Election 08 Special Coverage: Say hello to President Barack Obama (Final Update)

by Steve Ragan - Nov 5 2008, 03:00

Technology and elections -- should they mix? Today, at least in the United States, is Election Tuesday. After today, all of the campaign ads will go off the air, and you can forget about elections, party divisions, and red or blue states -- at least for a little while.

However, technology plays a huge part in this year’s presidential election. With that in mind, The Tech Herald will follow things today, and keep you posted on any technological issues that are election related.

11:00 PM EST

The race has been called...

With 306 Electoral Votes...

Sen. Barack Obama will indeed become the 44th President of The United States of America.

10:10 PM EST

Just a quick update on the electoral math.

Obama has 207 Electoral Votes from
ME, VT, NH, MA, CT, RI, NJ, DE, MD, DC, NY, PA, OH, MI, WI, MN, IL, IA, and NM

McCain has 89 Electoral Votes from
WV, KY, TN, SC, GA, AL, LA, OK, KS, ND, WY, UT

If you are looking for a lively debate online, keep an eye on Twitter. That and stop watching CNN. Switch to Comedy Central, Stewart and Colbert are on.

9:30 PM EST

For those of you who asked, someone on YouTube posted the video clip. Here is Wolf "I am Obi-Wan" Blitzer talking to a holographic CNN reporter. Again, if it wasn’t for technology and people who know how to use it taking an interest in politics, this night would only be half as fun.

 

 

9:15 PM EST

By now, most are glued to the Internet or a television watching the results come in. Despite the plethora of television coverage, most are still using the Internet to track this election's progress.

Reading recent posts on Twitter, 'tweets' as they are called, a good portion of the users are watching CNN and monitoring the Web at the same time. Well, except for Steve Ransom’s son, Steve reported that his six-year-old son has drawn an election graph, and is currently polling the family. We asked, but The Tech Herald was denied a photograph.

In fact, most of the tweets related to CNN center on the impressive use of holograms. Take that FOX News!

This is real. CNN reporter Jessica Yellin appeared in the studio earlier tonight with Wolf Blitzer, only she was an interactive hologram. Okay, not an 'interactive' hologram, but the visuals were certainly impressive. According to comments on TechCrunch, it appears CNN is using Cisco to pull the event off.

No points to anyone who tries the joke: “Help me, Wolf Blitzer, you’re my only hope!” mainly because 'Frisky' on TechCrunch beat you to it.

For those keeping score:

Obama has 174 Electoral Votes from
ME, VT, NH, MA, CT, RI, NJ, DE, MD, DC, NY, PA, MI, WI, MN, and IL

McCain has 69 Electoral Votes from
OK, TN, KY, SC, AL, ND, WY, GA, WV

Also, there are two progress Web sites worth check out:

http://www.isobamapresident.com/
http://www.ismccainpresident.com/

Yahoo has a great looking Dashboard for election coverage as well, so be sure to check that out:

http://news.yahoo.com/election/2008/dashboard

7:15 PM EST

Earlier this afternoon we covered the fake text messages that were being sent to various Obama supporters. There is more information to the story, and just before the polls closed on the East, CNN reported that the messages had started up again.

This time, the messages remained the same in context: “All Obama voters, due to long delays, are asked to wait and vote tomorrow 11/05.” Yet, to add some legitimacy to the message, the new version is branded as a breaking news alert from -- you guessed it -- CNN.

Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan told CNN she had no tolerance for anyone attempting to confuse voters.

"I am working with local election officials around the state to make sure poll workers and voters understand their rights," she said. "Anyone attempting to deprive voters of their rights on Election Day will be prosecuted."

Earlier this morning, someone (perhaps a group of people, no one is presently sure) broke into the e-mail system at George Mason University (GMU).

Once inside the system account they blasted an e-mail to 35,000 GMU students, informing them that the election had been moved to November 05.

“To the Mason Community,” the mail starts, “Please note that Election Day has been moved to November 5th. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.”

