There is a troubling article in this month’s Harper's. It is written by Victoria Collier and it details how to steal an election electronically. It is a story of how a couple of right leaning companies have gotten a virtual monopoly on election software and in close elections have the means to manipulate the vote count so that the side that they prefer wins. I was horrified by what she says in this piece. I am also in wonder why the mass media hasn’t picked up on this. It is a good story in this close presidential race. In the past, one of the companies, an Ohio firm, Diebold was implicated in some chicanery involving their then CEO Walden O’Dell promising publicly to “deliver” Ohio’s electoral votes to George W. Bush. O’Dell stepped down before a class action suit was filed against his firm.
I think that my vote ought to be sacrosanct. I don’t want somebody messing around with my vote or anyone else’s vote. In this democracy, we have a right to select our leadership by legitimate voting that ought not to be subjected to anyone’s manipulation. After reading Collier’s article, I’m not sure that my vote has any certainty at all. We certainly need someone or some way to watch over this problem so that we don’t have an election that dissolves into uncertainty and chaos. I am sure that if there is a very close contest, not only for the presidency, but also for senatorial and congressional races, there will be questions raised as to the ways that the votes were counted. After the mess that we had with the Bush/Gore election in Florida and the “hanging chads”, we don’t need another episode of that.
But what can we do if no one takes notice? With the extreme right making such a statement in our culture, there is a danger of not only the stealing of an election or two, but simply uncertainty of the outcome. That will create a danger to our society that we simply don’t need. With the gridlock in Congress, I don’t know how we can work this all out before the coming election. I am frightened that what we are able to do at this moment in time just won’t be enough.
I think that my vote ought to be sacrosanct. I don’t want somebody messing around with my vote or anyone else’s vote. In this democracy, we have a right to select our leadership by legitimate voting that ought not to be subjected to anyone’s manipulation. After reading Collier’s article, I’m not sure that my vote has any certainty at all. We certainly need someone or some way to watch over this problem so that we don’t have an election that dissolves into uncertainty and chaos. I am sure that if there is a very close contest, not only for the presidency, but also for senatorial and congressional races, there will be questions raised as to the ways that the votes were counted. After the mess that we had with the Bush/Gore election in Florida and the “hanging chads”, we don’t need another episode of that.
But what can we do if no one takes notice? With the extreme right making such a statement in our culture, there is a danger of not only the stealing of an election or two, but simply uncertainty of the outcome. That will create a danger to our society that we simply don’t need. With the gridlock in Congress, I don’t know how we can work this all out before the coming election. I am frightened that what we are able to do at this moment in time just won’t be enough.
I agree that the votes should be sacrosanct, with absolutely every single one of them counting.
ReplyDeleteMy concern literally mirrors yours: the news articles I'd read contained information about vote counting being done by a Spanish company, owned by George Soros.
Just as I can imagine your discomfort with the article about Ohio and Diebold, I'm sure you can imagine mine if a George Soros-owned company was in charge of the counting.
I'm just thankful beyond belief that this is almost over.