Doubt and anxiety at the ballot box

[Algorem]

http://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1162024820301610.xml?ocoth&coll=2

Sunday, October 29, 2006
Victoria Lovegren

The 2000 presidential election and subsequent recount opened a wound of doubt and suspicion that has yet to heal. According to a recent Zogby poll, most people believe the 2004 presidential election was tampered with.

For many voters, there simply is no way to reconcile the huge discrepancies between 2004's exit polls and the "official numbers." Despite the media's downplaying of these discrepancies and discrediting the exit polls, the public knows the numbers just don't add up. Voters wonder why the historically accurate exit polls have been so "wrong" since the introduction of electronic voting machines. Why do we routinely accept the validity of exit polls in the Ukraine and other countries, but not here? Why didn't the 2004 pollsters release the data? Why are many states, including Ohio, seeking to prohibit exit polls?

Worried voters harbor fears about Nov. 7 and the future of voting. Studies continue to be released about the security and vulnerability of electronic voting, one of the latest being from Princeton University (on the Web at: http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting/). With Diebold machines, "an attacker could create malicious code that spreads automatically and silently from machine to machine during normal election activities," according to the report. Though computer scientists have always known of these vulnerabilities, it comes as new information to many voters. Ninety-two percent of the public is not comfortable with electronic voting, according to Zogby...


If you are concerned about our elections, there are important roles you can play. Participate in an election-protection or vote-count protection project on Election Day and check out some of the election-integrity groups in Northeast Ohio. For more information, contact me by e-mail at [e-mail] or visit www.ohiovigilance.org.


Lovegren is an election-integrity activist who lives in Cleveland Heights.



Thursdays 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

And Everybody is Okay With This?

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with Victoria (Lovegren)

Thursdays 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Genre(s): Public Affairs

I will be reading articles, playing tapes of speeches/programs, interviewing guests, and playing music that will heighten public awareness of government and corporate abuses and empower people to participate in true democracy.


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