Blog > November 2004 > Election data recovery
Election data recovery
November 1, 2004
It's Election Day here in the United States. The fate of the world is in the balance.
Who wants to bet those electronic voting servers will crash, leaving Florida and Ohio in need of some of those expensive data recovery specialists? Curse you, Diebold!
This election is something of a big deal. Like it or not, we'll have some sort of debacle tonight, which may or may not extend into the next few weeks. Why don't we start calling it Election Month?
That's the way it goes. In the mean time, why not join our election thread to discuss the disaster before it ensues?
— cvincent
Comments
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joaks says: Nov 1, 2004, 11:40 PM
haha, that would be a real mess if they had a hard drive crash in florida.i've heard a lot of bad things about the company making electronic voting machines on wired. hopefully this iwll be an honest election and they wont need data recovery :)
ccarpenter says: Nov 2, 2004, 7:51 AM
"Honest" and "election" just don't go together. Thanks for playing, joaks!Leon5465 says: Nov 2, 2004, 9:37 AM
What do you guys think of more people being registered to vote in Ohio and Wisconsin than people who actually live there? Or the NAACP paying people in crack to fill out voter registration forms with names like "Snow White"Leon5465 says: Nov 2, 2004, 9:39 AM
Moderator: Double post — ccarpenter
Leon5465 says: Nov 2, 2004, 9:39 AM
Oh, forgot to mention the 30 vans with slashed tires that were meant to transport Republican poll watchers to the voting stations.cvincent says: Nov 2, 2004, 9:50 AM
Leon, we know that voter fraud happens on both sides of the spectrum, though that NAACP story seems a little...well, it's probably not true.This, on the other hand... there are many more flyers like that targeted at black voters, all making outrageous claims to mislead them into thinking they cannot vote, or to scare them out of trying.
Also, fraud on the Republican side may be much higher, as in the corporate level. The CEO of Diebold, the company making most of the electronic touch-screen voting machines, has said publicly that he'll do anything to get Bush elected. Meanwhile, several of the company's machines in Florida were found to have counted 2,000 nonexistent votes before the polls even opened this morning.
Leon5465 says: Nov 2, 2004, 10:18 AM
Hmm.. they even say it's a fake letter. People try to make it sound like it's Government or Republican officials trying to "suppress" the vote. And which is worse? A letter saying that somebody *might* not have their vote counted but they can go vote anyway, or people getting paid in crack to commit voter fraud. Or 30 vans getting their tires slashed to try to prevent Republican poll watchers from doing their job. If more people are registered in a region than people who actually live there, something is definitely wrong and voters should be checked to make sure they are who they say they are. The democrats were fighting against allowing republican poll watchers because they might "scare" or "intimidate" voters. "Let me see your ID" ooo that's really intimidating.And what about the democrats saying that people from Pennsylvania who are serving in the military over seas shouldn't have their votes counted just because the ballots would come in late. The only reason they even got sent out late is because the Democrats were fighting to get Nader off the ballot. The people in the military should have the right to have their vote counted more than any of us. Luckily, the supreme court in Pennsylvania ruled that the ballots would be accepted until 8 days after election day.
cvincent says: Nov 2, 2004, 10:59 AM
Actually, that's just one example of many such letters, and ignoring the fact that it can have an effect on voter turnout is just naive.Like I said, that story about crack payments sounds made-up. Got a source?
Sure the tires got slashed. It happens on boths sides, and it's wrong on both sides.
The democrats were fighting against allowing republican poll watchers because they might "scare" or "intimidate" voters. "Let me see your ID" ooo that's really intimidating.
Next time you're a black man voting in a swing state, let me know. Then you can tell me there's no legitimate reason for concern.
And what about the democrats saying that people from Pennsylvania who are serving in the military over seas shouldn't have their votes counted just because the ballots would come in late.
Cite your source. By the way, the Republicans are doing things like that, too, it just depends on what state you're talking about. Did you know that soldiers in Iraq are blocked from Bush's website? They have a hard enough time getting Internet access there anyway (they have a military network that officers can access, but troops have to put their money together to buy connections which are very expensive in Iraq).
