The Brad Blog is running this report (since last week) that Diebold is up to its witchery again by quite possibly tampering with votes in the hotly contested congressional seat in CA. formerly paid for by disgraced Repug Duke Cunningham. Its a story I haven't seen any where else and yes, he is making a compelling argument that Busby may have won or at least we'll never really know because Diebold reps took voting machines HOME WITH THEM. Anyway read the report. I can't believe that no major news outlets are even looking at this? This is hardly a partisan issue - its a voting issue!!! I'm not going to link to a zillion places here but if this is true we can add CA to the long list of states that have lost the votes of their citizens due to these machines: FL, GA, IN, NC, OH, and CO. Call your representative and demand a paper ballot initiative. The elections are very soon! You do have the right to one vote you know - at least for now...
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5 comments:
You're such an alarmist, Tween. I mean who among us doesn't have an old voting machine going to rust in our basement or tool shed?
This is yet another issue that Democrats haven't found a way to talk about. They're too afraid of getting tagged with "sour grapes" and appearing as losers to speak out strongly on the need for paper ballots and unwingnutted oversight of the machines. So as with the war in Iraq, they're their own self-fulfilling prophecy.
One would hope that the fact that every closely contested election gets tipped to the Republicans would motivate Democrats to get out the vote to such a degree that no amount of trickery could undo a severe Election Day asswhacking. But that would be a naive hope. The Democratic establishment still believes that if they win by one vote the Republicans will wish them well and clear out.
The reason they won't come out against it, I fear is that they see ithow has worked for repubs and it may work for them. The bottom line is public officials do not hold sacred the right for each person to have one vote. Its pathetic that a super power can't hold an honest election.
i would love to know if it is easier to rig an election than the old tactic of just having your future rival taken out... Before, it was who's gonna fly the plane or what minority can we pin it on, now they gotta deal with all these machines and pay offs... i dunno. Call me an old fuddy duddy republican, but i gotta think killing people makes for better business.
Geoffrey, you raise an interesting point. Why futz around with the electoral process when you can just get Jimmy Crack Corn to get the opponent in his rifle sights and take him down. Here are three possibilities:
1) It's easier to fuck with the elections and leave a quasi-legal trail behind, whereas setting up a killshot opens the door to all kinds of betrayal and could lead quickly back to the hands that planned it. I would imagine that across the country you've got election commissions whose level of competence exceeds only that found behind the plexiglass window of the Department of Motor Vehicles.
2) The right wing may believe that it has shot its assassination wad. The murders of King and RFK back in 68 were Hail Mary passes after all of the other plays (opposition to civil rights, winning the war in Vietnam) had proved futile. In the case of King, his murder effectively shut down the Civil Rights movement and led to two decades of blacks in this country wandering in a wilderness of Reaganomic, drug-addicted ghettodom.
The murders of King and RFK were essentially take-out-the-head-to-kill-the-body acts. But in today's Democratic Party, there is only the body. If Kerry had been shot down on the campaign trail, a Kerry lookalike with Kerry-like views would have stepped onto the plank to take his place. It is much easier, then, to simply rob this person in a suit and assume that the hue and cry that ensues will be low in both hue and cry.
3) The notion of wingnut marksmanship may be largely a myth propogated by 2nd Amendment zealots, hunter geeks, and militia fascists in weekend camo.
You boys make me want to dust off my John Birch pamplets! Well the poll worker thing is genius because its largely volunteer and to be frank those nice old ladies care about the vote but aren't always the sharpest pencil in the box. Why aren't more young people volunteering at the polls? Maybe they are - its just never been my experience. You know when you look at the lay of the land - Amrican Tabloid by James Elroy jsut seems to be more fact all the time!!!
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