Stolen Elections

So I'm catching up on the world and there's a buzz about the Russians supposedly being able to hack our nicely modernized computer voting machines and be able to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.

I find it interesting that anytime anything “threatens” American “democracy” we always find either the Russians or the Chinese as the scapegoats.

So Trump is making this a big issue – that the election could be hacked.

Go read the reporting and work of Greg Palast. He'll show you how it is done. Legally. Here in the USA. By Americans.

Start with the book “Rat F**cked.” In it the author spells out how the Republicans worked to be able to seize power in DC even though they have fewer registered voters than the Democrats. They worked on the state level. They won state houses and when the census was done, they were in power to be able to gerrymander districts so that the few would have more power than the many.

So in states like North Carolina blacks would be crunched into these hideously shaped districts and whites would be able to keep control over the state legislature. This happened in 29 states I believe. 29 states where the popular will was subverted by an elitist minority.

Add to that the work of Greg Palast, who has investigated real voter fraud – the government, mostly in Republican controlled states, working to defraud African Americans, Hispanics, women, and the poor the ability to vote.

How you ask?

First: By changing voter registration laws. Now picture ID, bills, etc are needed in order to register to vote. And if you don't have picture ID, well, that's a Catch-22 because you pretty much need picture ID in order to get picture ID. When I went for a non-driver's license I used my college picture ID as proof. Most people don't have even that.

And same day registration for voting? Getting to be more scarce than an iceberg off the coast of Greenland. Or a glacier in Glacier National Park. Now people have to register months in advance. In order to vote in the NY Primary you had to be a member of a party back in November of 2015. This is the insanity of our system

Second: People without ID can vote, but with a “provisional ballot.” Basically they have a certain number of days to provide adequate ID or the vote goes in the garbage. So if a voter ID can be challenged by an election monitor…

Third: This happened in Illinois. The Attorney General (or equivalent post) sent out fliers with “Do Not Forward” stamped on them that had information on the upcoming election. So people, like active duty servicemen and women that have their mail forwarded, would become disenfranchised because they did not receive a special flier that had election information on it. The AG (or Illinois Secretary of State. I really need to dig this up) then had all ballots that were mailed in declined as eligible to be counted. Also, people that changed districts were challenged at the polls as well. So either no vote or a provisional ballot. Basically, no vote.

Third: Go to Arizona in 2016 for a moder example of this. Voters waited in line for 5 hours before being able to vote. There are people that do not have the luxury of 5 extra hours in their day because of work, children, etc. In the 2012 election, lines in Missouri kept people waiting between 9 to 12 hours. And the polls didn't even open on time. They opened 3 hours late because the poll workers had problems getting to the poll site, getting the machines set up, and other work that they had to do. That would never stand in the Berkshires.

Contrast: In 2102 if I took 15 minutes to vote where I live, I'm lucky. That includes me walking from my car into the polling place, signing in, receiving my ballot and marking it up, waiting to submit it, and walking back to my car. Seriously.

Fourth: Early Voting. Some states, to increase voter participation (a noble idea in a democratic society), allow voting for up to 2 weeks before election day. There are polls open on Sunday and Saturday, extended hours – anything to get people into the polls. And then the Republicans seized power in those states and boy did things changed. Early voting was hacked down to several hours a day and in some places less than a week. So much for making it easier for people to vote.

Fifth: And this outdoes the Clinton private server scandal – Private companies handle the vote tabulation and guess what party they favor? It is strongly suspected by Greg Palast and other investigative reporters that the Ohio vote in 2004 was hacked in this manner.

Sixth: There are too many people that have shown that they can hack the computerized systems that do not use a paper ballot. Where I live we use a paper ballot that is scanned in. Recount? Easily done. Rescan the ballots. What if you use a touchscreen? And paper trail? No paper trail opens the door for fraud. And it is in Republican controlled states that have the paperless voting systems.

Seven: People denied the right to vote because of criminal activity. People in prison can not vote. And in some states, if you commit certain crimes, after serving prison time, you lose the right to vote. (I believe this is called “taxation without representation.”) This disproportionately affectts African Americans and Hispanic populations,

And who gets disenfranchised by all these actions? African Americans, Hispanic, Asians and other immigrant communities, women, and the poor.

This happens in this (supposedly) great country of ours.

Socialists demand better than this.

We demand:

1. Automatic voter registration at 18 with state issued voter ID that can be used in place of a drivers license. And with today's Internet enabled world, checking addresses and personal information can be done easily with a quick click. And if a voter is in the wrong district for voting? See below.

2. An end to gerrymandered districts – proportional representation should be used instead. If a party receives 5% or more in an election they receive representation in the state government. European countries use this and it works quite well.

3. The use of paper ballots so that election results can be double checked. And there is no need to use private companies to tabulate voting. Servers can be set up to handle this that are controlled by the government and audited by the Department of Justice.

4. Voting rights for all citizens whether they are in prison or free.

5. Two weeks of voting across the USA. The first day of voting is the standard calendar driven Election Day. We can wait for results. Other countries do.

This is America. We are getting less and less democratic in each election.

We need to stand up and fight now for a better way or we will degenerate into a system worse than what we have now.

Clinton vs Trump. I can't see how it could get much worse. But it can.