Alex Bennett thinks the country is exaggerating over Diebold

[Daylin Byak]

Just in case you didn't know Alex Bennett is a liberal personality on Sirius Liberal talk channel Sirius left 146.

Bennett thinks that the country is exaggerating over the diebild voting machines and there not as bad as you think, Bennett says that election fraud has gone back as far as the days when Grover Cleveland was President and there are other ways to make voter fraud like throwing ballot boxes in rivers.

Thoughts?

[blue cat]

1. Bullshit! n/t

[eleny]

2. Not enough people are making a stink, for chrissakes!

[LisaLynne]

3. The thing that is frightening about electronic voting ...

as I'm sure many others can speak more clearly on is that in the "old days" votes would have to be physcially stolen or dumped. Now, it can be done with the push of a button, by one person with a network connection, and every single precinct in the entire nation would be effected.

I wonder why anyone would say people are TOO upset about this issue when most people still seem to be stubbornly ignoring it.

[BeFree]

6. Hi Lisa

They can't effect every precinct at the push of a button, but give them time and they will.

The stubborn ignorance is the main problem. Once people open their minds they do begin to see. It's not a pretty sight, eh?

[LisaLynne]

7. I meant that that is the fear.

There's no telling what they would be able to make the code do if it's secret and hidden.

[BeFree]

10. Hardware, too

They are limited only by the hardware. they could write the code, and probably have already.

But not until they have a DRE in every precinct will they be able to completely control the vote. We intend to not allow such hardware be placed, right?

[unblock]

4. well, he has a point, but that hardly justifies ignoring diebold

we aren't likely to get perfect elections any time soon, if ever. that's true.

but that hardly means we should let them easily, electronically do on a massive, national scale what ordinarily requires much sneaking around and a trail of physical evidence to do on a small, local scale.

[salvorhardin]

5. He's right

And there's also gerrymandering (which is both rampant and legal) and may be more of a threat to fair and clean elections than electronic voting ever was. But the existence of other wrongs does not nullify a wrong. Electronic voting as it is currently implemented, entrusted to proprietary corporations who are able to keep the source code a secret ("intellectual property" my ass) and are all but unaccountable to the people using those machines is not a good idea period. It is a recipe for fraud and corruption.

[...of J.Temperance]

8. Although we should demand a paper trail for voting

I've seen so many posts on DU that are cynical about voting, that they tell people why bother even voting. Almost like that's the agenda behind the posts.

[kster]

9. Who's the big dummy then Alex Bennett or the UK

UK.gov ditches 'Big Brother'-style e-voting

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/06/govt_voting/

[BeFree]

11. Alex is obviously the dummy

He obviously doesn't read the ER does he? If he spent just two hours here he'd get some education and could speak with wisdom. As it is, he is dumb.

[Sperk]

12. Idiot

that's what I think.

[Land Shark]

13. Fraud with paper ballots creates witnesses and evidence

and gives relatively small payoffs per crime, where

with electronic fraud

the payoffs for fraud are huge, it leaves no evidence or witnesses if done right, and appears just like a "normal" election.

Elections will ALWAYS be pressured, because there's so much at stake. We need to keep the evidence high and the payoff small. SImply saying "fraud's always been with us" is not a meaningful response the comes to grips with reality

[EFerrari]

14. Alex Bennett is still alive?

:rofl: