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#1 |
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Self Appointed Expert
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 25,136
Adopt-a-Bronco: Miss I |
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/11...oters-country/
DEVELOPING STORY -- Intimidation tactics, missing ballots and faulty machinery are plaguing some voters across the country as they go to polling stations to elect either John McCain or Barack Obama to be the next president of the United States. In Philadelphia, FOX News' Rick Leventhal went to a polling station downtown where it was reported two Black Panthers had stationed themselves at the door to a polling station and were intimidating voters. One held a nightstick. The man carrying the nightstick was reportedly escorted away from the polling station by police before FOX News arrived around noon. Outside, FOX News found another Black Panther who said he was a certified observer. Police asked him and the FOX News crew to leave the polling station. Leventhal returned after 2 p.m. and the man said he was a certified poll watcher. Click here to see FOX News' Rick Leventhal talk with one of the Black Panthers. "He apparently is a certified poll watcher, so he can be her and should be here and is here. He is the only poll watcher we have seen that is a Black Panther," Leventhal said. The McCain camp is reporting in Lancaster, Pa., that Republican voters are telling them they are receiving fake calls saying their polling places have changed. The McCain campaign is also reporting voter intimidation in Florida. A Florida election official reportedly told a McCain-Palin voter "she could kill her for voting for [McCain] and that she didn't deserve an "I voted sticker" for voting for the Republicans, the campaign said in a press release. In Flint, Mich., voters waiting in line were asked to produce identifications by people that may not have been certified to do so, discouraging and intimidating some voters, according to a spokesman from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Lines were long for voters in California. About 400 people were on hand in Orange County, south of Los Angeles, to keep the county's voting system running smoothly, said Brett Rowley of the registrar's office. "We've got paper ballots as a backup," he said. Election officials predict turnout in California could be as high as 80 percent. During the late morning in Los Angeles four polling places experienced power outages because of rain, according to the city Department of Water and Power. Some voters in Hillsborough County, N.C., didn't receive the second page of their ballots when they went to vote. Four precincts were missing the second page, according to Buddy Johnson, Supervisor of Elections for the county. "It was human error on the part of a clerk who was asleep during training. The error has been corrected and if people want to go back and vote on the amendment issues they can go back and it will be a provisional ballot," Johnson said. Federal election monitors were sent by the Department of Justice's civil rights division to Hillsborough County, N.C. More than 800 monitors have been sent to 59 jurisdictions in 23 states. Several have had problems in the past with minority voters or with providing personnel at polling stations where Spanish or Native American languages are spoken. FOXNews.com received complaints from voters around the country that polling stations were not prepared, that voting lists were inaccurate and some voters were worried when they were asked to cast paper ballots instead of using voting machines. More than 100 voters wrote to FOXNews.com to report that polling stations did not ask for proof of identification. Many reported problems with missing or incorrect voter registration information, often denying them the ability to vote. Voters that cast provisional ballots or paper ballots when voting machines were down worried their votes wouldn't be counted. Gregory Holden reported that the voting list at his polling station in Lugoff, S.C., had problems. "Many people who have always voted in this precinct are all of a sudden not on the roll," he said. "They only have five machines and there are about 300 people in line. People are so discouraged some are leaving," he wrote. Francesca Lourdes, in Maryland, said that she voted with three others, and the polling station where their official voter registration cards told them to vote didn't have them on the registers. She said they had to cast provisional ballots. In Dayton, Ohio, election volunteers are asking elderly voters if they're sure they want to cast their votes and if they want to change what they picked. "I think its directly related to people voting for John McCain. I witnessed this and so did my husband and we went at two different times. If they are allowed to do this to confuse our elderly, this is a travesty," a voter in Ohio wrote to FOXNews.com. Watchdog groups and government officials are telling FOXNews.com that voters are reporting a range of problems and that some polling places aren't able to handle the expected record turnout. According to Wendy Weisner, of the Brennan Center for Justice and non-partisan watchdog group Election Protection Center, the group has been receiving calls from voters experiencing problems with machine breakdowns around the country. In Virginia, there are reports from more than 40 polling stations that election officials don't have paper ballots to distribute when electronic machines break down. In Pittsburgh and Philadelphia there are reports from voters of machines breaking down and no emergency paper ballots being distributed. Voters in Palm Beach County, Fla., are reporting that optical scan machines are breaking down. An increasing number of problems are being reported with voting machines in Dayton, Ohio. Election Protection had fielded more than 12,000 calls nationwide by 9 a.m., the group reported. In New York City, voters began lining up as early as 4 a.m. ET, even though polls didn't open until 6 a.m., said Valerie Vazquez-Rivera, a spokeswoman for the city's Board of Elections. "We have a system that is traditionally set up for low turnout," said Tova Wang of the government watchdog group Common Cause. "We're going to have all these new voters, but not a lot of new resources. The election directors just have very little to work with." Polls along the East Coast opened at 6 a.m. and by 8 a.m. one polling station in Atlanta had already run out of paper ballots, according to Clare Schexnyder, media spokeswoman for Georgia Election Protection, a non-partisan watchdog group. "We had one location [in Atlanta] where all of the machines went down this morning and they didn't come back up until 8:08 a.m. They had problems with cards kicking out and a voter not getting a chance to vote," Schexnyder said. About 2 million of Georgia's 5 million voters had cast ballots in early voting, she said, but that still leaves 3 million potential voters hitting the polls on Election Day. An election protection volunteer helped that voter cast her ballot, she said, but there were up to 100 voters in line at one point, waiting while the six machines were down. "They were voting with paper ballots during the time they were down and they ran out of paper ballots and had to switch to provisional ballots. They are provisional ballots that will be counted, but there was craziness at that one polling place." Virginia has also had its share of election mishaps, although the state is not yet reporting any incidences of fraud or voter intimidation. Voters are turning out to the polls in record numbers in spite of the weather, according to Susan Pollard, a spokeswoman for the State Board of Elections. "Although a light rain is falling across the state, it does not seem to have dampened turn-out. Lines have been reported at some polling places; however, voting is proceeding quickly at many others." The rain is causing an unexpected problem -- wet ballots don't feed properly into optical scan machines. "Poll workers are setting the wet ballots aside and drying them out and asking voters to dry off before they handle the ballots. To make sure you don't have any problem with your ballot going through the optical scanner, be