Reply #8: Corrections in Double Brackets [View All]

[RedEagle]

BLACK BOX VOTING: A BEGINNERS GUIDE

“The vitality of America’s Democracy depends on the fairness and accuracy of America’s elections. Every registered voter deserves to have confidence that the system is fair and elections are honest, that every vote is recorded and that the rules are consistently applied.”
George W. Bush, October 29, 2002, on the occasion of signing HAVA (Help America Vote Act)

HAVA mandates

<[HAVA does not mandate. If a state wants federal money, they have to follow the HAVA protocol. In those rules, states could even still use punch cards, if the instiute a voter education program>]

the use of electronic

<[no, it only requires getting rid of punch cards and lever machines, to be eligible for federal money>]

voting machines in every precinct in America, and Congress has agreed to allocate $3.9 billion of taxpayers money to partially fund the purchase of these machines. The total bill could come to over $5 billion and will be paid for by tax monies at either the Federal or local level. Does this significant expenditure give every voter the confidence that the system is fair and elections are honest ? Are electronic voting machines accurate and are the rules consistently applied? There are only three possible answers to both questions. No. Maybe. Who knows ?

SECRECY: What was once our sacred secret ballot is now a privatized, secret balloting system. No voter, no citizen’s group, no elected official, no academic expert, no one representing the public common welfare is allowed to examine or inspect the voting machines or the software code operating those machines. Instead of trusting the local precinct worker who we may personally know, or the county Board of Election folks who are in the public servant category, we are told that we must trust for profit private corporations.

VOTE FRAUD: Vote early, vote often. Stuff the ballot box. Buy my vote. Election tampering has always been a part of our ongoing democratic experiment. Computer driven voting machines escalate this potential for vote rigging to a new degree. The voting machines run on the same

<[No, they don't all. Accupoll uses Linux and is open source>]

Windows platform as your families PC with the same modems (connected or wireless) and the same software, except for the proprietary software written and kept secret by the voting machine company. This is equal opportunity vote fraud. Anyone can do it. Not just a Democrat or Republican, but the mafia, the French Intelligence, your local geek hacker.

To be honest, here, it would not be easy for an outsider, just possible. However, for an insider and that includes everyone working for the company building the machines and everyone involved in the election process from state level to precinct level have an opportunity to manipulate the ballot and vote counting procedure. That’s a whole lot of people to put your trust in when it would only take just one. Scared yet ?

<[The big difference here is ONE person can commit MASSIVE vote fraud>]


WHAT CAN I DO ? This is easy. Call, e-mail,

<[fax also, do all three>]

write your congressperson and tell them to support House Bill # 2239 by Congressman Rush Holt. This bill requires that each machine produces a paper ballot to be used in case a recount is necessary. If this is too difficult then in the next election vote by absentee ballot.

<[And demand recounts and pay for them if results don't sound right>]
We must have a <[voter verified>]

audit trail and we must have a means of verifying the vote. Vote as though your freedom and your country depended on it because it does and this could be your last opportunity to cast a secret ballot and have it recorded and counted honestly.

<[Physical, tangible EVIDENCE of your vote is necessary, not bits and bytes in a computer>]