After yesterday’s “legislative fact-finding,” the public can now add a plethora of excuses to this real-life “reality TV” drama. From the nameless subordinate who screwed everything up to the mysterious numbers in red that just magically appeared, we can blame this debacle on broken voting machine batteries and phantom PEBs…but alas, there we were 20 days and a grueling 3.5 hours later, and very few new facts, if any, were revealed.
Here’s what we knew before Monday’s meeting:
- The Richland County Election Commission broke the law on Election day, by deploying an inadequate number of machines at most Richland County precincts.
- No one, including the Director, can tell us why.
- Many Richland County voters stood in line for 3-6 hours or more, braving cold, harsh conditions regardless of age, physical conditions or disabilities
- Many Richland County voters were not able to cast their ballots because of the extensive waits and were effectively disenfranchised.
- Although these Ivotronic machines have been in use across SC for 8 years now, only Richland County had the types of issues we faced on Nov. 6. The other 45 counties executed their elections without significant incident.
Here’s what Monday’s 3.5 hour fact-finding hearing revealed:
- The Richland County Election Commission broke the law on Election day, by deploying an inadequate number of machines at most Richland County precincts.
- No one, including the Director, can tell us why.
- Many Richland County voters stood in line for 3-6 hours or more, braving cold, harsh conditions regardless of age, physical conditions or disabilities.
- Many Richland County voters were not able to cast their ballots because of the extensive waits and were effectively disenfranchised.
- Although these Ivotronic machines have been in use across SC for 8 years now, only Richland County had the types of issues we faced on Nov. 6. The other 45 counties executed their elections without significant incident.
