I've been a harsh critic of both touchscreen voting machines and the Northampton County voting registrar Deborah DePaul. Amazingly, with Ol' Faithful lever machines back in action, Tuesday's election was about as flawless as you can get. The county web site, instead of being days behind The Morning Call and WFMZ, was actually ahead of them both. I've been told that even those cranky editors at The Express Times fired off a letter to commend the office.
Here's what the real bossman, Norco exec John Stoffa, told Sarah Cassi. "I was very proud of our elections office. They've taken a lot of abuse, but last night they rose to the top."
Today's one-liner: "The shortest way to the distinguishing excellence of any writer is through his hostile critics." Richard LeGallienne
Local Government TV
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Thursday, November 08, 2007
19 comments:
You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.
agreed. NC and any others "should" be able to opt out of touch screen voting if they wish to do so! larry@kisslinger.com
ReplyDeleteWish we could say that about Lehigh county. We are probally going to end up with a recount and court challenge in the Controller race
ReplyDeleteWhy is there such hoopla when an entity properly performs the tasks that they are paid to do? I'm very happy that everything went well and kudos to the staff, but there should have been smooth sailing in this cycle as a matter of course. Sounds like our classrooms where every student gets a star for showing up and taking the test.
ReplyDeleteLadyRep,
ReplyDeleteBecause I've been so tough on this office for its problems, I thought it important to commend it for doing a good job. They've been having problems. The last two elections demonstrate a vast improvement, and I wanted to be fair and point that out.
Don't hold your breath, Larry
ReplyDeleteStoffa's already accepted the million-dollar or more bribe from the feds to buy the touch-screen voting machines and my bet would be that he's already spent on courthouse-prison expansion cost overruns.
Note also that Stoffa was just as hot-to-trot as NC council to stick with Affiliated Computer Services (ACS).
Yeah it was nice. The curtains seemed easier to shut as well.
ReplyDelete>"should" be able to opt out of touch screen voting
ReplyDeleteLarry,
I hear what you're saying, but I wonder now, given the requirement to provide for multi-languages, if the "old faithfuls" can provide enough "real estate" to accommodate all that needs to be displayed -using a reasonably sufficient font in 2 languages -- especially if there's multiple Ballot questions. (I realize that the names wouldn't be any different, but the office titles may be in Spanish; I never saw what a Spanish ballot looked like on the touch screens).
I guess we shant take up the topic of why we're voting in 2 languages anyhow..that's another post for Bernie to consider ;-)
For once, I got to know how it feels when, just this past Tuesday, the Voter Reg office sent me (and the district across the hall from me) VOTOR REGISTRATION forms (which also serve as Change of Name/Address forms) that were totally in Spanish. That was a first! I was stymied. I had to apologize to the voter that I was not in an immediate position to help them as I usually could.
I thought the touch screen world would somehow lighten the load of what we Poll Workers needed to do at closing time, but we still end up having to orally cross post the results (now on a paper tape instead of from the cylindrical counters - see pictures from Bernie's earlier post) to the big ledger style sheets for final county submission. Then, we still have to manually tally the ledger sheets to derive the final grand totals if more than 1 touch screen was at that location!!
So, in both cases, if you were weak in arithmetic, the new devices don't provide any relief/(safeguards) here. Not much of a labor savings, is it?
Always remember they're from the government and they came to help us with mandatory (our tax money) touch screen voting machines! All B/C of Florida stupid hanging chads.
ReplyDelete"holding my breath" that common sense will ensue, re: lever machines permanent return!
Hey, why is Hillary now just a Clinton like she was in first go around then immediately insisted to add Rodham and now dropping it?
If (God forbid) she is elected (sic) President, my opinion is she will drop Clinton and just be Hillary Rodham after the divorce. If that happens I'll be moving to Cuba where I'll have a chance to return to elected official status. I hope severson and longy-poo will agree to support me as they would be great help for anyone in Cuba!
larry@kisslinger.com
Spanish? all voice mails should advise if you don't speak English, hang up until you are able to do so, is my opinion. "Most" agree with me in private but are afraid to do so in public. Same goes with all literature inside public agencies! Why such nonsense? I'll never know or understand? My Mother was Italian and insisted that her kids learned English or else! Most Hispanics also want their kids to learn English ASAP, so why do/feel-gooders insist otherwise? Go figure! larry@kisslinger.com
ReplyDeleteUsing the old lever machines was the best part of the election, I can't say as much about some of the canidadtes or lack of them at least where I live. I had absolutely no problems, then again I was the only perosn in line at the time.
ReplyDeleteYou know what I hate? Native English speakers who can't speak English. They don't read, vote based on rumors and are convinced the W is the best thing since prostate exams.
ReplyDeleteAnon 6:11,
ReplyDeleteLove your post because it is so freaking true. In a sense, it is the clueless leading the clueless, and furthermore, a never ending cycle. The ignorance on this blog never ceases to amaze me. The amount of people who cannot property write (which is also a reflection on their speech) is staggering. Yet these ass-wipes criticize others? You people stink!
Anon 7:55,
ReplyDeleteThe ignorance on this blog never ceases to amaze me.
Just wait until next week!
Not everyone is bright like you. I learn quite a bit from the comments. One of the brightest persons I know - Ron Angle - has horrible grammar. Underestimating another person and what he or she has to offer is something you do at your peril.
Mr. O'Hare,
ReplyDeleteIt's great that you learn a lot from the comments. I'm assuming that's why you started this blog. It is not a matter of being bright or not. That wasn't my point. It is the people on your blog criticizing those who don't know or understand the English language, yet they do not seem to understand it either.
Understood.
ReplyDeleteHay! Eye rezent that! Aye no watt eyem taukin abought sew kwit kritisizen mi inglish!
ReplyDeleteBernie,
ReplyDeleteOn the 8:15 comment. Bravo.
He even looks like gacy and is bright.
Larry Kisslinger said...
ReplyDeleteSpanish? all voice mails should advise if you don't speak English, hang up until you are able to do so, is my opinion. "Most" agree with me in private but are afraid to do so in public. Same goes with all literature inside public agencies! Why such nonsense? I'll never know or understand? My Mother was Italian and insisted that her kids learned English or else! Most Hispanics also want their kids to learn English ASAP, so why do/feel-gooders insist otherwise? Go figure! larry@kisslinger.com
3:16 PM
Larry, can you say incoherent? or are you talking spanglish? You're in a fog boy.
another incoherent Anon says spanglish? get a grip and come out of your own fog! larry@kisslinger.com
ReplyDelete