I just voted for Hillary and it felt SO GOOD!

by: goldberry

Tue Feb 05, 2008 at 03:10:41 PM EST

Some quick notes for New Jerseyans:

  1. Hillary has a crappy ballot position. She's number 4 from the left. Barack Obama has numero uno. The position on the ballot is assigned by lots. Her representative just drew a bad number. I almost pushed the button for Obama because I didn't read the ballot that was mailed to me. Don't let it happen to you (er, unless you WANT it to)!
  2. I had to declare my party. This was really weird because I am registered as a Democrat. Voted Democrat all my life. Ran as a Democrat, WON as a Democrat. In this precinct, there is no one bluer than moi and everyone knows it. And YET, there was no party affiliation in the log by my name. The poll volunteers said a lot of people had no party affiliation and she too found that unususal. It's not a problem in NJ as long as you are a registered voter. You can vote for whomever you like as long as you declare at the poll. Update: I am reporting this irregularity to HillaryHub's form for polling problems . You know me, I'm paranoid and my tin-foil antenna are twitching. I put nothing past the Republicans, who virtually own my county. If there is a way they can take out their strongest opponent by making it look like an open primary to their Republican base, they just might do it. Anyway, it's worth keeping an eye on, especially if the number of Obama votes exceeds the number of Democrats in my precinct who voted in the last general election.  Update 2:  The pollingproblems link is correct but they must be bombarded right now because I can't get to the form.  Spring for some extra bandwidth, guys.  You are going to need it.
  3. These two things put together, along with some other things, make me think that NJ is going to be very, very close and Clinton is going to need every vote. So, if you are a NJ resident and you are registered, get out there! The weather is no drearier than it usually is at this time of the year so there's no excuses.

Cross posted at The Confluence

Rep. Holt Puts the House on Record for Democracy in FL-13

by: JRB

Thu Jan 04, 2007 at 06:09:14 PM EST

Holt: Madam Speaker: In light of the facts that partisan and non-partisan lawsuits are underway with regard to Florida's 13th Congressional District and that the votes of 18,000 voters were not recorded on the paperless electronic voting machines in an election decided by 369 votes, may I ask for the record whether a notice of contest has been filed with the Clerk on behalf of Christine Jenningspursuant to law, and what effect, if any, today's proceedings have on pending contests?

Speaker Pelosi: The Chair is advised by the Clerk that a notice of contest pursuant to the statute, section 382 of title 2, United States Code, has been filed with the Clerk. Under section 5 of article I of the Constitution and the statute, the House remains the judge of the elections of its Members. The seating of this Member-elect is entirely without prejudice to the contest over the final right to that seat that is pending under the statute and will be reviewed in the ordinary course in the Committee on House Administration.

Paging Rush Holt

by: JRB

Wed Dec 06, 2006 at 04:20:25 PM EST

Rick Hansen of Election Law is calling on the House to take action. Representative Holt should take note. And you should contact his office, and tell him to take action.

NJDF free event :: Rush Holt & others on Election Protection

by: New Jersey's Democratic Future

Wed Nov 22, 2006 at 12:36:41 AM EST

An Open Letter to Rush Holt

by: JRB

Mon Nov 20, 2006 at 03:26:02 PM EST

Rep. Holt,

I was glad to see you step up and say something about the voting irregularities in Florida 13, where 18,000 votes are missing in an election decided by a mere 400. Today, as you know, a lack of a paper trail prevented a thorough audit, and Florida has certified a winner in this election.

That is unacceptable.

While legal actions are being taken, there's a good chance they will not succeed. Something more must be done.

That is why I ask that you lead the fight on the House floor to prevent a member being seated from this district until the House investigates and produces a reccomendation. Petitioning a federal election on the floor of Congress has precedent in Indiana 8 in 1984 and New Hampshire Senate in 1974.

As a nationally recognized advocate for clean electronic-voting, you should lead this fight. For if this and similar acts of disenfranchisement are not beaten back now, then when?

Thank you and good luck.

