Yitz aka Isaac Wasileski (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} agnoster) wrote,@ 2004-11-09 09:46:00 |
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Electronic voting
I know, I know, nobody wants to hear about the election. Turning a blind eye won't help, though, and ignoring the problems won't fix our democracy.
First off - Black Box Voting has issued the largest FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request in history, requesting audit logs, result slips, memos and anything else necessary to properly audit the results. Mind you, they're going on the assumption that fraud was committed, so whatever they find has to be interpreted through the filter that they were looking pretty hard for fraud. Nevertheless, a noble cause. A lot of hackers are pointing out that county officials who decide to go with a certain voting system typically don't care about security, but about features, something which Black Box Voting seems to point to as one of the problems.
Commondreams are reporting on evidence that suggests the optical scanning machines in Florida seemed to favor Bush (ironically, Diebold touch screen voting machines received the most scrutiny for not providing a paper trail, and because the company executive pledged to deliver Ohio's electoral votes to Bush, or maybe because Diebold executives gave over $100,000 to the Bush campaign). According to the county-by-county data in Florida, a strong percentage change toward Bush in voters expected to vote Kerry was correlated strongly with the presence of optical scanning systems. Pretty graphs are here.
But it's not just crazy left-wing radicals reporting on voting problems. CNN has an article that shows many voters were asked to confirm their choice on the touch-screen machines - and were presented with the wrong choice. Also, that fact that Franklin County, OH gave 4,258 votes to Bush - and only 638 voted. Yes, that's a glitch. But when glitches are occurring in such alarming frequency in key swing states and always seem to favor Bush - well, it's hard not to be at least a little suspicious. How about the fact that in Broward County, Florida (democratic stronghold) the machines started counting backward? There are simply too many problems to list entirely.
There are two sides to this issue: the first is that this is not a partisan question. Voting effects us all, and every party has an interest in the continuation of American democracy, in the value of every vote, and in the integrity of the system that counts those votes. Even if these irregularities (to put it lightly) did not change the outcome of the election, we can all agree that the problem is not to be taken lightly. I cannot entirely disagree that we all, as Americans, have a stake in ensuring our votes are not systematically corrupted. But on the other hand, if indeed this election has been rigged consistently in favor of Bush (and, again, it makes no difference in this case whether Kerry rightfully won or not), then it is an indication that democracy is becoming a partisan issue.
The movement in the 20th century to establish a form of government based not on rationality, but on aesthetics, on a sense of the collective will, and on an overwhelming sense of nationalism, was one of mankind's greatest horrors. We have America to thank, in no small measure, that fascism was eventually defeated. But the same factors that characterize fascism are on the rise again. Three of four Bush supporters believe Iraq had WMDs and was giving support to Al-Qaeda. When given the choice between creationism and evolution, 57% of Americans choose creationism. There is a fundamental gap between reality and what the American public will believe, and moreover, this disease seems to result in voting for Bush. Or perhaps support for Bush results in the inability to accept reality because of unmanageable cognitive dissonance. Either way, the choice of what is aesthetically pleasing over what is objectively true is a dangerous one, and once a society has made that choice, it becomes very difficult indeed to maintain a democracy.
I'm not saying we're dealing with fascism. I'm just saying that's where we're heading unless we make a conscious effort to protect democracy. That means not just rolling over when elections are rigged. The fight to make Kerry president may be over, but the fight to make sure that, in the future, we will be able to elect our president fairly is something we need to continue to fight for. And the way I see it, that requires an election system that counts the votes fairly and openly, and an electorate that refuses to swallow lies.
I know, I know, nobody wants to hear about the election. Turning a blind eye won't help, though, and ignoring the problems won't fix our democracy.
First off - Black Box Voting has issued the largest FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request in history, requesting audit logs, result slips, memos and anything else necessary to properly audit the results. Mind you, they're going on the assumption that fraud was committed, so whatever they find has to be interpreted through the filter that they were looking pretty hard for fraud. Nevertheless, a noble cause. A lot of hackers are pointing out that county officials who decide to go with a certain voting system typically don't care about security, but about features, something which Black Box Voting seems to point to as one of the problems.
Commondreams are reporting on evidence that suggests the optical scanning machines in Florida seemed to favor Bush (ironically, Diebold touch screen voting machines received the most scrutiny for not providing a paper trail, and because the company executive pledged to deliver Ohio's electoral votes to Bush, or maybe because Diebold executives gave over $100,000 to the Bush campaign). According to the county-by-county data in Florida, a strong percentage change toward Bush in voters expected to vote Kerry was correlated strongly with the presence of optical scanning systems. Pretty graphs are here.
But it's not just crazy left-wing radicals reporting on voting problems. CNN has an article that shows many voters were asked to confirm their choice on the touch-screen machines - and were presented with the wrong choice. Also, that fact that Franklin County, OH gave 4,258 votes to Bush - and only 638 voted. Yes, that's a glitch. But when glitches are occurring in such alarming frequency in key swing states and always seem to favor Bush - well, it's hard not to be at least a little suspicious. How about the fact that in Broward County, Florida (democratic stronghold) the machines started counting backward? There are simply too many problems to list entirely.
There are two sides to this issue: the first is that this is not a partisan question. Voting effects us all, and every party has an interest in the continuation of American democracy, in the value of every vote, and in the integrity of the system that counts those votes. Even if these irregularities (to put it lightly) did not change the outcome of the election, we can all agree that the problem is not to be taken lightly. I cannot entirely disagree that we all, as Americans, have a stake in ensuring our votes are not systematically corrupted. But on the other hand, if indeed this election has been rigged consistently in favor of Bush (and, again, it makes no difference in this case whether Kerry rightfully won or not), then it is an indication that democracy is becoming a partisan issue.
The movement in the 20th century to establish a form of government based not on rationality, but on aesthetics, on a sense of the collective will, and on an overwhelming sense of nationalism, was one of mankind's greatest horrors. We have America to thank, in no small measure, that fascism was eventually defeated. But the same factors that characterize fascism are on the rise again. Three of four Bush supporters believe Iraq had WMDs and was giving support to Al-Qaeda. When given the choice between creationism and evolution, 57% of Americans choose creationism. There is a fundamental gap between reality and what the American public will believe, and moreover, this disease seems to result in voting for Bush. Or perhaps support for Bush results in the inability to accept reality because of unmanageable cognitive dissonance. Either way, the choice of what is aesthetically pleasing over what is objectively true is a dangerous one, and once a society has made that choice, it becomes very difficult indeed to maintain a democracy.
I'm not saying we're dealing with fascism. I'm just saying that's where we're heading unless we make a conscious effort to protect democracy. That means not just rolling over when elections are rigged. The fight to make Kerry president may be over, but the fight to make sure that, in the future, we will be able to elect our president fairly is something we need to continue to fight for. And the way I see it, that requires an election system that counts the votes fairly and openly, and an electorate that refuses to swallow lies.
