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Counting (Fixing?) the Votes in 2004
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Leslie Reindl, W A M M and Altera Vista
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After the corrupted Florida election of 2000, when an elected and partisan official helped some 95,000 Florida voters become non-voters and then stopped a recount, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). This law mandates that all states upgrade their voting machines and that all must have a centralized, computerized voting list (like Florida’s). In Minnesota, a commission appointed to plan implementation of HAVA has now completed its work and has submitted its recommendations to the federal government.
Since HAVA, more than 30 states, including Florida, Georgia, and Texas, have bought touch-screen, no-paper-trail voting machines. The machines are the property of the states, but their software is the private property of each company who sells to the states. Should private corporations hold the key to our voting system and be unaccountable for results? Does electronic voting, with results that cannot be corroborated by a paper trail or exit polls, lend itself to fraud and corruption?
In the 2002 elections there were a number of highly suspicious elections. For example, popular war hero Max Cleland was upset in Georgia. Jeb Bush won in Florida where the tens of thousands purged from the rolls in 2000 had still not been returned to the rolls. Three Republican candidates each won with exactly 18,181 votes in Comal County, Texas.
Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska won his seat in the election upset of the year in 1996, becoming the first Republican ever to be elected to the Senate from Nebraska. He won again in 2002 and was discovered in January 2003 to be the former head of the private voting machine company that tabulated the vote for him both times. His 2002 opponent cannot get a hand recount because Nebraska recently passed a law forbidding any state employee to look at the ballots.
Election fraud? No one knows, or can prove it. But when you put motive, opportunity, means, and impossibility of discovery together, common sense tells you that fraud is taking place. The stakes next year are enormous. Join an ad hoc election fraud committee established to raise to public attention the possibility of fraud and the need for an election paper trail. Call Leslie at 651-633-4410. |
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W A M M Action
You can build support for Fair and Clean Elections in Minnesota, whether you have ten minutes or ten hours a month to spare.
For example, you could write a letter to the editor or host an educational house party.
For more ideas and information, contact:
Nick Palumbo
Public Policy Organizer
Minnesota Alliance for Progressive Action
1821 University Ave., Ste. S-307
St. Paul, MN 55104
651-641-4050 (phone)
651-641-4053 (fax)
email: npalumbo@mapa-mn.org
online: www.lwvmn.org/FACE
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© 2003 Women Against Military Madness. All rights reserved.
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Complete October 2003 Index - click here
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