Dubious elections

[altivo]

It's time to call in the UN to supervise US elections. Obviously the country that is trying to push democracy in the rest of the world is headed toward utter failure in the same department.

I just got back from the polling place. Some of you have seen me pointing out in the last couple of years that Diebold is NOT the only choice for counting votes, and that many areas, including my own, use other methods. I was not happy at all to see a Diebold touch screen on prominent display in the precinct. Apparently it is there "on trial" and people could use it if they chose to do so. To my utter disbelief, people were actually asking to use it.

Amusingly enough, it was not working properly at all, if there is any "proper" to those things. Refusing to record votes, refusing to recognize voters, etc. Frankly, I believe they are totally buggy and crooked.

I cast my vote the usual way. We mark a paper ballot designed for optical scanning. It is scanned on the spot and saved, so there is a paper trail and a valid recount can be conducted without "hanging chads" or lack of formal record.

When confronted with the actual candidate names, I voted for more Greens than I thought I would. Two Dems, one Republican, and the rest Green. All the county offices were Republicans running unopposed, none of them, especially not the county clerk, got my vote. And I voted to throw out all the incumbent judges. I'm getting angry. It's time to storm some political offices, drag the fat incumbents out by their greasy neckties, and string them up.

Comments

[hellmutt.livejournal.com]

Many mane-scritchies to you for voting.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I think I need a strong drink, and coming from me that is saying a lot.

[bariki.livejournal.com]

Let's hope for some arse-whooping for the incumbents across that US. Nothing like a good scare to shake up a political party as arrogant as the Republicans.

It'll be interesting to see what happens in our own local elections in May next year. My money is on a bloody nose for the ruling Labour party.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

There seems to be a fair chance of breaking the Republican stranglehold on Congress at least. That would help a lot. I'd like nothing better than to see Dennis Hastert kicked out. Unfortunately, that's unlikely even AFTER the Foley scandal and his part in it.

[baphnedia.livejournal.com]

I'm fully expecting my absentee ballot for WA to not count at all this time, just like the military stationed overseas votes were not counted in the last presidential election. Granted, if they were, there's no telling what would've happened. Soldiers tired of Iraq et al voted for Kerry and soldiers who felt the Dems had no plan voted for Bush.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

That's the trouble with absentee ballots. You never know if they even got there, let alone got counted.

[darkhorseman.livejournal.com]

Ohh cool so the UN can muck things up and be ineffectual as they always are. Hey maybe they will impose sanctions on us.. that will show us where we screwed up!


And yes the Diebold machines are scary. Trust me weather its an ATM, a slot machine or a voting machine. It can be rigged. Its all code.

Fortunatly here we still have the paper ballots that are taken at the schoolhouse by a little old lady who useto be a teacher there and puts em in a locked box so they can be counted.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

That's my point. I think elections here are now so crooked and screwed up that even the UN couldn't make it worse.

Please vote the bar-steward out

[vimsig.livejournal.com]

- leave him without a leg to stand on and kick him in the proverbials - then set up a war trial.

Re: Please vote the bar-steward out

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Who? The biggest twits are still in for another two years and not up for election at all.

Re: Please vote the bar-steward out

[vimsig.livejournal.com]

yeah - but they can be thwarted by congress, no?

Re: Please vote the bar-steward out

[altivo.livejournal.com]

In some respects, yes, but the greatest crimes they are committing will require action by the courts. That will take years to undo.

Re: Please vote the bar-steward out

[vimsig.livejournal.com]

I see the voting system did break down - your fears were realised.
Dare one ask if the breakdown could be linked to the fact they were losing at the time?

Re: Please vote the bar-steward out

[altivo.livejournal.com]

There are a lot more breakdowns than just the high profile one in Montana. That is all a result of corporate profit-seeking and people pushing technology where it isn't really needed. Touch screens are crappy input devices for any purpose.

Overall, the results are hopeful. At least the administration is no longer assured of clear sailing regardless of what it tries to do. They are key points on which I'm still extremely disappointed. Dennis Hastert was returned to the House, though he will no longer be Speaker. He should have been tossed out after his role in the Foley scandal. Some of the worst characters in the Senate were also re-elected.

Anti gay referenda were passed in as many as ten states, and that is really nasty news. I believe the courts will eventually invalidate them all, but it will take years.

The religious right appears to have parted company with the Republicans, and that is more or less good news. It slices away a good chunk of the monolithic control Bush has had over the country.

