Today We Have Two Choices: Fix the System, or Don't Bother to Vote

You are a good citizen. You find out all you can about the important political issues. You research candidates. You put signs in your yard and stickers on your car to encourage others to see your side. You contribute time and money to political campaigns. You brave weather and long lines to be sure that you cast your ballot on election day. You have performed an important, probably the most important, civic duty. All is well with the world.

Or, is it? The reality is, with the advent of electronic voting machines without a voter verified paper trail, you don’t know today how your vote was counted in the last election.

Before you cry foul, or insist that this can’t be true, or worse yet – that this is no more than the raving of a sore looser liberal, I encourage you to investigate the reports from two organizations, the General Accounting Office (GAO), and The National Election Data Archive (NEDA), a nonprofit organization of statisticians and mathematicians devoted to the accuracy of U.S. vote counts.

The GAO has issued a scathing indictment of the electronic voting systems now in place. In part their investigation concluded that "election officials, computer security experts, citizen advocacy groups, and others have raised significant concerns about the security and reliability of electronic voting systems, . . .”

The report went on to say, “The security and reliability concerns raised in recent reports merit the focused attention of federal, state, and local authorities responsible for election administration".

The identified flaws are directly responsible for votes cast, incorrect tallies of votes, and the inability of some voters to cast votes. The GAO report suggested many actions necessary to correct the current situation, and that, "Until these efforts are completed, there is a risk that many state and local jurisdictions will rely on voting systems . . .” which are “ . . . potentially affecting the reliability of future elections and voter confidence in the accuracy of the vote count"

NEDA findings describe highly implausible discrepancies between exit polls and the tallies verified by Secretaries of State. The investigations produced a mountain of statistical evidence on which to plant a flag of corruption. Specific papers include:

• Kerry Wins Presidential Election according to the Exit Polls
  
  
• New Mexico Precinct-Level Election Data Reveals Election Tampering
  
  
• "Analysis of the 2004 Presidential Election Exit Poll Discrepancies"
  
  
• "The Smoking Gun: Ohio Exit Poll Data Show Virtually Irrefutable Evidence of Vote Miscount"
  
  

NEDA concludes that “The possibility that the 2004 election exit poll discrepancy was caused by vote miscount has become increasingly credible as successive (E/M(Edison/Mitofsky) and ESI(Election Science Institute)) reports claiming support for exit-poll error have instead provided more evidence for vote miscount.”

These two separate and independent investigations by the GAO and NEDA reach the same conclusion – the voting public is left with nothing on which to base even a minimal faith in the system. If we are to remain a truly DEMOCRATIC republic, there is no more pressing issue than the repair of our electoral system. If the electoral system is not repaired, this government “Of the people, by the people and for the people” will be lost.

If there is one letter that every U.S. citizen of voting age should write, it is a letter to each and every one of their Senators and Congresspersons insisting that the electoral system be repaired before the November 2006 elections. If you value your democracy, do it now.

Our fate is in our hands.

Sources,

GAO Report

http://www.democrats.reform.house.gov/Documents/20051021122225-53143.pdf.

NEDA Report

http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/Presidential-Election-2004.pdf.