But let me tell you about the stories I've come across. Firstly, you've probably heard that Alaska spitfire Senator Ted Stevens has actually lost his senate seat to his Democrat challenger. This could not have happened to a nicer guy. This moronic loudmouth was just convicted of corruption and somehow thought he would win his seat for another term. In fact, as of November 5, 2008, it looked like a win was actually in the bag for him. Then they find 90,000 uncounted ballots and start counting them. By the thirteenth of November, Stevens was losing the race by 814 votes. Finally, yesterday, AP.org reported that Ted Stevens had lost his senate seat for sure. WHEW!
Ironically, according to ADN.com, officials were surprised to see how low voter turnout was in Alaska--then it turns out that by this past Monday, there are so many votes counted that they came to believe that this may mark the highest voter turnout in Alaska history.
Sorry, Ted!
Meanwhile, the recount in the Franken/Coleman race in Minnesota has commenced, while, in the background, loads of Republicans suddenly sounding like we election-integrity freaks spouting off about how funny things look. Brad Friedman, of BradBlog.com, calls these guys tin-foil hat wearers based on their lack of proof, while I simply call them late to the party. If they have hard evidence that the fix is in for Franken to win, I'd love to see it. Apparently, they don't have any, however.
Here are another couple of stories from the BradBlog I thought were worth pointing out:
FL Election Integrity Advocate, Candidate For Election Supervisor Arrested at Direction of Election Supervisor, Opponent
Ellen H. Brodsky Jailed Overnight After Being Barred From Oversight Several Times by Incumbent SoE Brenda Snipes
Third Such Arrest of an EI Activist Since Summer...
A candidate for Supervisor of Elections in Broward County, FL, was arrested yesterday, following threats and orders from her opponent, the current Broward SOE, Dr. Brenda Snipes.
Ellen H. Brodsky, the county's first non-partisan candidate for SOE, had previously been barred from public counting and oversight on a number of occasions, at the county's official Canvassing Board site and voting machine warehouse in Lauderhill, Florida.
After being taken into custody yesterday afternoon by three uniformed police officers, Brodsky was held overnight at the Broward County Jail even though the $25 --- that's twenty-five dollar --- bail had been posted for her by her son by 8pm last night. She was finally released well after 5am this morning.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6668
Isn't it nice when indies running for office get messed with? Seems like it's often the folks brave enough to be outsiders that get messed with. Ah well.
Now, one of the promises of electronic voting, computerized ballot boxes, touchscreen voting, blah-blah-blah, and all that other voting technology, is that it's easier and will speed up the whole process so people can get back to work (because clearly, democracy is like fast food). Well, it seems like that's not the case. Here's a nice little headline, excerpt and link from the BB that reports the opposite:
Machine Problems Worsened 2008 Voting Woes
Voting Machine Issues, Confusion Compounded Delays Faced by Untold Thousands of Voters This Fall
Though Even That Number Fails to Reveal Untold Counting Errors on E-Voting Systems Across the Nation...
Guest blogged by Steven Rosenfeld of AlterNet
The electronic voting problems in the 2008 election are broader than recently-publicized snafus such as machines not turning on, voter databases omitting names, or touch screens not properly recording votes, according to an analysis of 1,700 incident reports from the nation's largest voter hotline.
Moreover, the voting machine issues and the confusion they caused among poll workers appear to have compounded the delays faced by untold thousands of voters this fall, a preliminary analysis of 1-800-OUR-VOTE reports by Joseph Lorenzo Hall, a researcher at Princeton University and the University of California, has found...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6671
I really hope the Obama Administration gives this country's leaders on all levels an fracking enema. I'm so tired of reading about how leaders across the spectrum of responsibilities are letting us down. Is it me or is money causing more problems than it ever has in the history of our country? All this money influencing our leaders--all this outsourcing our elections to private companies while all of these supposed leaders quite literally buy into the promise that technology is perfect and can protect democracy. As I've been saying for years, now, anything can be hacked. Simply anything.
It's like that old story about how NASA had to spend millions to develop a pen that would write in space while the Russians just used a pencil. This is what we should be doing with our elections. Paper and pencils and humans counting. Sure, it'll take a long time, but I think knowing for sure who our leaders are is a good thing, don't you?
Posted by email from thepete's posterous
Orignal From: Democracy in Danger: Hey, Until We Start Hand-Counting Paper Ballots...
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