Forget About Fresno: How One CA County Clerk Stopped Prop 37's Oversight 'Recount'
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Source: BRAD BLOG
Forget About Fresno: How One CA County Clerk Stopped Prop 37's Oversight 'Recount'
And why secretly tallied paper ballots undermine U.S. democracy
A Special Report by The BRAD BLOG...
What happened last November in California's Prop 37? Is it really possible that progressive California doesn't want Genetically Engineered Foods to be labeled as such? According to the reported results of that election, that would seem to be the case. But did Californians really vote against such labeling?
Unfortunately, thanks to a lack of overseeable public hand-counts on Election Night, and a gaping weakness in the state's otherwise liberal "recount" law, we're unlikely to ever know for certain.
A weeks-long investigation by The BRAD BLOG into the months-long attempted effort to confirm the results of the Prop 37 ballot initiative last November, serves to highlight not just the weakness in California "recount" law, but also the notion that paper ballots, secretly tallied by optical-scan computers, are just fine, since, as the knee-jerk saying goes, "we can always count the paper ballots by hand afterwards if there are any questions about the results."
The fact is: no we can't. As our investigation reveals, election officials have the ability to stop an attempted "recount" dead in its tracks, by simply charging contestants anything they like for the effort. They are able to price such oversight beyond the means of most citizens, and are even doing so in apparent violation of state election code and regulations, as we found in Fresno County, CA last month during an attempted citizen oversight campaign of Prop 37 results.
But that election was not the only one where an attempt to examine paper ballots to assure accuracy of the secret computer tallies has been stymied by officials in the Golden State. The matter is rife for abuse and continues to frustrate Election Integrity advocates, even as both the CA legislature and the CA Secretary of State have done little to correct the situation...
FULL SPECIAL REPORT: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=9848
Read more: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=9848
Fire Walk With Me
(38,893 posts)stopbush
(24,366 posts)I canvassed my fellow-liberal friends pre-election and found them to be equally divided on the issue.
When the Sacramento Bee and the LA Times both write in-depth editorials against the proposition, it influences people.
BradBlog
(2,938 posts)...Whatever reasons you have to *believe* Prop 37 lost, doesn't really matter. The citizens have the right to KNOW that it lost. And, as our Special Report makes clear, it's nearly impossible for the average citizen to know that, thanks to the computer tabulation of election results.
abelenkpe
(9,933 posts)msongs
(67,129 posts)BradBlog
(2,938 posts)It's a bit of fallacy that counting by hand will necessarily take longer! Either way, even if so, I think we'd all rather KNOW that the winners actually won and the losers actually lost, versus this crazy system of "faith-based" election results that we have now!
Stuart G
(38,328 posts)JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)communities. So, that is why they might not want to recount the votes on Prop. 37.
OKNancy
(41,832 posts)This is not breaking news. This is an analysis/commentary. Please repost in another forum.