Something just occurred to me about Black Box Voting...

[Gringo]

Bev may rebuke me on this, but...

IF the touchscreen machines all over the US are jiggered to skew republican (highly probable), then aren't ALL those repuke zillionaires blowing $2000/plate at Bush fundraisers for W's $200 mil. warchest just WASTING all that money?

Maybe I'm crazy, but it seems like a little silver lining in the gloom...

[Rashind]

1. Well...

It's not like they won't get it right back.

[JewelDigger]

2. Hey, it takes money to rig machines & buy people....

...it doesn't grow on trees, ya know ;-)

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Bribery money.

You can't go into all those districts and do funny things without quieting people who might see or hear more than they should. IMHO.

[morgan2]

4. easy

No one could completely rig an election. You need to be able to get within a few percentage points to be able to get away with it.

[punpirate]

5. Insurance...

... is cheap. You don't have to rig elections if you've bought people's minds with political ads.

[AP]

6. not every county uses a diebold machine.

Once they do, maybe you will see a trailing off in campaign donations.

[foo_bar]

7. the conspiracy is the law of unintended consequences

If the Bold ones set out to make a foolproof voting system, they'd expose the electronic equivalent of hanging chads, only without the paper trail (not to mention an unintended popularity contest of finger smudges on reflective LCD panels).

Inversely, if their management consciously set out to subvert the American experiment, they would either undercompensate or overcompensate until the problem became manifest or one of their coders ("herded cats") blew the whistle.

To that end, I'm inclined to believe the first scenario having seen it played out a million times. Getting a large team of hackers and testers of diverse backgrounds to systematically keep a democracy-destroying secret is as attainable as a leak-proof White House or a George Lucas production that doesn't drop spoilers on the net.

[w4rma]

8. So why does Diebold jepordize 100s of millions of dollars in contracts

by **refusing** to build touch screens that print voter verifiable ballots to be counted, normally?

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. Maybe it's because they're so in deep now, that there's no

turning back?

[birdman]

10. Can you possibly justify this statement

"the touchscreen machines all over the US are jiggered to skew republican (highly probable)"

There are fifty states, thousands of counties, thousands of employees,
poll workers and public officials involved in this process. There are numerous companies who make the machines. For your statement to be correct there has to be a nationwide conspiracy so large and so
pervasive that it would be impossible to keep quiet.

Has anyone come forward about this nationwide conspiracy ?

This story has been about security and the potential for fraud.
I think everyone agrees that these problems should be fixed
but there is zero evidence that "touchscreen machines all
over the US are jiggered to skew republican"

[grasswire]

11. the money....

....is also to buy patronage.

Someone who knows where to look should check to see how much money was left over at the end of Bush's 2000 campaign. That would give us a clue about whether they're stockpiling.

[RedEagle]

13. Not a conspiracy...

...just a long, slow, "guided" evolution.

The Election Center, a private, non-governmental organization weilds enormous influence over your state and county officials.

By providing and encouraging oranizations that purport to "help" the officials, and provide classes and help with legislation, changes have been made that are fundamentally wrong.

But all under the guise of helping overworked and underpayed state officials.

The Election Center has a place in government much like the Federal Reserve. It's not really part of the federal government and most people, even officials, don't realize that, but the part it plays is critical. We don't know who controls it, other than R. Doug Lewis; we don't know who funds it, other than the vendors; and we don't know who created it in the first place.

Unprecedented and improper influence, IMHO, has led to the erosion of our electoral system. Oh, by the way, along with a hefty dose of indifference and lack of funding from Congress, with a blind eye turned on everying by Penelope Bonsall, head of the FEC under at least Clinton and the current administration.

Not so benign neglect on the part of political parties and many administrations have led to this fiasco.

Conspiracy? No. Just neglecting a "system" that has benefitted individuals and parties here and there through that neglect, but now is turning pretty definitively one way.

[Oilwellian]

15. Who would be in the know

when the machines are remotely accessed?

[BevHarris]

17. I'm stunned. I totally agree with birdman

But let's not rebuke anyone.

I look at the voting machine problem much like the campaign finance problem -- it has the capability to dirty everyone it touches, regardless of party. Just because one company gives a contribution, doesn't mean they bribed anyone. But the very fact that candidates have become dependent on campaign contributions has made them beholden, to a small or great degree, and that tainting is not limited to any one party.

Likewise, just because a county has a voting machine doesn't mean the votes are rigged, but the very fact that we are seeing security problems, and failure to follow basic procedural safeguards, means that election tampering is likely, to a small or great degree, and that need not be limited to any one party.

It is true that ES&S and Diebold have too many Republican vested interests in their management, and it is true that a disproportionate number of close races tipped to the Republican side, and it is also true that anomalies tend to tip toward favoring the Republican, but that is not a hard and fast rule.

[sangh0]

12. You're missing the point

The money contributors give is meant to gain them access and influence. Even if the Repukes are garaunteed a victory, corporations will still want to buy access, and the Repukes will still want the money to continue their propogandizing.

[tom_paine]

14. Crooks always need more money

Bribes, and all that.

Also, remember, that because Imperial Amerika, like Imperial Rome, is dependant on the illusion of the Old Republic.

That includes, campaigns, ads, and other archaic devices (as they related to Bushevik Imperial Amerika).

[dragonlady]

16. They have to appear to try to win

If they did nothing special in the way of campaigning and still came up winners, it would look too suspicious. It's the same principle as putting on a last-weekend blitz before the election to make it look like a visit from the (p)resident was able to swing lots of votes.

[DemVet]

18. Appearance of normalcy is required to pull this off.

nt

[PATRICK]

19. Protection money

All the more reason to pay up or lose the pork rewards. Besides, since they will not conceiveably support consistent issues for the majority they need the intimidation and the smokescreen a lot of dough provides- at least for now although the mass delusion and idtioic blindness of both electorate and duped politicians is the best support BBV has. Useless? Maybe THEY are afraid too of not ponying up to the Emperor.

The orchestration is getting very familiar. Polls and media slant, making the Dems timid and parity tentative, relying on what will never happen and fearing to appeal to their base OR the real majority. Distractions and slander followed by a quick phony blitz to give cover to the massive inconsistency between the last polls and the election results. Then bury the election results in triumph and "explanations" with accusations on the ready to hit the Dems with should they whimper. Even the media exit polls have been "adjusted" for this blitz system.


The Dems get on TV with sackcloth and quivering pallid faces to wonder aloud why they are so utterly doomed. Mea culpa!

While the fat cats and Repukes laugh at the screens they own along with everything else in THEIR country.