Mom, Apple Pie and Verified Voting!

[Bill Bored]

To win in 2006, the Dems need to be seen as patriots. This doesn't mean flag waving, gay bashing or war mongering. It's our own brand of the product.

Now who in America can argue with the idea of free and fair elections? Even if there is unspoken racism in the minds of some on the other side, the issue of Verified Voting should be something everyone can agree on, just like Mom and Apple Pie. And to our political advantage now, it's something that the GOP has blocked at every turn. They are miserable failures on this issue!

Since May 2003, there have been five (5) separate bills in Congress that were never brought to a vote because of them. It's so sweet I can taste it!

I'm not saying we should give up any of our other dreams, values or priorities, but for the Democratic Party to survive, it needs a national issue. An unassailable, unambiguous, non-divisive national issue that cannot be spun into some twisted right-wing propagandistic rant about how we don't care about our country, or our flag, or our churches, or our families, or that we don't want the poor to have to work for a living, or whatever else they can dream up to discredit our ideology.

We need a bullet-proof, slime-proof, noise-proof, Fox-proof, swiftboat-vet-proof, all American issue that we can stick right up there butts because they have already screwed it up big time -- and it's on the record. And I think Verified Voting can be that issue.

Our party, riding the wave of the Electoral Vote Objection of Jan 6, and the irregularities in Ohio and elsewhere in 2004 should take this opportunity to rub the Republicans' noses in this issue. If we squander it, it's over for us.

We should inform the media and the People that under the Republicans' leadership, the vote has become unverifiable and WE are the ones who are going to fix it. We have tried five times in Congress and each time, the ruling party has blocked us. It is therefore not our fault that this has been allowed to occur, it is theirs. They may be in charge, but we are the Patriots here folks. We don't know what they are at this point and frankly, we don't give a damn.

The results will be two-fold:

1. We will have a much needed issue to rally around, that the Republicans have chosen to disregard, that is as significant and respectable as Mom and Apple Pie. We will be seen as the NEW Patriots and we can reveal the Republicans for what they are. I don't need to go into that here exactly, but suffice it to say that they need to take some of their own medicine on this one. We can repeat the message over and over, just like they do, the main difference being that our cause is just and universal. They will have to concede, or they will be shamed into it. We will have a message!

2. We will get Verified Voting by 2006, and the votes in the next Congressional Election will be counted fairly and accurately. Obviously this should favor us if there has in fact been counting fraud up until now. If even half the suspicions about counting fraud are true, it will be like redistricting the whole country in our favor. And if not, we will have saved a vital part of the Republic. If our ideas aren't shared by the majority of the people, than so be it. But at least we will know for sure and we will know that we've tried.

I do not mean to offend the moderate Republicans on this list, or those who favor free and fair elections, but it is time for OUR party -- the Democratic Party -- to stand up on this issue and take the lead, and call a spade a spade. If our leaders aren't willing to do this for the right reasons i.e., truth, justice and the American way, let them do it for the politics -- and for their own self interest! We can not lose on this particular issue. It is ours!

The rest will come, but only if the vote is counted correctly. First things first.

[imenja]

1. Bravo!

I agree completely and have thought about how to do this myself. In addition to promoting election reform as part of the national agenda, we can sponsor state constitutional amendments and initiatives to clean up the voting system. We are the party of reform, the New Progressive Movement!
Also, we can take the theme further: to clean up government in general. Get big money out of politics. End corporate payouts. Reclaim our government "of the people, by the people, and for the people."

[Goldeneye]

2. We have to do it by 2006.

That isn't much time. Campaigning starts in a year. Man, I almost wish we had a bit more time...no I don't. If we can get the house and senate back maybe we can get bush out on his ass. Too optimistic?

great post btw. We need to make election reform our number one priority and we can't let the republicans decide how the issue is framed.

[Bill Bored]

3. kick n/t

[cry baby]

4. Bill, you are inspired today! Thanks for the inspiration.

:toast:

[cry baby]

5. The repubs are upset that "dead people voted" in Wash St

They will look silly of they don't come out in favor of verified voting. Let's make them look bad and make us look like patriots.

