Voters in at least two West Virginia counties – Jackson and Putnam – say electronic voting machines are switching their votes from Democrats to Republicans.
The two county clerks, both Republicans, say they don’t think there’s a problem. But these voting problems have gotten the attention of everyone from CNN to liberal website The Huffington Post.
So far, eight voters from Jackson and Putnam counties have come forward to say their electronic voting machines kept changing their votes from Democrats to Republicans – usually, from Obama to McCain.
Calvin Thomas of Ripley, an 81-year-old retired factory worker, is a registered Republican who says he wanted to vote for Obama.
“When I went in, I pushed Obama and Biden. It immediately went up to McCain on the Republican ticket,” he said.
“Then, we went down to the governor’s race, and the same thing happened – pushed for Manchin, the Democratic ticket, and it jumped up to the Republican side,” he said.
Thomas says his daughter had the same problem. They complained to a worker in the Jackson County Clerk’s office, who helped them correct their ballots. But Thomas worries not everyone might catch a mistake.
“We set out there today and watched all them old people,” he said. “Now, I’m 81, and I get around pretty good. But we watched the old people going in. Some of them could hardly walk up the steps.
“Now, I just wonder how many of them went in there and pushed that button and that happened to them, and they walked away not knowing it.”
These allegations have gotten the attention of CNN, which sent a camera crew to Jackson County to talk with Thomas and Jackson County Clerk Jeff Waybright.
Waybright blamed voters for any problems last week, when he told The Charleston Gazette, "People make mistakes more than machines.”
The stories, originally reported by the Gazette, are being circulated by liberal bloggers. Some say that Republicans are trying to steal this presidential election, just like they believe the GOP stole Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004.
And in cyberspace, the Republicans shoot back, reminding Democrats of vote fraud in their past – and some say, in their present, with bogus voter registrations coming from the liberal group ACORN.
The argument basically boils down to…You’re a crooked vote-stealer…I know you are, but what am I?
Caught in the middle is Putnam County Clerk Brian Wood. He says he believes in the touch-screen machines, but that doesn’t mean they are foolproof.
“You and I know humans make mistakes, but you and I know machines can make mistakes too,” he said. “I wasn’t in the booth with them when they were voting, so it would be wrong for me to suggest what was happening at the time they were voting.”
He said he tested the machines by voting himself Monday, and everything worked fine.
But Thomas and other voters say county clerks should go back to paper ballots instead of electronic voting machines. The machines have a sort of receipt that is printed inside the machine, although voters can see the printed results through a plastic screen.
The company that makes the machines, Election Systems and Software of Omaha, Neb., was banned in California last year because of alleged accuracy problems.
Wood says he has started an exit survey of early voters to see what they want. He also spoke with one of the women who complained, Bobbi Oates of Scott Depot.
Wood says he and Oates have become friends, and that she has performed a public service by reminding voters to check their ballots.
“I don’t fault her a bit, I don’t think she was trying to play politics in any way by making this a Republican/Democrat issue. It certainly not a Republican/Democrat issue on the county level or on my part,” Wood said.
Speaking of Democrats, are they worried about this? State Democratic chairman Nick Casey says his party is speaking with county clerks and Secretary of State Betty Ireland to make sure voting machines are properly calibrated.
Meanwhile, Wood hopes the controversy doesn’t make voters even more cynical that they already are. That cynicism has spawned a satirical cartoon of “The Simpsons” – where Homer Simpson tries to vote for Barack Obama, but the electronic voting machine won’t let him…
(Homer enters voting booth)
Homer: Oooh, one of those electronic voting dealies!
(Homer touches the box for Obama)
Machine: Beep! One vote for McCain. Thank you.
Homer: Hee, hee, hee. Nooo, I want to vote for Obama.
Machine: Beep! Two votes for McCain.
Homer: Huh!? Come on, it’s time for a change.
Machine: Beep! Three votes for McCain.
Homer: No, No, No!
Machine: Beep, Beep, Beep! Six votes for President McCain.
Homer: Hey, I only meant one of those votes for McCain…Wait a minute, this machine is rigged!
(Here the machine opens up, tries to suck Homer inside)
Must…tell…President…McCain…
This doesn’t happen in America. Maybe Ohio, but not in America!
Aargh! Aargh!
(Machine swallows Homer, then spits him out.)