Greetings from the Dark Side!
I was worshipping at the Limbaugh alter this morning and He Who Is Never Wrong (except concerning Hillary) indicated something I think is worth reflecting on.
His Most Wonderfulness (whose second-hand cigar smoke I’m not worthy to breathe) wondered: was it Hillary tears welling up that caused her win in NH, or was it dishonest voting?
Think about this – the pollsters and pundits got it right concerning McCain but were way, way off concerning Mrs. Clinton.
Why?
Obama should have won and didn’t.
Why?
Was it tears or cheating?
We desperately need election reform. There’s no reason it can’t be done. We have the technology, and only need the will.
I’ve been pushing for this, as you may know, with articles such as the two below:
Concerning Election Reform
It’s very exciting to me that with our technology, even the confused little old lady in Florida can’t screw up the voting system. Instead of her being able to carefully hang a chad, or vote for both Gore and Bush, she must now press a frail, uncertain finger against a touch screen that won’t tolerate anything other than a single choice.
But now, as the election reform issue turns to other topics, there is a growing mindset that is willing to sacrifice secrecy for accurate vote count. This bothers me because I don’t want man or machine to know how we vote.
The question, then, is how do we obtain both a very high degree of voting privacy and accuracy?
This is how:
(1) Require photo identification (such as a driver’s license) against the up-to-date list of names of registered voters.
We should enter the voting precinct and show picture
I.D. to the poll worker, who then finds us on the list.
Then we sign on the line next to our name, and go vote.
(2) Use a computer touch screen which both issues a paper ballot to the voter, and records the vote electronically.
(3) The paper ballot is then inspected by the voter and put into the ballot box.
After the polls close, the paper ballots are carefully
counted, the count is matched against the number of
people who showed i.d., and signed the list, and against
the computer disk record. All three must match: paper
ballot, number of people who signed to vote, and
computer disk count.
So if 2000 people showed I.D.., 2000 must have voted
electronically and there must be 2000 paper ballots. If
they don’t match, work it out amongst all parties to
satisfaction.
(4) Randomly pre-assign the ballot with a number, issued to the voter. For example, the number 4XXX2170 might be your ballot number. This number is on your paper ballot and you either write it down or tear a little tab with the number on it before putting the paper ballot in the ballot box. Then all the numbers are displayed on the internet. No one else has any idea who 4XXX2170 is, but you. This helps verify that your vote was recorded and counted. This also gives the total number of voters, again. If not there, voter reports discrepancy.
(5) Provide appropriate punishment for those who cheat, so it’s not worth it to do so.
For example, in Chicago (was it Chicago?) more people
voted for Al Gore in 2000 than there were registered
voters.
Cheating like this should be investigated and prosecuted
vigorously.
One thing I really dread is a federal takeover of our election process. States are reforming their ballot process just fine, thank you very much, and should receive neither federal mandates nor federal money, in spite of what Jimmy Carter wants.
The state run election is one of the more subtle yet powerful checks and balances in our system of government and besides, the govt is already too large, powerful and wasteful to be taking on more responsibility.
Incidentally, people should not be overly encouraged to vote. I’m very willing to study the issues and candidates and vote for those who don’t feel like it.
Being able to register and vote the same day is a bad idea because it disrupts the carefully maintained list of registered voters needed for accurate elections (see point #1).
It’s an embarrassing fact that one of the components of our Judeo/Christian heritage, honesty, is now so lacking in our culture that the foregoing is necessary. As a result, our voting system, in order to be accurate, must contain redundancy and therefore be expensive to administer. But I’m certainly willing to pay the price for secret, thoroughly accurate elections, and suggest the preceding as a way to achieve much needed election reform.
Even Dead People Voted in Miami
NewsMax.com
Monday, Dec. 25, 2000
A report in Sunday’s editions of the Miami Herald reveals that scores of dead people and non-registered individuals were allowed to vote in November’s presidential election.
In a survey of just 138 of Miami-Dade’s 617 precincts, the paper found that 144 persons voted illegally.
The Herald study indicates that if this number is extrapolated, more than 600 votes were illegally cast in the heavily Democratic county.
Vote fraud is no stranger to the city of vice. Just three years ago, the Democratic mayor of Miami was forced from office after massive election fraud was uncovered.
Use this link:
Even Dead People Voted in Miami
Grimgold
Grim – This is certainly an area we can find some common ground – working towards a fair election system. Without fair elections we just don’t know who really was the choice of the people and everything else becomes meaningless.
It is ironic to me that the right now starts to make it an issue when it appears they are going to get their butts kicked.
On the left we’ve been screaming about straightening out the full-of-holes voting system since December 12, 2000 when Chucklenuts was coronated by the Supremes. We all know that more people intended to vote for Al Gore in Florida in 2000. From butterfly ballots to the tens of thousands of voters illegally wiped off the rolls by Jeb and Harris and everything inbetween, it is quite clear Al Gore won Florida and the Presidency of the United States.
We advocated the voting issue in 2000, 2002 and 2004 and yet no one on either side of the aisle thought it was enough of an issue to actually do something of significance about it. There was rigging in ’06 as well and if it hadn’t been for the Republican collapse because of the Mark Foley revelations the Repubs would still be in power.
Unfortunately what’s done is done but we’ve been screaming for 7 #$@#$# years about this (and I’m not talking about the contrived voter ID BULL$@$# currently before the Supreme (ha) court.)
Here’s a site to start at if you want to do something about it – http://www.ballotintegrity.org/
Comment by Chicago Jim — January 10, 2008 @ 8:33 am
Sir, I’m glad you agree. I’ve been grumping about this since 2000, and so has the epitome of conservatism His Most Wonderfulness (he who’s lawn I’m not worthy to mow) Rush Limbaugh.
The idea that libs have been the only ones upset about this shows you may have been insulating yourself from the gleaming beauty of conservatism.
As a conservative I’d try to talk in terms of solutions rather than just whining – therefore my little writeup. Hope you enjoyed it.
It is absolutely rediculous that we, in this information age, don’t have clean elections.
Thanks for the return comment, Grimmy
Comment by grimgold — January 10, 2008 @ 10:40 am
Grim, I didn’t hear Rushbo complaining about the Florida vote going to Bush, nor Junior being appointed by the Supreme Court, nor the fraud in the Ohio counting in 2004, but I’ll leave that aside.
I hard this morning that this election Florida has dumped the EVS and will be going to simple paper ballots, as well as several other states. I agree with Jim, the votes should be counted accurately, and let the chips, or chads, fall where they may.
BTW, Grim, you are too worthy to mow Rush’s lawn — and clip his hedges — but bring along some proof of citizenship.
Comment by RS Janes — January 10, 2008 @ 7:43 pm