A report in the El Paso Times newspaper Friday said that early voters in at least eight Texas counties are telling election officials that e-voting machines are initially switching their votes to the wrong candidates.

The report said that voters are alleging that their votes are being switched to Republican John McCain when they try to press the selection on touchscreen machines to cast ballots for Democrat Barack Obama.

The complaints were first publicized by non-profit watchdog group, the Texas Civil Rights Project, according to the newspaper.

“Voters have reported, for example, that when they tried to vote a straight-party Democratic ticket, the machine flipped their choices to Republican candidates instead,” Jim Harrington, the organization's statewide director, said in a press release. “In some cases, voters reported a problem only with the presidential race. In other cases, voters reported the entire ballot being marked Republican by the machine. It's happening when people vote for Barack Obama; the machine flips the votes over to John McCain.”

Sent by e-mail to Black Box Voting, from David Earnhardt, producer of the film UNCOUNTED – Oct. 20 2008

Vote Flipping in Davidson County, Tennessee

” My wife, Patricia Earnhardt, had an early voting experience here in Nashville, Tennessee, where she saw her vote momentarily flip from Barack Obama to Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney. She voted on a ouch-screen paperless machine. Here is her story:

“A poll worker directed me to a touch screen voting machine & instructedme how t o use it. I touched “Obama” for president & nothing lit up. I
touched 2 or 3 more times & still nothing lit up. I called the poll worker back over to tell him I was having a problem. He said I just needed to touch it more lightly. I tried it 2 or 3 more times more lightly with the poll worker watching & still nothing lit up. The poll worker then touched it for me twice — nothing lit up. The third time he touched the Obama button, the Cynthia McKinney space lit up! The McKinney button was located five rows below the Obama button. The poll worker just kind of laughed and cancelled the vote. He hit the Obama button again & it finally lit up. I continued on to cast the rest of my votes. After completing the process & reviewing my votes, I went to the VOTE page, hit the VOTE button & nothing happened. Again after several tries, I called the poll worker over & he finally got the machine to register my votes. Hurray — I voted! — or did I? I left the polling place feeling uncertain.” Patricia Earnhardt –
Friday, Oct. 17 – Howard School Building – Nashville, Tennessee

David Earnhardt: I also had similar problems with the machine I was voting on that same day, although no vote flipping. I would touch the screen numerous times before I could get my various candidate choices to light up. It was strange and very frustrating. When I finally got through my slate of candidate choices, I could not get the VOTE button to light up when I touched it. I finally called over a poll worker and he told me that I needed to touch lightly. I touched the VOTE button more lightly, but was only able to get it to work after several more failed attempts.

David Earnhardt
Producer/director/writer, “Uncounted”
http://www.UncountedTheMovie.com

A report in the El Paso Times newspaper Friday said that early voters in at least eight Texas counties are telling election officials that e-voting machines are initially switching their votes to the wrong candidates.

The report said that voters are alleging that their votes are being switched to Republican John McCain when they try to press the selection on touchscreen machines to cast ballots for Democrat Barack Obama.

The complaints were first publicized by non-profit watchdog group, the Texas Civil Rights Project, according to the newspaper.

“Voters have reported, for example, that when they tried to vote a straight-party Democratic ticket, the machine flipped their choices to Republican candidates instead,” Jim Harrington, the organization's statewide director, said in a press release. “In some cases, voters reported a problem only with the presidential race. In other cases, voters reported the entire ballot being marked Republican by the machine. It's happening when people vote for Barack Obama; the machine flips the votes over to John McCain.”

Sent by e-mail to Black Box Voting, from David Earnhardt, producer of the film UNCOUNTED – Oct. 20 2008

Vote Flipping in Davidson County, Tennessee

” My wife, Patricia Earnhardt, had an early voting experience here in Nashville, Tennessee, where she saw her vote momentarily flip from Barack Obama to Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney. She voted on a ouch-screen paperless machine. Here is her story:

“A poll worker directed me to a touch screen voting machine & instructedme how t o use it. I touched “Obama” for president & nothing lit up. I
touched 2 or 3 more times & still nothing lit up. I called the poll worker back over to tell him I was having a problem. He said I just needed to touch it more lightly. I tried it 2 or 3 more times more lightly with the poll worker watching & still nothing lit up. The poll worker then touched it for me twice — nothing lit up. The third time he touched the Obama button, the Cynthia McKinney space lit up! The McKinney button was located five rows below the Obama button. The poll worker just kind of laughed and cancelled the vote. He hit the Obama button again & it finally lit up. I continued on to cast the rest of my votes. After completing the process & reviewing my votes, I went to the VOTE page, hit the VOTE button & nothing happened. Again after several tries, I called the poll worker over & he finally got the machine to register my votes. Hurray — I voted! — or did I? I left the polling place feeling uncertain.” Patricia Earnhardt –
Friday, Oct. 17 – Howard School Building – Nashville, Tennessee

David Earnhardt: I also had similar problems with the machine I was voting on that same day, although no vote flipping. I would touch the screen numerous times before I could get my various candidate choices to light up. It was strange and very frustrating. When I finally got through my slate of candidate choices, I could not get the VOTE button to light up when I touched it. I finally called over a poll worker and he told me that I needed to touch lightly. I touched the VOTE button more lightly, but was only able to get it to work after several more failed attempts.

David Earnhardt
Producer/director/writer, “Uncounted”
http://www.UncountedTheMovie.com

Were they there for the kids at Kenyon College in OH, who stood for ten hours in the rain just to vote? No. Were they there for the numerous close state legislative races, where the GOP provided counsel for their candidates but the Dems were outgunned and left hanging out to dry? No.

I'll grant you that they are doing better this year, but actions speak louder than words — and a few “surgical strikes” and sternly-worded letters do not a robust challenge make. How nice of him to let the civil rights groups bear the brunt and cost of litigating on behalf of the voters. As long as a voter is unfortunate enough to live where there might be a “Democratic” elections officials, they are out of luck and have no advocate to speak for them: the Dems won't intervene. Whose side are they on — the officials or the voters?

It's no wonder that voters in Broward Co. are left standing for hours and hours, with no advocate to speak for them, all because Bauer apparently believes that Broward's Democratic Supervisor is doing a heckuva job. What about the notoriously strict “no match, no vote” standard in FL that has already purged thousands, and will force them into voting a provisional ballots that may never be counted? What is Bauer's excuse for not writing a sternly-worded letter about that? Why hasn't he or anyone said squat about the Republican Secretaries of State in Georgia and Wisconsin placing police officers and state investigators at every precinct to 'guard against election problems'?

I am thankful they have managed to bestir themselves thus far to fight those 'surgical strikes', but you'll understand why I remain unimpressed.

Oh, and by the way — it wasn't Bauer who tied the voter caging, purges, and voter registration fraud to the U.S. Attorney scandal — those dots were connected by the progressive bloggers. You know — the ones who've been doing most of the hard work on behalf of THE VOTERS, not the candidates and most definitely not compromised party officials.

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