Voting machines in Texas are switching straight ticket Democratic votes from Beto to Cruz. (GOP) government says it can't do anything about it.

[CitizenVectron]

 

 

Oh they're rigging it.

[Jason]

Isn't this what the lawsuit in Georgia was about where Kemp deleted the hard drives after specifically being ordered not to? 

[legend]

Please tell me this isn't true.

[CayceG]

I knew there was disenfranchisement. I knew there was gerrymandering. I knew there were voter roll purges. I knew they closed polling places. I knew voter ID laws were a poll tax. 

 

 

But changing votes is another level. It's what tyrants do. The other shit is bad and shouldn't be done. This is another in the same bucket, but it just feels so much more egregious. 

 

 

 

This year (and the preceding two) is teaching me not to have faith in institutions as I had before. 

[Jason]

2 minutes ago, CayceG said:

This year (and the preceding two) is teaching me not to have faith in institutions as I had before. 

 

[Littleronin]

Soros is behind the rigging in Texas. 

[Chairslinger]

Simpsons did it.

 

 

 

[Keyser_Soze]

This is why I like paper ballots.

[mclumber1]

Vote by mail.  There is a paper trail.  GTFO of here with these electronic ballots.

[CayceG]

29 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

This is why I like paper ballots.

 

 

 

 

[RedSoxFan9]

oopsy daisy

[Jason]

45 minutes ago, mclumber1 said:

Vote by mail.  There is a paper trail.  GTFO of here with these electronic ballots.

 

If this were a foreign country we'd be sending in election monitors.

[Keyser_Soze]

25 minutes ago, CayceG said:

 

 

Well it's a little bit more organized in the US than that.

[Jason]

On 10/26/2018 at 6:42 PM, CayceG said:

I knew there was disenfranchisement. I knew there was gerrymandering. I knew there were voter roll purges. I knew they closed polling places. I knew voter ID laws were a poll tax. 

 

 

But changing votes is another level. It's what tyrants do. The other shit is bad and shouldn't be done. This is another in the same bucket, but it just feels so much more egregious. 

 

 

 

This year (and the preceding two) is teaching me not to have faith in institutions as I had before. 

 

 

[Guest]

I’m not sure that this is an example of rigging, only because my entire voting experience has been using these awful machines and vote switching has always been an issue on them. I’ve had it happen in most elections since I was old enough to vote. I’ve just made it habit of double checking at the confirmation screen as to whether my votes were taken correctly.

 

Ditch these stupid machines.

[Massdriver]

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/texas-voting-machines-party-switching/

 

I don't know how widespread the issue is, but I heard on the radio this morning that it is being investigated.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Massdriver said:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/texas-voting-machines-party-switching/

 

I don't know how widespread the issue is, but I heard on the radio this morning that it is being investigated.

 As I said above, these machines are just hot garbage. It is not rigging.

[Keyser_Soze]

I worked at the polls a number of years ago. Not only are the voting machines a bitch to set up they seem to be using very ancient technology. When you vote on it it's more work than using a pen and paper.

[BuckFly]

Modern tech...you gotta work the bugs out first before putting them into action.

[Jwheel86]

14 hours ago, Jason said:

 

 

NC Republicans have been pretty open about blaming Durham (code for black) for losing the Governor's Mansion and NC going blue in 08. 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, BuckFly said:

Modern tech...you gotta work the bugs out first before putting them into action.

It’s not modern though. These machines are anywhere from 12-18 years old at this point 

[Anathema-]

6 hours ago, sblfilms said:

 As I said above, these machines are just hot garbage. It is not rigging.

 

Is it rigging if the way they're garbage benefits the party in power and, after being alerted to the problem, they make no moves to correct the issue? I'm not sure we can call it anything else and by not calling it straightforward election tampering (by this point) only serves to give cover to those who benefit from unchecked power.

 

When the bug is a feature, call it a feature; unless calling it a feature makes you look bad in which case you hope no-one notices; and if someone notices then say it's not your fault; and if it is your fault say that nothing can be done even if you're the only one who can do something about it and it's your job to fix it. Then pretend you have a mandate from the people.

