Reply #18: That's unfortunate. ANY close election that cannot be audited is automatically suspect in my mind,

[Fly by night]

particularly given the corporatist climate we live in and the continued reich-wing proclivities of the owners (and programmers) of the voting machines.

After five years of work to save our democracy here in Tennessee, I watched in horror and disbelief while our Republican senators lied about the value of implementing our TN Voter Confidence Act, and then voted to delay its implementation and to gut our audit procedures. As disturbing as that was, the 30 minute long (seriously) opening prayer (meeting) by two fundamentalist evangelists who kept saying that the US is a Christian nation with no room for any other world view was disgusting.

After 40+ years of living in Tennessee, I have put my farm on the market and plan to move to New Mexico (where they do vote on paper ballots) or to New Zealand. The only other option is another Battle of Athens (TN) and I am basically a nonviolent person at heart.

Though I may not always stay that way ....