Free, Fair and Open Elections

[MK]

.

I believe in the American people. I voted, never. An election may not go the way I would like, but I would never put my thumb on the scale. Regardless of the electoral college, for the most part our leaders are voted into office. They can always be recalled if they step too far out of line as Davis was in California.

Our system is not perfect...but I haven't seen a better one yet.

 

[airfrogusmc]

Ditto Never...

 

[Marc Chevalier]

...but I haven't seen a better one yet.

And I've seen far worse ones, up close and in person. God bless the electoral government of the United States.

.

 

[Viola]

And I've seen far worse ones, up close and in person. God bless the electoral government of the United States.

.

And God bless the Dred Scott decision, Prohibition, and every silly thing the Puritans came up with, as they were also democratic.

I love my country. I hope to never betray it trust. But legality for legality's sake out of a sense of love and patriotism cannot be the whole of our morality.

Our Founding Fathers would agree. Sometimes you can't just go about your business and hope for the best. I hope that the next time this is true I am not alive to see it, but there you go.

 

[Lincsong]

To me a "free, fair, open election" is one in which the ballot box is kept in the middle of the polling place. All can see it throughout the day. When the election is officially over, the ballot box is not moved from that spot in the polling place. The elections officials postion a chalk board and table next to the ballot box and each ballot is individually removed and read aloud, then marked COUNTED. As each vote is read aloud it is tallied on the chalk board for all to see. When the last ballot is counted the tally on the board is the official results. The counted ballots are then placed into the ballot box, sealed and the official tallys are painted on the outside of the box. Then the ballot box is taken to the County Courthouse where the tallies of every precinct in the County are recorded on one huge board for all to see. When all the precincts are recorded then the winner for each race is officially announced.

Here in Alameda County, the elections process is a joke. The ballot box is removed from the precinct and taken to a courthouse in Oakland where it is then counted. What a joke. It is supposed to be under deputy guard, but I don't trust Sheriff Charles Plummer. :rage: :rage: :rage:

 

[Marc Chevalier]

And God bless the Dred Scott decision, Prohibition, and every silly thing the Puritans came up with, as they were also democratic.

Chief Justice Taney -- the writer of the Dred Scott decision -- was appointed, not elected.

The 18th Amendment had strong popular support when it went into effect in 1920.

The Puritans did come up with silly things. (There we agree! )


.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

In fact, Lincsong, this is exactly how elections take place in Chile!

To me a "free, fair, open election" is one in which the ballot box is kept in the middle of the polling place. All can see it throughout the day. When the election is officially over, the ballot box is not moved from that spot in the polling place. The elections officials postion a chalk board and table next to the ballot box and each ballot is individually removed and read aloud, then marked COUNTED. As each vote is read aloud it is tallied on the chalk board for all to see. When the last ballot is counted the tally on the board is the official results. The counted ballots are then placed into the ballot box, sealed and the official tallys are painted on the outside of the box. Then the ballot box is taken to the County Courthouse where the tallies of every precinct in the County are recorded on one huge board for all to see. When all the precincts are recorded then the winner for each race is officially announced.

 

[Lincsong]

In fact, Lincsong, this is exactly how elections take place in Chile!

Are you kidding me? In the Chile that Augosto Pinochet created?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

No ... most of today's election procedures have been put in place during post-Pinochet coalition governments.

.

 

[Lincsong]

No ... most of today's election procedures have been put in place during post-Pinochet coalition governments.

.

Well, doesn't that just raise the hair on the cat's back.

 

[Katt in Hat]

Something we agree on for a welcame change, Lincsong.

Here in Alameda County, the elections process is a joke. The ballot box is removed from the precinct and taken to a courthouse in Oakland where it i then counted. What a joke. It is supposed to be under deputy guard, but I don't trust Sheriff Charles Plummer.
__________________
Tell us about the American miracle

I didn't trust Kathryn Harris
the former Florida Sec. of State
nor did I trust The Ohio Sec. of State Ken Blackwell.

I do not trust flawed voting machines
which can be rigged in almost the
blink of an eye and which can not be caught out.

I fear that a flawed electoral system
will subvert our Democratic Republic.

