I voted Tuesday. I voted a mixed ballot. I voted for the local people who I felt were good people to hold office. After I slipped my ballot into the electronic counter and got my "I voted" sticker I realized I was depressed. But why? In grade school during the fifties we practiced voting on the same machines as those of our parents. Just as many Americans who now hold power also practiced voting in schools. We all learned what it meant to be an "American." Voting was a most important "right and duty." The right to vote was "sacred."
I feel good about voting procedures in my town, but what about other places like Ohio where they are trying to suppress the vote? There, the Republican Election Commissioner changed the pre-election voting in the predominately African American communities from four days to one day for four hours. He stated publicly that he wanted the Republicans to win there! Has he forgotten what he learned in grade school? Has he forgotten the right to vote is "sacred?" While waiting in that Ohio voting line with what was reported a thousand other people, one African American who was interviewed said, "That is just the way it is." He waited and waited but he voted! This is just one example of how the American voter’s vote has been marginalized. This has happened not just in Ohio but places like Pennsylvania and Florida.
Another example of how our vote has been compromised has to do with computer voting machines, which many other countries have junked. They have gone back to paper ballots because they want fair and accurate accounting of the votes. It has been shown in the last three elections -- not just in Ohio but other states as well -- that voting totals have been changed to favor the Republican candidates. The main operative behind this has been Karl Rove. Who is Karl Rove? He is the fellow who orchestrated the George Bush elections and now his millionaire buddies are loading his super pac. Some think that he now has more political power at the national level than the Republican Party itself.
Why doesn’t Karl Rove remember what he learned about voting in his school class? Why doesn’t he defend the importance of every American’s right to vote instead of promoting what I suspect is really national Republican election fraud? Why does the Republican Party do so much to openly discourage Americans from their "sacred" right? Why hasn’t the FBI investigated? Have the rich elites so controlled the national scene that the FBI is not allowed to work toward returning this country to fair and honest elections? Where is the National Democratic Party on this question? Why are so many Americans complicit with this issue instead of demonstrating in the streets to make all votes count? Many feel that the election turned out well but how was the vote counted?
Allan Baker
Houghton
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Thank you so much, Mr. Baker, for bringing this important issue to our attention.
After the 2004 election, there was evidence of malicious tampering with the touch screen voting machinery and tabulators in Ohio (and Florida and Arizona). The MSM was negligent in their lack of investigation and reporting, and labeled those concerned citizens ‘wacky conspiracy theorists’.
There’s been marginal attention and improvement since then. Finally, in this election cycle, Harpers and a couple other ‘non-alternative’ sites have been substantiating this issue.
Good question about the Democratic party. Many of us have lost faith in some local groups where they neglect to take a courageous stand on too many important issues. What will it take to convince them to research and take action on the most democratic of all issues – that all have access to vote, and their ‘true’ vote is counted!
We now have less than 2 years before the mid-terms, and barely enough time to give this issue the traction it requires to insure a legitimate election of our next congress.
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