I'll be packing a concealed weapon when I head to the polls. This year, Dems need to shoot first and ask questions later.
Okay, enough diary-teasing. I have a suggestion, which seems obvious to me but which I've never heard of anybody carrying out:
Bring a camera/cell phone with you when you go to vote, and record anything that deserves it.
We've all heard stories about machines changing votes, checking the McCain box when you pushed the Obama button, etcetera. Well, I want to see it. I've got a cheap little Nikon digital that can record video, and it slips neatly into my pocket. When I vote for history this year, I'm going to record the moment for posterity. And if anything untoward happens, I'll be recording that too.
I'm all for 'secret ballots', but I've made no secret about what's going on my ballot this year. And if a picture is worth a thousand words, a video will be worth a thousand lawsuits if it turns out there are shenanigans afoot. Early voting's going on right now - if somebody in Georgia can produce a video of a crooked voting machine in flagrante delicto, it could prevent another Ohio.
Is there some kind of legal stricture against doing this? I'm no lawyer, but I can't think why there would be. Obviously you wouldn't/couldn't/shouldn't record anybody else doing their democratic duty, but if you want to capture your own vote on film, what's the harm? And since you're alone in the booth regardless, who's going to stop you?
Also, remember: potential nefariousness isn't restricted to your behind-the-curtain activities. Is somebody intimidating voters? Are people being unlawfully turned away? Whip out that cell phone; you could capture the footage that ends up splashed all over CNN, the YouTube video that gets a billion hits, the basis for the campaign ad that puts this race in the bag.
If we learned one thing from Florida and Ohio, it's that what you know is less important than what you can prove. And if voters don't protect themselves, who will?
Smile, Diebold. You're on candid camera.