No vote left behind??

Some election-day news from blackboxvoting.org
(the full "casualty list" is linked in the title)

JUST IN: Midland, MI - There were zero votes cast at Longview Elementary School during today's countywide school board election. It is City of Midland precinct 13-2 and has 1,006 registered voters. "I don't remember when there's been none, absolutely none." said Karen Holcomb, Midland County clerk.

- Senior citizen punches out Ohio voting machine. TSx succumbs to TKO. Photos below. (Aren't you glad there's a photo? )

- Ward 19 has irate citizen -- booth official gave him Democrat ballot and reportedly went ahead and cast the ballot. He wanted a Republican one. He filed a police report. (If he'd brought a pocket recorder, he'd have the proof he needs.)

- Marion County Indiana car stolen. Unfortunately the ballots were inside. (Minor glitch, poll opened late.) Another minor glitch: Some voters voted twice on school board race.
http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=4848362&nav=menu188_2

- Ohio: Brook Park Rec Center had problems with Diebold TSx printers. Toilet paper roll hanging out of the printer, causing delays in poll opening. (The Diebold machines were spewing a paper trail several feet long -- what a great cell phone shot that would have been!).

- Ohio: Lack of three-pronged adaptors closes polling site for hours - Only had sockets for 2-prong plugs, couldn't open polling place until 1:30 p.m. -- Polling place stays open until 9:30. http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=51671

There's a long list of similar incidents. Check it out. Bev Harris really recommends taking an audio recorder and/or a cell phone camera with you when you voting. If people get what they can on tape/video, there's a lot that could be done with it.

I went last month to a meeting of a state-wide group working on ensuring we don't go the way of Ohio. They're working on getting the state legislature to require a hand count of 5-10% of the precincts to match up to the voting machines. Seems like a fairly sound plan. They also want to go back to a paper and pencil vote. After reading the BBV article, I can't imagine why! Our electronic voting went so well, they're considering not paying our machine provider. And Diebold's been making new offers to the state... I'll make sure I go again this month.

By the way, I hope everyone caught Stephen Colbert's gutsy speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. The "Emperor has No Clothes" silence of the crowd was... indescribable... There's a link to a copy at http://www.thankyoustephencolbert.org/