I Thought this was a Democracy
Posted
November 7, 2006 at
2:11 am by
Cristina
Considering that we’ve made it our mission here in America to spread “democracy” far and wide throughout the world, you’d think that our country’s electoral process - arguably the most fundamental of all democratic processes - would be running smoothly. You’d think that there wouldn’t be any “funny business” going on that might, say, cast some doubt as to whether our elections are conducted fairly.
At least that’s what I’d like to think. Unfortunately, I have been hearing more and more about the underhanded, and?‚? seemingly illegal, practices that are conducted to suppress voters.
There are so many shocking examples, I don’t even know where to start. Here are a few:
- In California, Tan Nguyen, a Republican candidate running for Congress, has admitted that one of his staff members sent out up to 14,000 letters to newly registered Latino voters, telling them that it is illegal to vote if they are an immigrant. Not an illegal immigrant. An immigrant. I guess Governor Schwarzenegger better stay out of the voting booth this year then, eh?
?‚?
- In Florida, early voting has revealed a “small little glitch” with the electronic voting machines. Apparently, after some voters selected a Democratic candidate, the computer registers that they voted for the Republican candidate. I know you think I’m joking, but I’m totally serious. This was reported in the?‚? New York Times today. Apparently, the elections officials in that county don’t really see it as a problem because as long as voters complain, an elections official can come into their voting booth (forget the violation of privacy here) and fix the computer for them. That’s if the voter realizes what has happened. And that’s a big if as far as I’m concerned.
?‚?
- Around the country, Republican campaigns have been “robocalling” voter households with pre-recorded anti-Democratic messages that have made many voters believe that the call is being made by a Democratic candidate. (i obsess linked to several good articles on this in her post today.) Because the calls are made to the same voters repeatedly and because voters often hang up before it becomes clear that the call is not actually from the Democratic candidate, many annoyed voters have called Democratic headquarters offices to complain and, in some cases, voters have even threatened not to vote for the Democratic candidate who they believe is making the calls.
Want more examples that will piss you off??‚? Read the transcript from Amy Goodman’s interview with New York Times columnist Adam Cohen who was interviewed today on Democracy Now!. Learn about how often electronic voting machines break down and how they often contain no paper trails or learn how in Georgia, a now defunct law required?‚? voters to buy an ID card?‚? if they didn’t have a driver’s license - too bad those ID cards weren’t made readily available for purchase.
So, tomorrow is election day, and I have already sent in my absentee ballot. I’m just crossing my fingers that it doesn’t get returned to me for using the wrong color ink. Somehow, that doesn’t sound as preposterous as it did yesterday.
Tags: democracy, News & Politics, News-&-Politics, voter-suppression, voting |
18 Responses to “I Thought this was a Democracy”
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Leave a comment
Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately in an effort to remove commercial messages, irrelevancies, excessive foul language, racist/sexist/hateful comments, spoofed/cloaked IPs and/or personal attacks and will be edited/deleted at our discretion. Thank you for your patience.
1. Catch
November 7, 2006 @ 4:45 am
NOTHING suprises me anymore.
2. Jessica Carlson
November 7, 2006 @ 7:44 am
This is hardly a Republican issue as you are painting it out to be. In 2000, in and around Milwaukee, homeless people were bribed with money and cigarettes to vote for Democrats.
Also in 2004, again in Milwaukee, John Kerry carried the state by a suspiciously high margin and voter fraud in which the Democratic campaigners were being investigated, revealed this:
Key findings of the election fraud task force included:
http://www.ac4vr.com/reports/072005/wisconsin.html
More than 100 instances of double-voting, including people voting twice, voting under fictitious names and addresses and voting in names of dead people.
More than 200 felons casting illegal ballots.
Approximately 65 fake names registered to vote by paid voter registration workers.
The number of votes cast in Milwaukee “far exceeds the total number of recorded voters.” At least 4,609 more votes were cast than people identified as voting and “multiple wards had discrepancies in excess of 100 votes,” a phenomenon the task force continues to investigate. (322) (Exhibit U)
Both parties already have their legal forced ready for recounts, because from experience, the Democrats will challenge and challenge, which is their right, however, this isn’t a partisan issue and it sounds like the Democrats are just trying to show a one-sided issue (I haven’t even looked up the agendas of your sources yet!) so that they can cry “no-fair” if they lose any seats today.
It’s politics my dear. Politicians and politics on BOTH sides are corrupt. Instead of everybody being so football team (with blind loyalty to one party or another) oriented, why don’t we just elect some new blood?? In my opinion, they all deserve to be thrown out!
3. Nancy
November 7, 2006 @ 10:20 am
To a certain extent I’m with Jessica on this one … I tend to believe that politicians as a majority are corrupt regardless of what party they claim to belong to.
However, it’s been the Republican corruption that has far outweighed anything we’ve ever seen over the past six years - case in point, Dubyah was “elected” into office twice under some pretty shady circumstances.
