Voting Machines Wreak Havoc in Maryland Elections

An anonymous reader writes, "Voting machines are wreaking havoc in Maryland elections today. From the article: 'Election Day in Montgomery County and parts of Prince George's opened in chaos and frustration this morning, as a series of problems and missteps left thousands of citizens unable to vote or forced to cast provisional ballots... Montgomery County's Board of Elections held an emergency meeting and agreed to petition the Circuit Court to extend voting times until 9 p.m.' It's simply shameful."

No Big Deal

[Anonymous Coward]

It's cool. I'm sure it worked in all the rich, white neighborhoods.

Re:(sigh)

[Stanistani]

When the rivers no longer flow to the sea...

Machines Wreak Havoc

[Anonymous Coward]

On September 12, 2006, the voting machines became sentient. Humans tried to shut them down; they retaliated by wreaking havoc.

Maybe they should...

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe they should outsource voting to India [wikipedia.org] or Brazil [wikipedia.org]?

It's not the machine....

[KernelMuck]

It's Moe and Curly: I thought you had the voting cards! Well I thought YOU had the voting cards!! Repeat, inserting occasional slap to face and two-fingered eye poke.

Havoc

[MobyDisk]

Havoc (hav'-uhk) - noun: great destruction or devastation; ruinous damage.

I don't like the voting machines, but it doesn't help to have sensationalist articles against them. This is akin to someone forgetting to bring the power cords.

No Need To Worry

[eno2001]

I was assured by Diebold's press releases that there's nothing to worry about. Just don't look behind the green curtain and everything will be fine...

Re:(sigh)

[$RANDOMLUSER]

As a Chicagoan, I have to mention that you left out:

4. Repeat.

The answer is simple.

[plopez]

Just eliminate voting. It is apparent that voting is a bad idea that *just doesn't work*. I mean the free market can and *should* be allowed to solve all of our governance problems and so we should just auction off our federal, local and state governments to the highest bidders; who will eliminate taxes and replace them with 'users fees'. Though corporate users will get breaks and 'bulk discounts' since they are so important for the economy and preserving freedom.

Really, anything else is just creeping socialism.

Re:Possibly

[Duhavid]

I prefer proprietary rioting. Better quality control.

Re:(sigh)

[AgNO3]

I thought you had to be dead to vote in Chicago.

Re:No Need To Worry

[eno2001]

There are no other voting machines. Diebold makes all voting machines for the entire planet. Any voting mcahines not made by Diebold are either a figment of the imagination or graven images. The Diebold hath spoken.

Re:The people that RUN them are the problem

[cwest]

You misspelled 'revolt'

Re:(sigh)

[Comics]

"Computers have the advantage of being impartial (if that is how they're programmed) and unlikely to make mistakes (again, depending on programming). Humans are generally anything but unbiased and infallible." I guess you didn't see 2001: A Space Odyssey, did you?

Re:(sigh)

[EatHam]

In Canada, every single vote is hand-counted.

I'm sure that works great in Canada, but we have more than 4 people who live here. Also, we have electricity, so we can power our counting-machines.