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U.S. Election Gives VoIP Traffic A Bump
phoneboy writes "According to this news story on Voxilla.com, a number of VoIP service providers have experienced higher-than-normal call volumes today. The calls were traced to mostly Democratic volunteers making calls in key battleground states."
Is it because the Republicans didn't need the calls, or that they couldn't figure out the VoIP software?
Ummm ok...so what is so important about this bit of news? Are they implying that most VOIP users are democrats?
Life is not for the lazy.
yet another effect of new/cheaper communication technology on getting the vote out. E-Mails/IMs/websites are nothing new these days, but I've heard about groups of volunteers getting together to use free cell minutes to make calls and now VOIP. Rock on!
"goodbye and hello, as always" ~Prince Corwin, from Zelazny's Amber series
...seems to be a data congestion problem...
Those calls really helped too.
Why are they tracing the calls to democrats?
as I said in my post below, its more showing how new/cheaper communication technologies are affecting the election and voter turnout. This article doesnt have much to do with politics (though it is interesting that more democrats seem to be using this than republicans, perhaps democrats tend to be more tech savvy?)
"goodbye and hello, as always" ~Prince Corwin, from Zelazny's Amber series
My wife and I rarely use our Vonage account.
However, we have dialed just about every family member we know of in the last 24-hours trying to get them out to the polls. Since we're both at home, we might as well use our "landline."
DUH!
Please, with 99% of precincts in, the margin is 144,215. Even if there are 200,000 provisional ballots, do you believe more than 170,000 of them will be valid and for Kerry?
"The calls were traced to mostly Democratic volunteers making calls in key battleground states"
Surely I'm not the only one that finds this statement rather disturbing.
how the hell can they trace it to "democrats", wow, talk about Orwells 1984 in action.
90% of Ohio's provisional ballots were valid last time [2000]. Also, even with Ohio, if Kerry wins the rest of the unpredicted states, its 269 to 269 and goes to the house.
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i call it spam
Since the FCC is (currently) Republican, except harder regulation in the upcoming Presidential term on VOiP carriers.
It's a stretch though, to imagine that Democrats are larger VOIP users than Republicans - that's data mining carried to the extreme.
> The calls were traced to mostly Democratic volunteers making calls in key
> battleground states."
Well, given that they'll all be crying, I guess at least there'll be a good compression ratio!
CBS is calling Nevada for Bush. If it goes to the House, it'll probably end up with Bush the winner anyway.
Bush has yet to win. There are 11 more days for provisional ballots to be counted, and then the Electoral College votes. Ohio is not done counting.
--
Provisional votes COUNT!
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Kerry currently has 242 electoral votes, with Ohio (20), Wisconsin(10), Iowa(7), Nevada(5), and New Mexico(5) still in limbo.
So Kerry could get Ohio + Wisconsin + some others and have plenty more than 270.
Oh my god, how can be reelected again a patetic monkey such George W. Bush?? I can't believe USA is so stupid. I thought 4 years of global shit was enought to fire that crazy man... But of course USA is different. I hope american people wouldn't suffer too much because of this. The only thing I can assure is that Europe, China and other powerful countries are going to lead in the 21st century.
It's a shame, it was a good opportunity for USA to show the world they could do the right thing.
He's not getting Ohio. Bush is now up 147,613 votes with 99% of precincts in.
I was just responding to the guy in the parent of my post who said he couldn't get it even with Ohio. Also, you will only be able to tell after voting is done, after provisional ballots are counted, and after the lawyers are through ravaging Ohio :)
Provisional votes COUNT (provisionally)!
Kerry would need a 4/5 provisional to win.
Sorry Charlie Libs are for Kids.
BTW: The power of denial is amazing.
--- Every day I am forced to add another to the list of people who can kiss my ass...
Preparing for a possible civil war. (I think Bush will strike first but blame the democrats, before the provisional ballots or recounts or appeals are done).
Don't forget: in the event of a civil war, food shipments may be irregular, so plant a garden.
It's just that the loudest/funniest/editor people on slashdot are liberal, so you assume that slashdot is a liberal crowd. That doesn't mean techies are liberal.
