As a Chicago native, I am often faced with references to dead people voting and rigged elections. Unfortunately, having grown up under the original Daley machine, they are largely true. My parents helped found the Independent Voter movement and documented some unbelievable cases of fraud. I recall on precinct where the captain actually produced more votes than registered voters. In one percent where I was an observer, a voter discovered that her dead husband had voted before her. For that reason, the controversy with voting machines this week could not have come at a worse time or place — particularly with polls showing the Democrats approaching what could be a disaster. When Republican state representative candidate Jim Moynihan went to cast his vote Monday at the Schaumburg Public Library, he experienced a Homer Simpson moment when every time he tried to pick his name, the machine registered the vote for his Democratic opponent.
As Homer said, “this type of thing doesn’t happen in America . . . maybe Ohio but not America.”
Moynihan issued a warning for Republicans not to trust the machines and “Be careful when you vote in Illinois. Make sure you take the time to check your votes before submitting.”
Cook County Board of Elections Deputy Communications Director Jim Scalzitti insisted that this is not a return to “Cooked County” and that this was merely “a calibration error of the touch-screen on the machine.”
Source: The Week
Pogo, it’s not accepted practice to immediatly accuse someone of reverse discrimination when they bring up the possibility of excluding people who are not mainstream Americans. It’s something that is real and it happens. To point it out doesn’t mean someone is accusing YOU of racism.
jim22, Texas law allows concealed carry permits but not student id’s. Why is that?
Jim22,
To answer your question again, it would be vote fraud. A different animal from voter fraud.
“@Annie
You’ll only hear it when leftist are projecting their biases and bigotry onto me.
Pretty easy to avoid, I’d think.
But no, it appears to be their most common tool.” Pogo Not all but many conservative posters continue to use language that demeans gay people, minorities, feminists, unions, liberals, etc. The liberals respond and off the discussions go. It is the current dynamic off this blog.
Jim, She calls it getting out the Dem base X 2.
swarthmoremom – “” Sounds like an argument for voter ID cards. No need to have a separate holding room to see if someone is a legal citizen. No ID? go home.”Jim22 Sorry, but the citizens of Minnesota have firmly rejected voter id and have added mail in ballots.”
I was referring to Texas.
swarthmoremom – “Jim, Voting fraud due to machine malfunction is not the same as voter fraud. What do you think a voter without an id rigged the machine?”
Why do you guys keep defecting with bringing up voter ID? Tell me how if someone purposefully calibrates a machine to one candidate, that it is not fraud. What do you call it?
Semantics and fundamental ignorance of fraud. I investigated insurance fraud for a living. It takes many forms from arson, to faked injuries, faked burglaries, etc. Rigged machines, and ineligible people voting because no ID is required, are BOTH fraud. They are simply different types of fraud for chrissake!! There are plenty of substantive points to be made, get back on track.
” Sounds like an argument for voter ID cards. No need to have a separate holding room to see if someone is a legal citizen. No ID? go home.”Jim22 Sorry, but the citizens of Minnesota have firmly rejected voter id and have added mail in ballots.
“the voter ID laws have no impact on either.”
If as you said “Voter fraud is fraud perpetrated by an individual, i.e. trying to vote twice or under assumed identities,” how would a voter ID requirement have “no impact?”
rafflaw – “Jim22,
swarthmoremom is correct. Voter fraud is fraud perpetrated by an individual, i.e. trying to vote twice or under assumed identities. Vote fraud is the rigging of votes by a party or government. Too different issues and the voter ID laws have no impact on either.”
I never wrote that the ID impacted them. Nice try though.
As for the other, so you are telling me if someone rigs the machine in favor of a particular candidate, that is not fraud?
@Annie
You’ll only hear it when leftist are projecting their biases and bigotry onto me.
Pretty easy to avoid, I’d think.
But no, it appears to be their most common tool.
They have that one hammer, and everything looks like a nail.
Jim, Voting fraud due to machine malfunction is not the same as voter fraud. What do you think a voter without an id rigged the machine?
swarthmoremom – “So you saw one case of possible fraud. Are Somali’s the new “others”? Go stand in line in Texas and watch minorities sent to holding rooms so they could be further questioned before they voted. Now with voter the voter id law it will be legal for them to do that.”
Sounds like an argument for voter ID cards. No need to have a separate holding room to see if someone is a legal citizen. No ID? go home.
Jim22,
swarthmoremom is correct. Voter fraud is fraud perpetrated by an individual, i.e. trying to vote twice or under assumed identities. Vote fraud is the rigging of votes by a party or government. Too different issues and the voter ID laws have no impact on either.
Investigate the people who are responsible for calibrating these machines, then come to a conclusion instead of jumping to one. Have the machines also flipped Democratic votes to Republican in past incidents of the machine flipping votes?
No problem, raff.
swarthmoremom – “The vote flipping has nothing to due with Posner’s decision on voter id’s and voter fraud.”
I’m still laughing at the second part of this statement. Vote flipping has nothing to do with voter fraud, how would you know this? To me, it sounds like the definition of fraud.
The ‘premise’ @ 10:27 is Pogo’s recurring theme. We are going to be hearing it on every thread he comments on here. He is a great addition to RIL!
Nick,
Thank you so much for looking out for me.
First of all, these calibration issues come up every election. Have we already forgotten all of the machine problems in the last few election cycles? In those cases the machines were refusing Dem votes. Another reason to stay away from touch screen machines in any state.
Swarthmore Mom, thanks for making the calls.