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On 27th November there was a seminar at the Athens Polytechnic, organized by OI.KI.A., the Athens Ecological Movement, in association with the Greek Social Forum, on climate change in the Arctic, with news from the internal political front in the USA. I was invited to send message. It was also posted on Yahoo. L
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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cicdd/message/10609 From: "halva_gr"
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This is a re-posting of the Lynn Landes address, plus some reactions: VOTING INTEGRITY UNDER ASSAULT IN AMERICA I would like to thank the Greek Social Forum for giving me the opportunity to address the 3rd Panhelladic Conference. My name is Lynn Landes and I am a freelance journalist. For several years I've written articles about environmental issues. Like many Americans, I am extremely concerned about how pollution is affecting our health and the planet. However, the majority of American politicians seem unconcerned or out-of-touch with this and other important social issues. It is not only a frustrating state-of-affairs, but it is also very perplexing one. Millions of Americans have marched in demonstrations protesting free trade agreements, U.S. military aggression, and the theft of the 2000 presidential election. Guaranteed health care, environmental protection, and a living wage are all widely supported. Some of our most popular cultural icons are black, gay, or lesbian. However, our politicians are more conservative and less diverse than at any time in memory. It doesn't add up. What's going on? It's important we find out. After all, if we can't get progressive politicians elected to public office, much of our efforts at promoting one cause or another, will be wasted. Perhaps, the source of the problem is America's corporate-owned news media. They routinely distort the news, putting a conservative spin on the important issues of the day. This leaves many Americans uninformed and confused. Perhaps, that's why conservative Republicans are winning so many elections. Perhaps, there is a silent majority who don't march in the streets, but do vote at the polls. Or, perhaps, there is a more sinister reason for the Republicans winning streak. Perhaps elections in America are simply being rigged. The presidential election of four years ago forced many Americans, including myself, to take a hard look at our election process. And although Republicans had used several strategies to steal that election, it was the voting machines that caused much of the trouble. And now, many Americans believe that voting machines were used to rig this year's election, as well. I admit that I had never given this issue much thought before. However, the more I researched it, the more concerned I became. Over the past two years I have become somewhat of an expert on this subject. I've written several articles and am often interviewed on radio talk shows in the U.S.. But, I'm also worried about the rest of the world. I'm very concerned that America's way of voting is being exported to other countries. And that is why I am writing to this forum. We all should be concerned. There are powerful people who want to control election results around the globe. In order to do that, they must eliminate meaningful public participation and scrutiny of the voting process. How? In the following three ways: First, prohibit the counting of ballots at local precincts. Instead, transport the ballots to a central counting center. That gives election officials time to substitute or destroy ballots. In the recent elections in Afghanistan, ballots were not counted at any of the 8,000 polling stations, but instead were delivered to 10 counting centers. Second, before Election Day arrives, allow early or absentee voting. This also gives election officials time to substitute or destroy ballots. In America, 30% of all ballots are cast early or by absentee. The whole state of Oregon votes by mail. And, third, don't count the ballots by hand; use machines. Mechanical lever machines, computerized ballot scanners, paperless touchscreen machines, or even the Internet can be used to process and tally votes. These machines and technologies are easy to rig and impossible to safeguard. The more sophisticated the technology, the easier it is to rig an entire election. If malfunctions or "glitches" do occur, it is difficult if not impossible to determine if it was by accident or by design. Voting machines eliminate meaningful oversight and accountability. Americans have been using voting machines since 1892. Less than 0.6% of our votes are counted by hand. What's wrong with voting machines? In a word, everything. Voting machines introduce concealment to a process that must be transparent. Voting machines invite complexity to a to a process that must be simple. Voting machines cause confusion to a process that must be clear. Voting machines are an open door to vote fraud and system failure. Although it doesn't matter in theory if the government or private companies control the voting machines, in fact, a handful of corporations dominate the business of counting Americans' votes. Two corporations, ES&S and Diebold, counted 80% of all votes in this past presidential election! These companies have strong, well- documented ties to the Republican Party. So, maybe that's why Republicans are winning so many elections. Most of the nations of the world don't use voting machines in their elections. They wisely use a paper ballot. But, there are organizations such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), that are quietly promoting voting technology around the world. Already India, Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, and parts of the Netherlands and Belgium are using voting machines in their elections. Other countries are experimenting with this technology. Still others have tried it and decided against its use. Thank heaven! Until a few years ago, most people hadn't given this issue a second thought. Now, many Americans believe that our elections have been routinely rigged. If we want our elections to have real integrity, then we must restore meaningful public participation and oversight to the voting process. How do we do that? Ditch the voting machines and say goodbye to early and absentee voting. Simply stated: if we want every vote to count, then we must count every vote. Thank you for your kindness and attention. Lynn Landes freelance journalist www.EcoTalk.org Philadelphia, PA 217 S. Jessup Street Philadelphia, PA 19107 (215) 629-3553 lynnlandes@e... Note from WH. On the television we see protests at electoral fraud in Ukraine. Do we see these scenes? http://denvervoice.org/protest_rally_11-20-04.htm From Robin Clarke in the UK r-clarke@b... I'm pleased to note this statement of Lynn Landes. It looks to me that there is now a substantial, decisive body of evidence, on which significant numbers of people concur, that there is an ongoing deliberate intent to pervert the world's electoral systems (or in the US case, retain existing perversions) for the purpose of facilitating electoral fraud. I propose composing a statement of policy (with supporting documentation), to which all political parties are invited to subscribe. The UK's Association of Electoral Administrators could possibly also be got on board. I suggest it could be called:- "Cross-Party Concordat against Malign Electoral Practices" It can of course also be international, but I would envisage starting with getting as many UK parties as possible on board, before the coming general election. What I have in mind for the content is a statement that the following are considered unacceptable:- - Electronic voting - Absentee /postal (as norm or right) /proxy/ remote/ voting. - Use of buffet-style mini-booths rather than proper booths with curtains. - Aggregation of votes to counting centres outside precincts/constituencies .. ... and that any elections containing such features will be considered illegitimate by the signatory parties. As for what undertakings the signatories would give, I suggest two possibilities. -1- Boycott the election(s) (no candidates stand) and picket the polling stations etc. -2- Don't boycott, but do picket and loudly protest at the count- declaration and continue to challenge the validity of the election(s). (In either case we would need to agree monitoring protocols and operational criteria of what constitutes acceptable/unacceptable.) I see no reason why various parties (other than the main dinosaurs) should not be persuadable to sign, and I see no way how any resulting consequences of electoral invalidity could fail to be widely noticed by the public (even if a media blackout occurred). Subject: Re: Cross-Party Concordat against Malign Electoral Practices. >Neither can it be ignored that computer voting is already set to appear for the next UK election in key seats. And the Cross-Party Concordat can combat that development, indeed turn it into an own goal. >The high level components of a secure computer voting system might comprise: Rami, that debate has already been had ad nauseam! The bottom line (one of them anyway) is that it's all very well coming up with techno solutions but they are invariably too complicated for mere (only joking folks) politicos (have you ever met any?!!!) to understand. And consequently, the necessary transparency is lost. It becomes a mystery that is in the hands of the specialists. And furthermore, at any time a government / advisor can come along and say "we need to make this technical change to improve things" and few people will be competent to recognise it as corrupt, and what's more, as a seeming techno-triviality it will be totally impossible to build sufficient opposition to it. So in conclusion (as elsewhere), while I appreciate you have higher standards than others, nevertheless e-voting can only be part of the problem not of the solution. Robin |
