Will you vote? And will your vote be counted?

TheOlderGuy · Oct 3, 2006

If any of you have read the Oct. 5 issue of Rolling Stone and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s report on electronic voting machines, you already know that we have turned over control of our elections to private contractors, mostly Diebold. You know how easily their employees can alter the outcome of an election. It's as easy as slipping a memory card into a laptop. And since in many cases there are no election officials present when votes are being tabulated, it's really really easy.

They've had a few elections to practice on already, and the results have gone pretty much unchallenged. Kennedy may be the only one out there with balls enough to take them on, but unless we all start telling our congressmen that we care about election integrity, not much will change, and we may live the rest of our lives under a Republican stranglehold on all three branches of our government.

Killswitch · Oct 3, 2006

This should be the lead story in every newspaper on the planet in my opinion.

Every day. Forever.

lightning1 · Oct 3, 2006

I'll believe anything a Kennedy says. They are perfect, perfect I tell ya.

_geisha_ · Oct 3, 2006

It's not a republican stranglehold, it would be a monetary one.

He who has the gold has the power, isn't that how it goes?

crazybbwgirl · Oct 3, 2006

We still have the old fashioned 'color-in-the-circle' ballots. So I think my vote gets counted...???

Dixon Carter Lee · Oct 3, 2006

Why can't we all just meet in Missouri and take a count of raised hands?

TheOlderGuy · Oct 3, 2006

Dixon Carter Lee said:
Why can't we all just meet in Missouri and take a count of raised hands?

They prefer to do a computer simulation of an election.

Dixon Carter Lee · Oct 3, 2006

Then let's just call it Sim-America and be done with it.

TheOlderGuy · Oct 4, 2006

If they can sell it on TV, they can get away with it.

NewEnglandGirl · Oct 4, 2006

crazybbwgirl said:
We still have the old fashioned 'color-in-the-circle' ballots. So I think my vote gets counted...???

Not neccessarily. It can get tossed because a circle wasn't colored in perfectly. Remember the "hanging chads"? That was punch cards, to the best of my recollection.

garbage can · Oct 4, 2006

TheOlderGuy said:
, but unless we all start telling our congressmen that we care about election integrity, not much will change, and we may live the rest of our lives under a Republican stranglehold on all three branches of our government.

Election integrity will begin, when prisoners, illegal aliens and dead people are not allowed to vote.

Wolfghost · Oct 4, 2006

Dixon Carter Lee said:
Why can't we all just meet in Missouri and take a count of raised hands?

I think the entire nation should vote absentee, then they would have to hand count the ballots and we'd have our papertrail.

Image · Oct 4, 2006

Never voted before... Why start now?

TheOlderGuy · Oct 4, 2006

Wolfghost said:
I think the entire nation should vote absentee, then they would have to hand count the ballots and we'd have our papertrail.

this may be the best solution i've heard yet

TheOlderGuy · Oct 5, 2006

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/061004/061004_mission_vmed_12p.widec.jpg

"My fellow Meercans.
I work hard, in other words, what I do, the work, is . . . hard.
I must pertect you from Islamo-fascist terroists, and Democrats.
There is no time to waste. We've brought freedom and democracy to Iraq.
And we must bring it to this country as well.
I am announcing new elections are to be held in November of 2008.
All previously scheduled elections will be held over til then,
to pertect you, the Meercan people.
May God bless. Our mission is accomplished."

Wolfghost · Oct 5, 2006

TheOlderGuy said:
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/061004/061004_mission_vmed_12p.widec.jpg

"My fellow Meercans.
I work hard, in other words, what I do, the work, is . . . hard.
I must pertect you from Islamo-fascist terroists, and Democrats.
There is no time to waste. We've brought freedom and democracy to Iraq.
And we must bring it to this country as well.
I am announcing new elections are to be held in November of 2008.
All previously scheduled elections will be held over til then,
to pertect you, the Meercan people.
May God bless. Our mission is accomplished."

That's something that has always struck me funny. G.W. is always calling the Democrats the "party of cut and run". How can you "cut and run" if the mission was accomplished?

Ham Murabi · Oct 5, 2006

Wolfghost said:
I think the entire nation should vote absentee, then they would have to hand count the ballots and we'd have our papertrail.

Why would you assume absentee ballots have to be counted by hand?

Wolfghost · Oct 5, 2006

Ham Murabi said:
Why would you assume absentee ballots have to be counted by hand?

Because most states still count paper ballots by hand???? In most cases the amount of ballots aren't that overwhelming to require a machine. Those states that do use machines have to re-count the ballots by hand if a machine fails anyway. Either way it goes, there is a paper trail as opposed to malfunctioning, proprietory software based E Voting Machines that a ten year old hacker could get in to in 3 minutes. Plus, there is no way to audit the election.

Sean · Oct 5, 2006

Might I make a suggestion? Print the names on a piece of paper, print a little box next to each name. The voter puts an X in the box next to the name of the person he or she wants to vote for. We call them "ballots" in this country.

Expertise · Oct 5, 2006

SeanH said:
Might I make a suggestion? Print the names on a piece of paper, print a little box next to each name. The voter puts an X in the box next to the name of the person he or she wants to vote for. We call them "ballots" in this country.

Seems to get the job done here as well

ma_guy · Oct 5, 2006

SeanH said:
Might I make a suggestion? Print the names on a piece of paper, print a little box next to each name. The voter puts an X in the box next to the name of the person he or she wants to vote for. We call them "ballots" in this country.

That did that here in MA for the 2004 elections. They pulled 9 ballot boxes stuffed with those votes out of Boston Harbor 2 weeks later, a few more were found at the dump, a couple in the basement of one of the polling places.

Paper ballots can be ignored just as electronic ballots can be tampered with.

(Boston is one of several cities that everyone and their brother now monitors as a result of the 2004 fiasco.)

breakwall · Oct 5, 2006

ma_guy said:
That did that here in MA for the 2004 elections. They pulled 9 ballot boxes stuffed with those votes out of Boston Harbor 2 weeks later, a few more were found at the dump, a couple in the basement of one of the polling places.

Paper ballots can be ignored just as electronic ballots can be tampered with.

(Boston is one of several cities that everyone and their brother now monitors as a result of the 2004 fiasco.)

this is what happens when your country refuses to allow international election observers.

TheOlderGuy · Oct 5, 2006

Has anyone else read RFK's Rolling Stone article?

It's pretty scary, from the perspective of freedom and democracy.

Will you vote? And will your vote be counted?

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