It was signed “Peter N. Stearns, Provost.”

GMU spokesman Daniel Walsch told The Washington Post that: “This is upsetting and embarrassing and has caused a lot of confusion and concern among people.”

Most informed voters know Election Day is November 04, so there is little chance the hoax would have worked, but it is one demonstration of how technology can be used to cause confusion.

Brian Krebs, Washington Post Security Reporter, said that the headers from the hoax e-mail show that it was routed through servers at wiredforchange.com.

Wiredforchange.com confirmed the headers were legit, and the e-mail was routed to GMU through one of its servers in Germany.

Chris Lundberg, CTO at wiredforchange.com, told Krebs that: “We are as pissed off as anyone about this incident, because our whole intention is to maximize turnout for election, not detract from it.”

In other tech-related election news, more than 100 e-voting machines were taken down in Kentucky this morning after they malfunctioned shortly after poles opened.

Kenton County Clerk Rodney Eldridge told the Associated Press that the 108 eSlate machines in the county were taken out of service. The machines weren't lighting up when someone voted a straight-party ticket of all Democrats or Republicans. Eldridge said the problem arose just after 9:00 a.m.

6:40 PM EST

The polls on the East Coast and parts of the Midwest are now closed. While we are still a while away from having solid information on the election winner, this does not stop hundreds of users online from projecting the presidential outcome.

Both sides are confident that their candidate has done well, but the pundits are calling the race, and the clear winner according to them is Obama. This remains to be seen, and it is far too early in the evening to call the race outright for either McCain or Obama.

4:45 PM EST

A recent video, located on YouTube, shows a perfect example of how technology catches things that some people might miss.

The video shows two men standing in front of the entrance to Guild House West, the polling location for the 4th Division of Ward 14 in Philadelphia.

The video, posted by www.electionjournal.org, stands on its own.

CNN reports that one man, described as wearing a black outfit, beret, and holding a nightstick, was asked to leave the polling center. A second man, who is reported to have been dressed similarly, was allowed to remain on site after he provided a poll watcher certificate.

Philadelphia County Board of Elections Supervisor Bill Rubin told CNN that local election rules state that a person cannot be within 10 to 15 feet of the polling location unless that person is a voter, poll employee, or has a watcher certificate.

Poll watchers perform three functions:

- Observe voting and counting procedures, reporting any questionable procedure to the county clerk or to county headquarters

- Maintain the card files (or a list) of all those who voted and didn't vote

- Challenge any unqualified voter, or ask an election official to do so

The issue with what you observe in the video is that poll watchers are mostly neutral and really shouldn’t possess a weapon right next to the entrance to the polling center. Rubin maintained in his comments to CNN that the instance documented in the video is a “non-issue,” and there have been no reports of intimidation in Philly.

4:00 PM EST

Social Media has been huge this election season. It started with the campaigns in the 1990s and grew in the 2000 and the 2004 elections. However, 2008 is the year the election is officially owned by the Internet.

YouTube posted hundreds of thousands of political videos, and every candidate during the primary and post-nomination used it as a political platform. Social networking platforms, such as MySpace and Facebook, were also utilised.

Not only do the political parties use MySpace and Facebook, but the media uses it too.

CNN, for example, uses Facebook to engage users on political discussions. As anyone who has watched the coverage CNN offers knows, one reporter (Jack Cafferty) poses a new question each day, and pimps his blog so hard it’s a wonder that he isn’t skimming ad revenue from the hits it gets.

Another thing CNN is doing today, aside from using Twitter, is taking most of its ongoing coverage from iReport (http://www.cnn.com/ireport/). While citizen journalism from iReport took a hit when someone reported false news about Apple CEO Steve Jobs, the political coverage on the site is seeing a strong push on air from CNN.

Other media ventures that focus on politics, technology, and the normal citizen actives on the Internet include the New Your Times, which is asking that everyone photograph their polling station. They want to develop a huge photo archive, completely driven by user submitted content.

