**2012 Election Day thread**

[Harry Chappas]

The Secret Service just had traffic blocked on Congress.

 

Driving in this morning you could tell something was going down in the loop. Tow trucks, state police and then Streets and San and cops all over the outer drive.

[Harry Chappas]

Another reason to vote for Romney. Stop dealing with Obama's damn traffic jams.

 

No doubt

[southsider2k5]

Driving in this morning you could tell something was going down in the loop. Tow trucks, state police and then Streets and San and cops all over the outer drive.

 

Yeah it has been pretty busy both yesterday and today.

[Y2HH]

Says the guy on SoxTalk right now...

 

edit: he meant it as a joke, disregard my post, lol

 

That's what made it a joke, btw...the fact that a guy on Soxtalk was saying it in the first place.

[StrangeSox]

Isn't Obama's rally at McCormick?

 

edit: the office my wife used to work in overlooked O'Hare. She could always tell when Obama was coming in because the place shut down.

Edited November 6, 2012 by StrangeSox

[StrangeSox]

 

America's voting system is a disgrace

In any other democracy, voters nationwide would have cast their votes on the same kind of balloting equipment, subject to the same rules.

 

The parties would have had a minimal role in supervising the election, and certainly would not have been allowed to ask for rule changes as the vote occurred.

 

The voting would have been overseen by a national election commission, not by local judges, who might be nonpartisan — but who very well might not.

 

Americans worry more about voter fraud than do voters in other countries, because they are the only country without a reliable system of national identification.

 

In no other country, including federal systems such as Germany, Canada and Australia, does the citizen’s opportunity to vote depend on the affluence and competence of his or her local government.

 

In every other democracy, the vote is the means by which the people choose between the competing political parties — not one more weapon by which the parties compete

[southsider2k5]

Isn't Obama's rally at McCormick?

 

edit: the office my wife used to work in overlooked O'Hare. She could always tell when Obama was coming in because the place shut down.

 

Yep. They go from Congress to LSD.

[NorthSideSox72]

The voting machine problems are so easily solved, or at least putting it clearly to the voter to do it right.

 

Machines should be electronic, but generate TWO paper receipts to view (some machines have none, some have one). It should print them side by side next to the monitor. You can check the electronic selections against both receipts. One receipt tape gets locked into the box, the other gets printed for the voter, with a bar code on each to match them later if need be. There then should be random checks done here and there, of paper receipts vs electronic results, after the tallies. Any discrepencies can then be reported.

 

Do all that, and you make the whole thing transparent, and make it very easy for voters to feel confident in their votes.

 

[StrangeSox]

The ballot machine software should be 100% open-source and publicly financed.

[MexSoxFan#1]

Simple question, why can't all voting machines give you a receipt with the voting choices you made? You can verify it, put it in a ballot box and if there's any disputed result, you can go back and hand count them.

 

Seems so simple as a solution, voting machines that leave no paper trails are an easy target to tamper with...and that would stop all the conspiracy theories about one side trying to steal the election.

[Y2HH]

Changing my vote, last second...

 

[Soxbadger]

Im not sure I agree with Lohan's stance of ruining female actresses looks.

[Y2HH]

Im not sure I agree with Lohan's stance of ruining female actresses looks.

 

That's ok, shes like the Biden of the Sheen ticket. Doesn't matter anyway, he cannot die.

[Soxbadger]

 

 

[StrangeSox]

Another Black Panther siting at the polls:

 

[NorthSideSox72]

The ballot machine software should be 100% open-source and publicly financed.

Open source I think is a horrible idea. Why not just put a sign up that says "please hack us"?

 

Better to have the source code reviewed by a nonpartisan agency for all new versions that come out? No print-outs, just software analysts looking for problems and testing, then turning the machines back over. That also gives you the benefit of being able to check for software changes (via object compares) on machines in actual use later.

 

[HuskyCaucasian]

Key times tonight (central time):

6pm - Virginia polls close

6:30pm - Ohio polls close

7pm - Florida, Pennsylvania polls close

 

By 7:30, we could know a lot.

