The Case for Electronic Voting Nov. 14, 2000 PT
If the U.S. State Department is looking for a way to restore America's good name after the recent election blunders in Florida, it ought to let the world know about Mischelle Townsend's bold experiment in Riverside County, California.
Some of her colleagues thought the touch-screen voting machines might be too complicated for voters, and that the whole upgrade might be too expensive.
Nobody is questioning Townsend's decision anymore.
The public liked it too, Townsend said. "For the city races, we had a 99 percent approval rating of the new systems. The comments were mostly, 'We've finally stepped into the 21st century,' and 'Why has it taken so long for this?'"
Everyone who tried the system in Arizona liked it, and more than 80 percent said they would prefer to vote using such electronic terminals.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,40141,00.htmlWhy Bush wonIt's pretty simple, really -- Kerry was a poor candidate.
By Farhad Manjoo
Nov. 4, 2004 |
Am I the only one who thinks the Bush victory isn't a fundamental realignment of the electorate (a rightward shift toward "values") and instead suggests something more simple -- that John Kerry was a pretty poor candidate with a not-exactly-great political team running against a pretty good candidate with a tested political team who, as the incumbent during a time of war, probably couldn't have lost against anyone anyway, no matter how badly he did in the debates?
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2004/11/04/poor/index_np.htmlDid e-voting fraud help Bush steal the election?The Internets are abuzz with rumors that Bush won with the help of rigged electronic voting machines.
By Farhad Manjoo
Nov. 4, 2004 |
Lefty Web sites are buzzing with a supposed "statistical analysis" that they say proves that Republicans stole the election by rigging paperless touch screen machines. According to the analysis performed by a Democratic Underground regular who goes by the handle SoCalDemocrat, states that use electronic machines were all showing strong Kerry support in exit polls, but when the results came in, the states went to Bush. The polls (which are based on interviews with voters as they leave the polls) indicate that voters in the state really voted for Kerry, the lefties say; the machines distorted or changed their votes. "Maybe Dubayah believes God will see him through this, but it's going to take more than blind faith to pull the wool over the data and the facts," SoCalDemocrat writes.
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/11/04/touch_screen/index_np.htmlWas the election stolen?Nov. 10, 2004
The system is clearly broken. But there is no evidence that Bush won because of voter fraud.
There's little question that the American election is a mess, and needs to be cleaned up. But even if this particular election wasn't perfect, it was still most likely good enough for us to have faith in the results. Salon has examined some of the most popular Kerry-actually-won theories currently making the rounds online, and none of them hold up under rigorous scrutiny.
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/11/10/voting/index_np.htmlBallots Need an Upgrade -- Duh! Nov. 10, 2000
Down in Rio, they're laughing at big, powerful America.
Thousands of Brazilians, who vote using ATM-style machines at their precincts, must be sending incredulous e-mails to their expat pals in Palm Beach County, Florida: "You fellas use punch cards?"
"One hundred percent of the people who voted said they liked it," Gerck said of the more than 300 people who tried the system. He said that all of the darts that have traditionally been thrown at e-voting -- that it isn't secure, for example, or that it will fool people who aren't familiar with computers -- were refuted by the Contra Costa vote.
http://wired-vig.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,40078,00.htmlAnd then there's his promotion of right-wing media:
Newsmax Knows Its Audience Dec. 08, 2000
It has a stable of conservative columnists who report such delicacies as the latest goings-on in the independent counsel investigation of Bill Clinton, or how democratic judges in Florida are conspiring to give Gore the White House.
And it's this kind of stuff, Ruddy says, that's attracting people to Newsmax. "There's tremendous antipathy in the middle of the country," he says. "People feel that they're being ignored by the traditional media. So they come to our site for something different."
When Ruddy talks about the "traditional media," he's alluding to the famous "liberal media bias" that the right has always pinned on mainstream news and TV media.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,40375,00.html