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When is the last time you read one of the columns here or on other Blog Sites that implied armed insurrection was not far from becoming reality? The definitions of "far" vary from months to lifetimes depending on who is doing the posting and some even feel that it is way over-due. Most agree that this bloodshed could be prevented if there were a way to curb the corruption that plagues our government from the local level all the way up to Congress and the White House. Examples are given by the very people who pledge to "serve" the public on an ongoing basis of how to allow greed to overrule the public trust. The recent arrests in New Jersey of town officials for corruption was such a success they had to load them on a bus. At least some money stolen from the public was recovered through the use of the bus instead of squad cars and their gasoline.
Many who have expressed the same dissatisfaction as some of the more so called extreme without the taste for revolutionary war have pointed to the ballot box as their prefer form of forcing reform. I must agree with them that this is the desired solution and is a right enjoyed in a Democratic Republic, which we are supposed to be, to rid ourselves of those who have proven unfit for their appointed positions by means of a simple majority vote. The problem with this system is the ensuring of legitimate voting meaning "one person, one vote". We are all very familiar with the stuffing of paper ballot boxes occurring during the ages gone by where certain unscrupulous individuals cast multiple ballots under fictitious names. Common voter fraud included dead people magically rising from the grave on election night to cast votes and even young children turning out in droves to vote with their invalid grandparents or parents accompanying them and putting in their votes as well. Those days are not gone (well maybe the stuffing of ballots on paper) as we are still being bombarded with allegations and convictions of those seeking to register fictitious voters. We are now using machines to vote instead of paper in order to combat voter fraud but just exactly how accurate are they? How secure are they? Can someone wishing to alter the outcome of an election do so by other means than just our usual run of the mill ghost votes? Well we can now.
A recent experiment by Princeton University managed to introduce a virus into an electronic voting machine commonly used by municipalities during the election process. It also shows that the virus can theoretically infect other machines count and thus render pre-programmed results as dictated by the one who introduces the virus.
http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting/
Even should a hacker decide he wants he wants George the Geek to be Governor he can make it happen as California proved by hiring them to hack its machines:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/28/VOTING.TMP&tsp=1
This study proved that machines can be tampered with after they have already been put to use. Of greater concern is the fact that these machines are wards of the very government you are attempting to limit through the voting process. These are the same people buying the machines to count the votes to be cast. The manufacturers of these machines have hugh contracts that make it in their best interest to please the customer; government. Combine this fact with the financial limitations imposed by the actual cost of running a campaign, you can see the difficulties inherent in forcing a change in government by way of electing fresh faces.
Also of great concern is the malfunctions that can and do occur. Florida has shown just how pathetic the accuracy of these machines are.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/13/us/politics/13voting.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin
http://www.floridafairelections.org/PressReleases/Invalid%20Votes%20Press%20Release.pdf
These are only a couple of examples of what is a very well known problem with these machines and their manufacturers. Combined with the lack of security, the chain of custody of the machines and the election results themselves leads me to ask how can anyone trust the Ballot Box to bring about the real reform in our Government it so desperately needs. It is not in the Governments interest to change its ways, to prevent influence peddling, to downsize, or to eliminate waste. Too much money exchanges hands in politics for any who are incumbent to seek to change things except for the rare few who have elected to serve for nobler sentiments than personal gain. They are the ones who are satisfied with what they already have and abhor those who abuse their power for profit. They are also few and far between.
My question to you dear readers is "Can we really trust the Ballot Box to bring the changes we seek in all levels of Government?". Maybe it is time we just got tote boards instead.
Mind the CoH when posting and please keep the party BS to a minimum.
