing up dead people etc, that is something that should be stopped. An ID can stop that.

The issues are totally seperate from one another and I think you are well aware of that. It isnt a double standard at all.

By: Jill

Jill — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 18:12:06 +0000

The issue is expectations: what do we expect? What level of imperfection, if any, is acceptable? Until we even agree that SOME level of imperfection is inevitable, we will continue to do everything we think is necessary to safeguard the right to vote. Frankly, given the hit that people's confidence in the system has taken over the last decade or so, a few pennies per U.S. capita is worth it. We ended up with Bush as our president for eight years and look what that's done to our reputation overseas. Can't we please be okay with trying to uphold the reputation of SOMETHING?

By: The Reverend

The Reverend — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:53:32 +0000

I found this interesting….in an ironic sort of way…

"I guess most people in Richland County don't believe the conspiracy theories about the Ohio voting system and they don't have politicians running around telling them to doubt their system."

Would Keeler's take be the same about politicians running around the nation demanding new Voter ID laws to prevent fraudulent voting. When there's no evidence ANYWHERE that voter fraud even exists?

Is it only a conspiracy theory when Democrats are doing the theorizing?

It's so hard to keep up with the double standards.

By: angry conserv

angry conserv — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 03:12:01 +0000

Rick,
I belive the courts ruling focused on the fact that app. 5% of the voters ballots were thrown out becaues they double voted( voted for more than one person in same race). As far
as the elderly I spent way to much time watching the Fla. chad fiasco and those that took their time and checked their ballot stated they didnt have a problem.

By: Former Demmie

Former Demmie — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 01:56:13 +0000

Until reading your articles I've always considered myself a true Democrat. However, your arguments have swayed me to what every american should be…..a good ol Republican. Keep up the good work!

By: Affluent guy

Affluent guy — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 01:53:33 +0000

I've had the pleasure of reading this column from the inception. Thought I would drop a comment on here to tell you to keep the insightful columns up! Thanks again!!

By: Joe M

Joe M — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:23:13 +0000

Mail in balloting would lead to more fraud than anything.

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:39:49 +0000

angryconserv: The problem was that persons with disabilities were being disenfranchised — not necessarily lazy voters as you imply. This group is actually a fairly large minority, and includes the elderly who just may not have the dexterity that they used to have in order to use the hardware. The system should be as accessible to these folks as possible to allow a vast majority of them to vote independently.

Touch screens are problematic due to queuing problems. Tables are cheap, so getting many more tables than you need is easy, but touch screens are not, and you can develop a bit of a line. Registration/signin also creates a queuing problem if set up improperly.

Ballot shortages are just sloppy work. Every shipment should include a note that says "if you see this note, call this number IMMEDIATELY", and it should be located 50-75% of the way through the stack/ballot store. That number should send someone with or give a pollworker directions to pick up more ballots. Cost of ballots is usually between 10-30 cents. It could be a lot cheaper if a group of cheaper printers were used to create the ballots (5-10 $100 epsons can print about as fast as a $500,000 indigo printer).

Regarding security, I'd suggest everyone look up Punchscan or Scantegrity. Both are optical scan systems that give voters confirmation numbers so that they can check their ballots were counted. Most importantly, if you are willing to learn, you can download all the confirmation numbers along with various other data and use them to verify the final results without knowing how anyone voted.

By: Kyle Kutuchief

Kyle Kutuchief — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 02:41:37 +0000

Hollywood, to my knowledge the reports of ballot shortages were true. I just searched to find a story contradicting the claims and didn't find any. Sorry I can't be of more help on that question.

By: Ben Keeler

Ben Keeler — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 02:00:31 +0000

They would never run out if people used touch screens.

By: Hollywood

Hollywood — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:53:43 +0000

Kyle,

Was the shortage of ballots ever proven? On CNN election night they said they eventually closed the polls 6 minutes early (to the extended time so 8:54) because there was no evidence that there was a shortage of ballots. I never heard anything more about it because I stopped watching the television and started watching the live blogging on politics.ohio.com

By: Kyle Kutuchief

Kyle Kutuchief — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:13:48 +0000

I'd rather have too many ballots than the shortages they ran into in Cuyahoga County and Sandusky County.

By: angryconserv

angryconserv — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 19:04:10 +0000

My normal rant. We are speneding an ever growing amount of money because the court decided that the traditional punch paper ballots were disinfranchising people. Why were they being so? Because they either couldnt or wouldnt take the time to do it correctly and check their ballot. You cannot create a sytstme that prevents human error or incompetence. What a waste of money.