Demand Democracy for Florida

posted by Peter Rothberg on 12/10/2006 @ 11:33pm

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I suspect even many well-informed Nation readers don't know about the 18,382 votes that were lost in one Congressional district in Sarasota, Florida, on Election Day. (I didn't until Katha Pollitt e-mailed me about it last week. It's been reported in the press but not widely.) They were lost on touch-screen voting machines in a tight House race, leaving no paper trail.

What happened was that the more than 18,000 voters, nearly 13 percent of those who showed up at the polls, seemed to cast votes in all possible races except the closely contested Congressional race between Democrat Christine Jennings and Republican Vern Buchanan. This represents a massive undercount compared to other counties, which reported an undercount of less than 2 percent. So it looks almost certain that some glitch sent the votes down the electronic memory hole. The problem is that there's no way to go back and look since there's no paper trail. This makes 2006 the third election in a row shadowed by questions about the integrity of voting machines.

Since this travesty of democracy has come to light, Gov. Jeb Bush and other Florida state officials have refused to take steps that would ensure that each vote is always counted. While citizen groups are rallying in Sarasota, the DC-based group Common Cause is holding a virtual rally nationally to press for legislation that would make something like this impossible in the future. Urge your Senator to support legislation to mandate a paper trail for all votes as well as random audits for all electronic ballots, ask a friend to do the same and click here to learn how to do more.

Comments (56)

Peter, how long do you think it will take for the replies to your post to center on one of 3 responses?:

1) 'Democrats do it too...Chicago...Daley...Kennedy...dead people voting...blah, blah, blah'

2) Democrats only care about the integrity of the vote when it's the Republicans stealing elections. Now that they've won a few, they'll stop caring.

3) Anybody who doesn't trust the electronic voting process is wearing a 'tin foil hat', is falling for conspiracy 'whoey', is a little nutty, etc.

Those are the standard (but lame) excuses parroted by apologists in an effort to somehow dismiss or excuse the ongoing subversion of the voting process that we've all been seeing (at least those of us paying attention) with electronic voting. And to be frank, I'm damned sick of those weak and stupid excuses!

Something is seriously wrong with a voting process if it can't be verifyable. Every time I use an ATM, or use plastic to pay for gas or groceries or...anything, I get a receipt that allows me to verify what just happened and that I can take to a teller or cashier for review in case there's problem. And it works pretty damned well!

Anyone who would oppose doing the same thing for voting is either incredibly naive, ciminally stupid, or NOT to be trusted!

Posted by Lillian at 12/11/2006 @ 02:34am
Posted by LILLIAN 12/11/2006 @ 02:34am

great post. then these same folks are the first to condemn other nations for voting irregularities (ie chavez in venezuela).

lets get our own house in order. then we can critcize others for voting iregularities sans hypocrisy...

Posted by ibbleblibble at 12/11/2006 @ 06:59am
"the DC-based group Common Cause is holding a virtual rally nationally"

PETER, could you give us a run-down of the efficacy of "virtual rallies"!??!??!?

Posted by Mask at 12/11/2006 @ 08:51am
Posted by MASK 12/11/2006 @ 08:51am |

i think you are missing something here, MASK. virtual rallies are not meaningless. they serve as a national meeting place for like minded, at least somewhat literate, active, and educated (formally or self taught) people. folks poo poo the bloggers, but apparantly its not just a mutual cheering society of far left loonies, to use the parlance of the right wing know nuthins. people meet, discuss, plan, involve others...not nothing at all.

this is why protecting the internet is so important and why the ayn randers want to clap it down so bad. they aint no dummies! they know where people are going who are sick of their spoon fed crap (the msm).

and the new generation coming up? watch out neo-conservative america. these guys, once they get their heads out of their asses (and the dumpsters) are pretty savvy about the kind of bullshit the right wing propaganda factoy has spewed forth, against the war, feeling rebellious against the current order...

is it that simple? hee hee. each generation rebels against their parents and votes for change? probably not...

Posted by ibbleblibble at 12/11/2006 @ 09:48am
Posted by IBBLEBLIBBLE 12/11/2006 @ 09:48am

IBBLE, I merely asked if such "virtual rallies" had shown any RESULTS...or are they just "chat rooms with an agenda"?

Posted by Mask at 12/11/2006 @ 10:16am
it is unfortunate that mr. jefferson is back. amazing how folks re-elect such. like marion "bitch set me up" barry a few years back.

oh well...here's hoping that the justice system will fix this little blip on the radar screen.

