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I’m an elections inspector. That’s right, I’m the mean old lady who sits on the other side of the table from you in her naugahyde dress, glaring through her horn rimmed glasses while you sign the book. Only I’m not that old, I’m usually in jeans, I don’t wear glasses, and I try hard not to glare. I’m mainly there to help the polling place run, as my mom has been doing for decades now. I can be a little bit mean though, given the right provocation.
Right now I'm feeling mean. My provocation comes from the fact that computerized voting machines with proprietary, flawed code have been imposed on the electorate across the country by Dieboldt, Sequoia, and their cronies in government, and the essential right of our citizenry is being completely suborned to a larger corporate agenda. This is about a wannabe oligarchy finally making us the serfs they think we should be. Not ok. Makes me feel pretty mean. Snarly, even.
According to the Election Defense Alliance article, “Landslide Denied”, the exit polls in the 2006 elections didn’t match up. At all. To the degree that if this were Ukraine, or Armenia, there would be UN elections monitors all over the place, and we’d all be marching in the street demanding a recount.
If this were Vegas, we’d be breaking knees by now.
Here’s a small piece of the article:
“…For the purposes of this analysis our primary attention is directed to the exit poll in which respondents were asked for whom they cast their vote for the House of Representatives. 2 Although only four House races (in the single-district states) were polled as individual races, an additional nationwide sample of more than 10,000 voters was drawn,3 the results representing the aggregate vote for the House in E2006. The sample was weighted according to a variety of demographics prior to public posting, and had a margin of error of +/- 1%.4
When we compare the results of this national exit poll with the total vote count for all House races we find that once again, as in the 2004 Election (“E2004”), there is a very significant exit poll-vote count discrepancy. The exit poll indicates a Democratic victory margin nearly 4%, or 3 million votes, greater than the margin recorded by the vote counting machinery. This is far outside the margin of error of the poll and has less than a one in 10,000 likelihood of occurring as a matter of chance.”
http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/landslide_denied_exit_polls_vs_vote_count_2006
I highly recommend reading the entire article, even if you’re not into math, or voting, or elections- just to get the gist of how scientifically these elections professionals went about analyzing the data.
Anyway, that little nugget of information has me feeling extra mean. As do the blatant “seedings” of infotainment right now letting people know that police presence will be larger than usual after the elections in case of public violence, etc., so that we all feel the need to hunker down and hide rather than get out and vote and demand our rights. That’s right, if they steal the elections, we’re to be nice quiet little sheep and go hide as if it doesn’t matter.
I have news for you- the US ranks LAST in the Western world for voter turnout. The reason we have a lousy thieving government is because since 1960 less than 40% of our total population, on average, has gotten off of their big fat lazy behinds and gone to the polls and demanded to be in charge of their country. That means that less than 20% of the population chooses the mokes who get to wear the suits in Washington. In Europe, average voter turnout at EVERY election is 80%. And they have things like healthcare and infrastructure and a government that jumps when its citizens say “jump”. Of course, our media isn’t going to tell you that…
We have “exit polls”, or so they’ll tell you, brought to you by the major networks- you know, the same guys who told us all about the WMDs in Iraq and who called the 2000 election before it was over.
Their polls are, according to the elections nerds I love, worthless. They serve the purpose of helping to call the horse race, they aren’t about doing the math or providing a measure against the possibility of corruption. They aren’t exit polls in the true sense of the word at all.
“What can we do, though?” I can almost hear the mewling of surrender while apathetic little yuppies settle into their armchairs with their chips and turn on some stupid soap opera or start to play WoW- you can do that AFTER November 4th- Gruul can wait! This is a much bigger monster. In my imagination these people remind me of all the reasons I’m happy my daughter is no longer 17! Another reason to feel mean!
Snap out of it, you silly wretches! HERE’S what you can do.
Exit polls and popular activism.
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