[zalinda]

6. I've been thinking about this voting problem

We know that most of those who make the decisions will not go for paper ballots. They are going full tilt into electronic machines. Everyone seems to compare the voting machine and an ATM, and wants a paper trail. Except with an ATM, you can verify your transaction, with a voting machine you can't. Voting machine companies want to keep their software proprietary, I can't blame them for that. So, we need to work around that.

What if, there was a two part receipt, just like in grocery stores. The carbon stays on the roll, for hand counting. But, the voter gets to keep the original. On the receipt would be a generated random number, and the precinct number, plus your votes. You could then go on line or call and check your vote, against the generated number. This would keep them honest, because they would never know who would be checking their vote. If there were any "mistakes", they would have to pay for a re-vote or a HUGE fine. All voting info by precinct could also be put on line, so it could be checked by the any citizen, if they wanted to.

What do you think?

zalinda

[Bill Bored]

14. Can't find anything wrong with this in principle.

But, of course you'd have to be careful not to duplicate the random numbers, and if you did, due to some sort of machine glitch, the voter checking the wrong precinct, etc, it could raise all sots of problems. And it places the onus on the voter to verify their vote after the election. Therefore, I think you'd still want random audits of some kind anyway.

The main thing is keep the ballot (receipt) in the machine for the recounts/audits, but your idea may add another level of assurance for the voters if it's implemented very carefully!

[AtLiberty]

7. Here's a good spin --

Good ol' fashioned paper ballots for good ol' fashioned American values.

How can the GOP argue?

[Pacifist Patriot]

8. It is appropriately conservative.

Hey, who said democrats weren't reactionary every once in awhile? ;)

[Hugin]

9. Pardon the vent...

Bill what you say is great...

But, I need to vent.

For the last two months I've had some lines from
Dr. Strangelove running through my mind.

The good? Dr.: You set up the dooms day device and you
DIDN'T TELL ANYBODY!?

Russian Ambs: We'd planned to unveil it at the party congress next week.

Well, people... The party congress is Thursday and I've been
trying to tell people about this stuff for two years. Don't you
think we should have been doing something about it long before NOW?

BTW... HAVA is worthless. Look at who crafted it. They certainly
got the results they wanted. Didn't they?

A good clean start would be to pass the "Paper trail" bill which
has been sitting there for a year or so at the whim of Delay and
Hassert. Again, I say HAVA is WORTHLESS!

Now, I've had my vent.

I wish you luck. Much more than I've had with this topic.

*whew*

If you need me I'll be reading some web comics. ;)

(Edit: Removed "next")

[mdb]

10. "five (5) separate bills in Congress that were never brought to a vote"

We need to get the word out that Repubs in congress don't want fair elections. Believe it or not most Repubs outside D.C. do want fair elections. It's congress that is against this.

[marions ghost]

11. U Speak Truth Bill

Yes, this is a mainstream issue and it is a winner and Dems need to get on board with it. There is no reason for anyone to object to a much higher standard for our election system. We the People have every right to a higher level of voter confidence. Objections look so lame. Continue to show how they obstructed HAVA and used it for their own ends, show how they hammered against fair voting on Jan 6, and direct people to Conyer's and other websites. If we treat this like the emergency that it is, keep up the pressure, we have every right to expect major changes by 2006. In fact there are groups working right now to set some immediate goals for 2005. It's "Fox-proof" etc etc" LOL... they would not want to give this any air time. This is an ugly duckling with a big orange beak that can grow into a swan. Sure it's a pain in the neck to have to go back to Democracy 101...but the Dems will gain by leading the effort. There is opportunity here.

[BeFree]

12. First things first

There is no issue with a higher priority. The accurate accounting of our votes takes precedence over all others, for without accuracy our vote is useless.

It is a win/win situation. Any who deny the free and fair vote will be the new outcasts from American politics. It is up to us to make it so.

[Hugin]

13. Kick n/t

[Hugin]

15. Kick (nt)

[Bill Bored]

16. kick n/t