To contribute, simply visit the official site: http://pollingplaces.nytimes.com/.

Both parties this election season, no matter the race, used text messaging and e-mails to track voters and build support. Volunteer teams coordinated their movements by using blogs and other Web 2.0 services (examples are live at this moment on Obama’s and McCain’s Web sites), and their efforts are attributed to rounding up the largest crop of new voters seen in years.

On Yahoo-owned image-sharing service Flickr, 'SaylaMarz' uses her own personal expression in her political opinions. She uses images and posts to explain her side of the Red vs. Blue argument, and does so quite well.

This is just one example of normal Internet dwellers taking a stand and expressing themselves. We’ll have more in the next update.

2:30 PM EST

While watching Twitter, one comment caught our attention. A comment by 'TRUEBOY' reported text messages being sent out that contained false voting information. When asked for more information, he sent The Tech Herald the text message in full:

“Due to exceptionally long lines today, all Obama voters are asked to vote on Wednesday.”

This could be a case of the computers responsible for sending the text messages having the wrong information. However, the phone number the text message was sent from was not a databank; it is owned by a single person who denied sending the message.

This is not the only case of false information being e-mailed, phoned or texted out. Robo-phones have been reported to be advising some citizens that long delays are forcing the polling centers to move Democratic or Republican voting to November 05. This is false, but it appears to be a technical glitch.

So here is a question: What are your thoughts on mixing technology and elections? Is this a good idea or bad idea? Let us know in the comments section.

One Twitter user gave us an excellent response. 'CJTarbett' said: “If technology can remove the margin of human error – [it is] essential. If it makes human error easy to manipulate – [it is] terrifying.”

1:30 PM EST

Palm Beach County, Florida, is making headlines again today. CNN is reporting “undervotes” in a few polling stations. This is when the ballot is returned because the back page is left blank. According to officials this is not an error and is legal, but one has to question why the entire form is mandatory.

The town of Palm Beach is also reporting sporadic errors with voting machines breaking down. Another issue centered on a polling location opening an hour late due to voting list errors.

Absentee ballots have gone missing in Dona Ana County, New Mexico. The county public information officer told CNN that it is unclear how many voters could miss out on having their vote counted. Adding to this problem is that the Bureau of Elections is reporting that it is still getting calls from residents who have not received their absentee ballot.

Since these ballots are all sorted and assigned to voters electronically, it could be assumed there is a technical glitch of some fashion. However, there is no proof of it at this time. CNN reports that both Democrats and Republicans in the county say they are getting calls from voters who feel they've been left out.

Gen Mitchell, a volunteer at the Dona Ana County Republican party, told CNN that “legally they were supposed to have them [absentee ballots] out, and they didn't get them out.”

12:10 PM EST

The image below is made up of pictures from Flickr (user credit listed with image), giving you a look at what caught the eyes of voters today.

Flickr is one of the many social media sites where users are posting their experiences, using some rather focused visuals. User 'Kellyhafermann' reminds us that Starbucks is offering free coffee to voters today, a topic that is getting lots of mention on Twitter as well.

User 'Jothan.libov' offers a look at the lines in his local polling center, while 'Sapphir3blu3' shows us that, in her opinion, one party should certainly dominate.

 

11:30 AM EST

More news from the troubled voting technology department, as CNN is reporting five out of seven machines broke down this morning in Richmond, Virginia (Henrico County). This led to a switch to paper ballots.

Fairfax County, Virginia, is reporting that a “handful” of memory cards did not work this morning, which led to some delays. Replacement cards were sent out to the affected precincts.

Rain in North Carolina is causing some problems. Voters were soaked to the bone while waiting in line, leading to issues once they had their paper ballots in hand. The wet ballots caused problems with the optical scanners.

Wake County Board of Elections director Cherie Poucher told CNN: "When we put the ballot through the scanner it is soggy and doesn't go through. One ripped and got stuck when the voter tried to get it out."