Posted by ibbleblibble at 12/11/2006 @ 10:19am
Posted by MASK 12/11/2006 @ 10:16am

good question, too. hard to establish cause/effect relationship here...even a valid, well done, peer reviewed study (unlike anything an ideological think tank would vomit forth) would be difficult to do well.

but i think these things have to have results. radio, tv...both changed politics dramatically. how could something so vast and revolutionary as the internet not in some way change things?

some of the participants in these virtual rallies, must no doubt be marginally active people who like to feel involved without actually doing much or anything. but thats ok, because many are very active. thats kind of the beauty of the online thing - folks who are by nature marginally politically active (for whatever reason, time, proclivity, ass-laziness) become at least marginally involved, and in a at least marginally productive way. if enough get involved marginally, it kind of adds up eventually, augmenting efforts of hard core activists.

even this...blabbing at each other constantly down here in the pits of hell (the blog responses of the nation magazine), we fiends are doing something our parents could only dream of - communicate with potentially millions about politics (when i say "millions", i mean more the ripple effect of ideas and opinion).

Posted by ibbleblibble at 12/11/2006 @ 10:29am
Posted by IBBLEBLIBBLE 12/11/2006 @ 10:29am

But doesn't the possiblity of ...."Hey, man...I'm like an activist and stuff...I got online on a 'virtual rally' against Bush and his theocrat fascists and stuff...spent nearly 20 minutes there, before I had to go back to my Orc guild on 'World of Warcraft'...we had a major dungeon crawl going!" style "activism" ALSO play into it.

The laughable "activism" of clicking your mouse and saying "Yeah, dude...I heard Bush's granddad was a Nazi"....and considering yourself in the ranks of Martin Luther King at Selma or even Abbie Hoffman.

Posted by Mask at 12/11/2006 @ 10:36am
Posted by MASK 12/11/2006 @ 10:36am

ha ha! talk about revenge of the nerds...

well, yeah, but how different is this from the 60's marginal poser style activist?

between bong hits..."yeah man...uh...cough cough cough...i was there at the rally...fight the power! pass that thing this way, man."

but thats ok. cant everyone be super activists. the opening of the door to the passive activist here in cyber world (between WOW raids and porno searches) is a good thing. approaching virtual democracy, to utilize another video game pioneered concept....

Posted by ibbleblibble at 12/11/2006 @ 10:43am
" Poor design, disgust with both parties, a district of large elderly population, and many other factors were more likely seen as the cause of the voting abberation. "

Posted by RIO BRAVO 12/11/2006 @ 09:58am

Poor design? Of course. This has been proven, again and again, by people who've examined these intentionally flawed and designed to be tampered with, machines.

"... a district of large elderly population, disgust with both parties and many other factors..."? I wasn't aware that the proximity of old people, caused electronic devices to malfunction.

Is it only political disgust, or any old issue you may have, while voting, that causes these electrical disturbances?

Did the old people, somehow, screw up these "accurate, reliable" machines? Or should these Windows based, physically insecure, poorly coded (over the internet, in an unsecure enviroment), intentionally designed w/o electronic backup or a paper trail/mechanical back up machines, have been supplanted by now? Especially, considering all of these flaws have been common knowledge for years now?

Or are you just spoutinr partisan bullshit, again?

Eric

Posted by Malcontent at 12/11/2006 @ 10:44am
well, yeah, but how different is this from the 60's marginal poser style activist?

Posted by IBBLEBLIBBLE 12/11/2006 @ 10:43am

Kind of my point, IBBLE. The MYTH of the "kids ending Vietnam" is one that needs to be ended. Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Woodstock, Joan Baez, etc.....didn't mean squat to Johnson, certainly not Nixon who beat the "youth vote candidate" Senator McGovern by 49 states and nearly 20 million votes.

And those that were "super-activist" guys were ACTUALLY marching in the streets....not "virtually marching" at somebody.blogspot.com

Posted by Mask at 12/11/2006 @ 11:09am
"oh well...here's hoping that the justice system will fix this little blip on the radar screen."

Posted by IBBLEBLIBBLE 12/11/2006 @ 10:19am | ignore this person

"Little blip?" has been with us for a long time....oh, well..unless you are a Repub, of course...oh,well.

Posted by john maasch at 12/11/2006 @ 11:26am
Peter, old sport,

I gotta go with whom ever it was who commented on your picture,....while you are most likey a handsome dude,and the babes are searching for your personal email at this very moment, your picture does look like some one who copped a good buzz after a successful date with your best friends sister...all good and fine, but...you might want to change the photo.

