But trust is the contrary of checks and balances. And our nation's Founders wisely chose that our nation rely first and foremost on checks and balances.
Checks and balances require that we be fully informed. And to be fully informed about our elections requires--hold onto your hat--our being able to view what is on each and every one of the ballots cast in the polling place. If this can be done economically and without compromising the "secrecy (anonymity) of the ballot," it will allay all doubts and concerns about the honesty of the counting and about the accuracy of the voting equipment.
This strategy may seem blue-sky, but something quite similar is already being explored by at least one jurisdiction: Humbolt County in California. The elections department there is investigating the use of the Internet to publish scanned images of all the ballots cast in the county in each future election.
A different approach would be to invite average citizens to use videocameras to make images of the ballots. Visit http://amerivote.com
What can you do to help restore greater citizen control over elections?
Here's one action: Contact your legislators and tell them to affirm the right of citizens to videotape in the polling place, both while the polls are open and after they close. The newsmedia are permitted to do so, and there no good reason for preventing the average citizen from doing so.
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