I've seen lots of interest and respect here lately for Eliot Spitzer. And I've also seen a lot about election machine reform (and that's an understatement.) But no one's quite synthesized the two yet, as far as I can tell, so, here goes...
I am pretty sure that under HAVA, New York must replace their lever voting machines by 2006. I have also heard rumors that Pataki et al (New York Republicans) would like to go to touch screens. If they do, that is when Spitzer can step in and investigate. He really has no jurisdiction over Florida and Ohio, obviously, but if his state is thinking about purchasing new voting machines (doesn't have to be touch screens, could be anything with an insecure central tabulator,) well now it's in his own backyard, isn't it? I'm really thinking that Spitzer might be one of our best weapons in the fight for election reform. Here's why.
- As a state Attorney General, I'm sure that he must have more power to acquire information than Bev Harris or any of us.
- He doesn't have to be a conspiracy theorist. He can simply say, "I have heard some troubling things about these machines, and I would like to get the best deal for the state of New York. This means that the machines must be as secure and accurate as possible."
- This is exactly the kind of thing he's good at, going after big companies. And playing the PR game. He doesn't even have to take them to court (in this case, I'm not sure he could until they already buy the machines and they don't work), but he could say, "Look, here is mounting evidence that something is not right here. Maybe there is willful misconduct. Maybe they are just making bad products. But either way, if they won't even give me the information that I request, they must have something to hide, right?" From what I've heard, he's one of the shrewdest guys out there. If anyone can bring Sequoia, Diebold, ES&S down, it's probably him.
- If he finds a lot of stuff that is worth pursuing, he can call up every other Democratic AG and try to get them on the case. Strength in numbers.
Spitzer is the kind of guy who could really pull the election reform stuff into the mainstream, once and for all. I mean, the NYT would have to cover it, since it's in their backyard. If it amounted to anything, other media outlets would have to cover it as well, because it's not just tin-foil hatters now- it's the state AG of New York, for Pete's sake!