This sampling of my recent personal experience, which I’m sure could be corroborated by your own tales of woe, demonstrates that computers are just plain prone to malfunctioning and crashing. Add to the mix the fact that the security systems supplied by these voting machine vendors are as porous as Swiss cheese, and you certainly do not have a reliable recipe for secure elections. Even if these voting systems were as impregnable as Fort Knox, which most computer experts deem impossible, it would still be foolish to outsource and privatize something as fundamental to our democracy as elections. The bottom line is that when citizens cannot observe their votes being counted, they cannot be sure that those votes are being counted accurately, or at all.
Ken Karan wrote a powerful op-ed piece this week for the North County Times (CA) entitled “Paper ballots necessary to preserve democracy”. http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=40163 I highly recommend this piece, which is short and to the point. For years, various interests have pointed to two chief reasons for computerized voting: accessibility for the disabled and convenience. We now know that the machines failed miserably in terms of accessibility, thereby pulling the rug out from under the chief rationale for their use. But, the convenience factor is a tougher one. Study after study has shown that the machines break down, lose votes, count them incorrectly and are extremely susceptible to hacking.
It may be more ‘convenient’ to push a few buttons on a touch-screen but if you have no way of knowing where your vote went and how, or if, it was counted once it enters the innards of that black box, then you have traded your ticket to democracy for false promises. It’s definitely easier to outsource our elections to private corporations and let them worry about the headaches that ensue. But who ultimately pays the price? And, look at what is lost when citizens are distanced from the election process and feel jilted in favor of technology ‘experts’ who tinker with their machines, run the elections and tell the people what the results are, even when it is impossible to determine or confirm what those results are. Democracy is hard work; it is definitely inconvenient. But for whom?
I have repeatedly cited a Zogby poll conducted last year which states that 92% of those polled want our votes counted in a more transparent manner. http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1163 So, it’s not the voters who are sold on these machines. Are our elections being run for the vendors or the convenience of the registrars of voters? Or are they ultimately for the citizens and the exercise of our right to elect our officials and be confident that those in power were the people’s choice?
I liked Karan's op-ed piece so much that I felt compelled to include these snippets:
Secret vote-counting concentrates power in the hands of those who own the counting process. Removing citizens from the process of verifying elections undermines the very underpinnings of a democracy, which require that power must be dispersed to citizens. The alternative is tyranny…
The right to self-government is unalienable, but the act itself must be practiced. One habit required for self-government is being mindful of the importance of elections as an experience, a celebration, and not a chore. Being an adult demands taking responsibility. Responsibility for some things cannot be delegated. We cannot delegate responsibility for making choices like whom to marry and whether to have children. We cannot delegate responsibility for the crimes we commit. We cannot delegate responsibility for practicing our religion. And, we cannot, in a democracy, delegate responsibility for choosing the government we are empowered by our Creator to create.
To ensure democracy, the people must take responsibility for the one institution that renders all other institutions subservient, our elections. It's a burden, but it's a burden unlike any other because it makes us free. Secretary Bowen's decision to listen to reason and not special interests is our invitation to reclaim our place in government as the nation's founders intended by taking responsibility for our freedom.
Expanded New Edition of Mark Crispin Miller’s Fooled Again
Miller is a tenured professor at NYU. His other books won him numerous talk and news show appearances, yet this book – Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election & Why They’ll Steal the Next One Too (Unless We Stop Them) – turned a Big Man on Campus into a wallflower. When it first came out in 2005, no one would touch Miller’s book and it received nary a review. (At the time, I hadn’t begun to write reviews, a fact I much regret; I wasn’t even a part of OpEdNews yet, and my first review didn’t come out until July 2006.) Miller was forced to rely solely on book tours to get the word out.
The virtual silence that greeted the book’s release may have been because it comes down very hard on everyone – the Republicans, the Bush Administration, the press, and the religious right and the extreme lengths it will go to achieve electoral “victory.” Democrats in denial come in for their fair share of much deserved criticism as well. No one comes out looking very good. Miller couldn’t even get pay to get coverage – Terry Gross’s Fresh Air refused an ad for the book without even explaining why. On the back flap, instead of praise from admiring celebs, it reads “the story the media is afraid to touch.” That pretty much sums it up.
My Multi-Part Series
In the coming months, I would like to look at current events on the election front through the lens of Miller’s and insightful book, now expanded and updated. Since so much is covered in this dense volume, I will break up my writings into a multi-part series. Topics will include the purpose of elections in a democracy, the role of the press, present legislative proposals and how politicization of our elections has threatened the entire fabric of our democracy. Along the way, I also plan to include interviews with various experts on these subjects. Already agreeing to take part are Mark Crispin Miller, Stephen Heller (the Diebold whistleblower), Nancy Tobi, Brad “BradBlog” Friedman, and Bruce O’Dell. I’m excited and, frankly, a bit nervous about pulling all of this together. It’s a big and ambitious plan that will begin to unfold, hopefully, quite soon.
Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which exists for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. We aim to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Electronic (computerized) voting systems are simply antithetical to democratic principles.
CER set up a lending library to achieve the widespread distribution of the DVD Invisible Ballots: A temptation for electronic vote fraud. Within eighteen months, the project had distributed over 3200 copies across the country and beyond. CER now concentrates on group showings, OpEd pieces, articles, reviews, interviews, discussion sessions, networking, conferences, anything that promotes awareness of this critical problem. Joan has been Election Integrity Editor for OpEdNews since December, 2005.
SAVE R VOTE in Riverside County offers to be interviewed
Hi Joan,
My name is Tom Courbat, a good friend of Brad Friedman, Bev Harris and Steve Heller. In Riverside County, I am the executive director of SAVE R VOTE, and if you go to the BradBlog you will see dozens of blog entries about our forays into Election Integrity and the progress we have made in penetrating the veil of secrecy of the Registrar of Voters in the county rated the "second worst county to vote in" by Black Box Voting. I think if you talk to any of them they will tell you that SAVE R VOTE represents grass roots efforts at the most basic and local level. I would love to tell you our story. You can find some short videos we have done by going to www.brightcove.com and typing in videotom in the search box. When it shows the some of the videos (there are now 13) just click on any one of them. Then click on "see all videos" (below the viewing screen), which brings up most of them, then click on "see all" to have all thirteen thumbnails displayed for your selection. The most current one, done just last week and used at the California Democratic Council's 55th annual meeting in LA on Saturday, is entitled "4 Key Issues in Election Integrity."
I hope as you view a few of them you will find that the barriers we have had to confront are relevant to those that nearly all election integrity advocates have to deal with, and that they are instructive.
Best regards,
Tom Courbat
951-677-64551
951-536-6091 (cell)
by
Tom Courbat (11 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 12 comments)
on Monday, August 13, 2007 at 3:54:36 AM
Miller's book is excellent. As a computer hardware person, I can say that voting by computer is probably the worst possible method available. It's not just the reliability problems, and the hack-ability problems, it is also the fact that many poll workers are usually not very computer savvy and will have difficulty setting up and using the equipment properly. We saw that happen here in Maryland in the last election primary.
Simple less fallible equipment that also creates a paper trail will be far better in the long run. However, manual equipment may actually require more effort by poll workers and therefore may be less popular with them. Even if they do not understand computers, they definitely like the process being automated and quick.
by
John R Moffett (83 articles, 17 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 649 comments)
on Monday, August 13, 2007 at 6:45:03 AM
you put your finger on a key issue. trading in our elections (and therefore our democracy) for the sake of convenience. vendor misrepresentation (or worse) and widespread layperson ignorance of the way the computers work and how easily corrupted they are combine to make a quick fix that is neither. it ends up being a deal with the devil.
by
Joan Brunwasser (164 articles, 3538 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 634 comments)
on Monday, August 13, 2007 at 7:55:25 AM
Really excellent, Joan. I'm impressed, and grateful; and also very keen to read the next installment(s)!
One teeny quibble: The book hasn't be "re-issued"--which would imply that it was out of print, and has now been republished as it was when it initially came out. Rather, it has now come out in paperback (nor was it ever out of print); and the new edition has over 100 pages of new material in the Afterword. So the book has been expanded. And, finally, it now has a different, timelier and far less cumbrous subtitle. (Also, there are several pages of glowing testimonials
on and in the paperback. Although the book was indeed largely ignored by the MSM, it did get a lot of praise on-line and in independent weeklies.)
Anyway, I thank you warmly for tackling this vitally this important project.
MCM
by
Joan Brunwasser (164 articles, 3538 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 634 comments)
on Monday, August 13, 2007 at 8:08:45 AM
What a sensible approach your article takes. You might mention that it is computer programmers and tech people who are at the forefront of the movement to make the vote transparent. See here:
Thanks for describing Mark Crispin Miller's reviewer-ignored book. I'll read it and I look forward to your series discussing it.
Steve Figler
(wurstwisdom.com)
by
Rrrandy-Steve (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 16 comments)
on Monday, August 13, 2007 at 7:20:25 PM
a bit more circumspect about praising Miller's book too much. Dr. Miller agreed to do an interview with me last year regarding the book. After sending him critical questions clarifying its contents, Miller failed to respond. I asked him several times when he would. He continued to put me off, and in the end, ended our correspondence.
While I think Dr. Miller and Fooled Again are well intentioned, I do have to wonder why he was unable to clarify his positions in the book. As one can easily observe, Dr. Miller has been very responsive to those promoting the book uncritically. This practice leaves me a bit cold, and makes me wonder about the credibility of some of the information he offers.
by
Larry Sakin (63 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 14 comments)
on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 at 8:08:34 PM
9 comments
How would you rate this?
You must be logged in (if signed up) to do ratings.
It's free to signup! And easy. And takes just a minute or two....
Must Read (
Well Said (
News (
Touching (
Funny (
Supported (
Interesting (
Inspiring (
Valuable (