sure to dry your hands before completing your ballot," Pollard said. "All votes will be counted." Three of the state's 2,349 polling stations opened late, two due to human error. One, at a library in Richmond, opened 25 minutes late because the librarian with the keys to the building overslept. While the North Virginia suburb of Arlington has had one wet ballot issue, so far county registrar Linda Lindberg describes voting as "smooth sailing." She said 8,000 absentee ballots were sent to troops in Afghanistan and will be counted as a separate group "hopefully before midnight." In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, where the Feds have sent election monitors, voters reported 58 problems voting to OurVoteLive.org. In Ohio's Franklin County, Board of Elections spokesman Ben Piscitelli said officials again were dealing with typical glitches. "We're taking care of things like that," Piscitelli said. "But there's nothing major or systemic." Schexnyder, from Georgia Election Protection, said she doesn't expect the problems voters are reporting to keep them from casting their ballots, although many will wait. "We'll probably see problems all day as we see long lines, and any times you have computers connected to the equation, I think that every computer glitch we have is going to create longer lines," Schexnyder said. FOXNews.com's Jennifer Lawinski and the Associated Press contributed to this report. |
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#2 |
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Mr Diplomacy
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Elway was just an arm =MacGruder
Posts: 84,438
Adopt-a-Bronco: Von Miller |
we learned from the righties .......
as you guys told us ........... Get over it , your tin foil hat is too tight ..... dont look now but there are black helicopters outside of your house ..... I am so glad I am in my happy place right now |
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#3 |
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Bleedin' orange!
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Mile High
Posts: 20,018
Adopt-a-Bronco: Howard Griffith |
If it wasn't for the shenanigans during the 04 elections, I'd give a hoot.
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#4 |
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Self Appointed Expert
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 25,136
Adopt-a-Bronco: Miss I |
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#5 |
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Hokie since 1993
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 45,991
Adopt-a-Bronco: Tom Jackson |
So are throats around the world.
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#6 |
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Bleedin' orange!
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Mile High
Posts: 20,018
Adopt-a-Bronco: Howard Griffith |
the campaign said in a press release.
BAWAHAHAHAAH! |
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#7 |
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Bleedin' orange!
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Mile High
Posts: 20,018
Adopt-a-Bronco: Howard Griffith |
a voter in Ohio wrote to FOXNews.com.
More truth! |
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#8 |
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Self Appointed Expert
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 25,136
Adopt-a-Bronco: Miss I |
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#9 |
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6-37, Raider fans.
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ceti Alpha V
Posts: 41,074
Adopt-a-Bronco: Wesley Duke |
If you're left wing then if Fox reports it, it didn't happen.
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#10 |
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Bleedin' orange!
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Mile High
Posts: 20,018
Adopt-a-Bronco: Howard Griffith |
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#11 |
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Ring of Famer
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 8,269
Adopt-a-Bronco: None |
Silly me. Yes, we all know the major networks, all run by liberals, CNN owned by a liberal, and most of the major newspapers, which are run by liberals are unbiased sources of information.
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#12 |
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Bleedin' orange!
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Mile High
Posts: 20,018
Adopt-a-Bronco: Howard Griffith |
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#13 |
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Mr Diplomacy
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Elway was just an arm =MacGruder
Posts: 84,438
Adopt-a-Bronco: Von Miller |
Here I am in my happy place , you can see me smiling
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#14 |
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Hokie since 1993
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 45,991
Adopt-a-Bronco: Tom Jackson |
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#15 | |
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STOP!
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: In a van down by the river
Posts: 10,983
Adopt-a-Bronco: Von Miller |
Quote:
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#16 | |
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Draft Defense Early&Often
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 18,526
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Quote:
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#17 | |
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Never say Always
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,211
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Quote:
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#18 |
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Mo' holla fo' yo' dolla!
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: In a bunker in an undisclosed location
Posts: 52,694
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Ha ha ha!
![]() The knuckle draggers are already preparing their excuses. Priceless! ![]() |
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#19 |
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Ring of Famer
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 9,150
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Well, h3ll. Like Hotrod said: if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying....
GO BLUE!!!!! |
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#20 |
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Mr Diplomacy
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Elway was just an arm =MacGruder
Posts: 84,438
Adopt-a-Bronco: Von Miller |
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#21 |
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Draft Defense Early&Often
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 18,526
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#22 |
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Ring of Famer
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 5,330
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The Black Panther story is amazing, but I think that both sides cheat a tad -- hope the number is very, very small and people can trust whatever outcome we get -- even if it is not the one we want.
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#23 | |
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Ring of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 7,180
Adopt-a-Bronco: None |
Quote:
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#24 |
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Bleeding Orange and Blue
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Denver
Posts: 1,007
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#25 |
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Mo' holla fo' yo' dolla!
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: In a bunker in an undisclosed location
Posts: 52,694
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