[Anathema-]

We need independent election authorities. Too many areas of the country have no say in their leadership, to say nothing of the federal government. 

 

Leaders being able to choose and shape their electorate has given rise to tyranny wrapped in Democratic (rather than divine) frippery.

[BuckFly]

1 hour ago, sblfilms said:

It’s not modern though. These machines are anywhere from 12-18 years old at this point 

 

Well, if that’s the case then obviously someone is just plain cheating.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Anathema- said:

 

Is it rigging if the way they're garbage benefits the party in power and, after being alerted to the problem, they make no moves to correct the issue? I'm not sure we can call it anything else and by not calling it straightforward election tampering (by this point) only serves to give cover to those who benefit from unchecked power.

 

When the bug is a feature, call it a feature; unless calling it a feature makes you look bad in which case you hope no-one notices; and if someone notices then say it's not your fault; and if it is your fault say that nothing can be done even if you're the only one who can do something about it and it's your job to fix it. Then pretend you have a mandate from the people.

 

The story was false, soooo, no it still isn’t rigging. The issue is not one sided, it’s not causing wide spread issues, and it is easily corrected at the time of voting by just going back and inputting your selection on the errant selection. There isn’t a fix, because it isn’t “broken”, it’s just old tech that can’t handle multiple inputs at the same time. The only actual fix is upgrading to new machines which they can’t do at this point. The reporting in the article originally posted is poor to say the least.

 

1 minute ago, BuckFly said:

 

Well, if that’s the case then obviously someone is just plain cheating.

 

Nobody is cheating in regards to this issue, they are just crappy machines that can’t handle multiple near simultaneous inputs. The issue keeps getting worse over time though because people expect the responsiveness of modern technology like tablets and phones.

[Massdriver]

I heard on NPR this morning that the issue has only resulted a around a couple dozen, not hundreds, of complaints. The issue is as @sblfilms says as far as I can tell. This isn't rigging the vote. 

[GeneticBlueprint]

A machine similar to these in Utah kept selecting White Bread Skim Milk when I clearly pressed my finger over the area for Barak Obama in 2012. I had to go down and press my finger over some dumbass libertarian, a full two selections below who I was trying to select, for it to select Barak Obama. I double checked the printout even after the confirmation screen. Then, later that day somebody posted a video on Twitter of the same thing happening to them in another state and it went mini viral. 

 

Yeah these machines are old as fuck. They should probably just be done away with.

[EternallDarkness]

I'm here in TX and use these machines and the reports have been that's been happening with both parties. Local news has even demonstrated and recreated it. After selecting the straight party you need to take your hands off the damn spin dial otherwise you might accidently switch your own vote while the machine is filling in the ticket. 

[Anathema-]

16 hours ago, sblfilms said:

 

The story was false, soooo, no it still isn’t rigging. The issue is not one sided, it’s not causing wide spread issues, and it is easily corrected at the time of voting by just going back and inputting your selection on the errant selection.

 

Where did you see this?

[Guest]

24 minutes ago, Anathema- said:

 

Where did you see this?

It’s been widely covered by media outlets around the state, and I’ve personally experienced the issue and understand why it’s happening.

 

Here is one article I read though: https://www.texastribune.org/2018/10/26/texas-voting-machines-2018-straight-ticket-midterm-elections/

[Anathema-]

Even with that I'm not sure I'd change my position all that much. It's semantics over whether or not to call unintuitive/counter-intuitive design a "malfunction" and if the malfunction benefits the party in power who then makes no moves to correct the issue then what can be done other than to call out what it plainly is?

 

I'm also skeptical of the government's statement that the issue is minor. In the first order we can't limit the potential impact only to people who both noticed AND reported the issue; in the second, 20 errant ballots is many thousands of times more recurrent than the instances of voter fraud that the ruling party uses as an excuse to further suppress voting.

 

The machines need to be changed, sure; but more importantly is holding people to account for their bad acts that only serve to keep them in power.

 

P.S. Even if the error equitably changed votes between the candidates, stories like this contribute to voter apathy that keeps republicans in power and they know this. It's not enough for them to escape culpability on this.