Well, yes. He could win Ohio at this rate with the extra ballots (provisional, overseas military, etc.). To do so minimally (given the latest numbers - 147613), he'd have to get that many votes + half of the remaining votes + 1. Assuming 300,000 votes remaining (including overseas military, which is most likely inflated), he'd have to get 223808 votes. . . which is close to 75% of the total number of votes remaining. Given the close statistical nature of the normal votes, getting this percentage is HIGHLY unlikely. I believe Kerry is just prolonging things. I'd do it too if there was any ray of hope.
FORTUNE FAVORS IRONY
Look, I voted for Kerry, but wtf is he thinking? Once all Ohio's precincts are in Bush will lead by something near 140,000 votes. The highest number I am hearing is 175,000 provisional ballots outstanding, lets be generous and say 200,000. Last election 90% were legit, lets be generous and say 95% are legit. 200,000 * .95 = 190,000. to make up 140,000 with 190,000. Kerry needs to get 140000/190000 = 73.7%. Kerry has not gotten this percentage in any other state in the country, not MA, not NY, nowhere. Its just impossible folks
And that would just make up the deficit. He'd still need to win 25,000 of the other 50,000 remaining votes or 165,000 total. 86.8% of the vote!
Well, yes. He could win Ohio at this rate with the extra ballots (provisional, overseas military, etc.). To do so minimally (given the latest numbers - 147613), he'd have to get that many votes + half of the remaining votes + 1. Assuming 300,000 votes remaining (including overseas military, which is most likely inflated), he'd have to get 223808 votes. . . which is close to 75% of the total number of votes remaining. Given the close statistical nature of the normal votes, getting this percentage is HIGHLY unlikely. I believe Kerry is just prolonging things. I'd do it too if there was any ray of hope.
BUSH 254 KERRY 252
CNN just called Wisconsin. It's more than a ray of hope, it's still very much up in the air!
It would appear that Kerry's mathematical skills are as poor as Bush's grammatical skills.
CNN just called Wisconsin. It's more than a ray of hope, it's still very much up in the air!
That's all well and good. However, with Ohio, Bush doesn't need to win anything else. Kerry can get all the remaining states and end up with a 269/269 tie. With a 269 total electorial vote count, Bush will win by default in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives tiebreaker. As long as Bush has Ohio (which is mathematically most likely), he wins.
FORTUNE FAVORS IRONY
"Oh my god, how can be reelected again a patetic monkey such George W. Bush?? I can't believe USA is so stupid. I thought 4 years of global shit was enought to fire that crazy man... But of course USA is different. I hope american people wouldn't suffer too much because of this. The only thing I can assure is that Europe, China and other powerful countries are going to lead in the 21st century.
It's a shame, it was a good opportunity for USA to show the world they could do the right thing."
Not to feed the troll, but it needs to be said. What we have done is elect the man of *our* choice to protect *our* interests, the same as the people of any other country with a choice will elect the leader *they* think will protect *their* interests. That the interests of the U.S.A. and that of other countries, many of which aren't exactly our friends in deed, (despite platitudes to the contrary, and some quite vocally and even materially opposed to nearly anything pro-U.S.) differs greatly is to be expected.
Cheers
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
Kerry is 252 currently ...
252 (Kerry currently) + 20 (Ohio) = 272
Not 269.
I know that Ohio is currently leaning towards Bush, but it hasn't been called yet (provisional ballots).
That's all well and good. However, with Ohio, Bush doesn't need to win anything else. Kerry can get all the remaining states and end up with a 269/269 tie. With a 269 total electorial vote count, Bush will win by default in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives tiebreaker. As long as Bush has Ohio (which is mathematically most likely), he wins.
Hello, Ohio is Electoral 20 votes.
Bush 254 + 20 = 274 bush wins
Kerry = 252 + 20 = 272 Kerry Wins
Even if bush gets the extra 12 from Iowa and New Mexico (7 & 5 respectivly), Kerry would win 266 to 272.
It's been called by NBC and FOX.
More than 50% of the American people supports the president who started a war and deceived his people and the world about the prerequisite of that war. Regardless of the outcome of the election, the world will remember the statement you as a country gave to the world today.