Your constituent,
JRB

Can Rep. Holt Bring Democracy to Florida 13?

by: JRB

Sun Nov 19, 2006 at 01:43:41 PM EST

But this was not a minor problem for a few absent-minded voters. In his press conference, Rep. Holt reminded, "More than 18,000 votes were uncounted in a race separated by less than 400 votes." Voters did not receive receipts (Good eye, FogerRox) left no paper trail to investigate their undervotes in the race, and their complaints have fallen on deaf ears. Like Holt said, "Without a voter-verified paper audit trail, no satisfactory resolution is possible. One side or the other will always doubt the result."

Tomorrow, Florida will certify the Republican as the winner, and some are asking whether there are other paths to recourse. This informative thread over at Kos asks whether a new election is possible. In the comments, readers cite the precedents of Indiana 8 in 1984 and New Hampshire Senate in 1974. In these cases, the federal government helped resolve the matter while the states sat on their hands. In the former, the House refused to seat either member until they reviewed the case and determined the winner qualified. In the latter case, the Senate was petitioned to review the matter and the two candidates agreed to a new election.

If the House refuses to seat the member from Florida 13, as Kos reader gatordem comments, "Under Florida law, the governor is required to call a special election to fill the vacant seat." But of course, a member of the House has to lead that effort.

As a nationally recognized voter-advocate, Representative Holt is the natural choice for such a job. He should strongly consider taking the lead. Contact his office here.

Holt's 'Voter Confidence' Has 221 Co-Sponsors

by: JRB

Wed Nov 15, 2006 at 05:29:40 PM EST

As we stand here today, the results in at least one House race remain unknown because thousands of votes were lost by electronic voting machines. Until we require that these systems produce a voter-verified paper audit trail, voters will continue to doubt the outcomes of elections involving these machines, because the results will be unauditable.

The inaccuracy of electronic touch-screen voting machines poses a direct threat to the integrity of our electoral system and to our nation’s democracy.  Once again this broken system has been exposed in Florida’s 13th Congressional district where over 18,000 votes went uncounted.  Without the means to fully guarantee that every vote is counted as fairly and accurately as possible, the authenticity of our recorded vote will always be uncertain and open to electoral and legal challenges.

Some of the bill's specifics are after the jump.

More Reports from Montclair

by: Juan Melli

Tue Nov 07, 2006 at 12:41:09 PM EST

I live in Montclair NJ, heavy Democratic territory. Went to vote at 10:30 am; the two electronic voting machines for my district (Ward 3, District 5) and the neighboring District which votes in the same location (Ward 3, District 3) were both broken. [Poll workers said] both had been operational at the open but broke when people tried to put in write-in candidates. . . . I was handed an emergency ballot and had to fill it out in the open room. Not enough pens to go around and it does not look like there are enough emergencey ballots on hand for the rest of the day.

I just returned from my polling place at 151 Harrison Ave. Montclair. The brand new electronic voting machine is broken, and they are handing out emergency handwritten ballots.

After the gentleman in front of me went in to vote and closed the curtain, the machine started beeping, sounding like a garbage truck when it goes in reverse, though quite as loud. One of the poll workers exclaimed, "Oh Sh.." and went running after the repairman who was already out in the parking lot with his Essex County Sheriff deputy escort.

When I left about 15 minutes later they were still working on the machine. I overheard the Democratic poll challenger explaining over the phone that several votes had been lost and that they had been waiting for more than hour to get emergency ballots. There was a long line of voters, some bored, some frustrated, when I left.

30 Faulty Machines in Camden (and 25 in Essex!) County

by: Juan Melli

Tue Nov 07, 2006 at 11:38:46 AM EST

About 30 of Camden County's 700 voting machines have experienced problems today, according to Phyllis Pearl, superintendent of elections.

"We've had a few glitches this time around," she said. "I will be talking to the manufacturer of the machines."

Update: There's problems in both Camden and Essex counties:

Voting machine woes were reported in Essex and Camden counties Tuesday morning, but election officials said the problems were not widespread.
....
David Wald, spokesman for the state Attorney General's Office, said about 25 machines didn't work properly Tuesday in Irvington, East Orange, Montclair, Newark and West Orange in Essex County, which has about 600 voting machines.

A reader in Haddon Twp, Camden County writes:

One of the two machines in my district has been down all morning.  Women at the polling place say they placed a call at 5:30 this morning.  As of 11:50 no one had arrived to fix it.