To Win An Election, Just Control The Machines
Thom Hartmann Common Dreams
The draft-deferring Saxby Chambliss won election to the senate
by declaring his opponent, incumbent Georgia Senator Max Cleland?a
man who lost three limbs in Vietnam??too unpatriotic? to remain in
office. Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel?s Web site proclaims the
largest victory in state history, but fails to disclose that 80
percent of the ballots were programmed and tabulated by Election
Systems & Software (ES&S), a company he built and still
partially owns. More than 91,000 African American voters are
inexplicably ?purged? from the presidential vote in Florida. It?s
enough to turn the most hardened skeptic into a veritable Fox
Mulder.
Whether coincidence or conspiracy, ?there?s not much of a paper
trail from the voter?s hand to prove it,? writes Thom Hartmann in a
Common Dreams report. One would think that, for
democracy?s sake, all parties involved would be amenable to a
ballot recount. Yet in Nebraska, such a request was denied, and a
reporter investigating the story was threatened with legal action.
Hagel?s Democratic opponent, Charlie Matulka, demanded a hand count
of the votes, only to learn that Nebraska had just passed a law
prohibiting government-employee election workers from looking at
the ballots, even for a recount. When reporter Bev Harris reported
the story, ES&S threatened to sue her for taking it public.
Harris responded by publishing the ES&S letter on her website
and sending a press release to 4,000 editors.
In light of these alarming events, actor Peter Coyote recently
wrote a letter to California Senator Barbara Boxer voicing his
concern that the precedent set in these elections could result in
ballot tampering in 2004. Coyote is so passionate about this issue
that he initiated an e-mail campaign encouraging people to call
their representatives. Matulka has expressed similar concern
regarding the upcoming presidential election. ?God help us if Bush
gets his touch screens across the country, because they leave no
paper trail. [They] can take over our country without firing a
shot, just by taking over our election systems.?
?Erin Ferdinand
Go there>>To Win An
Election, Just Control The Machines
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