Refresh   Tag(s): ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Add to My Group
April 14, 2008 at 20:06:57

View Ratings | Rate It

Pennsylvania: The Worst Place to Vote in America

FACEBOOK
submit to twitter
submit to reddit
submit to digg

Tell A Friend

By Bev Harris (about the author)     Page 1 of 2 page(s)

opednews.com     Permalink

For OpEdNews: Bev Harris - Writer


Okay, about Pennsylvania, which Black Box Voting has dubbed "the worst place to vote in America"

Most locations in Pennsylvania have no ballots: Strike one.

Pennsylvania fails to recognize that its own citizens have a right to oversee their own government, especially the elections that control who takes office: Strike two.



Pennsylvania has a hefty history of organized crime, including organized crime infiltrating government positions: Strike three.

By these standards, many states in this nation have also struck out. But what makes Pennsylvania even worse:

- Bad public records laws, restricting who can see records, and making them difficult to obtain.

- One hand washing the other with the not-so-clean legislature glad-handing the HAVA-loving Pennsylvanian "expert" Michael Shamos -- the paperless voting cheerleader. Shamos is the expert that never noticed the problems with Diebold, not even GEMS, which a chimpanzee can manipulate. Shamos is the Pennsylvania expert that is ever-ready to testify to Pennsylvania lawmakers against paper ballots when Pennsylvania citizens try to get them.

- Bad recount laws, and not even any so-called audits. Pennsylvania is the poster child for votes counted in secret, inside computers, with a secret chain of custody, which is both inside computers containing secret software and is then further made secret by poor laws for public records and obstructive behavior by officials.

Pennsylvania has some good people, like former election official V. Kurt  ellman, who has shown the intellectual honesty to do his homework, think independently, and -- most difficult for many people -- Bellman has been willing to rethink his positions from time to time. We often disagree, but it is always an informative discussion.

Pennsylvania has some awesome, creative, and tenacious citizens fighting for voting rights, like Alan Brau, who helped expose the improper use of the Advanced Voting Systems WinVote, and Mary Ann Gould, who has done an extraordinary job of communicating the issues to the public.

But Pennsylvania is still the worst place to vote in America.

Oh-- and did I mention, it also has a significant "Moonshine Elections" component. It's not often that states combine mafia connections with moonshine politics, but that's Pennsylvania. For more about Moonshine Elections, see these reports:

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/moonshine1.pdf 

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/moonshine2.pdf

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/moonshine3.pdf

I don't think you'll find many states that actually top Pennsylvania in citizen-unfriendly elections. Nominate some if you dare, but I think I'll be able to show you that Pennsylvania has them beat.

Next Page  1  |  2

 

http://www.blackboxvoting.org

Bev Harris is executive director of Black Box Voting, Inc. an advocacy group committed to restoring citizen oversight to elections.

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.

Contact Author Contact Editor View Authors' Articles

 

Book Recommendations for "2008 Election Presidential Primary"
Polls and elections: how did the primary vote forecasts fare in 2008?: An article from: Presidential Studies Quarterly
by Wayne P. Steger

$9.95

Number of pages: 25
Publisher: Center for the Study of the Presidency

The Iowa Caucuses: First Tests of Presidential Aspiration, 1972-2008
by John C. Skipper

$35.00

Number of pages: 212
Publisher: McFarland

View All Book Recommendations

Share this page: (what's this?)                   Tell a Friend: Tell A Friend

FACEBOOK      DIGG THIS      Add This Page to Mr Wong!           NEWSVINE      DEl.ICIO.US      Looksmart Furl      NETSCAPE      My Web      Tag!RawSugar      Blink List     (More...)

Comments: Expand   Shrink   Hide  
6 comments
To view all comments:
Expand Comments
 

right to know laws by Brasch on Tuesday, Apr 15, 2008 at 4:32:47 AM
Worse than Ohio and Florida? by Kathlyn Stone on Tuesday, Apr 15, 2008 at 10:36:48 AM
Bev knows voting by Brent Turner on Tuesday, Apr 15, 2008 at 1:37:44 PM
Who "knows" voting? by Darren Wolfe on Tuesday, Apr 15, 2008 at 2:54:17 PM
Clinton's Keystone State Bait and Switch by Ed Encho on Tuesday, Apr 15, 2008 at 5:24:07 PM
Echo Ed by Brent Turner on Saturday, Apr 19, 2008 at 9:08:15 PM

 

 

 

Tell a Friend: Tell A Friend

Copyright © 2002-2010, OpEdNews

Powered by Populum