If you were pulled over while driving and gave the officer that look in your picture, you may find yourself spread eagled on your own car hood while officer TOODY is checking your ash tray.....

No offenses old sport..:)

Posted by john maasch at 12/11/2006 @ 11:37am
MAASCH, do you always assume that someone who is smiling must be high?

Posted by fromredbird at 12/11/2006 @ 12:41pm
Thanks Peter Rothberg for highlighting another irregularity here in my beloved home state of birth, Florida. When I used your convenient link I learned I'd already sent a note/letter to both my senators courtesy of Common Cause some days ago. There's nothing "virtual" about that to me. It's actual and quite "satisfactual."

Posted by lewwelge at 12/11/2006 @ 12:41pm
WOW translates to "weed of wonder," n'est ce pas?

Posted by lewwelge at 12/11/2006 @ 12:43pm
I am against any form of electronic voting and punchcards, too. Ballots should work like a fill-in-the-bubble multiple choice test and the original should be preserved at least six months. I doubt that printing the ballots would cost more than what is paid to computerized voting contractors and the accuracy and trustworthiness isn't even in the same league.

Is there any good explanation for the push to change to computerized voting? What's the problem that it's solving although that's a ludicrous way to frame the question given the unreliability of computerized voting.

We don't need to know the results of an election three hours after the polls close and the fact of the matter is that paper ballots can give us accurate results faster than computerized voting. In the case of the Florida precinct, we'll never know.

Posted by fromredbird at 12/11/2006 @ 12:55pm
Posted by RIO BRAVO 12/11/2006 @ 12:43am

RIO, kind of "all over the map" on that one, huh? What do "Judeo-Christian values" and democracy have in common?

Please cite Scripture and limite it to discussions by the Hebrew chroniclers and Apostles/Paul and references to "democracy".

Posted by Mask at 12/11/2006 @ 1:31pm
Posted by JOHN MAASCH 12/11/2006 @ 11:26am

i dont pretend to understand why some districts elect the folks they do, regardless of party affiliation.

beyond the labryntine nature of american political funding (which is something of a minefield - i suspect that if one digs hard enough, dirt can be found on each and every senator and congressman up there.

of those that are truly dirty, such as jeffy, they should be thrown out on their butts and face prosecution, regardless of party affiliation. over the last few years, however, the overwhelming majority of nasty dirty corruption has come from the gop. not a permanent state of affairs, i'm sure, one way or another...

Posted by MASK 12/11/2006 @ 11:09am

well, i dont know...i dont think this and that are completely analogous...

squeeky wheels get listened to...and in the e-universe, people actually communicate. furthermore i think this phenomenon transcends generational factors.

even authoritarian regimes understand the dangers of ignoring public outcry...

Posted by ibbleblibble at 12/11/2006 @ 2:06pm
PETER,

WELL INFORMED Nation Readers?? Hmmmmm.

Lets call it PARTIALLY INFORMED Nation readers, since the opinions rendered here are hardly the whole story.

CT

Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 12/11/2006 @ 2:08pm
Posted by IBBLEBLIBBLE 12/11/2006 @ 2:06pm

Sorry, IBBLE...again, I see "virtual rallies" as being as effective on changing public policy.....as "crafting blasters on Star Wars: Galaxies" is on developing your industrial skills for the 21st Century!

Posted by Mask at 12/11/2006 @ 3:05pm
Posted by MASK 12/11/2006 @ 3:05pm

i have a friend damn near my age who plays those things...more power to him, i guess...until he forgets to pay the light bills...

but i guess we are in disagreement here. i dont think the blogosphere is the unstoppable force some say it is, but it certainly offers the possibility for schmuks across the nation to network and meet.

Posted by ibbleblibble at 12/11/2006 @ 3:30pm
Posted by RIO BRAVO 12/11/2006 @ 3:12pm

If they're un-related why are they in the same post, RIO?

try atleast putting a

----------------------/-------------------

or something between them. Otherwise one might "glean" that you are trying to equate Judeo-Christianity with the founding of democratic republicanism, which means....

I must have missed the part where EITHER- Thomas Jefferson was "inspired by God", made a saint, and the Declaration of Independence is the next book AFTER "The Revelations of St. John"....or where St. Luke discusses sufferage and property ownership and Christ's teachings on indirect vs. direct democratic voting for Senators.

