Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Ed Treacy Cracks Up

An hysterical Marion County Democratic Chairman Ed Treacy told reporters this morning that County Clerk Doris Ann Sadler and Republicans were guilty of criminal conduct because election workers had trouble starting voting machines this morning. He falsely claims that it was a deliberate attempt to block Democratic voters from voting. There are several problems with Treacy's "grassy knoll" theory. Firstly, the problem arose in precincts across the county, including both Democratic and Republican-leaning precincts. Secondly, no voters were denied the opportunity to vote. In Marion County, voters complete a paper ballot which is scanned into a machine which optically registers the votes. The paper ballots on which voters cast their votes were simply laid aside until election workers could get the voting machines fired up. Democrats had poll workers in each precinct just like the Republicans who are supposed to be trained on the election equipment. They must equally share the blame for the failure of these workers to initiate the machines when the polls first opened. What is criminal is for a public figure like Ed Treacy to stand in front of the cameras and accuse Sadler and others of committing a crime. He should be holding his head in shame, but he won't. These kind of hysterics from him have pretty much become par for the course each election. You would think our media would have caught on to his shady grandstanding by this point and simply ignore him.

10 comments:

Wilson46201 said...

Considering the constant unsupported allegations of multiple felonies by Congresslady Julia Carson by this Blog and by the many Dickerson supporters commenting freely on this Blog, I would have thought this Blog would be more circumspect about wagging accusatory fingers at Ed Treacy...

As the Good Book says: Remove the beam from thine own eye before the mote in thy neighbors eye!

Anonymous said...

I'd have expected a little simmer time on this report, too, AI.

If the machines are broken when I vote, I'll be damned if I "leave" my marked ballot for later scanning. No thanks. Wayyyyyy too much opportunity for mischief.

As I noted earlier on your blog, my polling place contains multiple precincts. There were as many opinions about straight ticket and Voter ID issues, as there were inspectors. There were no definitive answers. One precinct demanded Voter picture IDs and printing your last four DL digits beside your signature. Eight feet away, in clear earshot, One precinct required no ID. And everything in between.

Ditto for the questions about split-ticket voting.

Ed is over the top, but he often is the pit bull sent in to demand equity. If he sounds shrill, the hair dye might be seeping into his brain. His basic point is right.

Hell, equity is one thing...I just demand basic competence. Which was not present at my polling place this morning.

In the short time I stood there, about a dozen different voters asked about straight-ticket vs. split-ticket options for the scanning to work properly. I heard three inspectors give four different sets of directions. I reported it to the Election Board, but why the hell is this happening? Again?

Doris Ann should've saved some of the money from those ridiculous lawsuits, to either pay poll workers better, and thus get better competence, or provide more paid training or something.

By the by, all preicncts at my polling place are heavily Democratic. Three of the inspectors, I believe, were imported from elsewhere.

Wilson46201 said...

Are the continuing election day screwups by GOP County Clerk Doris Ann Sadler the real reason she only ran for one term? It's kinda peculiar for an office-holder not to run for a 2nd term unless she's messed up so badly even her Republican Party couldn't carry her...

Anonymous said...

I'm glad wilson is spending his day flacking on the blogs instead of working his precinct as he's supposed to as a precinct committeeman.

Anonymous said...

LOL 3:54 SOOOOOO true He could be ripping up and discarding opponents' poll signs, as he did in the primary.

Wilson46201 said...

... little do they know !

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry but what if you had NO PROBLEMS voting at all. I showed my ID, I went to the signature book and showed my ID again. Then I signed in. I was handed my scantron sheet and voted.

I asked the staff if they had any problems with Voter ID. They didn't. The only problem they had with a voting machine was with a special big screen machine for special needs people. Otherwise it was fine.

Maybe some people had problems, but I suspect the vast majority didn't. Once people are more used to the updated equipment I suspect most problems will disappear.

Just my $0.02 worth.

Anonymous said...

Wilson you are crazy. Do you think Beth will do a better job? Not likely. The elections will not get any better for a long time.

Anonymous said...

Uh, 7:01, my half-dead dog could do a better job than the incumbent. And he's damned near on life support.

Do you really need me to recite the littany of screwups of this clerk?

Some of them have been partisan hackjobs, and very, very expensive.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I would like you to recite the littany of screwups of this clerk.