You totally missed his point. With Ohio, Bush has 269. If Kerry somehow managed to get Nevada (unlikely), New Mexico (possible), Iowa (maybe) and all the rest, he'd only have 269, and it would be a tie. However, it appears Bush has Nevada and has Ohio, so he seems to have won. It is unlikely that Kerry will pull over 75% of the vote in valid provisional ballots and late absentee ballots.
Would this be the same Strat from Maxforums, by chance? Haven't been THERE in a while... :(
'Standards' in computing only impress those who are impressed by things like 'standards'.
Informative? Bullshit.
Ohio = 20
Iowa = 7
New Mexico = 5
270 needed to win the electoral vote.
Bush = 254
Kerry = 252
Assuming no state does a flip flop, who ever takes Ohio's 20 votes will win.
Bush is leading by 138,866 according to CNN
This is down from 147,613 1 hour ago according to CNN
According to johnkerry.com 250,000 votes remain uncounted in Ohio. Who ever gets those votes WINS.
According to johnkerry.com 250,000 votes remain uncounted in Ohio. Who ever gets those votes WINS.
My apologies, I haven't been keeping up with the latest numbers (:
As for the above statement, you do realize that both candidates will receive portions of the vote that correspond to the distribution of normal Ohio voters? If it's anything like the typical vote, there's no chance for Kerry. Again, it's highly unlikely that Kerry will win.
FORTUNE FAVORS IRONY
" Would this be the same Strat from Maxforums, by chance? Haven't been THERE in a while... :("
:-D
No, sorry..never even visted there, let alone posted. Although with such apparently refined tastes in both guitars and s/n's, he must be a particularly charming and intelligent fellow, not to mention devilishly good-looking.
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
According to Ohio's Secretary of State there are up to 175,000. The Democrats pulled 250,000 out of their ass. So Bush has 138,866? Well, Kerry needs 138,866 of those ballots to be valid and for him to even keep things even. Even if there are 250,000, that means he needs 55,568 of the remaining 111,134 to secure a win. That's 194,434 votes of the 250,000 that must be valid and for Kerry, or 77.7%. Hah, good luck on that.
Democracies get the leaders they deserve. We were screwed no matter how the election turned out. I give the US 50 years tops before it collapses.
As for the above statement, you do realize that both candidates will receive portions of the vote that correspond to the distribution of normal Ohio voters? If it's anything like the typical vote, there's no chance for Kerry. Again, it's highly unlikely that Kerry will win.
I don't know.
I wouldn't go as far as saying that.
Bush leads by 138,152 @ 05:30AM
Bush was leading by 138,866 @ 05:12AM
Bush was leading by 147,613 @ 04:15AM
Bush is indeed loosing his lead, so at present it's anyone's guess who the next president will be. Can we say Flordia 2000? Who ever wins it will be one amazing race!
According to Ohio's Secretary of State there are up to 175,000. The Democrats pulled 250,000 out of their ass. So Bush has 138,866? Well, Kerry needs 138,866 of those ballots to be valid and for him to even keep things even. Even if there are 250,000, that means he needs 55,568 of the remaining 111,134 to secure a win. That's 194,434 votes of the 250,000 that must be valid and for Kerry, or 77.7%. Hah, good luck on that
Now down to 137,297, a change of 1,569 in 1/2 hour. I'm not going to say Kerry will take Ohio, only that it's still too close to call.
Am I the only one that knows not a single person that went to vote under 30 who didn't vote for Kerry? And did anyone else see a fairly lacking percentage of people over 30 at the polls? Has not Kerry been said to completely decimate Bush in the under-30 demographic?
Makes me wonder how the hell Bush got such a majority. Diebold, possibly. Diebold is, after all, in bed with the Republicans.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
Don't usually reply to my own posts, but it's funny to see how the mods take a simple polite and thoughtful reply pointing out that different countries will elect leaders that best reflect their own interests as a troll if it disagrees with their interests and biases. Sort of makes my point, in a sad way. Thanks for the empirical proof.
Cheers
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
On the subject of VOIP, does anyone know if you can transfer land or cell numbers to VOIP just like you can with cell phones?
