 | Politics "wid" a taste of Philly, by Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Daily News |
| Politics "wid" a taste of Philly, by Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Daily News |
From the Daily News reporter Theresa Conroy:
Dep. City Commissioner Ed Schlugen stood up just now and announced that there were NOT votes on the machines. The poll workers were looking at a counter on the back which tallies the total number of votes cast -- ever -- on the machine. It's called a "protective counter." He said there were no votes on the machines when they opened.
Also, Josh Marshall is printing a statement from Marge Tartaglione:
"Recent press reports have stated that machines in at least one precinct were not properly calibrated to ensure an accurate accounting of the number of votes cast."
"These allegations are completely unsubstantiated and have no factual
basis whatsoever."
The bottom line is this: The GOP is falling all over itself looking for something wrong in Philly, even if it's not there. If the past is any guide, Bush will carry the rest of the state by a small margin, and sink here in the city. So they're trying to cast doubt on the process -- from the very minute the polls opened.
UPDATE: Cathie Abookire, spokeswoman for DA Lynne Abraham, said poll workers misinterpreted numbers they found on voting machines before the polls opened. Abookire said the city's new electronic voting machines have two windows that display voting numbers - one that shows the total number of votes ever cast on the machine, the other that shows the number of votes cast today.
Some poll workers saw the number of prior votes from past elections on the machines and thought that meant votes had been planted.
"They misread the machines," Abookire said. "There were no planted votes
So Drudge isn't a reliable source? Say it ain't so.
Matt Drudge is an idiot and doing nothing but adding to the "yellow journalism" that once lourished at the turn of the century and continues to this day.
Posted by: David Feldman at November 2, 2004 11:50 AMIs Faux news running with this as well?
Posted by: Patrice at November 2, 2004 12:01 PMLast night on local Pittsburgh Cable, Rep Melissa Hart implied a great deal of voter fraud in and around Philadelphia due to the "fact" that there seem to be more people registered to vote there, than actually LIVE there.
There was the vague threat that if Kerry wins PA, the Republicans will be looking into allegations of voter fraud in Philly
Posted by: Mike at November 2, 2004 12:05 PMyeah - the dems of philadelphia are always on the up and up. i am suuuuuuure non of this happened in our wonderfully efficient city with our extremely honest and dignified political leaders and the honest and forthright ruling party that so perfectly runs our beautiful city. pleeeaaasseee. stop the insanity already philadelphia.
Posted by: mike at November 2, 2004 12:07 PMI saw this on CNN this morning but didn't catch the city or state name in time. The notion was that people who were first in line at the polls saw the numbers and thought the machines had been rigged with pre-entered votes. When they exited the polls they were interviewed and gave their impression of what they thought was a strange vote number on the machines.
MYOB'
.
fear not, even Fox news is saying it was probably a mistake someone made by reading the wrong counter, and before it was straightened out the story was on drudgereport
Posted by: otto at November 2, 2004 12:14 PMyeah - the dems of philadelphia are always on the up and up. i am suuuuuuure non of this happened in our wonderfully efficient city with our extremely honest and dignified political leaders and the honest and forthright ruling party that so perfectly runs our beautiful city. pleeeaaasseee. stop the insanity already philadelphia.
we're trying to....we're coming out in record numbers for Kerry today.
and personally, I'd rather have my election stolen by an elected official than by a supreme court judge (Rhenquist) who participated in the supression of black voters in Arizona in 1964--- I guess I'm just old fashioned that way....
Posted by: paul_lukasiak at November 2, 2004 12:17 PMI heard it this morning around 9:30 on Fox and they were treating it like it was a legit story. Yet they never bothered explaining why only the GOP was mentioning it and nobody else. Why report it if it sounds so sketchy and is clearly in the rumor phase? (rhetorical question)
And that's how good liars do things: it's not about what they say, it's what they DON'T say that you have to watch out for.
And now this is the first I've heard that it wasn't true. I wonder how many people will never hear that it was bunk? I know many people who still insist that WMD's were found, based on stories released late March 2002. They honestly believe that the mainstream media is covering it up...yet they can never explain why Fox or the Bush Admin aren't mentioning it either.
Again, it's not about what people say; it's about what they don't say.
Posted by: Doctor Biobrain at November 2, 2004 12:21 PMDoesn't something about this explanation strike anyone else as odd? If these voting machines are "new" then why were there any votes on them from before either? The number of votes cast on them EVER should have also been at zero. Am I the only one who is asking this question?? yoo hoo.
