OPEN LETTER TO UK ABOUT YOUR 2010 ELECTION MELTDOWN - ACT IN HASTE, REPENT IN LEISURE

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

THE UK 2010 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION WAS A FLORIDA/OHIO STYLE ELECTION NIGHTMARE, WITH THOUSANDS TURNED AWAY FROM THE POLLS.

“Here we are giving an example which would shame countries that are just starting their democracies."
~ David Dimbleby with BBC...

IS THE UK SET TO MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE THE US DID?

Chaotic polling problems lead to calls for e-voting
By Jonathan Frewin Technology reporter, BBC News


Hundreds of voters were turned away from polling stations

"They should have been prepared for a 100% electorate turning up...everyone should have the right to vote" ~ Anna Sheldrake Disenfranchised voter

Voting electronically could prevent future problems at election polling stations, some experts claim.
...
The 2010 UK election was marred for those unable to vote within the designated time frame, due to long queues.

COMPUTERIZED VOTE COUNTING HAS BADLY DAMAGED U.S. DEMOCRACY.
YEARS LATER WE ARE STILL TRYING TO CLEAN UP THE MESS

When will we come to our senses?

VotersUnite is only one of many, many websites full to overflowing with stories of how badly computerized voting equipment has performed, how easily an insider or outsider could hack the equipment to fix an election, and how dangerous to democracy is the country's dependence on concealed vote-counting provided by private, unaccountable voting system vendors.

No hypothetical danger,
computerized vote-counting is a busy intersection
WITHOUT A STOP SIGN,
and the crashes have already been legion.

Flawed and failing computerized vote-counters have been reported in hundreds of news stories, experienced by thousands of voters, caused millions of dollars in official investigations and studies ... and yet the equipment is still in use in virtually every jurisdiction in the United States.

MESSAGE TO THE UK - IF YOU ACT IN HASTE, YOU WILL REPENT IN LEISURE.

E-VOTING WILL NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEMS AND WILL MAKE THEM MUCH WORSE. THE US FOUND OUT THE HARD WAY AND 10 YEARS LATER WE'RE STILL CLEANING UP THE MESS OF COMPUTERIZED VOTING.

Voting vendors and non profits already hope to capitalize on the confusion, regrets and finger pointing that follows the 2010 UK
Election meltdown. They know how eager politicians are to provide an immediate "solution", even if it makes things worse.

The media is playing the part of InfoMercial, as salespitchmen for the snake oil salesmen who peddle electronic voting, internet voting, IRV and proportional representation. These "solutions" will make the existing problem with UK elections WORSE.

THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THE UK ELECTION WAS

1. LACK OF PREPARATION,
2. FAULTY VOTER ROLLS,
3. ELECTION LAWS THAT DISENFRANCHISES VOTERS
- VOTERS TURNED AWAY FROM POLLS,
- BALLOTS WERE NOT PRINTED TO 100% RATIO OF REGISTERED VOTERS
- VOTER ROLLS WERE FAULTY, AND
- SOME VOTERS WAITED IN LINE EVEN AFTER POLLS CLOSED BUT WERE NOT PERMITTED TO VOTE.

The headlines below show that the United Kingdom failed to prepare for the election.

Imagine combining such incompetence with electronic voting.

No ballots, long lines: UK election night snarls spur investigation
Britons who queued for hours on UK election night were turned away as ballots ran short or polls closed before they could vote. An investigation is under way into logjams that could have an impact on an already muddled outcome

Voters declare their anger as thousands are turned back at polling station door
Thousands of people were deprived of the right to vote last night as polling stations were unable to cope with demand and police opened investigations into allegations of electoral fraud..

Blow-by-blow election liveblog: Election night
...
voters being turned away by police in Hackney.
...
The Labour Party is now saying that 600 people were missing from the electoral roll in Chester, despite having registered.

Polling station nightmares: send us your voter chaos stories

Final Tally, House of Commons

What is a hung Parliament?, The Telegraph 2010

Take a look at UK's first secret ballot box from 1872

IF THE UK CANNOT HANDLE SIMPLE ELECTIONS, HOW CAN THEY HANDLE "ELECTRONIC" ELECTIONS?
ELECTRONIC VOTING WILL NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM, ONLY MAKE IT WORSE

[nickinSTL]

1. hearing about the specific problems they had

I think they should simply change their law from saying that no one votes after a certain time to whoever is in line to vote at a certain time may vote, but anyone showing up after that is excluded.

Seems that would be a more appropriate response to the problem.

[Wilms]

2. k&r n/t

[truedelphi]

3. Watching C SPan and BBC - it seems

like the areas of England where Nick Clegg was expected to do well were (Surprise! surprise!) The same areas where there were not enough machinery or ballots.

Then the British Talking Heads say in deadpan manner: the expected strength of candidate Nick Clegg never came about "because apparently..." -- huge number of reasons, none of them related to the faulty machinery, the long lines, the people turned away.

[Stevepol]

4. Agree with these remarks right down the line.

Democracy and e-voting at present cannot coexist. Maybe if there were robust audits, maybe if there were not touchscreens, maybe maybe maybe.

[Better Today]

5. Hey UK act anyway you want and never repent. Who are we to be arrogant

about this or really anything along the lines of elections?

[T_i_B]

6. What annoys me at the moment...

Is when people automatically call for Proportional Representation as a cure all for these peoplems. PR's got nowt to do with it, although if we are having problems with a simple system like FPTP f**k knows how bad it would be under PR.

Not good either way.