[calydor.livejournal.com]

I believe that, rather than 'incumbent', the term you were looking for is, "a bunch of mindless jerks who'll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes."

[altivo.livejournal.com]

No, that describes the people who keep voting for incumbents like Dennis Hastert and George Bush.

[woodychitwn.livejournal.com]

I look forward to the day when all voting is electronic and tabulated in real-time... Hell... I look forward to the day I can vote from the comfort of my own computer.

But in the meantime, I'll deal with the hassle of having to walk to my polling place and scratch marks like a caveman. *grinz*

[darkhorseman.livejournal.com]

Well I was turned off to internet voting when I saw a perl script.. that I had absolutly nothing to do with.. completly undermined the security on a news magizine poll.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Heh. If you really think internet voting would ever be accurate or secure then... Well, I trust you're joking.

[dakhun.livejournal.com]

It's time to call in the UN to supervise US elections.

I think the US administration would have to request UN monitors. They couldn't just be "sent in"...

Astonishingly, there were international observers, not from UN but from OSCE, at the 2002 and 2004 US elections, and there supposedly will be one this election too. But it is a very small team (16 members), so I don't know how much they can do.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/08/08/international.observers/
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7005430704

[deffox]

I think having spot checks is common. They don't have to be everywhere to notice a trend. It's pretty hard to turn them down without looking very suspicious.

Actually, having observers from the local parties is more common. I think the majority of polling locations have those. And they'll be more whiny about percieved violations anyway.

cortezopossum talks about them when he works during the election.
Here is a post from 2004.
http://cortezopossum.livejournal.com/143705.html

[altivo.livejournal.com]

That's why I said "call in" rather than "send in". I'm afraid it's really true. Elections here are now so dishonest and twisted that there is no accurate measure of real votes at all.

[songdogmi.livejournal.com]

There's no Democratic party in McHenry County? They couldn't even put up token opposition in the county races? That's really sad.

All the judges in my area were running unopposed (except for one, now that I think of it). The ballot would say "Vote for not more than three" and only three names were shown, along with a couple of blanks for write-ins. I have no beef with the judiciary here, so I didn't care. It's very difficult to run against incumbent judges here; it's a cozy little club and you have to get appointed first before you have a shot at election.

If I had the power to destroy corporations, Diebold would be first on my list. *spit*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I believe the county Democratic organization, all three of them, feels it has done well managing to keep one Democrat in the state legislature. For a blue state, this county is so red it's blinding.

As I said in yesterday's post, no one is willing to run against these old guard republicans even in local races. They won't campaign on issues. Instead they start looking for muck, invent it if they have to, and shout their opponents down with loud advertising. They always seem to have all the money they want for television ads and scare tactics, while any Dem or Independent candidate would practically have to fund their own campaign out of pocket.

[atomicat.livejournal.com]

Why don't they let the people who make slot machines make the voting machines? And how about all those cash registers that seem to work endlessly on and on, never a glich. Well, look for REAL rodents in office this time around! I've set my voles to re-doing all the warez.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d72/AtomicNixon/Vole01.jpg

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I think Diebold does make slot machines. Do you think there might be a connection? Nah. Slot machines are supposed to produce random results. Diebold voting machines produce predictable results.

[deffox]

We use the optical scan ballots ourselves.

They had some electronic thing at the front. It was empty and had no sign. Not sure if that was the Diebold or not.

People who push those things need to read more on them.
http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/evoting.ars

Too many positions lacked a third choice here.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Has it ever occurred to you how much that optical scanner ballot box resembles a big shredder? I think about that afterwards, every single time. With all the Diebold controversy and the way the last two Presidential elections have been twisted and disputed, I no longer have any confidence that our votes are being tallied and reported accurately.

[deffox]

I have actually thought the same thing. I just watch that the counter goes up, and hope it is actually counted.

[pioneer11.livejournal.com]

You voted!

This earns you One Role Play Of Your Choice.

^.^

O RLY?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*rubs hooves together menacingly*

You sure you want to get into that? ;p

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Viva El Revolution!!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Ya know, you're starting to sound like El Gato Guevara or something. ;p

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

With whiskers :)
An amazing man, though people may not agree with his methods....I didn't know he had Asthma.

*sings from a Travis song "Last train"*

"On her jacket, there's a picture in white of Che Guevara, as he sits beneath a tree, that's not important but he looked a bit like me..."