Posted on 11/08/2006 11:09:53 AM PST by nancyvideo
Most vote fraud happens the old fashioned way - corrupt (usually Democrat) officials adding false ballots for their own side or tossing out valid ballots for the other side during the counting process. In my county, absentee ballot envelopes display party registration on the outside - pretty easy to just dump a pile of "REP" envelopes into a nearby shredder.
You are right on both counts. Many states reformed after 2000, but the worst just ignore it.
I think you are way off base. I think the real problems are the crooks, not the machines. They are very devious and, it seems, that lots of people know what they do. They just do their deeds in no-go areas and scream racism at anyone who gets cloe to calling them on it.
The safeguards come from citizen involvement. Both parties need to check the code. You can't sit home and expect everything to go fine. Furthermore, manual recounts have lots of human error. If I were deciding, I would find a way to contract with banks and use the ATM's, because they are going all of the time . The whole idea of setting up for one day with temp workers is fraught with all kinds of problems. But it is not the machines. that is just Luddite thinking. Every Dem objection increases the potential for fraud. I heard about the 27 counties, and frankly, I am holding my breath. I will not be surprised if there are indictments, arrests and revisions of results after investigations to certify election results.
I think it is irrational paranoia to argue that machine use is any more suspect in voting than in banking. What critics usually try to introduce is paper which has a much higher error rate and uncontrollable human error factor. The fraudulent motives seem obvious to me.
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