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Voting machines breaking down in Philly!
MSNBC is reporting that the Obama campaign said voting machines are breaking down in some parts of Philadelphia leaving as few as two voting machines in some African American precincts.
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Comments (23)
Not broken down, sabotaged.
Ed Rendell's "magic touch"
April 22, 2008 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've had a really bad feeling that things like this might happen in a state with such an old, strong political machine that just happens to be run by Rendell. But I figure Obama's people weren't going to be naive about any of this, either.
April 22, 2008 2:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hillary might have to denounce the electronic voting machines vendor.
After she "wins".
By that time, the results will be permanent, no matter how many examples of voter fraud are revealed.
April 22, 2008 12:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
PA, after all, is a "machine" state. Those who own the machines, own the state.
April 22, 2008 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
I guess Obama not paying street money has something to do with this.
April 22, 2008 12:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
It will be like NYC all over again. Haven't you heard? Zero votes for Obama in heavily black districts is perfectly normal.
Seriously though, most voters aren't sticking around waiting for the machines to be fixed.
April 22, 2008 12:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Or maybe it's Obama supporters sabotaging because they know they can't win. That's what some people accuse the Republicans of doing in 2000.
April 22, 2008 1:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
You Clintonistas would know, using the Republican dirty tricks play book and all.
April 22, 2008 1:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOL. Silly.
April 22, 2008 1:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're right. How could we expect him to win in heavily black districts? He's been doing so poorly in that demographic recently, after all.
April 22, 2008 6:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's vindictive to say she won because of cheating. Obama zealots pulled that in New Hampshire, there was a recount, and Clinton picked up even more votes as a result.
She's been expected to win in PA, and you know it.
The cheating has been done by Obamites in the caucuses.
Using intimidation and other means.
April 22, 2008 11:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Accusations of intimidation sure are funny, coming from a campaign base making threats at the DNC to withdraw funding if they don't get their way...
April 22, 2008 11:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're complaining about vindictiveness??
April 23, 2008 12:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, I think it was Kucinich that demanded the recount.
April 23, 2008 2:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
So, Obama supporters know they can't win Philly?
April 22, 2008 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fits right in with Hillary's lie, cheat and steal ethos.
New Hampshire, New York and California were all rigged in Hillary's favor. Hundreds of Thousands of Obama votes were not counted. Media covered those instances, if only sporadically.
In New Jersey, using the same electronic voting machines that are currently in use in PA, there were more votes than the actual number of people who casted votes. How is that possible without rigging?
April 22, 2008 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Are we ever going to be able to trust an election outcome again? I just knew something like this would happen in PA, but I didn't really expect it to be so blatant in the African American districts of Philly. I mean, c'mon, what else can you think when machines break down only there?
April 22, 2008 2:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's a link from the Inquirer:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/breaking/news_breaking/20080422_Few_problems_in_Pa__primary_elections.html
April 22, 2008 3:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's another link more recent.
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/politics/18002279.html
April 22, 2008 3:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is not surprising. On SuperTuesday there were highly irregular things in the ballot in LA County that favored Hillary, such as confusing indies with a special bubble to mark. (Indies mostly went for Obama.)
It's a fact that PA has a large Democratic machine. Hillary does well in places like that. It's a typical form of corruption you can expect with an old hand politician.
In 20 years, Obama may be in a similar position. But for now, we are dealing with dynasties like the Bushes and the Clintons.
That's why dynasty politics is a bad thing.
April 22, 2008 10:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Apparently the Women's League of Voters put in a complaint about one precinct where none of the machines worked and voters gave up.
April 22, 2008 11:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Broken Machines in Philadelphia -- kind of like making rain a headline in April.
We don't need no stinking interference to get the machines to break down ... and we don't actually even need broken machines for the machines not to work...
I was working the polls today. Turn out was higher than in 2004 Nov election. But it wasn't as one sided as I had hoped.
April 23, 2008 1:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, here's an idea: Maybe neither side cheated, and there were simply some machines that broke down in a city that isn't known for its perfect public administration.
April 23, 2008 10:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
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