The optical scanner in question was taken out of service, and the wet ballots set aside to dry. Once they are dry, and the scanner is back up and running, they will be re-scanned.

From the “oh wow, free stuff” department, Lifehacker has a cool list of Election Day freebies on its Web site. These offers range from free coffee and doughnuts to free ice cream.

The freebies might have led to the situation described by Twitter user 'Lalorek', who observed that in Texas, “The line is longer in Starbucks than my polling place where I voted.”

9:00 AM EST

Let’s start the tech-election coverage with a story that was published on Friday, October 31 by the El Paso Times. The story centers on early voters who reported that e-voting machines are switching their votes to the wrong candidates.

The Texas Civil Rights Project voiced concerns in a press release about the reported problems, which originated from eight separate Texas counties (Collin, Dallas, El Paso, Galveston, Harris, Jefferson, Travis, and Palo Pinto).

"Voters have reported, for example, that when they tried to vote a straight-party Democratic ticket, the machine flipped their choices to Republican candidates instead," said Jim Harrington, the organization's statewide director. "In some cases, voters reported a problem only with the presidential race. In other cases, voters reported the entire ballot being marked Republican by the machine. It's happening when people vote for Barack Obama; the machine flips the votes over to John McCain."

El Paso County Elections Administrator Javier Chacon told the El Paso Times that he is aware of an e-mail hyping the reported issues, warning recipients that votes for Democrat Barack Obama were recording a red square, purportedly standing for the Republican party.

In a classic example of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt), taking advantage of the emotionally driven fight over Red State vs. Blue State, Chacon called the e-mail as false and said there is no flipping going on.

"The red square does not stand for the Republican Party. We've had people who complained about voting for a candidate and the machine showing a different one, but this stems from people who touch the screen in between the ballot selections instead of right on the square," he said. "They were able to vote correctly once they asked for help. Ladies with long fingernails and jewelry that touches the screen also can have this kind of problem."

Chacon also points to the intense emotional coverage and opinions surrounding the election as “spurring conspiracy theories.”

And Texas isn’t the only state with issues. A week before the El Paso Times report, West Virginia was in the news for the exact same problem. Voters there reported that the e-voting machines were switching votes as well.

West Virginia Secretary of State Betty Ireland told the press in a news conference at the time that:

"Recent news reports indicated that a handful of voters had difficulty selecting their candidate of choice during the first few days of early voting... However, all voters acknowledged that they were eventually able to select their candidate of choice and cast their ballot accurately."

Problems with e-voting machines have circulated both via e-mail and through mainstream news since primary season too.

Archived Associated Press reports tell the story of recent errors thanks to e-voting.

In the March 04 primary election in Ohio, for example, votes from 11 counties were dropped all together after memory cards were uploaded to computer servers. The reported cause of the dropped votes was software error.

Also in March, Sequoia Voting Systems threatened Union County, New Jersey, with a lawsuit for attempting to have the machine's security validated by a third party.

Sequoia e-voting machines were used across New Jersey, in 10 counties to be exact, during its last primary elections. During these primaries, five machines were inconsistent with the paper results, prompting election officials to order an independent review by Princeton University.

Sequoia said the inconsistencies were the result of operator error and not the result of machine error. Election officials were not satisfied with the answer given, prompting the investigation.

Ed Felten, Director of Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy, was set to review the Sequoia machine, when, according to the New Jersey Star-Ledger, Edwin Smith (Sequoia executive) put Union County Clerk Joanne Rajoppi on notice that an independent analysis would violate the licensing agreement between his firm and the county.

The AP also reports issues in Palm Beach County, Florida. During its August 26 primary, the county lost 3,500 ballots during a recount in a close judicial race. The votes appeared during a second recount and also during a third recount, causing a good deal of concern because the results showed a new winner each time.

What are your thoughts on technology and elections? Do they work together? Are they a proper advancement for the time, or a broken quick fix for the problems seen in 2000?

Have you experienced any voting problems today? Also, if you voted, feel free to tell everyone. Chime in below.

Around the Web