Posted by: Mariyam at November 2, 2004 12:25 PMCurt Weldon has been stirring the pot for over a week now. He filed a federal suit charging "activists" for registering incarcerated felons.
Oh, the irony of Curt Weldon calling foul on anybody else is rich indeed.
So far the mudslinging is not sticking to anything. Besides, I doubt PA is going to be the squeaker they're hoping for.
Posted by: Gloria at November 2, 2004 12:25 PMOops, I meant late 2003, not 2002. Stories that came out in March 2003 are still considered valid by many conservatives, even though each story has been debunked. And these are well-meaning, intelligent people who just don't have full access to the news, and allow themselves to be guided by Fox and their ilk.
One person I spoke to recently stated that the only reason the stories were dropped was due to National Security and the stories were made confidential. Of course.
Posted by: Doctor Biobrain at November 2, 2004 12:26 PMThere's a pretty simple reason whey 'new' machines would have a total vote tally > 0. Any election organization with a clue would test the machines beforehand rather than risk having them fail in the general election.
Posted by: jong at November 2, 2004 12:39 PMThere's a pretty simple reason whey 'new' machines would have a total vote tally > 0. Any election organization with a clue would test the machines beforehand rather than risk having them fail in the general election.
Posted by: jong at November 2, 2004 12:40 PMThe machines are not new. They've been used before.
Posted by: Ann Marie at November 2, 2004 12:40 PMRe the trope about there being more registered voters than the population of eligible voters:
This is an old one, but why not trot it out if the press hasn't figured it out yet? At least since the federal motor-voter law, states haven't been able to purge people from the voter rolls as soon as the move away. IIRC, people now stay on the books for about 5 years after they leave. With enough people moving in and out of town, you can quickly end up with more people registered than actually live there at any particular moment.
That's not fraud. What would be fraud is if more people voted than actually lived there. That doesn't happen.
The GOP has virtually no evidence of voter fraud, and certainly no evidence to support their claims of "massive" fraud that has any reasonable chance of affecting the outcome. They've got a handful of anecdotes about one person registering 25 times (again, though, the question is whether he's able to vote 25 times) or paid registration solicitors signing up "Mickey Mouse" and so on (again, and obviously, Mickey Mouse doesn't show up to vote). Meanwhile, we've got pro-GOP outfits throwing away registration forms signed by Democrats, which does prevent eligible voters from voting.
The fraud issue is a red herring. But it seems the wingnut segment of the blogosphere has bought into it, and, if we're not careful, the mainstream media might report these charges in the aftermath of a close election as if they had any credible foundation in fact.
Posted by: Arnold P. California at November 2, 2004 12:47 PMTrust me we would never allow this to happen. My administration has a history of honesty and fairness.
Ha,...hahahahahahahha...ah...ha ha ha..
Posted by: Mayor Street at November 2, 2004 01:07 PMFaux just interviewed a Repub offical who said the person who saw "the light" with the vote tally is sticking with her story and they might still sue later.
Posted by: Robert Lynn at November 2, 2004 01:19 PMRusty Limbaugh was hyperventilating about this today. He can't spell "correction" though.
Posted by: melior at November 2, 2004 01:22 PMDeveloping....Drudge is an idiot.
Posted by: angry donkey at November 2, 2004 01:24 PMthese machines were used in the mayor's race last year.
Posted by: adam at November 2, 2004 01:31 PMnot much of a republican showing at center philadelphia polling places: http://www.studio2f.com/misc/
I walked around in the moring and kerry supporter had covered the city in posters and flyers under windshield wiperes.. aside from the ODD specter posters, there isn't a sign of the republican machine anywhere
Posted by: jim brown at November 2, 2004 01:38 PMJust twisted the radio dial to KYW (damn that liberal media!) and they reported the 'voting machine scam' a la Drudge to be BOGUS -- according to an investigation by that arch-liberal, DA Lynn Abraham...
Posted by: Keith at November 2, 2004 01:51 PMSadly in selective info reality of the Repubs, there will now always be "votes registered before polls opened". Just as the Al Qaqaa story is still "it was probably gone before we got there" despite actauly video footage of the stuff there well after we got there.
The GOP supporters are really scary folks... I hope they are significantly outnumbered by people with a grasp on reality.
