human beings, are oversimplifying. The system of decentralized election
authority, patchwork equipment, and partisan election officials turns monitoring
elections into a misery. If every election supervisor had the integrity of Ion
Sancho, we could vote in confidence using pebbles and urns. We need to have an
election system that raises the integrity not just of ballots but of the people
working the system, too.
I don't think it will happen unless we catch someone cheating so irrefutably
that it generates the public pressure for a complete housecleaning. Sad to say,
but a lot of people who one would expect would be pushing for electoral reform
are instead resisting. I don't think it's because they are bad people. They just
don't weigh the various interests equitably.
Regards,
Oliver Dawshed, author. www.failureisimpossible.com/ElectionStudies: the only site on the web besides the Florida Secretary of State devoted to understanding Florida elections.
Joan,
Your quandry letter is indicative of how all of us feel about voting and
elections. Tom Henkel, the Democrat treasurer for a county in Raleigh stated to
me one time that "it's just another way elections have been stolen in the past".
While that didn't comfort me any, I do think he is right so some extent. But
the electronic voting machines imposed from the federal level - to me is the
atom bomb of elections for the future. It's bad when we have to have a dictator
like Joseph Stalin remind us of how to win elections.
I hope the correction doesn't take as long as you project in your letter, but
you could be right. Seems it always takes 5 miles to stop a runaway train
doesn't it. Why are masses in a nation so slow to learn what is going on under
their noses as it was with the concentration camps? They knew something bad was
going on but everyone was afraid to say anything about it. The Nazis certainly
weren't going to say anything - just like the Republicans are remaining quiet
and turning a blind eye to the elections trajedy of 200 and 2004.
I believe our only hope is to go after the legislature. Our representatives
have to understand that a handful of voting machine companies have our democracy
in their clutches. I intend to continue to bombard "our Alaska three" with the
facts. The November elections are closing in.
My wife and I were in the fight for home schooling in the late 70's and 80's in
North Carolina. I remember during that fight one congressman stating that "one
letter to his desk represented 40,000 people" If that's true, then our letters
count very much, - which brings another idea to mind:
I can't remember exactly what the issue was several years ago, but there was a
very controversial bill in the works, and the opposing faction of people each
sent a two foot long 2X4 board to their respective to kill the issue. It may
have been the Equal Rights Ammendment, - can't remember but somewhere around
that time. But I do remember the publicity gained from the tons of wood that
had to be delivered to the offices of the representatives in Washington. The
idea was taken from an old slogan "you have to hit a mule in the head with a 2 X
4 to get his attention." It's not a bad idea... Maybe inscribe the board with
"Ban all electronic voting machines!"
Thanks for your letter. I 'm not dead, but am too busy to stay involved like I
would like.
Please hang in there, - lots of games are won in overtime. We need you....
Dave (Alaska voting activist)
***
Joan,
It was wonderful! I know just how you feel, i.e., who are we, just
ordinary citizens, to take on this challenge and say something
worthwhile for the public at large? You've done a beautiful job
summarizing what's going on.
I exchanged e-mails with Gary Beckwith this week, and he told me that
producing an article for OpEdNews is in is "to do" pile. I know he's
working on an updated CD, focusing less on the 2004 electionn and more
on the need for integrity in the voting process, so I wouldn't count
on anything from him very soon.
Our local public access TV is going to start showing "Invisible
Ballots" soon, and I sent an alert to a public access TV station
manager in a small college town in Massachusetts letting her know she
should order the DVD and show it there, too.
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