There will be more chaos in Washington and trouble for the American people until elections are fixed | Democracy, elections and voting at Democracy Chronicles
Marge Baker: Until we fix our democracy problem, it’s hard to fix any problem
YubaNet.com
By: Marge Baker, OtherWords
Jan. 22, 2014 –
In the four years since the Supreme Court’s infamous Citizens United v. FEC ruling, two things have become abundantly clear. First, we have a major democracy problem. Citizens United paved the way for unlimited
Michael Ossipoff says
It sounds as if you’re saying that its ok for relatively small buyers to buy the elections. I suggest than _any_ gifts or money to candidates or officeholders is bribery.
You’re certainly right to demand full disclosre of where each candidate got his/her money, and to whom each corporation donated.But it could be taken a step further, by just saying “No more bribery. No more giving money to candidates or officeholders.” And adding “…And money isn’t speech. Media access will be in proportion to support (by some reasonable measure such as signatures, votes, party registration, etc.). That includes campaign media access.”
But you didn’t even mention the real reason why we don’t have any democracy:
It’s been truly said that:
“The real voting power belongs to him who counts the votes.”
Did you know that our elections’ vote-counting results are un-verifiable? No? Well now you do.
That makes nonsense of our election-results, and of our election, and of our democracy, and of our government.
An unverifiable vote-count result is an illegitimate election-result. Illegimate elections mean illegitimate government. Our government is illegitimate. No problem: We just need to make it legitimate, by insisting on a verifiable vote-counting results.
How? Well, the problem is machine-balloting, such as touchscreen balloting,that doesn’t leave a paper record.
An easy fix would be the simple “Public Ballot Imaging” that I’ll describe here:
Balloting can by by voters hand-penciling or hand-punching their paper ballots.Or it can be by machine-balloting by touchscreen., If the latter, then the voting-machine must output a paper ballot that shows the voter’s vote. The voter has an opportunity to examine his/her output ballot, and then deposit it in an ordinary secure ballot-box, as per tradition.
The public imaging takes place in front of a public crowd, including observers from various partes across the political spectrum.
One at a time, each ballot is laid face-up on a table, above which is a frame on which are mounted digital cameras belonging to all of the obsever parties–and one belonging to the elections department.
The ballot is stamped with a sequential order-number, and then imaged by all of the abovementioned cameras.
The ballots are then securely moved (in the presence of all the observer party represtentatives) to secure storage, in a bldg or room with concrete walls and no windows, protected by locks, cameras (video and snapshot digital) and alarms owned an operated by all of the observer parties.
Each observer party, and the elections department, can and must share its digital ballot-set with anyone who requests it. Anyone can thereby scan the digital ballot-images, and thereby do their own computer count of th election. That would be easy and secure regardless of the voting system or count-rule. For example, it would be easy and secure with any rank-balloting count method.
Unverifiable vote-counting is the main reason, the most fundamental reason, why we don’t have any democeracy. If we want democracy, then we must start by all of us demanding and getting verifiable vote-counting–as would be guaranteed by the Public Ballot Imaging described above.
Not that it isn’t necessary to prove count-fraud in order to establish election-illegitimacy. Our elections are made illegimate by the mere absence of verifiability.
But, as a matter of fact, count-fraud was well-established in the U.S. presidential elections of 2000 and 2004. For that evidence, I refer you to _Harper’s Magazine_, the issues immediately after those two abovementioned electons.
Thank you.
Michael Ossipoff