Posted by: travc at November 2, 2004 02:02 PMThis is a bit off-topic, but i would like to give you a different perspective. I have been watching the US-election all day and reading about all kind of (alleged?) fraud, intimidation, long lines, broken equipment and so forth.
I live in Germany and i think i can speak for nearly all european states. Thinks like this could *never, ever* happen over here! We have paper ballots that are marked with a pen and then counted manually in the precence of everybody who wants to be there. We dont need to register, we get our stuff send by the government automatically. Parties are not part of the voting process except verifying the counting. Challenging is unheared of. Everybody votes under the same rules.
I dont want to be impolite, but America *really, really* needs to fix the voting system or you may become the laughing stock of the free world.
Posted by: Martin at November 2, 2004 02:44 PMMartin said:
I dont want to be impolite, but America *really, really* needs to fix the voting system or you may become the laughing stock of the free world.
You mean we aren't already?
Martin is absolutely right. Electronic voting is an insecure risky scam. Paper ballots work much better, and the only drawback is that they are theoretically slower to count (but in practice, electronic voting may take longer due to all the bugs and fraud potential and legal wrangling). E-voting is a boondoggle for the (mostly Republican-owned) companies that make them, and the public has been fooled by promises of fast election results (why are we so impatient and short-attention-spanned) and delusions of computers somehow being more secure.
Posted by: russ at November 2, 2004 03:52 PMThe whole way we vote is this country is ridiculous. Having it on a weekday, rather than say, a whole weekend, seems particularly and intentionally problematic to people who have to work for a living. Law of Intended Consquences?
Posted by: David Houston at November 2, 2004 05:11 PMYou know...one of these days people like Drudge and Rush are going to realize that yanking people's chains and spewing lies for fun and profit might, just might, lead to unforeseen repurcussions.
Posted by: Rougy at November 2, 2004 05:17 PMYou should have seen Fox news chanels morning show with those three stooges.The Doocey weather guy was complaining about some guy calling people and pretending to be General Norman Schwartzkof and saying he supported Kerry and Doocey tries to trot this out as evidence of the DNC dirty tricks.He of course had no evidence of who was doing this thing but thees hacks need to be called to task for what they say and Terry Mcauliff should have nailed him for it but was trying to be concilliatory.At least this is the best the right can do.I'll be staying tuned for the next one.......
Posted by: Pablo at November 2, 2004 05:41 PMPlease check out the pages in the field of Texas hold em Texas hold em http://www.highprofitclub.com/texas-hold-em.html Empire poker Empire poker http://www.highprofitclub.com/empire-poker.html Pacific poker Pacific poker http://www.highprofitclub.com/pacific-poker.html Party poker Party poker http://www.highprofitclub.com/party-poker.html Online poker Online poker http://www.highprofitclub.com/online-poker.html Texas holdem Texas holdem http://www.highprofitclub.com/texas-holdem.html Poker Poker http://www.highprofitclub.com/poker.html Poker Poker http://www.highprofitclub.com/ World poker tour World poker tour http://www.highprofitclub.com/world-poker-tour.html Free online poker Free online poker http://www.highprofitclub.com/free-online-poker.html World series of poker World series of poker http://www.highprofitclub.com/world-series-of-poker.html Rules of poker Rules of poker http://www.highprofitclub.com/rules-of-poker.html Poker games Poker games http://www.highprofitclub.com/poker-games.html Video poker Video poker http://www.highprofitclub.com/video-poker.html Pai gow poker Pai gow poker http://www.highprofitclub.com/pai-gow-poker.html Three card poker Three card poker http://www.highprofitclub.com/three-card-poker.html Texas poker Texas poker http://www.highprofitclub.com/texas-poker.html Online texas holdem Online texas holdem http://www.highprofitclub.com/online-texas-holdem.html Texas hold em rules Texas hold em rules http://www.highprofitclub.com/texas-hold-em-rules.html Poker online Poker online http://www.highprofitclub.com/poker-online.html Free poker Free poker http://www.highprofitclub.com/free-poker.html Poker tables Poker tables http://www.highprofitclub.com/poker-tables.html Texas holdem rules Texas holdem rules http://www.highprofitclub.com/texas-holdem-rules.html Poker hands Poker hands http://www.highprofitclub.com/poker-hands.html Poker rules Poker rules http://www.highprofitclub.com/poker-rules.html How to play poker How to play poker http://www.highprofitclub.com/how-to-play-poker.html Poker tournament Poker tournament http://www.highprofitclub.com/poker-tournament.html Online poker games Online poker games http://www.highprofitclub.com/online-poker-games.html Poker room Poker room http://www.highprofitclub.com/poker-room.html Texas hold em poker Texas hold em poker http://www.highprofitclub.com/texas-hold-em-poker.html Poker game Poker game http://www.highprofitclub.com/poker-game.html Internet poker Internet poker http://www.highprofitclub.com/internet-poker.html Free texas hold em Free texas hold em http://www.highprofitclub.com/free-texas-hold-em.html Texas holdem poker Texas holdem poker http://www.highprofitclub.com/texas-holdem-poker.html Wsop Wsop http://www.highprofitclub.com/wsop.html Play poker online Play poker online http://www.highprofitclub.com/play-poker-online.html Play poker Play poker http://www.highprofitclub.com/play-poker.html Poker tournaments Poker tournaments http://www.highprofitclub.com/poker-tournaments.html Poker party Poker party http://www.highprofitclub.com/poker-party.html Online poker rooms Online poker rooms http://www.highprofitclub.com/online-poker-rooms.html ...
Posted by: Poker at February 28, 2005 08:13 PMGreat toys build great minds...Fantastic blog!
http://www.incredibletoys.com
Educational Toys
Posted by: Educational Toys at March 24, 2005 08:56 PMReal estate is booming. Get the best rates..Fantastic blog!
http://www.e-loaning.com
Loan Refinancing and Mortgages
Posted by: Loan Refinance and Mortgages at March 25, 2005 08:41 PMReal estate is booming. Get your license today..Fantastic blog!
http://www.florida-real-estate-schools.com
Florida Real Estate Schools
and Licensing
lake powell
Posted by: lake powell at April 19, 2005 07:56 AMfree music downloads
free mp3 downloads
free safe music download
download free mp3s
download free music
music downloads
http://www.myfreemp3s.com
internet income opportunity
internet business income opportunity
robert allen
internet income
multiple streams of income
internet home work income business
robert g. allen
robert g allen
wealth building tapes
robert allen institute
robert allen seminars
home business internet income
based business home income internet
robert g. allen + real estate
wealth building tapes and cds
residual income internet business
robert allen real estate
internet income opportunities
robert allen money making challenge
make money with robert allen for free
home business internet income free
robert allen no money down course real estate
robert allen marketing
robert g allen company
robert g allen free downloads
regis philbin and robert g. allen
robert allen usana
mark victor hansen and robert g. allen
http://www.work-at-home-experts.com
internet income opportunity
internet business income opportunity
robert allen
internet income
multiple streams of income
internet home work income business
robert g. allen
robert g allen
wealth building tapes
robert allen institute
robert allen seminars
home business internet income
based business home income internet
robert g. allen + real estate
wealth building tapes and cds
residual income internet business
robert allen real estate
internet income opportunities
robert allen money making challenge
make money with robert allen for free
home business internet income free
robert allen no money down course real estate
robert allen marketing
robert g allen company
robert g allen free downloads
regis philbin and robert g. allen
robert allen usana
mark victor hansen and robert g. allen
http://www.work-at-home-experts.com
free music download
free music
free music downloads
music downloads
free mp3 downloads
download free mp3s
music downloads
http://www.myfreemp3s.com
government auctions, government car auctions, government auto auctions, government surplus auctions, government land auctions, online government auctions, government auction, government sales, federal auctions, government surplus auction, gov auctions, government auto auction, government and police disposal sales, government tax sales, seized cars, seized boats and vessels, personal property items, unclaimed money
http://government-police-auctions.bargainfront.com
motivation
sales training
positive thinking
leadership
communication skills
personal development
business plan
sales management training
http://www.tgimondays.com/pmg
diet secrets
diet program
fast weight loss
weight loss guide
http://perfect-diet.bargainfront.com
ebay
e-bay
auctions online ebay
online auctions
ebay selling
online auction
selling on ebay
http://silentsales.kj7k.com
diet secrets
diet program
fast weight loss
weight loss guide
http://perfect-diet.bargainfront.com
ebay
e-bay
auctions online ebay
online auctions
ebay selling
online auction
selling on ebay
http://silentsales.kj7k.com
Online Casinos | Online Casino - Online Casino
Posted by: Online Casinos at August 14, 2006 11:11 AM