If you’ve been paying attention to the great work being done by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman on Ohio’s myriad voting irregularities and statistical improbabilities from both the Presidential election in 2004 and the recent electoral defeat of a handful of referendum initiatives concerning the aggressive monitoring of e-voting (available at many progressive Internet outlets), then you know there’s a very strong case to be made that regressive Republicans in Ohio have criminally cheated their way to at least two electoral ‘victories’.
On Law & Order, the only network show I can stomach on a regular basis, they often talk about the ‘elements of a crime’ – certain criteria that must be satisfied before we can even say a particular someone has committed a particular crime. Those elements are opportunity, means, and motive. You can’t really be a viable suspect if you had no way, no time, and no reason to do the deed. And, of course, you become more of a suspect the more opportunity, means, and motive you have.
I think regressive Republicans are looking really good for voter fraud.
Opportunity
Let’s see. Regressives control the White House, Senate, House of Representatives, Supreme Court, the Ohio governorship and legislature, the national mainstream media outlets (does anybody still buy the myth of a liberal media?), Ohio’s Secretary of State is a regressive toady in the mold of Florida’s Katherine Harris of Election 2000 fame, and Diebold’s CEO was publicly committed to delivering Ohio’s electoral votes to BushCo.
Regressives control electronic voting machine manufacture, sale, repair, alteration, their electronic guts, and most importantly, the software that accounts for and counts (or alters, or doesn’t count) the votes. Regressives are alone in refusing to demand that the machines provide a necessary paper trial, or be cracked open, checked for accuracy, tested, reviewed, poked, prodded, or inspected in any meaningful way, shape, or form. Regressives are at the forefront of disallowing any intervention into the e-voting process at any level by anyone who has not been appropriately vetted or is suitably employed by other relevant regressives.
With all those regressive hands in all those pies and nary a whisper of an organized opposition (or even a disorganized one) or semblance of oversight either nationally and locally, and a veritable dearth of coverage from the MSM, the opportunity for voter fraud must have practically slapped BushCo right in the face and given their immense success in Florida in 2000, the temptation for a do-over must’ve been overwhelming.
Means
If you’ve been fortunate enough to have seen the video of Howard Dean and Beverly Harris of http://www.blackboxvoting.org, you know that e-voting machines are so vulnerable to hacking, an expert can alter entire elections from one remote location. Since regressives control every single facet of the machines themselves and the companies who make them are chaired by BushCo sycophants, it’s painfully obvious how these dots are connected.
Then there’s the walking conflict of interest that is Ken Blackwell, Ohio Secretary of State, BushCo lover, and GOP operative. As we know from Florida in 2000, the Sec. of State wields enormous power when it comes to disenfranchising roster-loads of likely Democratic voters and ensuring that there are only enough voting machines for the Republicans to vote quickly. Democrats is working class districts are encouraged to get discouraged enough to go home without voting.
Motive
Motive is usually uncovered by establishing who benefits from the fruits of the crime – generally a ‘follow the money’ kinda strategy. From the corporations that have gleefully soaked up BushCo’s generous tax giveaways and welfare to the various regressive candidates whose elections could easily be sure-things with the press of a few buttons, the list of possible benefactors is practically endless, but they all have one thing in common – they’re all right-wing regressive Kool-Aid chugging BushCo supporters.
Using various swing states as proving grounds for their takeover strategy and pushing e-voting technology on other unsuspecting states with atmospheres ripe for control, regressives aim to slowly gain control of every state’s voting apparatus, thereby guaranteeing consistent regressives victories as all levels of government. One look at the recent sham surrounding California’s ‘debate’ over e-voting should convince any reasonable person. As we all know, a Democrat can’t win without taking California, and now that their voting is in the hands of un-inspected voting machines, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s afoot.
And who gets screwed? Why, you, I, and democracy get screwed – royally – and not for the first time. We get to be subject to an increasingly one-party political system while being force-fed the illusion the elections are fair, the republic is strong, and we still have a voice. Hmm, sounds just like something a guy named Marx predicted.
Conclusion
If what they say on Law & Order is true and you can indict a ham sandwich, then this case against BushCo has enough meat on it to look like one of those giant New York deli Reubens. The regressive criminal machine is well-oiled, well-organized, and by now, quite experienced at election thievery.
Allen Snyder can be reached at asnyder111@bellsouth.net
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