A statewide get-out-and-vote campaign aiming to get as many people registered in time to vote for November's presidential election has turned into a statewide snafu. Phones are ringing off the hook at the state Division of Elections with questions from puzzled voters who received a letter telling them they weren't registered. About 300,000 letters were sent out - but a system glitch matching voter reg files with DMV files caused as many as 1,000 letters with the wrong information to be sent out - including listing some voters' ages as 208. Even Barista Deb Galant received one - which she promptly round-filed - knowing it was a goof.
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NJ Voters: You're Registered, No, You're Not
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
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Comments (20)
Oh yeah, this really inspires faith in the electoral system--NOT!
My wife got one of these and we figured it was some kind of computer glitch so into the trash it went.
Should 208-year-olds still have the right to vote?
"Glitch" is not a technical term, it is the lazy language of journalists, and the dodgy language of officials, who don't actually care to delve into an actual *malfunction* ... let's see, if my car failed to stop coming down Eagle Rock Way because my brakes malfunctioned, would that be a "glitch" -- was it a "glitch" when the space shuttle blew up? So why is it a "glitch" every time our voting process shows up susbtandard?
Should 208-year-olds still have the right to vote?
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Only if they're still allowed to drive.
The problem was most likely caused by faulty 'match' processing, no doubt the result of the data conditioning alogorithms that preprocessed DMV and voter registration data prior to the deployment of the the processing objects responsible for identifying 'unregistered' voters.
Thank goodness this didn't happen in a Red state or it would be some kind of voter suppression scheme.
Im pretty sure that the GOP has something to do with this. Much like a glitch in the voting machines in poor neighborhoods
Naahh, it was just a SNAFU
That's funny, Jimmy, I was thinking the same thing about the Dems.
There have been efforts by republicans in key states to strike voters, mostly African American, from the voter role. We saw this is Florida in 2000, Ohio in 2004, and we are seeing it in Colorado and Virginia.
Laserloony, you see conspiracies everywhere. It is ever thus.
Even so, I hasten to gently remind you of the reports of the Democratic desd voting in Chicago (home ground of a certain Barack Hussein Obama) and in Cleveland, and of similar Dem hijinks in Philly, NYC, even Omaha. Why don't you ever refer to such events? It's probably because you purposely block them out since they don't fit into your narrow, paranoid view of history.
I have to say, laserlad, the upcoming election seems to be making you crazier than ever. Promise me, whoever wins this November, you'll take a nice long rest afterwards, yes? I'd hate to lose the village idiot.
It takes a village to raise an idiot.
NJ is a blue state, Essex County is a blue county. If there is any blame to be laid (and I think there is) it is at the feet of the Democrats who have been overseeing our Division of Elections for quite some time. Remember those F@#*%ing voting machines? Brought to you by the same Dems who run the show today.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0DEEDC103BF933A25754C0A9629C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1
Cathar, Martta, it's like you're not in the same universe.
Well, laserloner, we certainly have more active, fuller, richer emotional and social lives than you have in your own special, uh, "universe."
I don't get the loner bit but whatever makes you happy.
I dont understand with the internet and television, etc that the GOP can be so forgetful. I understand that its the old age party, but there are pills for that. Yes, disenfranchised voters have been heard and documented in both the 2000 and 2004 elections. Cathar, I know you have selective memory, but you cant deny history
I dont understand with the internet and television, etc that the GOP can be so forgetful. I understand that its the old age party, but there are pills for that. Yes, disenfranchised voters have been heard and documented in both the 2000 and 2004 elections. Cathar, I know you have selective memory, but you cant deny history
Right. The GOP disenfranchises voters, but not the Democrats. Google works both ways, as does voter fraud.
Speaking of Google, try using it to find out about ACORN. Guess which side THEY'RE trolling for? But I guess if you use voter fraud (you know, the kind you get indicted and go to jail for) in the name of minorities, that doesn't count.