73.7%. Kerry has not gotten this percentage in any other state in the country, not MA, not NY, nowhere
Kerry got 89.5% of the vote in DC, but I take your point - the rest of the post is probably true.
In Soviet Russia, Kerry Wins... :-(
IN other news researchers discovered that most American Democrats have moved to Canada, thus skewing the American vote to be Republican.
make that 136221 now....
I wrote first post about "What have you done??" I'm just telling you my opinion. I also respect yours; and no one has the absolute truth when talking about opinions.
I really think USA has chosen a dangerous path. Almost the entire world hates Bush, because the world today it's much more insecure than 4 years before. I think George W. Bush has a lot of guilt in this. He has spoiled all the solidary feeling that the rest of the world had after 11S terror attacks.
Defending your interests? Bush has achieved in convicing USA people that his interests are the best for USA. And maybe that's true for a short period of time. But in a long term, Bush has taken the decisions which can make THE ENTIRE WORLD to collapse: invading with fake proof Irak with a preventive attack, rejecting Kioto's protocol and international court, and losing any respect for the rest of nations of the world.
So, the last thing I have to say, is an ironic "Thank you" for making the problem bigger an longer with your votes. I'm sorry if you don't like it: but its the fact.
> Not to feed the troll, but it needs to be said. What we have done is elect the man of *our* choice to protect *our* interests
Umm; for that to make sense i would have to conclude that your interests are stealing other peoples property (OIL) AND YOU ARE OKAY with that.
To quote Kill Bill Vol 1: "The bitch (Saddam) had it coming."
And apparently 100% of precincts reported.
So how exactly will this number continue to reduce?
Consider that maybe 911 might have been the wrong way to curry Bush's favour - the guy had been in office for 9 months so much of the past is not really directly his fault.
So he reacted in a way which nobody likes.
Kick a dog a see if you like the way it reacts.
Once I would like to see someone admit that it is up to the peoples of these countries - say Iraq for example, to standup to their own leaders and not wait til America barges in and stuff things up.
Did anyone notice that in the Last "Election" in Iraq - Saddam had 98-99% of the vote. Even the perfect leader cannot command that much respect. Surely that should have rang a few alarm bells. But when the US president get 51% of the popular vote, some injustice has been done.
end ramble
Steal oil.
Perhaps Oil should be Open Sourced. That might stop the 'Piracy', world conflicts etc...
No let's just stick to Operating systems and other programs - much easier target.
Dear citizens of the United States of America,
As a citizen of a very friendly nation, an admirer of your democratic principles and an enthusiast regarding travelling your beautiful country, I'd like to share with you some of my thoughts.
For starters let me offer you my condolences regarding the loss of sanity of at least 50% of your popular voters.
Four years ago I was able to comprehend that you chose the Grand Old Partie's nominee. You are after all quite a conservative country and I respect that. And the man did promise to reunite the country after the intense election-battles.
But that you, after the evidence of four years of Mr. Bush junior's presidency, could not be convinced of his being unfit for the job can only baffle me. No, baffling isn't the right word. It appals me. This result (and the race has not been decided as I write this) shows a total lack of commitment to basic democratic values such as "holding someone with power accountable for what he does with this power". Let me put it straight for you: The man lied.
He did not lie about having sexual intercourse. He did not lie about or try to cover up subversive activities by his re-election committee. He did not lie about covertly allowing drugs smuggling to occur in order to assure cash flow for a friendly guerilla-warfaring fraction in Nicaragua. He did not allow or turn a blind eye to armaments-shipments to a fanatic Islamic country in order to negotiate a release for US-embassy personnel.
No, he lied to get you, the American People, and your legislature to let him go to war. WAR! That is not a blowjob. It is not a break-in. Neither is it a CIA-operation. It is W-A-R. Total Destruction! Loss of human life. Theirs. AND YOURS. What does a normal democratically "checked and balanced" system do with its leaders that lie and mislead in such important matters? It removes them from office, by impeachment or by the casting of the ballot.
