County considers scrapping $17 million voting machines
Cuyahoga County Commissioners are thinking about scrapping those new expensive touch screen electronic voting machines.
There are still problems with the machines.
And a consultant tells commissioners this system will produce long lines in the 2008 Presidential election.
Commissioners are looking at a cheaper, simpler optical scan system.
They and the Board of Elections are expected to decide what to do by June.
So what's your opinion on having your tax dollars used, for a technology that could soon be scrapped?
There are still problems with the machines.
And a consultant tells commissioners this system will produce long lines in the 2008 Presidential election.
Commissioners are looking at a cheaper, simpler optical scan system.
They and the Board of Elections are expected to decide what to do by June.
So what's your opinion on having your tax dollars used, for a technology that could soon be scrapped?
posted by Dan at
6:03 PM
22 Comments:
All I have to say about the Commission of Elections is that they were aware of the faults of Diebold prior to spending 22 million to purchase the machines. If anyone is interested just watch the HBO Special on Hacking Democracy and it will answer any questions you have about Diebold and the touch screen. Also the scan machines the AccuVote cards can be rigged also. The safest way to vote is to write it down and count it by hand the old fashioned way. Tax payers are tired of not having their votes counted and tired of paying for useless equipment.
The Diebold machines need to be kept. Why do other states have success but we can't? Elderly voting volunteers need special care when instructing on the new technology. The state of Georgia has been using them for years thorought the entire state and they have had great success. Don't waste more money just because we are quick to jump ship. It will work. patience in key.
Keep the machines get rid of the commissioners!!! What a waste of taxpayers money.
Just Par for the course with our officials. Will we ever learn? Will we ever say enough is enough?
I wish I had that kind of disposible income. I'm getting laid off just before Christmas, I have 5 children and a wife to care for and these guys blow our money like it's there right.
Scrapping the Touch-screen machines is ridiculous. I worked as a technician at the last two elections. The 16 machines where I worked functioned perfectly. The poll workers are now experienced on the machines. This last election was slow because there was a load of candidates and issues. There were only 4 machines per precinct instead of the 6 punch-card machines before. One more machine per precinct would have made a big differenc in the voting times.
The minor problems we had were mechanical ones relating to the legs supporting the machines, and would have been eliminated if they had been inspected at headquarters.
Simply put..60 years of the same party control in Cuyahoga County and the voters still do not get it. Maybe this will be the stone that wakes people up. Elect leaders that make decisions to benefit the whole and not the part.
I might be wrong. But if I am not. I will make it my mission to see that the entire County Commission is replaced and the house gets cleaned. When I purchase anything and it breaks, only after a couple uses and won't work. I take it back and get my money back. Ohio has Lemon laws, or would it be to hard to refund kickbacks for buying them. All I have to say is, Mr Hagan you better contact the Attorney Generals Office, Contact Diebolt and demand a full refund. I as a taxpayer will not stand by and watch you on TV with a smerk and giggle and put the cost on ME. Get busy, get it done.
This is tremendous news.
I also worked as a tech in the last two elections and the machines do work, but the process is complicated.
It went better in Nov because of extensive training that was very expensive and will have to be repeated each election.
The County Commissioners did not make the original decision to buy the machines. The BOE made the decision and used HAVA money. Criticism on that should be directed at the BOE, not the Commissioners.
After the problems in May, the County Commissioners spent millions to investigate the problems and help make November more successful.
Haven't they headr about someting called testing? Who is responsible for this? What about all the money spent? You and I would be out on the street long time ago for blowing $17 not $17 million
Retarted idiots! They should all be fired with no chance to get a job in this country any more
Some people did time for much less!
WKYC.COM should get to the bottom of this and find out who is responsible. The existing machines should have been certified, tested and approved.
Let's go get them!
We are standing with our pants down on the front of the whole world. $17 million - this is a crime and someone has to pay for it. Your crew should continue to investigate and bring to justice those individuals that are responsible.
This sounds like a joke. What are we a third world country with a corrupted government? The Commission of Elections should be completely dismissed and the responsible parties prosecuted!
Hang Them High!
Oooh the Commission of Elections!
Who is running that group? The monkeys from the Careerbuilder commercial?
More taxpayer money down the drain.
I think Diebold sold the State of Ohio on a system that isn't able to do the job promised. The machines should be returned and Diebold should refund the cost of the inadequate equipment to the taxpayers.
Why are they so interested in scrapping the machines - what, enough Democrats didn't get elected?? Typical Democrats - spending good money after bad. You want to know why Cleveland and Cuyahoga County are going nowhere? Because of geniuses like the ones on this board who get elected time and again w/out ever having done anything.
Bottom line, no system is perfect -they can pretty much all get rigged or run into problems. They are all confusing to at least some people in the population. The commission should work out the problems with the existing machines rather than jumping the gun on wasting more taxpayer money.
That has to be the most insane justification for wasting money I've ever heard. That's like throwing out my car because the battery died....
we need to make election day a national holiday. we need to keep the punch card system---if it aint broke, why'de we have to fix it? Nobody would ever leave a hanging chad after 2000. Anything that the Bush camp supports (electronic machines) I don't trust!!
I do not have one more cent to waste on voting machines. We have $20m worth of machines now. USE THEM. Get younger volunteers and train them better. Also, educate the public on how to use them. Maybe we should scrap the commissioners rather than the machines.
If we do scrap them then the only way to go is a mail in ballot for every voter. This has been done successfully in other states.
Is the issue the machines or those that are running the staff? Change is good, they need to work out the bugs. We should not have to pay any more.
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