Luckily, the supreme court in Pennsylvania ruled that the ballots would be accepted until 8 days after election day.
Meanwhile, a "nonpartisan" voter registration drive in Nevada claims to register new voters, but literally throws away Democrat registrations (and employees are only paid to turn in Republican registrations). The Democrats sued over it, asking for a few more days for the disenfranchised voters to get registered for sure, but the request was denied.
By the way, you completely ignored the Diebold stuff.
What I'm trying to make you see is that this happens in every election on both sides of the proverbial spectrum. You simply cannot say one side is worse than the other, because if one side was particularly good at it, naturally nobody would know about it.
cvincent says: Nov 2, 2004, 11:02 AM
Oh, and remember the registrations from predominately black neighborhoods in (I think) Ohio that were turned down because they were not printed on heavy enough paper? Keep in mind that the so-called "faulty" registration cards were provided by the state, and the Republican in charge decided on it.Luckily, they didn't get away with it.
Like I said, it's bad on both sides. Instead of talking about the petty people who pull these stunts, why not talk about the candidates instead? Bush is not his supporters, same for Kerry.
Leon5465 says: Nov 2, 2004, 11:57 AM
I know it happens on both sides, but most people seem to concentrate on the "mean old evil rich Republicans" I didn't comment on the Diebold stuff because it's still being investigated. Last thing I saw on the news about it was that the people who set it up told the officials about 1500 votes that were there before the polls opened, the officials said we'll worry about it later, and they wouldn't even release which candidates the votes were for. So it's a bit early to assume they were put there purposely by the manufacturer. There was something else they said about it but I forgot what it was.Next time you're a black man voting in a swing state, let me know. Then you can tell me there's no legitimate reason for concern.
That's why there are also Democratic poll watchers.
Oh and it turns out that the rental vans and cars were for the Republican "Get out the vote" campaign, not the poll watchers.
My source.
Not my original one, but the closest one I could find in a short time. I can't remember where I see every thing. It talks about how trying to get Nader off the ballot has messed things up.
cvincent says: Nov 2, 2004, 1:32 PM
I know it happens on both sides, but most people seem to concentrate on the "mean old evil rich Republicans" I didn't comment on the Diebold stuff because it's still being investigated.Well, I know it happens on both sides, but the Republicans are certainly more notorious for it; whether you think it's because they do it more or because of the media is really subjective because blaming either one by itself is too simplistic for the situation as a whole. As long as you're aware that this is not a one-sided issue, I can agree with you.
That's why there are also Democratic poll watchers.
But isn't it scary that that's even necessary? And when I say that, I'm being critical of both sides (although I haven't heard of the Democrats contesting votes with race as a basis, but I digress).
My source.
Fox News. Not surprised. I digress again.
The fact is that petty people from both parties have been arguing about Nader. Republicans have been fighting to get Nader on the ballot, the Democrats have been fighting to get him off the ballot. Delays over Nader can be blamed on both sides.
That's basically what it all comes down to. Both sides have very petty people who will do anything to disenfranchise voters on the other side. Now, I may be of the opinion that these petty people happen to hold higher positions on the Republican side, but you'll just have to disagree with me. That's really all it comes down to.
joe says: Nov 2, 2004, 2:56 PM
Crack is wayyy to expensive to just deal out.ccarpenter says: Nov 2, 2004, 5:21 PM
Joe recieves ten points.dizzle says: Nov 3, 2004, 1:26 AM
i had to take a picture of the first time i had the chance to votehttp://www.clubmedia.com/ghetto/my_first_vote.jpg
if he wins or loses at least i got to exercise my right to vote.
don't ever take that right for granted regardless who you vote for!
freedom is under-rated!
cvincent says: Nov 3, 2004, 2:13 AM
Not too bad for your first try. You'll do better with practice. ;)dizzle says: Nov 3, 2004, 2:51 PM
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