Posted by Mask at 12/11/2006 @ 3:36pm
Posted by IBBLEBLIBBLE 12/11/2006 @ 3:30pm

I look at their track record, IBBLE...that's all.

Biggest political "manuever" on the part of the Blogosphere was getting Lamont enough traction to run against Lieberman. They won him the nomination, but he got stomped by ol' Joe.

Ergo, my analysis of them is...they're strong on THEIR side, but not a powerhouse faction; but useless in the general and with moderates and independents.

Posted by Mask at 12/11/2006 @ 3:37pm
Mask's sophistry on full display on that last one IMHO.

Posted by lewwelge at 12/11/2006 @ 3:40pm
Mask's sophistry on full display on that last one IMHO.

Posted by LEWWELGE 12/11/2006 @ 3:40pm

Some of us use the ignore feature to relieve ourselves of that.

Posted by fromredbird at 12/11/2006 @ 4:20pm
Posted by LEWWELGE 12/11/2006 @ 3:40pm

Sophistry is an argument that is plausible, but misleading.

Accusations of sophistry also require some FACTUAL basis for discrediting the misleading elements.

You offered none.

Posted by Mask at 12/11/2006 @ 4:24pm
He who smelt it, dealt it. Bye, bye Maskiavelli.

Posted by lewwelge at 12/11/2006 @ 5:23pm
Thanks FrB. That felt good.

Posted by lewwelge at 12/11/2006 @ 5:24pm
And Zero, thanks for the trenchent comments.

Posted by lewwelge at 12/11/2006 @ 5:25pm
Posted by MASK 12/11/2006 @ 3:37pm |

in that for over a decade now, the right has had a large degree of control over the political discourse in traditional media outlets, to the point that a significant segment of the politically concious were under represented...

until the growth of the blogosphere, it was easy for well funded rightwing propagandists to shove lies down people's throats, such as the lie that the country was ever as "conservative" as they painted it. all these "liberals" out there, sad and dejected, without hope, because they had no voice and the whole country was sooooooo conservative...

then little by little, folks started discovering this thing called "the internet" (thanks mr. gore, btw...) and all of a sudden they discovered that not only were they not alone, but this much touted by the msm conservative permanent majority was a bunch of bullshit, even before chimpy and company started screwing up so bad folks could not ignore it.

then dean and his people, and now more and more, people use the internet to...network...organize...fight back.

i understand your cynicism (well, perhaps not the inky stygian depths of it...), but i think you are missing something...

Posted by ibbleblibble at 12/11/2006 @ 6:06pm
Har, har, har. Any comments about managing my ignore button, MASK? Send your response by Pony Express, please.

Posted by fromredbird at 12/11/2006 @ 6:07pm
Posted by IBBLEBLIBBLE 12/11/2006 @ 6:06pm

IBBLE....why is ONLY THE LEFT going to use the Internet?!??!?!

Posted by Mask at 12/11/2006 @ 6:43pm
Posted by FROMREDBIRD 12/11/2006 @ 6:07pm

No need, you'll keep "peeking"

Posted by Mask at 12/11/2006 @ 6:43pm
Posted by MASK 12/11/2006 @ 6:43pm

not intrinsic assumption, MASK. the left has adopted the internet for all the reasons i listed above. kind of out of not having any other option... who knows what will happen in the future?

Posted by ibbleblibble at 12/11/2006 @ 6:54pm
aw shit! more "christmas wars" bullshit!

jeez, what the hell does christmas have to do with christ anyway? or christmas trees?

"and yay, the lord thy god did send his only begotten son, with decorated teutonic pagan firs, and wreaths and commanded that all humanity spend itself into the poor house to celebrate the birth of the lord's son on a pagan holiday that the romans shall overlay with their state's religion!"

VOMIT!

Posted by ibbleblibble at 12/11/2006 @ 7:02pm
Posted by IBBLEBLIBBLE 12/11/2006 @ 7:02pm

Amen.

Posted by Malcontent at 12/11/2006 @ 8:02pm
Boys, boys. Please settle down and consider the probability IMHO that being sacrilegious without descending to irreverence just might be good for the soul.

Posted by lewwelge at 12/11/2006 @ 8:39pm
Soul?

Posted by Malcontent at 12/11/2006 @ 8:45pm
sacrilegious without descending to irreverence just might be good for the soul.

