I am delighted that Jill Stein will force recounts to be done in several states that used voting machines that are known to be easily hacked.
No, it is not because I think Hillary Clinton actually won the election. That is not the point.
The point is that if we know that certain voting machines are easily hacked, then the only way to ensure that our elections are valid is to make sure those machines have not been hacked, or at least determine if they have been hacked so we can do something about it. I would be saying the same thing if thought the election had been stollen from Trump. Indeed, this should be a bi-partisan issue.
If you want a detailed explanation of this, I highly recommend you read J. Alex Halderman’s article that gives an excellent explanation of the problem, and what we can do about it.
5 Comments
I agree with the premis of verifying and or recounting as long as the states don’t have to pay that cost. It could easily be used as punishment if a state voted the wrong way in an election. Likewise if substantial voting issues are determined to have affected the outcome then that state should refund fees paid to it for the recount. That will keep them honest.
I have used paper ballots for years, as has my husband. I don’t understand why this is not a priority. Both parties should want the elections to be fair and certifiable.
I live in a community that is mostly affluent and mostly Republican. When we voted I used my paper ballot, which is placed in a cardboard sleeve and then fed into the machine so the poll worker can not see what you have voted, and as I approached the machine that you put the ballot into, I saw three or four polling officials standing there with small stacks of unsleeved ballots feeding them into the machine. As I stood there about 10 feet away and waited for my husband to finish filling out his ballot, I saw them put at least 10 ballots into the machine. When he came to feed his, I moved closer and asked one of the women why they were putting ballots into the machine and she gave me some answer that I could not quite hear and walked away. When I got home I had trouble even finding a phone number to call and when I did, of course no one answered or it was busy. I tried for an hour or two and then got sidetracked with something else. I would really like to know why they were voting multiple times. They make a show of having both Dems and Repubs at the polling places to keep things fair, but I suspect many of them just claim to be Dems just so that they have enough on both sides of the aisle to make it look fair. And I suspect in the city of St. Louis the opposite might be true in some areas. A lack of Republicans to work the polling places would not surprise me. So not only is there the possibility that there were no Democrats working the polling place, it’s possible they were voting extra ballots.
I have to admit, I did not follow up because I forgot about it until now. There might be a perfectly reasonable reason they were putting paper ballots into the machine, but unless I find the time to call and ask, I guess I don’t know what it might be. I do know that it was entirely possible there was not a Democrat poll worker in that location given that there a few around here. I should volunteer but I don’t have the stamina anymore. If they would do half days, I would be there.
The whole system needs to be changed. Voting a week or two prior should be available for everyone. Elections should be held on Saturday and Sunday both. Two shifts of poll workers at every location. Voting on the weekends would allow some who work to be poll workers. Paper ballots for all. No one should have to travel more than a few miles to get to a voting place and if they do, then they should be allowed to vote by mail. And all ballot counts should be mandated to be checked twice. Even if it takes a while to do so. We don’t need to know who wins instantly, we need to know who has actually won.
Trump now saying that “millions of votes” were stolen in election. Yeah.
Remind me again why we’re supposed to give this clown any respect at all? He can’t even WIN with dignity. Good grief.
Sore winner, but he will always be the biggest loser as far as I’m concerned.
Amen.
One Trackback/Pingback
[…] From Iron Knee at Political Irony: […]