Ah well, Bobby. At least you tried.
U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler takes care of D.C. business for Florida's District 19, which covers some of West Broward (Coral Springs, Margate) and South Palm Beach (Greenacre, Boca Raton) counties. Since the Supreme Court handed George Bush the presidency by fiat in 2000, Wexler has tirelessly advocated for verified voting. Yesterday, the courts decided that making sure every vote is counted doesn't matter.
Rep. Robert Wexler: as far as congressmen go, one of the kinda good ones
The Palm Beach Post covered the story pretty well. Basically, Wexler wanted to make sure that every electronic voting machine printed out a sort of receipt, so that all electronic votes could be hand counted if necessary. The courts decided that not having a paper ballot did not infringe on voting rights. Of course, given the distinct possibility that voters who use electronic voting have had their voting rights taken away already, the court's decision is abscene [my own word, a combination of absurd and obscene].
It's par for the course these days, when the very idea that we live in a democracy has been called into question again and again and again.
The point is not that the 2000 or 2004 elections were stolen by Republican candidates, their party, or some shadowy mix of the Illuminati and the Trilateral Commission. The point is that elections with unverifiable electronic voting machines can be stolen. Even the possibility should be enough to cause immediate change in the rules that govern our elections. But for some reason, except for a few good men like Wexler, few people have taken up the burden of seeing this change through. Certainly, it's damn hard to find a Republican who demands verified voting trails. In fact, I can't think of a single one. Kinda funny, no?
Of course, that's explained by the fact that the party is now in power and doesn't want to rock the boat. They'll probably come around after they lose this year's election -- assuming they don't steal it, of course.
Comments
i hope you don't mind if i borrow your new word, sweeney!
Posted by: scooter | June 21, 2006 3:22 PM
Steal away!
Posted by: Dan the Doomed | June 21, 2006 3:26 PM