The Democracy that refused to Die
As I write this week’s column, I find myself reflecting on two recent elections. I turned up late to work today, having requested a brief reprieve to cast my ballot against the ugly, Discriminatory, poorly written Proposition 2. As of this moment, I have no idea if the ever-popular Fear and Loathing of the Gay Lifestyle has prevailed in this summary of opinion. But I digress; that is not the point of today’s diatribe.
This morning I trudged in to the Bedford Boy’s Ranch, something of a community activity center down the street from my residence. As I walked inside, I was confronted with the usual long lines attributed to voting day. Standing in the queue, I watched as my fellow citizens shuffled forward, presenting their registration cards and checking their names on the rolls. Immediately apparent was the stack of paper ballots being distributed close to the polls. This put my mind at ease … for a little while, anyway.
I remember very well my experience last November, waiting for over an hour in the cold to cast my ballot for John Kerry. It was not a pleasant choice to make – like being forced to decide between Gonorrhea and HIV – but I, along with millions of others, went one way or the other. And ultimately, HIV won out in that contest. The now full-blown AIDS infection this nation is suffering under is an ugly, unbearable thing.
That fateful November, as I left the voting booth I felt a little queasy having cast a ballot on a touch-screen. I had read all about the potential for voter fraud through the use of electronic ballots, but I had not actually seen it for myself. “Oh my GOD!” screamed an elderly woman from three booths down. “It changed my vote! It changed my vote!” she yelped. “I voted for Kerry, but it changed it to Bush!”
Election workers jogged towards the woman and asked her to calm down. They assured her that it was just a display malfunction, and her vote for Gonorrhea – I mean, Kerry – had been counted as such. She was obstinate, and demanded a paper ballot. They had none to give, so she pledged to go to another polling location where her vote could be later verified.
As she walked out, I got that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Surely this cannot be happening all over the country. Surely her vote was counted properly. I was wrong. And it is still happening. After adding my voice to those standing for equal rights in today’s Proposition 2 vote, I was confronted with an electronic ballot scanner equipped with a memory card that essentially serves as the ballot box, carrying the tallies in its easily-modified memory bank. In spite of my paper ballot, a machine was still the overriding factor.
I later discovered that nearly 80 percent of
Walden O’Dell, the C.E.O. of Diebold, was a member of Bush’s “Rangers and Pioneers,” a set of particularly dedicated individuals who raised at least $100,000 for the HIV-AIDS -- I mean, Bush-Cheney – campaign. In August of 2003, good ‘ole Walden told attendees at a Republican Party fund-raiser in
But everyone said that those who would question our irrefutable election system were just crazies afraid of transmitters implanted in their teeth by Major League Baseball, or some other such nonsense. Unfortunately, those who would raise such doubt had little to substantiate claims of corruption and election theft.
Until now, that is.
The Government Accountability Office, or G.A.O., is a group of legislators from both parties. The six-member panel recently issued a report about electronic voting security. Their findings do not install any confidence in the new system of voting. According to the G.A.O. …
“Cast ballots, ballot definition files, and audit logs could be modified. Supervisor functions were protected with weak or easily guessed passwords. Systems had easily picked locks and power switches that were exposed and unprotected. Local jurisdictions misconfigured their electronic voting systems, leading to Election Day problems. Voting systems experienced operational failures during elections. Vendors installed uncertified electronic voting systems.”
I am willing to bet a dollar that nine out of 10 people did not know this report existed. I did not know it existed until late last week. It was issued a month ago, yet not a single mainstream media outlet devoted a word to it. It was neglected by all the wire services, all the television news networks and all the corporate newspapers. That most citizens will learn of these findings through independent media and local, family-owned newspapers such as the one in your hands right now, is testament to how the mainstream media is, at best, neglecting the very job they are intended for – Protection of Democracy and Government Accountability.
Friends, the corporate political parties have their giant, robotic foot to the throat of our great Democracy. We will not allow them to crush the will of the people. It is time for a revolution of citizen watchdogs. We must all become empowered and informed, lest we be doomed to accept death with a passive glare. If the mainstream press cannot even discuss this dire and growing threat to the system we base our liberties on, it is time to abandon them. What am I saying?
Cancel your subscriptions. Turn off your TV and get on the Internet. Email your congressional representatives and use the harsh language you would normally reserve for conversations with friends. Make them know what you expect, and do not be afraid of retribution. It is your right. Use it while you still can.
I believe it was Joseph Stalin who once said, “It’s not who votes that counts; it’s who counts the votes.” Take that to heart, lest we fall behind an iron curtain of our own creation.
Mahalo.
