Stop using Diebold as a signal of hopelessness -

[bj2110]

ES&S, Seqouia, and other voting machine manufacturers have just as much opportunity, and because of everyone's fascination with Diebold, these others have less exposure. And while I agree with the general sentiment relative to the fight being with the vote counters, and not the vote casters, this bland, uninformed Diebold rhetoric belittles the real problem: corporate influence in the voting process, conflicts of interests for public officials, and the utter lack of accountability that our government has placed with the private entities that control our vote.

[mdmc]

1. they all suck

[bj2110]

2. Wow... that really helps the cause: Hey Congress! Get control of the

voting machine companies! Why? Because they all suck!

[mdmc]

3. both of my BoE folk LOVE the black boxes

both of my (blue) Senators too...

Keep fighting the good fight Bro! Peace and low stress... and God bless you!

[bj2110]

4. The point is that black boxes aren't inherently the problem. They are

an unfortunate result of the system that we've allowed to control our most sacred democractic institution. Keep profit-based companies away from counting my votes. It's not that freaking hard to understand.

[BeFree]

5. What came first?

The chicken or the egg?

We are faced with this: from all evidence assembled, a very strong case that the 2004 election was stolen can be made.

We are today, dealing with an illegal administration, and an illegal congress.

Do you think the private companies have stopped counting our votes? No, they will count even more votes this year. Do the math.

[bj2110]

7. I agree with all points. And it fucking scares me.

[mdmc]

6. my vote is currently cast on a machine made by a profit based

company. I think that the black boxes ARE inherently the problem. I cant prove it however. I'll give you that...

[bj2110]

8. No, I have no problems casting my ballot on voting machines. Even ones

that I don't understand and no one can explain to me. My problem is with the level of confidence I have in the people who own, operate, and maintain these machines. I would much rather trust my vote to be counted by elected officials (paper, machine, black-box, whatever), than have my vote counted by a private for-profit company in a world of de-regulation and corporate lobbying.

One of the inherent fallacies is the "Diebold black-box" argument is that the people have the necessity, the desire and the ability to fully comprehend everything about our voting process. This is ludicrous. We live in a fast moving world which demands that 100 million votes be counted almost immediately. Yes, we could wait a few days, but it would still require technology. I don't need to know every little detail of how my vote is counted, I just want confidence that it will be counted correctly. My point is that this technology must not be trusted solely with private companies. The voting process is a public institution, and we will never have a democracy until we take it back.

[mdmc]

9. so you want socialist, govt owned and made machines

I'm down..

[bj2110]

10. sure, but accountable to the people through their elected officials, so

not quite "socialist". How about a senate sub-committee on voter confidence?

[mdmc]

11. I meant as opposed to capitalist, owned by the people

[bj2110]

12. The government is its people. The whole "We the People" thing...

[bj2110]

13. But yes, I agree. They all suck.