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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsForget About Fresno: How One CA County Clerk Stopped Prop 37's Oversight 'Recount'
Forget About Fresno: How One CA County Clerk Stopped Prop 37's Oversight 'Recount'
And why secretly tallied paper ballots undermine U.S. democracy
A Special Report by The BRAD BLOG...
What happened last November in California's Prop 37? Is it really possible that progressive California doesn't want Genetically Engineered Foods to be labeled as such? According to the reported results of that election, that would seem to be the case. But did Californians really vote against such labeling?
Unfortunately, thanks to a lack of overseeable public hand-counts on Election Night, and a gaping weakness in the state's otherwise liberal "recount" law, we're unlikely to ever know for certain.
A weeks-long investigation by The BRAD BLOG into the months-long attempted effort to confirm the results of the Prop 37 ballot initiative last November, serves to highlight not just the weakness in California "recount" law, but also the notion that paper ballots, secretly tallied by optical-scan computers, are just fine, since, as the knee-jerk saying goes, "we can always count the paper ballots by hand afterwards if there are any questions about the results."
The fact is: no we can't. As our investigation reveals, election officials have the ability to stop an attempted "recount" dead in its tracks, by simply charging contestants anything they like for the effort. They are able to price such oversight beyond the means of most citizens, and are even doing so in apparent violation of state election code and regulations, as we found in Fresno County, CA last month during an attempted citizen oversight campaign of Prop 37 results.
But that election was not the only one where an attempt to examine paper ballots to assure accuracy of the secret computer tallies has been stymied by officials in the Golden State. The matter is rife for abuse and continues to frustrate Election Integrity advocates, even as both the CA legislature and the CA Secretary of State have done little to correct the situation...
FULL SPECIAL REPORT: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=9848
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Forget About Fresno: How One CA County Clerk Stopped Prop 37's Oversight 'Recount' (Original Post)
BradBlog
Feb 2013
OP
Thank you! Monsanto are a true hot-button item on teh DU so be prepared for it!
Fire Walk With Me
Feb 2013
#1
Fire Walk With Me
(38,893 posts)1. Thank you! Monsanto are a true hot-button item on teh DU so be prepared for it!
FUCK Monsanto!
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)2. Actually covering elections can be illuminating
The problem is that there is little money for the FOIA requests.
If anybody will get it, that be you. (Or will, who's also done work on this in another state)
Berlum
(7,044 posts)3. Big GMO, Big Chem & Big Ag are cramming mutant food-like crapola down America's throat
Ugly ugly occult mutant crud. Ugly ugly corporate totalitarian thuggery making it so.