Letters to the Editor
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New Mexico Changed Their Method For the Better
Upset by the large, un-explained percentage of undercounts in the last election (ie, mysteriously, folks didn't cast votes for president, but did for the other offices), NM is using strictly paper ballots this year, and, as far as I can tell, there's no disadvantage to them compared to the previous system.
The ballot is printed on two sides - one side for the candidate selection, and the other side with a complete explanation of the various bond issues or changes to the state charters. You fill out the oval next to your selection and then feed the sheet into a machine that makes sure that your ovals are properly filled in - if not, you get another ballot. (My only recommendation would be to have a ink pad/stamp for this.) Done! Your ballot has all the information on it, and is stored for manual recount. The BIG advantage of this system is the fact that the voting "Booths" are simply desks with high sides attached - nothing high tech - no extra machines to buy if the turnout is extremely high, just add some cheap desks with side panels. And, we got to vote early, 28 days prior to the election, at numerous polling places.
I work in the software verification/testing business, and am quite leary of ANY electronic machine, especially those without paper receipts. I can tell you that software engineers can easily hide code hacks that no election worker would ever find. NM's paper ballot seems like a much safer solution to the whole mess.
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It's About Time
I became aware of how easily elections can be stolen some years back when I saw Bev Harris on TV showing Howard Dean how to alter election totals using Diebold voting machines. Although the demo showed something entirely different, I recognized that the tallies were being stored in an Access database, which absolutely floored me. It is well-known by everyone in the computer industry that an Access mdb has no security or auditing capabilities whatsoever. As a recognized Access expert and the lead author of the Access Security FAQ (see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/207793), I realized that Diebold had deliberately chosen a database system where the vote tallies could be altered without anyone being the wiser. I've been making donations to http://www.blackboxvoting.org and http://www.uscountvotes.org ever since, all the time wondering why this issue has never received the mainstream media attention it deserves. Hopefully that is changing now...
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too late
Like some of the other letter writers, I remember all too well how Farhad Manjoo labeled people who rightly called the 2004 election stolen as conspiracy theorists. It's a bit late for him to now talk about the need to shut the barn door. "If you're not worried already about the dangers of paperless voting, this HBO documentary will blow your mind." Please. Don't pander the readers with histrionics. After two stolen elections in six years, some of us are all too aware of the problems with our election system. Day late and a dollar short Farhad, you should have been writing about this years ago.
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Of course
If democrats win this election, this story will conveniently fade from the forefront. It seems that the left is always looking for a way to defend failure, even before the failure occurs. Does it even matter to anyone that computerized elections can be manipulated by either party, or is the concern reserved for only those elections stolen by the republican party? Does anyone have the guts to do something concrete about this, or will we devolve to the Italian system of replacing the entire government (which is only the public facing interface of the Oligarchy anyway) every few months? The Oligarchy loves the Italian system. The money-bots (public) are so consumed with the puppet government that they lose any focus they might have had on the real issues. Americans are now feminized. The Oligarchy loves a feminized society. It will not fight back in fear of breaking a nail. Note the words of a real man right in the faces of the political leaders of his day (and they killed him for it - He was not afraid):
"It is bad for you, teachers of the Law and proud religious law-keepers, you who pretend to be someone you are not! You are like graves that have been made white and look beautiful on the outside. But inside you are full of the bones of dead men and of every filthy thing.
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
~Jesus of Nazareth
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The math of power, money, nods, and winks
The corruption of Diebold is not a partisan issue, as Manjoo illustrates. This should be obvious- money seeks the power to make more money, power seeks money to get more power.
OR- Diebold seeks out politicians, Reps or Dems, and tempts them with campaign contributions and nice dinners, seducing politicians into passing legislation and awarding contracts that will benefit Diebold.
To Diebold, the contributions and dinner tabs are a seen as a small investment that yields enormous returns. To the politician, the perks and political contributions can be rationalized as normal business practices between compatriots. There is no backroom and briefcase full of cash, only the most depraved politician (William Jefferson?) wouldn't be offended by such a proposition. Instead, Diebold approaches the candidate as a supporter and friend who wants to help 'fix' our broken elections. This allows the politician to frame the situation not as pay-for-play, but as government and business working together as a team. If one member of the team wants to support the other with some campaign contributions, well that is his right and there's nothing wrong with it.
Those on the outside, the ones without the power, see this exchange in a completely different light. They are predisposed to be suspicious of those in power and often have a personal interest vested in finding ways to unseat their opponents.
This has been the dynamic between power and money since, well, forever really. This is why campaign finance reform and the federal standardization of elections is so critical.
All corporate contributions, including formal and in-kind contributions (think Enron jets for Bush in 2000) must be made to a single campaign resource account. This account is to be divided evenly among all qualifying party nominees, in the same fashion as federal election finances are( I think it is 3 or 4% in the previous election to qualify?).
All personal contrbutions must be made by a deadline date that falls BEFORE primary elections.
This arrangement allows for freedom of speech, in that contributions are allowed, while at the same time restricting pay-for-play influence by creating a buffer period between these pernicious transactions and the voting.
The dominant political currency today is money, manifested as ad-time and direct-marketing efforts. This is morally and systemically corrosive. The dominant political currency SHOULD be a candidates position, not is fundraising. By distancing the influence of personal contributions with a deadline, and neutralizing business contributions with the general fund, we force the debate to become, well, a debate. These steps would also relieve the pressure of fundraising from our candidates so that they can spend their time in office governing, not worrying about the next election. Without these distorting pressures the election is left to the candidates and to the issues, not the connections and the influence.
Finally, to make joe citizen get off his fat ass, there should be some fundamental changes in the way we vote.
Elections should be federalized. Rather, states should be required(and funded)to install the same voting machines for all national elections. This ensures standardized voting for all federal elections, which naturally fall under the authority of the federal government(and would also have the side benefit of making ALL elections secure, as most regional polls are synchronized with federal ones).
These machines should be electronic. They should also produce 3 paper copies of the ballot- one with all information to be kept as the official polling record. One for the voter, so that they feel secure that their vote was counted properly, and one for employers. This last one is crucial to getting Joe off his duff. Elections should be moved to Monday, and should be designated as a conditional national holidy. What i mean by this is that election day should be a holiday, it is ridiculous that it is not, but that employers have the right to either dock the pay or debit a sick day from their employees if the employee does not provide proof that they voted(the third ticket).
All of these rather fundamental reforms should allow our elections not only to be conducted in a secure and verifiable manner, but will also provide the motivation that most Americans need to get them involved.