Denver Voting Irregularities Scare Ritter Camp

One word......

GOOD!

NoBama .... NoBamaCare either

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by: Gecko @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 15:51:45 PM UTC

good for the elites

It's only good for the elites who wish to suppress the voting public.  This higher top guns to create the slush fund Trailhead Group to disinform the public, and blatantly lie, while restricting the voting abilities of the citizenry. 

These country club elites need to be stopped and the first way to stand in line and take advantage of your CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT to vote; the second is to vote against the elites in the Republican Party like millinonaire Bob Beauprez.

"Suddenly, it may be cool to be American again" - William J. Kole

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by: Go Blue @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 19:08:02 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Rich liberal trustees and lucky rich entrepreneurs are ok?

Your attack on Trailhead is so ironic, given that the financial backers of the Democratic general assembly are Pat Stryker, a lefty trustee who inherited her wealth, and a couple of techie entrepreneurs who just happened to be in the right place at the right time to get rich.

It's a "my rich political manipulaors are better than yours" game, and it's nonsense.

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by: Another skeptic @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 19:27:32 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Why "good?"

I don't think it is "good" for democracy if qualified voters who wish to vote cannot do so.  That is known as "disenfranchisement."  While I will always try hard to make sure my side gets more voters to go to the polls, through GOTV efforts, I think it is downright un-American to (a) try to suppress votes by the other team or (b) celebrate when voters are disenfranchised.

Hopefully, "GOOD!" was not a celebration of disenfranchisement.

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by: CJ @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 16:34:48 PM UTC

A wishful interpretation

I could be charitable and assume Gecko meant "good that someone is concerned" or "good that we found out in the primary".

"Apple denies that, based on their common meaning, the words 'app store' together denote a store for apps"
-- Legal filing by Apple Computer

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by: cdsmith @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 17:11:05 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Gecko "Good" comment is BAD!

It is obvious that Gecko does not want a way for anyone else to vote except his/her own party.  Therefore, one must assume that Gecko must want a one party system.  I believe that if you want a one party system, you have no democratic system.  You have a totaliarian system.

I along with millions of other citizens in this country do not want a totaliarian system.  To disinfranchise other people's votes goes hand in hand with coruption, lying, and deception.  Not to mention unfair and illegal practices do you want your single totaliarian system to be very well known and famous for its coruption, lying, deception, unfair and illegal practices?  What pride you can claim with that!

Gecko, consider what values you would like to publish and make known to the public. 

In my personal eyes you are a disgrace and shame to the American values millions of American citizens hold true, which is fair voting and a multiple party democratic system.  You insult the very core of America.  Go hide your face in dishonor and ignominy!

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by: truepath @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 17:11:11 PM UTC

Before we bash the crap out of him

and assume every manner of badness regarding his opinion of elections, maybe we ought to hold off and wait for him to offer an explanation?

I don't often agree with Gecko but he's never, ever, struck me as the type of person that hopes to disenfranchise voters so I'm giving him the benefit of doubt on this one.

"I wouldn't characterize caloric intake as "professional development." c rork

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by: Middle of the Road @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 20:12:39 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

About Gecko

He confessed a few weeks ago that he loves to stir the pot. I'm sure that all this is.

"Thank you for putting your rank political motives on display." - ArapaGOP

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by: Aristotle @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 20:21:32 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I'm tired of the whining

There's three ways to vote.  Early, absentee, and election day.  Any campaign that's worth a shit shouldn't be worrying about low turnout.  They should have their votes in the bag by the final Friday.

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by: HearingListener @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 17:27:58 PM UTC

This has nothing to do with GOTV

If people can't vote when they show up, they aren't all going to sit around and wait for hours until the problem is fixed. You can get people to the polls, but you can't force them to sit there all day.

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by: Colorado Pols @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 17:30:51 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

That's the point

You get them to vote absentee.

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by: HearingListener @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 17:37:57 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Absentee

You can get a few to vote absentee, but the overwhelming majority will go to vote in person on election day. That's just how it is.

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by: MonkeyBoy @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 18:12:11 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Actually...

In Denver, the overwhleming majority voted absentee for the Primary. I realize the dynamic is different with a General Election, but I still expect the absentee vote count to be significantly higher than in previous years.

Retirement in action does not equal retirement of beliefs.

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by: Dan Willis @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 20:51:26 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

There's an answer

.....we call it "Early Voting"

Let's not forget that those who care about their republic will make the necessary sacrifice twice a year, every other year, to secure it. 

