Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

"Quest for voting certainty leads back to paper"
The Palm Beach Post ^ | 4 February 2007 | George Bennett

Posted on 02/04/2007 4:27:59 AM PST by lifelong_republican

"When and if there's a problem, everyone has to lift their hands up and say, 'I don't know...'"

(Excerpt) Read more at palmbeachpost.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: america; americans; representation; vote
It is impossible to know what the votes really were, with paperless electronics.

American elections must be fully observable.

1 posted on 02/04/2007 4:28:00 AM PST by lifelong_republican
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: lifelong_republican
It is impossible to know what the votes really were, with paperless electronics.

American elections must be fully observable.

. . . and that is ridiculously easy to achieve. All you have to do is get rid of this "secret ballot" nonsense and just have the voter publicly put a bean in the pot of each candidate he votes for. Everyone will know which candidate got which vote, no ambiguity.

Oh, you wanted to have an unabiguously secret ballot and and unambiguous tally of votes? Sorry, I doubt that's possible.


2 posted on 02/04/2007 12:05:53 PM PST by conservatism_IS_compassion (The idea around which liberalism coheres is that NOTHING actually matters except PR.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lifelong_republican

The more people know about computers, the less they trust computer voting.


3 posted on 02/04/2007 12:10:01 PM PST by Celtman (It's never right to do wrong to do right.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: conservatism_IS_compassion

You make an excellent point. The secret ballot wasn't used in the USA until after the civil war.

I don't feel any need to hide how I vote.

I don't want anyone else to step in to manage my vote for me.


4 posted on 02/05/2007 4:00:39 AM PST by lifelong_republican (Valid Elections: The Idea of America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Celtman
You are so right! You wrote:

"The more people know about computers, the less they trust computer voting."

It's the computer and computer security experts who have been pointing out all along that the reliability and security are inadequate for the task. They've proven that it's a trivial matter to tamper with them, too.

5 posted on 02/05/2007 4:03:51 AM PST by lifelong_republican (Valid Elections: The Idea of America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: lifelong_republican
I don't feel any need to hide how I vote.

I don't want anyone else to step in to manage my vote for me.

Yes, but consider the ambivalent black voter in a black precint . . . you actually think Republicans would get even 10% of the black vote if the ballot weren't secret? Doubt it.

6 posted on 02/05/2007 4:33:23 AM PST by conservatism_IS_compassion (The idea around which liberalism coheres is that NOTHING actually matters except PR.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: conservatism_IS_compassion

The secret ballot first came into use in the USA after the civil war. People shouldn't be ashamed of how they vote, and they should be protected from anyone who would intimidate or coerce them to vote a certain way.

The corrupt Democrats in PA are depriving voters of real ballots because they claim they'd be used in vote-selling scams, but in reality they just want to have convenience and ease in manipulations of tallies without risk of detection.


7 posted on 02/05/2007 8:33:30 AM PST by lifelong_republican (Valid Elections: The Idea of America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: lifelong_republican
It is impossible to know what the votes really were, with paperless electronics.

Yeah, we all know how fraud-free elections were before electronic voting machines commence heimlich maneuver

8 posted on 02/05/2007 8:35:46 AM PST by dirtboy (Duncan Hunter 08)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lifelong_republican
People shouldn't be ashamed of how they vote, and they should be protected from anyone who would intimidate or coerce them to vote a certain way.

Puh-leeze. I can only imagine the intimidation possibe at many levels of society if ballots were public. Would you really want President Hillary deciding what was voter intimidation and what wasn't?

9 posted on 02/05/2007 8:37:35 AM PST by dirtboy (Duncan Hunter 08)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: dirtboy

Past abuses don't justify making future abuses easier.


10 posted on 02/05/2007 9:20:29 AM PST by lifelong_republican (Valid Elections: The Idea of America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: dirtboy

You must want Hillary to be 'elected' to support the paperless electronic votefraud systems.

I don't want or need anyone else to do my voting for me.


11 posted on 02/05/2007 9:21:48 AM PST by lifelong_republican (Valid Elections: The Idea of America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: lifelong_republican
Past abuses don't justify making future abuses easier.

Current abuses don't justify going back to past abuses. Improve the technology and the process.

12 posted on 02/05/2007 9:21:52 AM PST by dirtboy (Duncan Hunter 08)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: lifelong_republican
You must want Hillary to be 'elected' to support the paperless electronic votefraud systems.

I was commenting on your absurd notion that enforcement could prevent intimidation stemming from public ballots, dude.

13 posted on 02/05/2007 9:22:55 AM PST by dirtboy (Duncan Hunter 08)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: dirtboy

The electronics allow for the abuses to be more widespread, more convenient to do, and easier to hide.


14 posted on 02/05/2007 11:35:12 AM PST by lifelong_republican (Valid Elections: The Idea of America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: dirtboy

The whole idea of defending America is defense of Americans, and they deserve to be able to vote for themselves in a transparent manner without intimidation.


15 posted on 02/05/2007 11:36:34 AM PST by lifelong_republican (Valid Elections: The Idea of America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson