Votes Found On Machines In Philly, Before Polls Open

[Smoker29]

Before voting even began in Philladelphia -- poll watchers found nearly 2000 votes already planted on machines scattered throughout downtown... One incident occurred at 2601 N. 11th St., Philadelphia, Pa: Ward 37, division 8... pollwatchers uncovered 4 machines with planted votes; one with over 200 and one with nearly 500... A second location, 1901 W. Girard Ave., Berean Institute, Philadelphia, Pa, had 300+ votes already on 2 machines at start of day... INCIDENT: 292 votes on machine at start of day; WARD/DIVISION: 7/7: ADDRESS: 122 W. Erie Ave., Roberto Clemente School, Philadelphia, Pa.; INCIDENT: 456 votes on machine at start of day; WARD/DIVISION: 12/3; ADDRESS: 5657 Chew Ave., storefront, Philadelphia, Pa... Developing...

http://www.drudgereport.com

[weezer6]

who were the votes for?

[Smoker29]

The story is developing. I don't think it matters whom the votes are for, the person/people responsible should have the book thrown at them.

I am curious though....:D

[hp1]

Fuckin Nader thugs is my bet.

[Homsar]

Maybe they're uncounteds from the last election?

[Jake_Barnes]

My guess would be they were Kerry votes. Philadelphia has always been very Democrat, and a strong turnout in the city could trump the rest of the state and give PA to Kerry. Republicans would be dumb to try and pull a stunt like that in Philadelphia. It would be much easier for a Democrat to go to a Democratic precinct in this very Democratic city and get away with it.

That's just my guess, though. I don't have any facts on it.



Although, I also heard that both parties are denying it and saying that those numbers are just how many times these machines have been used in the past, and they aren't votes that are counted. Probably a more likely scenario. Whatever.

[mike]

Drudge is a journalistic ambulance chaser. I'll wait until Dan Rather reports on it before believing it :p

[davepurcell]

Saw this on DailyKos, it's being reported on radio in Philly:

It seems the machines have counters in the back of them that don't count the number of votes but how many times the voting machines have been used in an election.

Nice try, Drudge.

[davepurcell]

Just off the AP wire:

-----
An army of zealous, partisan political operatives descended on polling locations around the state Tuesday, looking for any signs of voting irregularities, and election officials planned to spend the day investigating fraud allegations.

Republican observers in Philadelphia lodged some of the earliest complaints, claiming that voting machines in the city already had thousands of votes recorded on them when the polls opened at 7 a.m.

City election officials and the district attorney rushed to some of the precincts in question, and quickly said the GOP poll watchers had gotten it wrong.

Deputy City Commissioner Ed Schulgen and Cathie Abookire, a spokeswoman for District Attorney Lynne Abraham, said the observers had pulled the numbers from an odometer that records every vote ever cast on the machine in every election - and not the counter that records how many votes will be counted for this election.

"It's absolutely ridiculous," Schulgen said.

Ridiculous or not, rumors of widespread fraud quickly made their way on to the Internet and circulated nationally.
---

Drudge is a jackass.

dp

[wileE]

Originally posted by davepurcell

"It's absolutely ridiculous," Schulgen said.


I think this sums up the whole election year.

[Digit1001]

So just to fuel the conspiracy fire...

Would removing these machines to check them for fraud limit the number remaining, making longer lines, encouraging people to turn away....

Just a thought. Not saying this is the case, but in this election, I don't discount anything.

Now I'll stick to the Lost thread for further conspiracty theories.