June 17
I went to the house party today for John Bonifaz for Secretary of State, and
I got to ask him about whether he would commit to 100% hand-counted paper
ballots. He said that he is "getting close, but not all the way there yet",
so I asked him what it would take to get him to go the rest of the way. He
said that we first need to educate the people and the local officials that
currently have and are committed to optical scan machines, and that he would
be willing to go to 100% hand-counted paper ballots eventually. I disagree
with him with respect to this willingness to delay taking the strong stand
for political expediency, but at least he is heading in the right direction.
His stand is better than that of William Galvin, who as far as I can see is
just hiding in the shadows and biding his time for re-election without
actually doing much for us. Given that he has done real work for clean
elections (both with respect to the counting process and the financing) and
against Bush in other respects on more than one occasion, John Bonifaz is a
candidate that I can actually support despite his being a Democrat. (This
is only a specific exemption -- in general, I am still boycotting the
Democrats.)
If Galvin is re-elected yet again, as the odds favor, not much will come
from the Secretary of State, as we have been experiencing, and eventually
(when they get around to it, probably in 10 to 20 years), the Republicans
will put Massachusetts under the direct control of their fraud machine
without much of a fight. If John Bonifaz is elected, at least we will have
a Secretary of State who is pressing in the right general direction, even if
not as unswervingly as I would like, and Massachusetts might put up a real
fight against the Republicans, even if it is ultimately doomed.
Therefore, I put my $50 (the maximum amount allowed without writing a check)
in the envelope at the end of the house party.
I went to the house party today for John Bonifaz for Secretary of State, and
I got to ask him about whether he would commit to 100% hand-counted paper
ballots. He said that he is "getting close, but not all the way there yet",
so I asked him what it would take to get him to go the rest of the way. He
said that we first need to educate the people and the local officials that
currently have and are committed to optical scan machines, and that he would
be willing to go to 100% hand-counted paper ballots eventually. I disagree
with him with respect to this willingness to delay taking the strong stand
for political expediency, but at least he is heading in the right direction.
His stand is better than that of William Galvin, who as far as I can see is
just hiding in the shadows and biding his time for re-election without
actually doing much for us. Given that he has done real work for clean
elections (both with respect to the counting process and the financing) and
against Bush in other respects on more than one occasion, John Bonifaz is a
candidate that I can actually support despite his being a Democrat. (This
is only a specific exemption -- in general, I am still boycotting the
Democrats.)
If Galvin is re-elected yet again, as the odds favor, not much will come
from the Secretary of State, as we have been experiencing, and eventually
(when they get around to it, probably in 10 to 20 years), the Republicans
will put Massachusetts under the direct control of their fraud machine
without much of a fight. If John Bonifaz is elected, at least we will have
a Secretary of State who is pressing in the right general direction, even if
not as unswervingly as I would like, and Massachusetts might put up a real
fight against the Republicans, even if it is ultimately doomed.
Therefore, I put my $50 (the maximum amount allowed without writing a check)
in the envelope at the end of the house party.
