At least with most systems, there is a method of determining whether there was cheating - even if there then can be no way of figuring out who won.

Paper ballots can be numbered - and if you are missing a ballot, its number will not appear in the sequence.

Lever machines can be inspected for physical tampering.

DRE machines have the distinction of having no audit trail of any sort, and some hacks can leave no traces that the hack occurred.

No, you're right, I understand that. But, for example, lever machines can be tampered with invisibly, just like odometers can be rolled backwards on cars. And no one would ever know. You may suspect it, but so what? You can never prove what the mileage was.

But that really isn't the point. As long as the vote itself is disconnected from the person who voted, tampering will continue. Knowing that there was some level of meddling, does not provide protection against it, given, for example, what happened in Florida. The powers that be will likely still try to figure out who won.

Mostly because ignoramuses who are incapable of understanding the importance of the voter creating a valid vote will whine incessantly.

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Cordially,
Rush

elrushbo2@theobviousgmail.com
Remove the obvious...

Do they ever count absentee ballots if the election is not close?
or do you count them for the offical totals that come later?

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Red Bull Air Racing

Gas price by zip at Seti

Do they ever count absentee ballots if the election is not close?
or do you count them for the offical totals that come later?

I think they count them first (since they're already in). Don't know for sure, anyone else? Good question.

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Account frozen...

Do they ever count absentee ballots if the election is not close?
or do you count them for the offical totals that come later?

I think they count them first (since they're already in). Don't know for sure, anyone else? Good question.

Depends on the state. I know that one state counted the ones on hand before the polls opened today. I also know that in Florida in 2000 it was stated by several news organizations that absentee ballots would not be counted unless there were more ballots than the difference between the candidates. One of the states in the Northwest (Oregon? Washington?) has a massive vote by mail campaign - these votes are tallied as part of the official counts.

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BOINC WIKI

Gee, I wonder if now that the Dems have control of the House if we'll continue to hear about hacking attempts and voter fraud or "as if overnight" they have decided the machines are legit?

The latter.

Nope. At least some of us consider the machines dangerously broken, and this determination does not rest on who won. There is still no way of proving that the election was not rigged or stolen.

I agree. The possibilities for fraud are high with these. I just don't think that the winners would be as inclined to accept it as much as the losers would.

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Many Nevada voters pick 'none of these'

November 9, 2006

CARSON CITY, Nev. – Nevada's unique “none of these candidates” option didn't outpoll any of Tuesday's statewide race winners, but still managed to be the choice of tens of thousands of voters in many races.

The biggest vote for “none” was in the state Supreme Court race won by Clark County District Judge Michael Cherry, who didn't have opposition. Of the 514,642 votes cast in the race, Cherry got three-quarters and “none” got the rest – 128,711 votes.

That's a big number for what some consider a thrown-away vote, but it's well below the 163,683 votes for “none” cast in a 2004 state Supreme Court race won by Justice Michael Douglas.

The “none of these candidates” option was approved by the 1975 Legislature as a way for voters to express dissatisfaction with candidates in statewide races.

Associated Press

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me@rescam.org

<ot>

Mindcrime.

</ot>

Once again, where's Queensrÿche when you need them?

Operation Mindcrime.

I'll be head-banging over in the Karaoke Bar...

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Do they ever count absentee ballots if the election is not close?
or do you count them for the offical totals that come later?

I think they count them first (since they're already in). Don't know for sure, anyone else? Good question.

did a search got this http://www.dos.state.pa.us/election_reform/lib/election_reform/Absentee_and_Early_Voting_NCSL.pdf#search='absentee%20ballot%20counting%20virginia'

on page 2 a chart starts that lists not only who counts them, but when they are counted.
Page 2 in part also says "Oregon conducts all elections solely by mail ballot.".

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Do they ever count absentee ballots if the election is not close?
or do you count them for the offical totals that come later?

I think they count them first (since they're already in). Don't know for sure, anyone else? Good question.

did a search got this http://www.dos.state.pa.us/election_reform/lib/election_reform/Absentee_and_Early_Voting_NCSL.pdf#search='absentee%20ballot%20counting%20virginia'

on page 2 a chart starts that lists not only who counts them, but when they are counted.
Page 2 in part also says "Oregon conducts all elections solely by mail ballot.".

You did good mikey, you kinda stretched the thread with that link.
But the thread has kinda' run it's lifetime anyway. A lot of good info in there.
I would have thought they would be more uniform in how they did things, but it's the government.
They're expected to do the unexpected. Apparently, they're all counted whether it's close or not.
Arizona, for example is counted Election day & 5 days beyond.
Kansas though, is counted at the Opening of polls.

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Account frozen...

Do they ever count absentee ballots if the election is not close?
or do you count them for the offical totals that come later?

I think they count them first (since they're already in). Don't know for sure, anyone else? Good question.

did a search got this http://www.dos.state.pa.us/election_reform/lib/election_reform/Absentee_and_Early_Voting_NCSL.pdf#search='absentee%20ballot%20counting%20virginia'

on page 2 a chart starts that lists not only who counts them, but when they are counted.
Page 2 in part also says "Oregon conducts all elections solely by mail ballot.".

You did good mikey, you kinda stretched the thread with that link.
But the thread has kinda' run it's lifetime anyway. A lot of good info in there.
I would have thought they would be more uniform in how they did things, but it's the government.
They're expected to do the unexpected. Apparently, they're all counted whether it's close or not.
Arizona, for example is counted Election day & 5 days beyond.
Kansas though, is counted at the Opening of polls.

I too would have thought that the Federal Elections would be standard. But apparently they are not. I guess by leaving it up to the States the States feel they have some kind of control and the Feds don't have to provide the money if they don't tell you exactly how to do it.
With all the voting problems I wonder how long it will be though before it does become a 'standard' across all States, at least for Federal Elections.
If the Feds do it though, it wil be a mess until a few elections have passed.

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