Went to early voting this morning in Flagler County, FL. Got there just before it opened. Was about the 10th person in line. (It wasn't very long when I left, either.) Had to vote today because I have to go to St. Petersburg for surgery tomorrow morning and I wanted to make sure my vote is counted just in case there are any complications that would cause me not to be able to vote after the surgery. (I have had that happen before.)
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On the first ballot, I made an error on one of the State Constitution amendments. (And even though the error was not on Amendment 2, the Ban Gay Marriage Amendment on which I was happy to add my no vote, I wanted to submit a ballot that accurately recorded my choices.) So I went back, notified the clerk that I needed a substitute ballot, which she gladly provided after I tore up the first one, put it in a spoiled ballot envelope, sealed it and gave the envelope back to her.
On the second try, when I put the ballot in the machine to be counted, an error message appeared saying there was a tampering issue, the ballot was the wrong size or some other issue. They had to reset the counting machine and I tried again with the same result four times.
So I got a third ballot after tearing the second, putting it in a spoiled ballot envelope, and returning it to the clerk. I filled it out again and had the same result when I put it in the machine. So I had to go through the process again.
The fourth time, a clerk went to a different area and got a ballot from the absentee ballot stash. It worked!!!
The clerks apologized profusely but it was alright with me. My ballot went into the op-scan machine the last time and the machine said it was counted. Of course we don't know HOW it was counted, but hopefully the machine worked properly.
I was happy to vote for Barack Obama four times even only one will count. Since my wife voted ahead of me and her original ballot scanned as it was supposed to, I am pretty sure that the machine is not rejecting Obama ballot. It will be interesting to read other Florida early voting stories as they come in today. Tomorrow, I'll be reading the backs of my eyelids most of the day. Hope to get back on line on Wednesday.
'Till then, make those calls, donations, walk your neighborhood, etc. We need a MASSIVE turnout to counteract the voter suppression fraud that is being committed by the Republicans.