Total (17 cases reported to TrueVoteMD.org)
Student Voting Problems(thousands unable to vote due to registration problems, hundreds or thousands unable to get absentee ballots)
More detailed summary and documentation at end of cases
Touchscreen Switching
Reported to VotersUnite: I waited for 2 hours to vote in
also long lines-waited 2 hours to vote. I heard others with similar experience. (see votersunite.org at end)
Polling place problems in minority precincts
|
030953 |
|
Other polling place problem |
|
Election judge has left, no one can vote. |
|
034909 |
|
Long lines |
Public School #84, Heath & Light Streets, |
No chief judge on site; very disorganized; voters made to wait
in three different lines for administrative bottlenecks; while several of the
voting machines are open and waiting. They have to wait 5-6 times as long as
the voters at the other polling place in the same gymnasium (precinct 3 ward
23) |
|
040470 |
|
Long lines; Other polling place problem; Other |
|
Certain cards were missing @ polling place, able to vote but
took a long time--thought this action was intentional to deter voters. |
|
040989 |
|
Late opening; Other polling place problem |
Dickey Hill Elem/Middle School, |
Precinct opened @ |
|
048866 |
|
Disability access problem; Polling place inquiry |
|
change polling entrance and handicapped people couldnt get up two flight of stairs |
|
049111 |
|
Voter Intimidation |
|
person asking question and was told if he come back he will get
locked up because he had been there before trespassing |
|
052531 |
|
Polling place inquiry |
St James Academic, |
Election officials asking what party affiliation and then put
your card in. |
|
029574 |
|
Late opening |
|
Polls didn't open until |
|
050272 |
|
Machine problem; Long lines; Other polling place problem |
|
Confusion @ the polling place, no chief judge present, officials
weren't verifying numbers, long lines, people didn't
know what was going on. |
|
052486 |
|
Polling place inquiry |
|
when a person go into the booth a button is to be
pushed by the monitor but they never did it correctly very poor. |
|
052580 |
|
Voter Intimidation; Identification-related problem |
|
polling place asking people for ID they had voted before or not |
|
052619 |
|
Long lines |
|
Last year the site had 6 booth but now they only have 3 lines
was long |
Voter suppression: mostly minorities
|
012795 |
|
Registration-related problem |
|
Attempted to register at an African American festival - were
told they had registered. Later went online and found out that they were not
registered. |
|
|
013552 |
|
Registration-related problem |
|
Voter registered in mid-September at a mall in |
|
|
015993 |
|
Absentee-ballot related problem |
|
States that a family member at the |
|
|
016429 |
|
Absentee-ballot related problem |
|
Caller did not want to give his name or phone number because he
described himself as an election official. He wanted to notify the hotline of
an absentee problem. He is helping folks who are unable to get to the polls,
and are therefore voting absentee ballots. The ballots arrived with
instructions that the return ballot envelope "needs extra postage,"
but when he called the county election office, no one could tell him how much
extra postage should be used. They told him to go to the post office, but he
is concerned that the people who can't get to the polls due to disability
will also not be able to get to the post office. Access issue. |
|
|
019048 |
|
Registration-related problem |
|
I dropped my registration application at DMV on time. I haven't
received anything yet |
|
|
022264 |
|
Criminal status-related problem |
Baltimore Co MD County, |
Calling on behalf of his nephew Greg. Greg's a first time voter
and convicted felon. He says his rights were restored. He mailed in his
registration form, but polling place says he's not on their list. |
|
|
024306 |
|
Registration-related problem |
|
He called |
|
|
039695 |
|
Provisional ballot problem; Other ballot-related problem |
Timer Grove Elementary, Owings Mills, |
Not allowed to cast ballot or provisional ballot @ location
filed in 2000 election |
|
|
040090 |
|
Registration-related problem |
Library in |
Was told that she wasn't on the registration roster |
|
|
043508 |
|
Registration-related problem |
Hazelwood Elementary, |
Rec'd new voter reg. card bc they
moved in May. Went to vote and name wasn't on the roster. Has been voting
since 1991. |
|
|
050102 |
|
Other |
Glenmill Elementary, |
Elderly woman was refused the right to vote bc
she didn't have her registration card nor picture I.D. Official refused her
this right. No one else was present at the polls. [P] |
|
|
050559 |
|
Registration-related problem |
|
Barnes was told she was only eligible to vote via absentee
ballot but can't remember sending all information in. |
|
|
038769 |
|
Registration-related problem |
Hollifield Station El Sch, |
If you get a postoffice box, you are
automatically changed to that address. Resident at same address for 7 years.
