Hey, we won a bunch of elections!
I'm still coming down off of the high myself, one of the only things that bummed me out was the chorus of voices that said: "Can we please stop talking about voting machine fraud now?".
The answer to this is "No."
here's why:
Well first off there were some seriously questionable results in the last election anyway, that only a vigiliant blogosphere noticed. Remember that county that came in as 92% Kilgore, when it went for Kerry, then suddenly it was "corrected"?
Was this due to fraud, incompetence, chance or what? Who knows. Since the machines are inauditable the public will never know.
Also no exit polls, which on one hand was a relief, but on the other hand, if there were inconsistincies, how would we know?
My friend imagined a Matrix like battle with a hacker with a white hat and one with a black hat duking it out over the data. I'm not sure if that is something that happened or not, but I don't rule it out entirely. Why? Because these machines are a security nightmare, everybody knows that at this point, the only disagreement is what to do about it.
Listen: It doesn't matter if you believe in vote hacking or not, the security flaws in these machines are real and have not been addressed on the national forum yet. Some states have enacted legislation some haven't, but here's the meat of the matter:
Even if you think the machines are fine, or it's a non-issue, there are enough of us out here that do that it really does make a difference. Would you rather have "fraudsters" complaining about it, or actively working to elect more progressives to take this country back?
Talk about firing up the base!
I would give $20 immediately to any '08 Presidential Candidate or '06 candidate that brings the verified voting issues to the national forum. I'd give more if I wasn't so damn poor.
Why? Because it's important and because it's a WINNING ISSUE!!
What is the argument against it? That it's too expensive? Please!
Who can argue with the machines you buy doing what they are supposed to do? Nobody.
Henceforth why there are many Republican co-sponsors to the holt legislation and the Senate equivalent.
Organizing so well that it doesn't matter if they cheat or not is not an option.
Don't let this be a wedge issue, and please, put the issue of 2004 fraud away for right now, both sides, let's just FIX IT!
-C.
PS: Also, let's not limit the conversation to Diebold, ES&S is hinky as well, as are the other manufacturers... we need to make sure to frame the debate properly.