Also, are we claiming here that the precincts affected have only Democrats in them?  Are we claiming there is a purposeful method to causing the delays?

Three months to correct.  All's well.  The Republic survives.

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by: Padre @ Fri Aug 11, 2006 at 02:56:30 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I repeat

I know I sound like a broken record but I have been posting about this since yesterday morning, when I first read the Denver Post story online.

If you can't get poll workers trained - and the Commission and the Mayor had plenty of warning about the problems and they denied there was a problem - you are going to have problems.

Everything that was raised as a concern by former election workers has been realized, despite the denials of management and the administration.  I have no faith in this bunch.

Moreover, as I have posted, the issue is not just slow voting or slow tabulating it is the issue that people voted in districts in which they did not live.

This is all this worry about verifying identification, making sure that illegal aliens can't vote, restricting the right of people to vote for fear that they may not be entitled to vote, and yet we seem to blithly accept the fact that a poorly designed and managed system is creating a situation in which people vote in districts in which they do not live.

As I also said in an earlier post, Ritter indeed ought to be worried.

I also have to wonder how much of this is being done by design. 

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by: Roger D @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 17:27:58 PM UTC

By design...

It seems unlikely that it's happening by design, in Denver, because the county clerk runs the elections, and the county clerk in Denver is certainly a Democrat. It happened in 2004 in Boulder, and they got their act together in the past 2 years. Hopefully Denver will in its next 2 months.

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by: MonkeyBoy @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 18:14:18 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

By design or not, Gecko's opinion is bad

Gecko's opinion is the opinion that we do not need fair elections.

That is what is so disturbing that people actually have that shameful opinion! 

"Whining" is just a way to diminish and negate the importance of my objection.  If you want to diminish and negate the importance of my objection, consider what you are saying that it is O.K. to say it is good that the voting is not fair.  That is complicacy.

If the voting problems are from design, complacency, training, or faulty phone lines or equipment, then the election board should correct the problems immediately.

The waiting in lines and the "come back later" service for voters is totally unexeptable.

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by: truepath @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 20:03:24 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Oh....Now we have the real concern

So, you're worried that Ritter could be affected by the problem, and rather than blame the (Democrat) county clerk, you'll blame Gecko for the problem.

Interesting, truepath:  all speech is good except that which is religious and that which disdains your concern:  In the case of the former; something that offends you.  In the case of the latter; something that offends you.

Now we have found the center of the universe.

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by: Padre @ Fri Aug 11, 2006 at 03:01:33 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

it's different in Denver

In Denver, the process is a little different in that the city clerk shares power over elections with the two commissioners, unlike Arapahoe or Boulder where Nancy Doty or Linda Salas has sole and ultimate responsibility over elections in the county.  The arrangement in Denver allows for finger-pointing, evasion of responsibility and in general, screw-ups.

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by: One Queer Dude @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 20:40:25 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Does Denver have a highly political election board?

Does the county clerk in Denver have the authority to fix the system, or is a political election board involved?

If I recall correctly, I think there's a board that is skilled at screwing things up. Is that the problem, or what?

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by: Another skeptic @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 18:49:14 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

In Denver

We have an Election Commission as well as a County Clerk (we call him the City Clerk because we are a City & County). The Clerk sits as a 1/3 member of the Commission and is appointed by the Mayor. The other 2 members of the Commission are elected.

All 3 of our Election Commissioners are extraordinarily bright people who care very much about the openness and integrity of elections. However, under our current system, they have very little real authority in the day to day running of the elections office. They are policy setters and the implementation is done by a staff of about 22 or regular full-time employees, many of whom have been there since roughly the Jurassic period.

The events of yesterday fall squarely into one area: ill-preparedness. While great effort and detail went into the the over-all conversion from precinct elections to vote centers, a lot of smaller details were overlooked or not properly planned for. Training was a major one; telecommunication became a lesser problem, but a problem nonetheless as the day went on.

First of all, using wrong ballot styles was totally unacceptable. All of us who are involved in the voting process must get this corrected immediately. I expect action will be taken as soon as they are done counting the provisionals and do the manditory audit.

From what we pieced together yesterday while at the polls, the judges who were responsible for looking up and recording each voter's ballot style was trained to do it differently than the judges who then had to read those ballot styles and put them into the machine. This problem became obvious right away at Botanic Gardens which happens to be in SD32. The ballot style for the Garens' neighbors was 13, however a 1 had to be typed in first to designate Democrat. So when  the look up judge put an X next to "Democrat" and then wrote 13 in the blank for ballot style, the machine judges were reading this as 1 for Democrat and ballot style 3 (which did not include SD32).

