{"id":6027,"date":"2011-10-04T00:42:11","date_gmt":"2011-10-04T07:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=6027"},"modified":"2011-10-04T00:42:11","modified_gmt":"2011-10-04T07:42:11","slug":"scotus-allows-dallas-to-confuse-voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/scotus-allows-dallas-to-confuse-voters\/","title":{"rendered":"SCOTUS allows Dallas to confuse voters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Residents of Dallas County, Texas need to take heed of a quirk in their voting machines, because they are sure to confuse voters.  Dallas County Democrats sued and won in the Appeals Court, but Republican dominated County appealed to the Supreme Court.  In my cartoon in yesterday\u2019s Open Thread<\/a>, I said to hide the Constitution, because the Court is sitting again, so I don\u2019t have to tell you how the decision turned out.<\/font><\/p>\n

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\"4ivoting\"The Supreme Court has thrown out a ruling on the use of a certain electronic voting machine in Texas<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The high court without comment declared moot an appeal of a ruling against Dallas County, Texas. That county was sued by the Texas Democratic Party over the use of iVotronic machines.<\/p>\n

They allow people to vote straight-party tickets, but if the voter subsequently touches any of the candidates in that party on the screen, their vote for that person is rescinded<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n

…Before machines, Dallas County used paper ballots. If a voter selected a straight ticket, and that party’s candidate, his or her vote for that candidate would count<\/strong>… [emphasis added<\/em>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from <AP<\/a>><\/p>\n

In short, the machines, treat voting a ticket and then selecting individuals the exact opposite of the way these votes were counted using paper ballots.  This gives Republicans a distinct advantage.  Because their voters need to be told what to think, they already have networks in place to do so.  You can be sure that pastors in the pulpits of every supply-side pseudo-Christian church will be repeating instructions over and over again.  In addition, the Republican party will do everything they can to keep the information from poor and minority voters,  Dallas County Democrats must pick up that slack.<\/font><\/p>\n

In addition, moving from paper to electronic machines is a step backwards.  Remember 2004.<\/font><\/p>\n