It Can Happen Here!

 

[Lincsong]

Here in Alameda County, the elections process is a joke. The ballot box is removed from the precinct and taken to a courthouse in Oakland where it i then counted. What a joke. It is supposed to be under deputy guard, but I don't trust Sheriff Charles Plummer.
__________________
Tell us about the American miracle

I didn't trust Kathryn Harris
the former Florida Sec. of State
nor did I trust The Ohio Sec. of State Ken Blackwell.

I do not trust flawed voting machines
which can be rigged in almost the
blink of an eye and which can not be caught out.

I fear that a flawed electoral system
will subvert our Democratic Republic.

It Can Happen Here!

Please elaborate. Mrs. Harris was following the law. So was Mr. Blackwell. The counters in Palm Beach County and Broward County weren't Republicans.

 

[scotrace]

I was formerly on the electoral oversight board for our county for 14 years and I can say without reservation that those punch cards that were so made fun of are quite accurate and very, very difficult to fudge. I saw this week an article demonstrating the ease of violating an electronic touch screen system in under ten minutes with common tools.

I've also broken bread with Mr. Blackwell and found him to be a straight arrow.

 

[Section10]

Never, because the other side could not possibly overturn all that I hold dear.

 

[Lincsong]

I was formerly on the electoral oversight board for our county for 14 years and I can say without reservation that those punch cards that were so made fun of are quite accurate and very, very difficult to fudge. I saw this week an article demonstrating the ease of violating an electronic touch screen system in under ten minutes with common tools.

I've also broken bread with Mr. Blackwell and found him to be a straight arrow.

We had punch cards here in Alameda County for years. Very simple to use. However, if they're aren't counted at the polling site, they can be contaminated in the back of a van very easily. Touch screens are very, very scary. In several locations in Alameda County, when they used the touch screens, poll workers "forgot" to take the chips out and at 4 a.m. they had to go back to the polling place to retrieve the chips. I believe that like I believe the moon is made of cheese.

 

[Katt in Hat]

scotrace: I found a different view of Mr. Blackwell.

"I've also broken bread with Mr. Blackwell and found him to be a straight arrow."

November 16, 2004

The Ohio "Vote"
Ken Blackwell Has Some Explaining to Do
By HUGH URBAN

Ohio was the ground zero of the election; Franklin county was the ground zero of Ohio. Ken Blackwell, who is both the Ohio Secretary of State and the co-Chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio, appears to have screwed us royally. (continued link below)

http://www.counterpunch.org/urban11162004.html

 

[scotrace]

Sorry, crackpot author.

I voted "Never."

Did you begin this thread to dredge up accusations of stolen presidential elections in 00 & 04?

 

[Lincsong]

"I've also broken bread with Mr. Blackwell and found him to be a straight arrow."

November 16, 2004

The Ohio "Vote"
Ken Blackwell Has Some Explaining to Do
By HUGH URBAN

Ohio was the ground zero of the election; Franklin county was the ground zero of Ohio. Ken Blackwell, who is both the Ohio Secretary of State and the co-Chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio, appears to have screwed us royally. (continued link below)

http://www.counterpunch.org/urban11162004.html

What a silly article. Complaining that Blackwell insisted that people vote in their registered precincts. Sounds like the author of this article doesn't know what he's talking about. What did he want?; for people to walk around like transients voting where ever they laid their hat?:eusa_doh: Sounds like "papa was a rollin' stone" song.

 

[scotrace]

And Mr. Blackwell - a black man - saw to it that black voters were disenfranchised so whites could vote "faster?" That's a stretch.

 

[The Reno Kid]

Tell us about the American miracle

I didn't trust Kathryn Harris
the former Florida Sec. of State
nor did I trust The Ohio Sec. of State Ken Blackwell.

This thread is silly.

Did you trust the King County (Washington) election board in 2004? http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/206969_dead07.html

Did you trust the Daley political machine in Chicago in 1960?

Can you offer any reliable evidence that either Ms. Harris or Mr. Blackwell did anything that was less than honorable?

I suspect it's just a matter of whose ox is being gored. (Please pardon the oblique pun.)