What you have done, my dear friends, is say to the American Politics: "You can lie. You can go to war. You can smuggle drugs. You can do any of the things that our high standard of moral justly finds reprehensible. And we are never going to hold you accountable as long as you handle politically petty details, such as the right to bear sub-machine guns, the way we like it." That's a nice exchange: sub-machine gun versus accountability for political officers. I think you are going to see much of those guns in the near future. And the good part is: you are not going to have to pay for them. They will all be subsidised by Uncle Sam. To be specific: by the department of defence that sends you or a loved one into one of the many combat zones that Uncle Dubbaya is creating.
Please don't see this letter as a piece of critique by a European that has no idea of what is going on in your country. I have visited your beautiful country a great many times and I will always respect your choices regarding your politics and your society. With this letter I only mean to show you my disappointment because I believed that you would be able to judge the ability of Mr. Bush to lead your country more -in my eyes- realistically. Maybe it's the way you have set-up your democratic system, but I feel that as a non-US citizen I am not in the position to lecture you regarding your electoral processes. If it needs change or evaluation, you have to do that.
I wish you the very best of luck, strength, wisdom and a touch of Gods subtle grace,
I think you need it.
Siggy.
This unique sig is intended to make this user more recognisable.
DC isn't a state anyway. Plus, it's essentially just one city (urban environment) where Democrats always seem to dominate. Most other states have a mix of urban, suburban, and rural environments that make the vote distribution more even.
Whoops, I shouldn't have put the word "other" in there, indicating DC is a state (it's not). It should just be "Most States."
the interests of America are RARELY in line with that of the world. Had we given in in the 1700's to the pressure of the world and even the majority of our own people we would be a decapetated extension of the UK.
so look at the county by county maps, and notice the spots of blue speckeled across a sea of red...and realize that the "world freindly" mindset of the left is the MINORITY...
it's been rather interesting to see the campaigns uses of technology this election... from blogs in the dem primaries to the databases and communication networks that were being used to drive the vote for the election... hopefully now that the people who make up the gov or at least aspire to are beneficiaries of these technologies they will think hard before trying to add useless regulation to them...
Get your torrents...
It is *very* important that the elected person gets into office. Millions (if not billions) of dollars were spent by the government, the political parties, and the campaigns. Millions (if not billions) of people went to vote. The campaign lasted 1-2 years.
Kerry is probably thinking that adding a couple days to make sure that the outcome is right is a small price to pay.
Don't get me wrong - I think Bush won (or is winning). But its worth the money and effort to be sure.
Let's take the Republifucks ta town like we did the injuns!
Trade them some anthrax coated bibles for their computers!
Lets bomb some limbaughcirclejerks like we did in Irock.
Lets shag some republican daughters like we did in sunday skool!
Lets shock and awe the Neo-con dumbasses!
Save some forest or we burn yo house republifuck!
Shake hands with a gay guy or we will give it to you up the ass!
Abort some worthless kid who'll never vote anyway or we'll abort yours!
Take that ak ta church an show the dumblicans how to really separate their church an state!
Join the militant democratic front.
No dumblican left behind...
Why no mention of providers that were contracted to make calls on behalf of a political party? A friend of mine works for a company that made tens of millions of pre-recorded calls to voters over their VOIP network these past few weeks.
The democrats will just keep whining it down.
Yahoo! is the premier search engine and news database. Thanks, Yahoo!
>What we have done is elect the man of *our* choice
And thats the shocking thing. Even after all that Bush (and his team) has done, you still re-elected him.
Kerry would have looked after your interests also. You've basically given him the thumbs up to all that Bush did in the past four years.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
It's being widely reported by the AP, CNN, Fox News, CSPAN, ABC News, CBS News and others that John Kerry has already called Pres. Bush to concede defeat.
I personally am glad that Kerry has done this. My opinion of him has gone up and I am glad that he will not try to divide the country further by dragging us through a contested election. Mr. Kerry, thank you for that.
And congratulations to Pres. Bush.
infested with jello like fishes no melotron wishes
What is "enough to get upset about"?
Actually, isn't it really a much higher percentage than that? He needs those 140,000 just to make up the gap, but your numbers ignore the 50,000 remaining ballots. To win Kerry would need at least half of those remaining ballots (assuming Bush gets all the others), so he really needs 165,001/190,000 = 86.8%. That really seems to shore up your core point even more...
Talk about getting off topic....
How is parent flame-bait? It is pure, raw information.