[HuskyCaucasian]

Open source I think is a horrible idea. Why not just put a sign up that says "please hack us"?

 

Better to have the source code reviewed by a nonpartisan agency for all new versions that come out? No print-outs, just software analysts looking for problems and testing, then turning the machines back over. That also gives you the benefit of being able to check for software changes (via object compares) on machines in actual use later.

I can agree to that. There are very easy ways to include checks to make sure no code ever changes.

Edited November 6, 2012 by Athomeboy_2000

[Soxbadger]

Here are the lots that are currently for sale on intrade for Obama:

 

 

$7.02 25 shares

$7.03 19 shares

$7.04 23 shares

$7.05 3742 shares

$7.06 9997 shares

$7.07 4999 shares

$7.10 9458 shares

$7.14 9712 shares

 

Here are Romney's to buy:

 

$2.99 8508 shares

$2.98 31 shares

$2.97 25 shares

$2.96 29 shares

$2.92 4890 shares

$2.90 6900 shares

$2.85 4999 shares

$2.80 10000 shares

 

Seems like someone is artificially ensuring that it doesnt go drastically over $7 for Obama or under $3 for Romney.

 

 

[Soxbadger]

If you are wondering why its clear that someone is messing with it, look at how few lots are on the opposite sides:

 

Obama (buy):

 

Best (highest) price members are buying at

Price per share Quantity

$6.92 200 shares

$6.91 1 share

$6.90 76 shares

$6.89 51 shares

$6.88 16 shares

$6.86 16 shares

$6.85 501 shares

$6.83 17 shares

$6.82 3 shares

$6.81 12 shares

$6.80 226 shares

$6.79 30 shares

$6.78 15 shares

$6.77 25 shares

$6.76 31 shares

 

Romney (sell):

 

Best (lowest) price members are selling at

Price per share Quantity

$3.08 2 shares

$3.09 70 shares

$3.11 101 shares

$3.12 800 shares

$3.20 101 shares

$3.28 100 shares

$3.29 1654 shares

$3.30 50 shares

$3.33 456 shares

$3.34 71 shares

$3.37 98 shares

$3.40 650 shares

$3.49 15 shares

$3.50 550 shares

$3.57 8 shares

[RockRaines]

I feel pretty good about Jill Stein's chances.

[StrangeSox]

Open source I think is a horrible idea. Why not just put a sign up that says "please hack us"?

 

Better to have the source code reviewed by a nonpartisan agency for all new versions that come out? No print-outs, just software analysts looking for problems and testing, then turning the machines back over. That also gives you the benefit of being able to check for software changes (via object compares) on machines in actual use later.

 

Open-source is arguably more beneficial from a security standpoint. Any system, be it physical or cyber, has countless vulnerabilities both known and unknown. Getting those systems poked and proded in the public realm can bring many of those vulnerabilities to light. And, as with any aspect of cybersecurity, step one is physical security--without access to the physical voting machines, all of that "hacking" is useless.

 

http://jps.anl.gov/Volume3/Paper1_Loughlin.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_software_security

[StrangeSox]

The Argonne security team has a couple of pieces on election security:

 

http://www.ne.anl.gov/capabilities/vat/election-security/

[LittleHurt05]

Fox News ‏@FoxNews

Obama and Romney in a dead heat among undecided voters.

 

Really? If they are truly undecided, then how do you know who they are voting for?

[StrangeSox]

Chicago woman votes while going into labor

 

CBS Chicago 32 reports that when her labor began at 3 a.m., she held off going to the hospital until she was able to go to her polling place and vote.

 

“I never voted before so this made a major difference in my life,” she said. “And I wanted this to be a stepping-stone for my daughter.”…

 

“I was just trying to read and breathe, read and breathe,” she said. “That’s what I kept telling myself, ‘Read and breathe, read and breathe.”

 

Once she finished voting, she left her polling place and drove herself to the hospital, awaiting the birth of her daughter. She calls it a milestone day – her first vote and her first child.