Posted by LEWWELGE 12/11/2006 @ 8:39pm | ignore this person

sacrilegious without descending to irreverence?

what the hell does that even mean, LEW? lol

i can't for the life of me figure this out...

happy decemberween...

Posted by ibbleblibble at 12/11/2006 @ 9:46pm
Posted by IBBLEBLIBBLE 12/11/2006 @ 9:46pm

i'd love to see chimpy try to explain that one, much less say it...

Posted by ibbleblibble at 12/11/2006 @ 9:47pm
Has Common Cause had their "virtual rally" yet?

Hope I didn't "virtually" miss it...when I was "virtually" shipping ore and foodstuffs to Alpha Pisces-VIII on "EVE Online"!!!

Posted by Mask at 12/13/2006 @ 09:43am
Posted by MASK 12/13/2006 @ 09:43am

that one i've been tempted to play...my gamey addictions are the civilization series in all incarnations, madden football (always coach mode, franchise), and similar stuff.

Posted by ibbleblibble at 12/13/2006 @ 12:11pm
Posted by MASK 12/13/2006 @ 09:43am

Exactly, how many geeky online games and sci-fi movies, have you played/watched repetitively, so you can hurl vague insults at anyone you perceive to have watched/played as much as you?

You are the only one alluding to these games/stories on this blog, so I was just wondering...

Eric

Posted by Malcontent at 12/13/2006 @ 12:12pm
Has Common Cause had their "virtual rally" yet?

Hope I didn't "virtually" miss it...when I was "virtually" shipping ore and foodstuffs to Alpha Pisces-VIII on "EVE Online"!!!

Posted by MASK 12/13/2006 @ 09:43am

aw crap! i mean...cough cough...yeah man...i was at the virtual rally...fight the power!...hey man, pass that thing over here...

oops..

Posted by ibbleblibble at 12/13/2006 @ 12:16pm
Posted by MALCONTENT 12/13/2006 @ 12:12am

timing is everything...

Posted by ibbleblibble at 12/13/2006 @ 12:17pm
Posted by IBBLEBLIBBLE 12/13/2006 @ 12:11am

"Galactic Civilization II: Dread Lords"

Posted by Mask at 12/13/2006 @ 12:42pm
Posted by MALCONTENT 12/13/2006 @ 12:12am

Eric, hardly any....just go to here [en.wikipedia.org] and you'll see a whole list of them...

each just as "vital" to the American political scene as a CC "virtual rally"!

Posted by Mask at 12/13/2006 @ 12:44pm
Posted by MASK 12/13/2006 @ 12:42am

yeah - thats a great one...right now i'm about to burn out civ4 warlords...need to start playing it online again...

Posted by ibbleblibble at 12/13/2006 @ 12:49pm
Posted by IBBLEBLIBBLE 12/13/2006 @ 12:49am

Free beta for a "space game"...called StarQuest Online.

Seen a few screenshots, iso-planer (sp?) graphics, like the old Ultima Online, but set to a "Star Trek" universe.

Maybe that would interest ya....it's free!

Posted by Mask at 12/13/2006 @ 2:36pm
Posted by MASK 12/13/2006 @ 2:36pm

hmmm - sounds interesting...but i think i'll spend the next couple of hours of "sick day #2" playing some civ4...about to win the chinese unification scenario...

Posted by ibbleblibble at 12/13/2006 @ 3:23pm
SUPPORT PBS

amazon warrior women on right now! kool...

Posted by ibbleblibble at 12/13/2006 @ 8:06pm
Posted by IBBLEBLIBBLE 12/13/2006 @ 8:06pm

Sorry....but if it was "Amazon Women on the Moon" with Steve Forest and Monique Gabrielle (un-edited)...well

Posted by Mask at 12/13/2006 @ 9:09pm
Dear Ibble,

Believing a "reverence" for Life is concomitant with the awareness inherent in a "raised consciousness," I distinguish between irreverence and ideally frivilous sacriligiousness because religious institutions unintentionally separate believers from the objects of their affections. Nirvana, satori, "Oneness," Holism is truly a personal relationship with Being itself, IMHO; "fully differentiated self/selves," fully functioning self-actualized folk/folks (like Focker absent DeNiro, ha,ha).

Posted by lewwelge at 12/15/2006 @ 8:54pm
Saccharinaligiousness.

Posted by lewwelge at 12/16/2006 @ 06:37am
Sacrilegiousness is evidenced in the unintentional/unaware mispelling of words, to the wordsmith. WORD!

Posted by lewwelge at 12/16/2006 @ 06:40am