For Those Disenchanted with American Politics

I've become very disenchanted with the political process in our country.  Mostly I believe -- REGARDLESS OF PARTY -- campaigning has become about money - who has the most to run an election, compensate high-paid political consultants, pay for high-cost ads, etc.?  

While I can ultimately come to grips with this reality, more dire is that I've become extremely skeptical of the election process.  Every time I go to a poll I wonder if my vote will really be accurately counted.  But today I came upon what I think might be a helpful solution to my plight.

Now more than ever, political skeptics should volunteer as poll workers and election judges.

Those of us who are skeptical need to put that skepticism to good use, and I can't think of a better way to do that than to put your skepticism to work in overseeing the election(s) of 2008.  Especially the presidential election.  Given the nightmare that touch-screen balloting in particular, or ALL forms of balloting for that matter, will wreak on our elections this year, our entire nation (not just the Democratic party) needs skeptics who are suspicious of the entire process  (it would help to have some familiarity with computers) to help man polling stations and call out vociferously when voting machines malfunction.  After reading the article in the NYT Magazine (linked below) about voting machine errors, it's a sure bet they will malfunction.

Link to NYT Magazine Article by Clive Thompson

I can't think of a better place for political skeptics to be than at a polling place overseeing the election.  The more skeptical you are, the more important it is you participate.  

Michael Shamos, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University who has examined voting-machine systems for more than 25 years, estimates that about 10 percent of the touch-screen machines “fail” in each election.
--NYT Magazine, Jan 6th, 2008

People need to be on hand to call loud and ardent attention to any instance of malfunction or irregularity at the polling places.  And if you're skeptical you're more likely to call it early on rather than after it's too late.

Also, isn't it rubbish that private companies are in charge of making our voting machines, training the poll workers on their systems, and writing the proprietary software code that is run on their systems?  As taxpayers, we have no right to inspect the software code WE PAY FOR for errors on the grounds that it's proprietary and secret.

This is not democratic, it's corporate fascism winding it's way into the ultimate democratic process -- the vote.  Until regular americans at the polls call bullshit when the sytems break down it won't change.  As a skeptic you have a responsibility to cast light on the breaking points in the current election system.  This is the only thing that can bring about the transparency our election system desperately needs.

•  Proprietary Software is crazy

  I think that your ideas are good ones.

  We should be involved in our elections, I'm going to look into it.

  You're also right about privately patented and copyrighted voting machines.  We need laws against this at the state level.  We need an awareness campaign at the national level.

  Thanks for this diary.

  by StuartZ on Sun Jan 13, 2008 at 02:33:00 PM PDT

•  I've been troubled for a long time

  about the idea of elections as a profit-making endeavor, whether for software designers, commercial networks, advertising agencies or consulting agencies.  Its kind of similar to the unease I feel about war as a profit-making endeavor and the whole "government-contractor" malaise that the Bush/Cheney regime has not only embraced but mutated into a monster.  

  There's a lot of ambiguity to my feelings, however, because the basic notion that the private economy should nuture the public commons isn't something I am opposed to.  Just as I'm not opposed to the idea that the public coffers should nuture the private economy.  I do sort of wish that we didn't see them as separate and unequal (and oppositional) forces, however.

  by a gilas girl on Sun Jan 13, 2008 at 02:45:15 PM PDT

•  election reform is the only issue

  in the end that matters, b/c w/out transparent elections nothing like democracy is even remotely possible. Right now America has in general an absolutely shitty and untransparent way of counting the vote, and that needs to change. Unfortunately there are many with vested interests in preventing real election reform from occuring, and they have muddied the waters with "Voter ID" and other shit meant to disenfranchise. So we have a long way to go.

  by gnat on Sun Jan 13, 2008 at 02:55:08 PM PDT

•  Yup

  I've monitored elections at a polling place.  The City actually pays you $40 for the day!  Whoopee.

  by CupofTea on Sun Jan 13, 2008 at 04:21:47 PM PDT

•  Here's a thought:

  You could consider a different style, such as:

  Australian preferential voting

  Now, as an American permanent resident in the land of oz, I can't vote so I cannot say from inside that it works better. There is the silly 'vote or get fined' which leads to a 'donkey vote' in which one turns up and trashes the ballot, in effect.

  I am told, anyway, that the cross-checks in the polling places make it VERY close to impossible to game the system.

  by US2oz on Sun Jan 13, 2008 at 08:29:32 PM PDT