A Repuplican controled Congress has basically provided a blank check for Dubyah and his allies to do whatever they like without the “hassle” of checks and balances. It’s sickening. And if it takes a country full of lawyers to insure that my vote for the Democrats counts today - bring them on!
Our voting system is so flawed it’s a disgrace! And in this I am not partisan. Republican or Democrat, as an American citizen I should be able to be confident that when I step into the voting booth my vote will be counted and counted correctly.
I don’t think that’s too much to ask.
4. Ames Tiedeman
November 7, 2006 @ 11:26 am
The Democrats have been casting votes for the dead for decades. Look at how Kennedy won the 1960 election. The Daley family of Chicago got him the votes from the dead, that he needed to win. The Democrats are the kings of voter fraud…
5. lildb
November 7, 2006 @ 11:42 am
Our voting system, as it currently stands, is broken. The Republicans, who’ve held every single branch of government for the last four years, have done nothing to fix it. They’ve simply covered up the issue. Why isn’t this stuff being talked about on the big networks? There are voters being prevented from having their say.
Republicans are the problem, at the moment. The Democrats simply don’t have any power to BE a problem, right now.
The.
End.
6. Prescott
November 7, 2006 @ 1:13 pm
Individual state board of elections have the full power now to fix their voting systems. Solely blaming Congress is a scapegoat — after all, the voting process certainly wasn’t perfect before 2002. And if the current process winds up getting the Democrats elected, why would they move to “fix” it, implying that their own wins were possibly undeserved?
It’s a no win situation — if Republicans somehow manage to keep enough seats, it was because of shady dealings. If the Democrats regain control of Congress, rather than it dis-proving a vast conspiracy, it’s simply that the evil overlords weren’t successful.
We need to stop looking to Washington to blame or to fix this mess, and hold our state legislatures and county boards more accountable.
7. USELESS MAN
November 7, 2006 @ 2:21 pm
The problem lies in the one thing that the government hopes you won’t actually do: THINK.
At least, that’s how this Canadian sees it from afar.
8. Mrs. Chicky
November 7, 2006 @ 2:32 pm
It seems to me that everyone has a good point on this issue. Vote tampering has been going on for centuries, way back to Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall… and probably beyond. As long as there has been voting there has been someone trying to mess with that vote. What people need to understand is every vote is important and should be treated with care by each individual doing the voting. The system is flawed but it’s fixable (as LilDB said) as long as the people want it fixed.
9. Kristen
November 7, 2006 @ 2:42 pm
I hate to say it but that is why I don’t vote. I honestly feel like we don’t have a choice anyway. I think they have it all decided and let us think we have control.
10. Cristina
November 7, 2006 @ 3:12 pm
If you read my post again, you will see that I did not say that this was a purely Republican issue. The examples I listed were examples of anti-Democrat voter suppression because that is what I have been reading and hearing about. However, I don’t agree with voter suppression on either side of the political fence.
11. mamacita tina
November 7, 2006 @ 8:25 pm
Can’t just run for office, have to be sneaky, conniving, down right despicable. Honest candidates don’t seem to have a chance. Who’s to blame? The voters, we keep electing the same power hungry group thinking it will benefit our wallets. Oh how I hope we have become a little wiser and there will be some changes.
12. meritt
November 7, 2006 @ 9:00 pm
Looks like you are fairly anti-republican. The door swings both ways.
13. Jill
November 7, 2006 @ 11:31 pm
I agree that the corruption swings both ways, but I can’t help being pleased with the way the voting machines are functioning tonight.
14. Ames Tiedeman
November 9, 2006 @ 4:52 pm
Very well said…I agree.
15. Ames Tiedeman
November 10, 2006 @ 11:16 pm
Did anyone notice that when it was clear the Democrats were going to win that all the talk of voting machines not working went away.
The media shut up about it..
Amazing…
16. Andrea
November 10, 2006 @ 11:38 pm
I do have more examples in my head of the R’s doing sneaky things. I guess it must be that liberal media.
No, seriously… I think it is good that we can express ourselves here online. I hope we can do it without wanting to kill each other.
Both sides are to blame, I agree.
Good post - it got us all thinking!
17. Jessica Carlson
November 11, 2006 @ 7:03 am
Ames said, “Did anyone notice that when it was clear the Democrats were going to win that all the talk of voting machines not working went away.”
Yeah, I did. My guess is the next two years, Dems will not be rallying to “fix” voter machines. But you had to know that would happen.
I also think the Repubs lost very gracefully and showed a lot of class, although they got what they deserved, I’m hoping it will be a wake-up call for the party to find their roots again.
18. Cristina
November 11, 2006 @ 12:09 pm
I think we’d agree that it’s in the best interest of the Democrats AND the Republicans that these voter machines be reliable. I am actually shocked that we are using electronic voting machines that have so many glitches and break down so often. This should be a concern to both parties and both parties should demand reliable voting equipment (even if that means going back to the “old” way of casting ballots). I’m sure we’d all like to feel more secure that our votes (whether Republican, Democrat, Green, etc.) will be counted and counted correctly next time we go to the polls.