To Pennsylvanians & Californians

[heidi]

It might be only in Philly, or it might be broader across the state, but I just pulled this from dailykos:

If you are in Philadelphia, PA and you click the box for Obama, and then click straight Democratic ticket, it will cancel out your vote for Obama. No one is quite sure why, but it's happening . I just talked to the Obama campaign , and they are urging folks either to just vote straight Democratic ticket , or to choose each candidate individually- but not both.

And from Sera Gamble, a little note about voting NO on 8 if you're in California - she wrote a bit about one of her best friends:

Michael, however, has been with his Sig Other for going on nine years.

I know. Who the fuck stays with one guy for nine years? In Los Angeles? They're a shining beacon of hope to us all.

You see where I'm going with this. Michael may or may not decide to pop the question. (If I were his bf, I'd be getting pre-tty antsy, but that's another post.) As of the writing of this missive, they can go ahead and do the crazy deed here in California, if they so please. Just like the rest of us. If you go to the polls and vote NO ON 8, it is my hope that the misguided souls attempting to add discrimination against my family to our state Constitution will fail.

Comments

[i-phianassa.livejournal.com]

Aw shit, my mother, father and brother all voted in Philly this morning. Actually, does it include suburbs? They're in the Mainline (King of Prussia) area.

eta: and thanks for the warning!

[amaterasu.livejournal.com]

KoP is in Montgomery County (the same county I live in!). As far as I know, Philadelphia uses different machines from Montco, although the mechanics are similar. If you push a button once, it lights up to show that you're casting a vote for that candidate. You cancel it out by hitting it again. The problem they've run into in Philly is this: if you hit the "straight-party" option AFTER pushing the individual button for, say, Obama, it cancels the vote out because you've hit that button "twice."

Again, I don't know if this has been an issue out here in the 'burbs; I've only heard about the problem from city-based voters and action groups. (Plus when I voted, I took great pleasure in hitting every. single. button. in the column.)

[i-phianassa.livejournal.com]

I think theirs is Chester. And I have no idea if they hit all the buttons or not, but I will ask! Or maybe not, actually. I don't want to bum them out, and it's too late now. :\

[amaterasu.livejournal.com]

In that case, they should be okay! Chester County uses paper ballots & optical scans (you can check out a sample ballot here).

(I used to live on that end of the Main Line; it's a beautiful area!)

[i-phianassa.livejournal.com]

woohoo, thanks!

and optical scans??

[madam-minnie.livejournal.com]

And that's why I love Sera! :D

[blpurdom.livejournal.com]

My pastor just emailed me about that. It's fixable if, after hitting the Obama button and then the big Dem button you make sure you hit the Obama button again. Doing one and then the other is like on-off switches; the first time gives Obama your vote, the second un-votes. It's just doing the opposite of the current state whenever you hit a button. Basically, you just need to make sure that you've got little red lights next to the names of all of the candidates you want before hitting the big green VOTE button. The machines really aren't malfunctioning--this is how they are supposed to work, but poll workers should make sure that everyone knows to check for the red lights next to the candidates of their choice.

[airemay.livejournal.com]

Oh no! What about people who already voted? Is there a way to fix the glitch for them?