Election reform needed: U.S. system would fail certification elsewhere
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2004/12/11/ed.edit.votefraud.1211.htmlA Register-Guard Editorial
December 11, 2004
If President Bush wants the United States to be a beacon of freedom
for the rest of the world, he's going to need to spend part of his
political capital to replace some burned-out bulbs in this country's
democratic process.
More than 38,000 Nov. 2 election irregularities nationwide have been
logged in the Verified Voting Foundation's election incident reporting
system, most of which favored Republicans. Coincidence? Probably, but
it's the kind of coincidence Americans typically associate with a
banana republic, not with the Best of All Possible Nations.
But that's not the most important point. Ever since the 2000
presidential election fiasco in Florida, Americans have been forced to
confront the myth that U.S. elections are squeaky-clean manifestations
of representative democracy. The reality, confirmed again in the 2004
national elections, is much messier.
Former President Jimmy Carter - a veteran international elections
monitor - pointed out that the Nov. 2 election in the U.S. would not
have passed his certification in a Third World country. The United
States has no nonpartisan national elections commission to ensure fair
and equal treatment of all voters. Voting procedures vary wildly
throughout the country. Worst of all, in some jurisdictions there is
no voter-generated paper trail on which to base a recount in a
contested race.
(snip)
CONTACT INFO:
[email protected]