PSA: Super Duper Tuesday voting machines could be at risk

Attention voters: if you're casting your ballot for a special someone on this Super Duper Tuesday, you might want to hear what the folks over at Common Cause have to say. The nonpartisan, nonprofit voting machine watchdog wants you to know that six out of the 24 states involved in the presidential primaries today are using voting machines that are at "high risk" for malfunction or tampering. In all, 17 states have some risk factor -- based on the advocacy group's rating system -- though the machines in Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, New Jersey, New York, and Tennessee are the most likely to give the votes to Darth Vader, Dr. Evil, or Lord Voldemort. You have been warned.

[Zak @ Feb 5th 2008 6:37PM]

I'm totally voting for Superman.

[aguiluz @ Feb 5th 2008 7:21PM]

Dr. Evil and Mini me!

[emjoi @ Feb 5th 2008 7:35PM]

Batman has that dark brooding Vice Presidential Cheney feel about him.

[Dr. Evil @ Feb 5th 2008 8:24PM]

Vote for me or I'll place you in an easily escapable situation involving an overly elaborate and exotic death.

[aguiluz @ Feb 5th 2008 8:27PM]

@Dr. Evil

Now that's reassuring!

[Dr. Evil @ Feb 5th 2008 8:41PM]

Oh hell, let's just do what we always do. Hijack some nuclear weapons and hold the world hostage.

[thethirdmoose @ Feb 5th 2008 8:50PM]

that ho!

[Grey Acumen @ Feb 6th 2008 12:02AM]

I think Gordon Freeman would be a better candidate for today's society, to be honest.

[Austin @ Feb 5th 2008 6:39PM]

My missouri ballot was paper. and wherever it is now, you'll notice an ink blot next to the name of Ron Paul. Take that, bureaucracy!

[trevor @ Feb 5th 2008 10:36PM]

"Go ahead, THROW your vote away! (laughter)"

-The aliens from the Simpsons Halloween special :)

[Blacknimbus @ Feb 5th 2008 6:41PM]

http://adage.com/campaigntrail/post?article_id=124874

Mechanical.

And it doesn't take fancy Diebold touch screens to 'change' an election. Dead people have been voting in Chicago for decades.

[Neebs @ Feb 5th 2008 6:44PM]

>>most likely to give the votes to Darth Vader, Dr. Evil, or Lord Voldemort. You have been warned.


so what's new.

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Feb 5th 2008 7:11PM]

I'm totally going for vader, man. His campaign group is short on money but his law on under age light sabers is awesome!:p

[CharlieX @ Feb 5th 2008 7:18PM]

I see you've stolen my avatar....

[Neebs @ Feb 5th 2008 8:49PM]

Off-topic, but CUBSWILLWIN, did you happen to play any Halo 2 Vista online? Probably not, considering this is Engadget, but I remember a regular player named CUBSWININ07.

[Abuzar @ Feb 5th 2008 9:44PM]

What kind of fuckin person would vote for Voldemort? That's just low...

I would totally vote for Steven Colbert if I could.

[Dahk @ Feb 5th 2008 10:19PM]

Ah, but apparently Steven Colbert made Huckabee. Conan O'Brien made Colbert. Jon Stewart... made... Colbert.

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Feb 5th 2008 10:33PM]

no, it's colbert made huckabee, o'brian made colbert, stewart made o'brian.

[ciscoguerrero @ Feb 5th 2008 7:10PM]

My vote goes to the Roslin-Foster 08 ticket. I'll finally unite the Cylon and Human political parties.

[jorgemsousa @ Feb 5th 2008 7:12PM]

I didn't know Dr. Evil was running on the independents ballot he seemed republican to me.

[Cody Peterson @ Feb 5th 2008 7:18PM]

I think Orange County, CA has it down right: Its digital BUT it also prints out a paper ballot with your selections which you review, and once you have reviewed them, then you accept it... its nice to have a paper trail so that if something was fishy they could go back and see what the deal was...

[Ethan @ Feb 5th 2008 7:19PM]

I just love the name; 'Super Tuesday.' It's brilliant. 'Caucus' is ace to. As for the actual process however, John Oliver called it 'like selecting your leader with a tea party,' and I'm inclined to agree.

However, we seem to have found Gordon Brown by a strange default. No electronic tampering required.

[mushrooshi @ Feb 5th 2008 10:33PM]

Would you prefer Mega Tuesday?

[trevor @ Feb 5th 2008 10:40PM]

I heard in Japan it's called "The Super Ultra Mega Tuesday Deluxe Spectacular OK!".

[Ellory @ Feb 5th 2008 7:19PM]

Wow, I voted today in New Jersey but I didn't know our machines were on the suspect list. I wonder if that is for every county and not just for the ones with the newest machines.

[Odimerus @ Feb 5th 2008 7:37PM]

I voted in Massachusetts, and shockingly there was no poll tax.

[Jeff @ Feb 5th 2008 7:49PM]

Uh, New York? We still use mechanical machines...

(I just used one.)

[chester kwong @ Feb 5th 2008 7:58PM]

Another chance for bush to win. cant wait to see his name.

[MickerMack @ Feb 5th 2008 8:02PM]

Vote Robot Nixon

[Reader @ Feb 5th 2008 10:25PM]

Gasp I think I see Monica under his hand!

[Alexander @ Feb 5th 2008 10:32PM]

The voting should be doing by taking a scraping of living tissue from your finger--or blood if your so inclined--and then putting your DNA online with the vote.

There. No more copyright issues. Nobody can fake your DNA.

[Odimerus @ Feb 6th 2008 8:00PM]

But then dead people could still vote.

[Alexander @ Feb 6th 2008 9:53PM]

True, the dead still have DNA... But once you are dead, you get taken off of social security. You check, your DNA is checked against your SS# and if you are infact dead then you don't get to vote.

[Jay @ Feb 6th 2008 12:06AM]

Ah, faulty machines. Now Robin Williams can REALLY become the Man of the Year.

[Brian @ Feb 6th 2008 1:13AM]

I had a choice today between paper or electronic. I did see some people using the computer, but I chose to use the good old reliable paper version.

[John @ Feb 6th 2008 9:55AM]

Malfunction yes. But if you even tried to tamper with a machine in an election setting you'd be fucked. Serously fucked.
Dont believe me? Then make Ron Paul president.
...........
......
waiting
.............
.....
.......
See how that didn't happen... pussies.

[Craig Redman @ Feb 6th 2008 11:21AM]

I caught this article off GlobalGrind.com so I had to check it out. It's like we can't even trust the government to get the only power we have as people to work right.

[OneLove @ Feb 6th 2008 11:26AM]

so if I mention obama '08 this time, are you going to remove my comment again engadget?

[d840 @ Feb 6th 2008 1:50PM]

I can't believe that, with all the evidence that electronic voting machines are inherently insecure and easily hackable (the two kind of go together), that people seem SO obsessed with getting rid of paper.

The bottom line? If it ain't broke as bad as it could be, don't try screwing it up any more.