Went to Supervisors' Board. After a lot of provocation, they found a 15 year
old address in Howard Co. Met with entire board. They sent her to Howard Co.
Not interested in a provisional vote. Her voter's card was flagged in Howard
Co. because the address was a PO box. |
|
|
050055 |
|
Long lines; Other polling place problem |
|
75 year old woman who stood in line for an hour to be told that
she was in the correct polling place but the wrong ward line. Referred to
another line that included another hour long wait. Left out of frustration
and didn't get to vote. |
|
|
050182 |
|
Disability access problem |
Calloway Elementary, |
Disabled and went to the polling site twice but unable to vote bc of no way to get inside the polls. |
|
|
050564 |
|
Polling place inquiry |
|
told not on role but have voted there 4 times
prior they turned at least one other away. |
|
|
050755 |
|
Voter Intimidation; Provisional ballot problem |
|
(Precinct Judge) was rude and turned people away. She was denied
a provisional ballot at first but went to report it to the NAACP. When she
went back to vote she was treated very harshly. [P] |
|
Voting Machine Problems
|
|
016783 |
|
Machine problem |
|
electronic machines in the last
election only let you vote the party line. Voter wanted to make sure that did
not happen this time. |
|
|
034613 |
|
Voter Intimidation; Disability access problem |
Chillum Rec. Center, 6120 SARGENT ROAD, Hyattsville, MD, Rolling
Crest, Prince George's County, Maryland |
Precinct captains are preventing people from voting. 1 long line
instead of 3, nobody to help those that can't read. Another line circles the
floor, leading to the machines. Enough voting places that the line is not
necessary. Problems for those with disabilities because of long wait. Some
drug-taker deliberately smoking near the lines inside the voting place,
standing too close for comfort. Poll workers not controlling these problems,
intimidating those with disabilities. Precinct captain wouldn't leave desk to
help with problems. No exit at side door, forcing people to leave through
incoming lines. Insulting situation to seniors. |
|
|
041323 |
|
Voter Intimidation; Machine problem; Unable to read ballot;
Other ballot-related problem; Other polling place problem; Other |
Perry Wood Elementary (Voter Ctr. 3004), Upper Marlboro, |
Computer not working, asked election official to assist in
instruction for voting and was told to click 'vote' even though that was not
her willing vote. Election Chief Judge S. Thomas said there were no other complaints therefore it was a 'user error'
and she was told that her vote had been cast. Computer # 100711 Machine kept
ejecting her card. Other people were allowed to vote at that machine after
her. |
|
|
041693 |
|
Machine problem; Other ballot-related problem; Other |
|
Voting machines kept shutting down & rebooting. Was told
that the rest of the days votes would be counted manually. Chief Judge was
counting the votes but system shut down several times. |
|
|
050159 |
|
Machine problem; Other ballot-related problem |
|
voting machine malfunction code 013 came up |
Large numbers of voters not allowed to
vote in
Examples:
|
|
030000 |
|
Registration-related problem |
|
Several registered voters told names are not on list |
|
|
030128 |
|
Registration-related problem |
James Madison Middle Sch, Upper
Marlboro MD School, Upper Marlboro MD, Upper Marlboro, |
every other person's names not on roll, had
to vote provisional. Excuse: changed address too late. Some in August. Took
an hour to find out. A Judge said "Get in line and shut up!" |
Touchscreen Vote Switching
Voter
Ethel Kerscher at Leisure World Clubhouse in
Voter
David Solomon at the
Polling Place Problems/long lines
|
030092 |
|
Other polling place problem |
|
Voter was in line from |
|
034768 |
|
Disability access problem |
|
Unable to get to parking spot; election official closed parking
lot to cars; people drove away |
|
039394 |
|
Long lines |
|