The first couple of voters who fell into this problem spoke up and we got them corrected so they did vote their correct ballot styles. We (the judges) then got together, figured out what was happening and came up with a consistent labelling so we all knew what we meant. From that point, things went much more smoothly.

That was a long-winded explanantion but I think in a case like this, precise details are better than speculation.

Retirement in action does not equal retirement of beliefs.

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by: Dan Willis @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 21:16:34 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

City clerk's not in charge of operations?

The staffers are?

Is this a bunch of cya for the city clerk or the 'very bright' commissioners?

What's the problem? Was everybody out on parternity or maternity or some other personal day leave, or what? Or just taking a mental health day?

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by: Another skeptic @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 22:18:27 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

No CYA, just the way it is and always has been

One problem facing the Commission is the quality of the staff. There are proposals coming before City Council over the next week or two to address those problems. If Council approves them, we will be voting on them in Nov.

The most recentstaffing issue has been the Elections Judges Supervisor position was recently vacated and brand new person filled the role. I really think Election Judge training, as well as selection, suffered from that.

Retirement in action does not equal retirement of beliefs.

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by: Dan Willis @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 23:21:12 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

all of this was know

Dan:

All of the issues you cover were raised as concerns by numerous people as early as April.  The issue of the election judges was key among them  The Commissioners, Alton Dillard, the Mayor and the City Attorney were all pointedly apprised of concerns about the recruitment and training of judges  as well as numerous other issues.  They all denied that there was any problem. 

Also, the person who had been responsible for recruiting and training judges left the commission in disgust.  She could no longer tolerate the lack of support and preparedness.  She was quoted on another blog as saying about the (then) upcoming election:  "we are facing a tsunami and we are not prepared."

Questions were also raised regarding the overall preparedness of the commission to conduct the election, and again they said everything was fine; people who were questioning the Commission were over reacting.

So instead of acknowledging that there were problems and dealing with them, they went into denial.  Circle the Wagons and attack the messangers.

The result was what happened Tuesday.  If they all had not been warned, it would be different, but they were, and for that there is no excuse.

The fact is, this is a flawed system, and we should go to an elected clerk and recorder  who will oversee elections.  It is what works extremely well in 63 other counties.

Under our present system there is no accountability.  the two elected commissioneers (who are accountable to voters) have no real role in making certain that commission is functioning well on a day to day basis.

The appointed commissioner is also not accountable to the voters, he only answers to the Mayor and to date the Mayor has had a hands off attitude saying it is not his problem

There is no excuse for any of this.

I am a Democrat, there is no secret about that.  I want Bill Ritter elected Governor in November.  That will only happen with a large turnout in Denver and Boulder.  If the vote is screwed up in Denver; if there are interminable delays and malfunctions, that turnout will not happen.

If that is the case, I know where the blame goes.  But blaming the Commission and/or the Mayor will be no consolation for a loss for Colorado.

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by: Roger D @ Thu Aug 10, 2006 at 00:47:26 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

It ain't just elections bubba

It is hardly a secret that the current incarnation of the Republican party is populated with people that are simply nasty and weird.  But just about the time I think I've had enough I have to get something done through Denver government.  The experience is always like something out of a Monty Python skit.  Socialism simply doesn't work, and Denver government is about as close to a socialist state as you want to come. 

I know I may get flame responses on this, and all kind of accusations of red baiting, but it is just an environment where there is no accountability, no desire to establish any, and aggressive effort to prevent any should you desire it.  And it's all nicely maintained by the Democratic machine.  I doubt that even Ritter leaning on Hick can make that place work. 

Watching the big D machine cost Ritter the election will be about the funniest thing since they lost the evidence they needed to prosecute Doug Bruce for being a slumlord. 

"Not to be a socialist at twenty is proof of want of heart; to be one at thirty is proof of want of head". Georges Clemenceau

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by: Xenophon @ Thu Aug 10, 2006 at 03:12:31 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Florida '00 = Denver '06

Everyone in Denver should request, and should vote by, absentee ballot in Nov.  Make and keep a paper trail. And in the long run, impeach or recall the election commission members.  Or tar and feather them........

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by: One Queer Dude @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 20:37:00 PM UTC

Proud to disenfranchise

I think I found Gecko's secret identity - Kathryn Harris!  Wouldn't happen to be from the South or anything, would ya?

" The webinar is free, however, there are only 250 spaces available "

Some douche

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by: Fidel's dirt nap @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 21:22:09 PM UTC