Well, since we've got two excellent diaries on the Texas Electronic Voting machines on the rec list, how about adding another?
As reported by dfwmom at TexasKaos.com, the Tarrant County Democratic Party has filed a federal lawsuit
"The Tarrant County Democratic Party and four local voters have filed a federal lawsuit against the Texas secretary of state declaring that the electronic voting machines used in Tarrant County are unconstitutional and in violation of federal law."
Let the fireworks begin!
There seems to be two groups among Kossacks regarding the voting problems we're having.
1. Those that believe it's not fraud but poor programming, poor calibration, technology issues, etc...
2. And those that believe there's fraud.
I posted a diary at TK on this & on the other two diaries on the voting machines here and here but I'll summarize again on the flip.
By the way, this suit is independent of the Jefferson County story, and is related to paper trails.
I personally believe there is some violation of election laws occuring but that we have not proven LEGALLY that these electronic voting machines have been deliberately programmed to commit fraud. Much of what we have in terms of incidents occur in voter intimdation, voter registration being denied, Democratic voter registration being "lost", etc...
There is plenty to be suspicious of - but nothing that IMHO would stand up in court regarding these machines.
That does not however take away from the key issue: The People need to be able to trust our election machinery and currently there appears to be ample proof to at least dictate an investigation.
I'll repost a summary of the Texas Kaos diary but full details are here.
I actually have quite a bit of experience with touchscreens being in IT and having worked for a company that used these machines extensively. I programmed and admistered and setup these machines at various client sites around the country. More on touchscreens on the flip.
However, these incidents do show that ALL voters need to confirm their votes and that we Democrats need to stay vigilant that these incidents get reported and get a proper response by election officials. That means ALL voters - Republicans included.
To this, may I suggest some Action Items:
Get word to poll volunteers and candidates that they remind Voters that at the end of the process there is a confirmation screen and they need to CONFIRM THEIR VOTES.
Post it on your blog, email your friends and Democratic volunteers.
And that's what we need to do.
Tell our voters and our poll volunteers and candidates - many will be at the polls - to remind each voter to confirm there votes.
That's all.
And then we have to monitor the irregularities and make sure each poll volunteer knows how to get election officials to correct any problems or at least record that there were issues.