Modern Democracy: Russian Roulette...Without the Certainty

[BradBlog]

(X-posted to GD: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5856160)



Russian Roulette...Without the Certainty
Speculation is meaningless, as modern elections have become a parlor game -- dangerously and needlessly imperiling democracy in the bargain...

Allow me to amplify a bit on the point I was hoping to get at in my Saturday morning article drawing a comparison between Iran's '09 election and Ohio's '04 election, written as reports were just coming in about skepticism in the reported results.

Since The BRAD BLOG began reporting on issues of democracy and concerns about elections, most intensely beginning on or about the early morning hours of November 3rd, 2004 and continuing ever since, we've likely investigated, researched and/or written as much or more on virtually every aspect of the topic as any other media outlet in the world.

In the process of observing one election after another since that time, and the increasingly inevitable ensuing questions about, as well as disbelief and/or belief in the validity of each election's results, one thing has become crystal clear: without complete transparency and 100% citizen oversight of every aspect of any given election, most notably the tabulation of its ballots, certainty in any given officially-announced result has become nearly impossible.

Speculation about winners and losers in any given election is meaningless. Without the transparency required for democracy to actually work, each "democratic" election, whether in this country, or in any other, has become more and more like Russian Roulette, but without the certainty...

FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7229

[kster]

1. How do we get the word out?

SNIP...After ballots are cast at the polling place, they must be counted at the polling place. In front of the people. In front of the citizenry and/or anyone else who would like to watch. All before ballots are moved anywhere, and before the secure chain of custody disappears into hopes for 'all the best'.

:)

K&R