Took over an hour to vote, extremely long lines, slow poll
workers |
|
043453 |
|
Long lines; Other polling place problem |
|
Significant delay to vote and staff seems poorly trained. |
Registration Problems/provisional ballot problems/student registration problems
|
039449 |
|
Registration-related problem; Provisional ballot problem |
|
Voter has card but was told she must vote provisionally bc she isn't on the roster. 6-10 others in same
situation. |
|
039520 |
|
Registration-related problem; Provisional ballot problem |
|
Allowed a provisional ballot but no privacy while voting, vote
put into a bag, rude poll workers and was told in the beginning that she was
in the wrong place |
|
039985 |
|
Problem based on student status |
Stamp Student Union, Adelphi, |
Students not registered are being turned away and not allowed to
vote provisionally. Student's registration was messed up by University. |
|
040613 |
|
Other |
ST. Matthews Manor, |
voter works near that precinct. had gone to shaw middleschool, has always
been her voting place= she was not on polls= |
|
043239 |
|
Registration-related problem; Voter Intimidation; Provisional
ballot problem; Other polling place problem |
Stephen Knowles School, Kensington, Montgomery Co. County, |
THIS CALLER WAS IN TEARS ---- Name not on roster even though she
had info. from BOE. There was no secrecy/privacy,
ballots not secure, no receipt, they were
rushing/bullying her. |
|
043322 |
|
Registration-related problem |
|
Told he could not vote because the address on his license didn't
match the voter roll address |
|
043801 |
|
Other polling place problem |
|
Is a poll watcher doing voter calls.
Called several people who never rec'd voter cards and for that reason were
not going to vote. Suspects that the people contacted were all
African-American but not sure. |
|
045967 |
|
Registration-related problem |
Northern Middle School, |
Voter submitted change of address to DMV in March-April,
expected them to contact voter registration. Polls said voter was not
registered in MD. Voter was picked for Jury Duty in Montgomery Co. on |
Absentee
Ballot problems
|
017745 |
|
Absentee-ballot related problem |
|
Had not yet received her absentee ballot |
|
019691 |
|
Absentee-ballot related problem |
|
Requested absentee ballot couple of months ago; never received
it; cannot make it to polls |
|
020470 |
|
Absentee-ballot related problem |
|
asked for absentee ballot before deadline still has not received |
|
035677 |
|
Absentee-ballot related problem |
|
She and husband submitted change of address (same county) when
renewed driver's license in June, 2004. Requested absentee ballot about 1
month ago. Never received it. Called Election Board and was told that there
is no record of their registration. |
Voter
Robin Wayne Hood at Havre de Grace H.S. in Harford County tried to change his
erroneous selection for president and, while doing so, accidentally submitted
his ballot—worse still, before he had made selections for the other races. “A
machine should not be allowed to do my voting for me,” he protested. http://www.truevotemd.org/Election_Report.pdf
TueVoteMD's(TrueVoteMD.org)
trained non-partisan election observers observed 201 reported machine
malfunction in the 108 precincts they observed, which represent 6% of the
state's precincts. Among the problems were 42 instances of machine crashes, 30
screen malfunctions, 17 instances when votes were switched on the
screen, 37 problems with the ballot encoder, and 16 incidents in which the
ballot was incorrect or incomplete.
http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=3966
http://www.truevotemd.org/Election_Report.pdf
The software
running on the touch-screen machines used across the state failed to record
some votes correctly, jumped to other pages on the ballot without being
prompted by the voter and inadvertently omitted some political races, according
to TrueVoteMD. "We have received hundreds of
calls from across the state," said the group’s co-director.
http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=3686
A woman
in
Hundreds of student voters at the
Late opening polls. Voters at locations such as Hilton and
Poll watchers report vote counts that did not
match the check-in numbers. http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=3685
TrueVoteMD summary of most serious election problems in
Maryland 2004 election based on trained
observers observations at 6% of Md precincts:
The most
serious flaw in the election process—one that affected 100% of
Most incidents
that were reported to TrueVoteMD fell into the
following categories:
• Lost votes
resulting from touch screen failures that included vote switching, review
screen malfunctions, unintended
selections and submission of ballots before voters had made selections,
hypersensitivity to touch that caused voters to complain that “it was out of
control and I have no
idea who my votes
were cast for,” screens going blank
• Lost votes due
to incomplete ballots that were missing candidates or entire races
• Lost votes due
to machines crashing or freezing before the voter cast a ballot
• Lost votes due
to “smart card” and encoder failures
• Lost votes due
to delayed poll openings because of machine boot-up failures
• Lost votes due
to voter abandonment because of unacceptably long waits
• Lost votes
from unreadable voting machine hard drives (PCMCIA cards)
• Lack of
privacy because machines were oriented so that the screens were visible by
those waiting on line to vote
• Discrepancies
between electronic vote tallies and manual vote tallies
• No offer of
provisional ballot or wrongful denial of provisional ballot
•
Disenfranchised
voters due to failures in the Motor Vehicle Administration registration
process.
• Inadequate
staffing and insufficient training of election judges
http://www.truevotemd.org/Election_Report.pdf
Analyis of Maryland vote data from
State
Kerry won with 1,334,493 which is a lead of only 309,790 in
Bush had 1,024,703 Here's why the official results were BS,
these are registered voters who voted in the entire STATE of
MARYLAND
1,340,778 78.89% of registered Dems voted (exit polls show about 90% voted Kerry)
733,643 81.37% of registered Republicans voted
5,415 72.36% of registered Greens voted (virtually none voted Bush)
16,182 67.39% of registered Libs voted
299,529 68.52% of registered Independents voted (Exit Poll says majority voted Kerry)
Results from Baltimore County
data is from the Baltimore County election summary
in Baltimore county (Diebold machines), it gets more
interesting.
Bush 166,051 (46.98%) with 1,089 blank votes for prez
Kerry 182,474 (51.62%)
Mikulski (dem senator) 217,688 (62.72%)
C.J. Pipkin (rep challenger for sen)
124,092 (35.75%)
blank votes for senate race 7,498
C.A. Ruppersberger (Dem) 96,723 (65.77%)
Jane Brooks (Rep) 46,236 (31.44%)
with blank votes of 7,447
Now you see that Bush consistently receives a higher percentage of the votes
than the Republican challengers and in Baltimore County,
not only are candidates not riding Bush's coattails, people are only voting
republican at the top of the ticket and not bothering to vote at all further
down on the ballot!
Now, I KNOW that the Democrats I talked to DID not vote for Bush and the exit
polls confirm that most voted for Kerry, now even if every single Republican
voted for Bush, of all the Independents in the entire state all but 8,469 would
have had to vote for Bush for him to get that number of votes, I can tell you
these are fake nos. We need to open up the machines! No more fraud years.
http://www.elections.state.md.us/SBE_Election/turnout/t
Student Voting Problems
Hundreds of student voters at the
|
041535 |
|
Registration-related problem; Insufficient number of ballots;
Provisional ballot problem; Long lines; Other polling place problem |
Stamps Student Union @ Univ. of MD, |
Stood in long lines, missed classes & still unable to vote.
Was told that info. must have been lost in the mail.
Polling place unorganized w/ thousands of students voting via 5 reg. tables.
No provisional ballots. |
|
042154 |
|
Voter Intimidation; Provisional ballot problem; Long lines |
|
Long lines/wait, NO provisional ballots, turning people away bc they are said to not be on the roster |
|
042964 |
|
Provisional ballot problem; Other polling place problem |
U of MD Student Union, |
Rude poll worker named Lisa Cote, no provisional ballots
available |
|
018403 |
|
Absentee-ballot related problem; Registration-related problem |
|
Caller is a college student in |
|
042761 |
|
Absentee-ballot related problem; Problem based on student status |
not sure, first time (only absentee), reistertown,
|
student in the military, absentee voter, filled
out each form the next day. filled out a ballot. called several times and was told that they would send her
an official ballot, but still has not received official ballot. was told that as military would only get one ballot. |
|
021724 |
|
Registration-related problem |
|
Student in |
|
039985 |
|
Problem based on student status |
Stamp Student Union, Adelphi, |
Students not registered are being turned away and not allowed to
vote provisionally. Student's registration was messed up by University |