Mock the Vote!

Lest you feel the recent backlash against government Conservatives has breathed new life into the democratic process, Mark Crispin Miller would like to have a word with you:

"This year there will be no official exit polls conducted. The media consortium that paid for them in previous elections isn't going to do it any more, ostensibly because such polls have been "exposed" as unreliable; and so we will have no way to determine whether the official vote-counts can be trusted.

What we need, then, is a grass-roots exit-polling operation, preferably conducted nationwide, or at least in all those states where Senate seats are up for grabs, and in those districts where Republicans are looking vulnerable. If we don't make this effort, we will have no empirical basis for judging the credibility of the official numbers.

...This is what happened in Ukraine--a grass-roots exit-polling effort that enabled the Ukrainian people to stand firm against the government. We should do likewise.

...So far, NO national organization has taken on the growing danger of election fraud. While MoveOn claims to have been heavily involved in this all-important fight, that's really ALL that they have done (i.e., make that claim); and no other national org--not Common Cause, not People for the American Way, not the League of Women Voters, nor any other national group--has stepped up to the plate."

Mark Crispin Miller is a political commentator and author of the new book "Fooled Again - How the Right Stole the 2004 Election & Why They'll Steal the Next One Too".

[Image (c)2004-06 Rand Careaga/salamander.eps.]

Comments

[Jim]

If anyone really thought that the media in the U$ had any interest in supporting free and open elections this news should take care of that illusion.
The powers that be are happy with the current state of the government/economy and distracting the general riffraff from any idea that their vote is anything less than important (and counted) is the last thing that the corporations want.
There will certaninly be no need for anyone to doubt the validity of any electorial race if there is no data supporting any result except the one published by the corporate media.
Mission accomplished.

[anon]

Deconsumers,

Maybe some grassroots frontline sabotage would work well too?

If someone could disseminate the directions to hack these machines and render the results either- clearly doctored or, shut the machines down altogether...it might force pencil and paper re-elections. At least with old fashioned ballots there's a paper trail.

Just a thought.

[JHeinstrom]

FWIW, there is a bill in the House - H.R. 550, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2005, that provides for paper verification of votes. Last status was "referred to House Committee on House Admin." While I appreciate the sentiment that it may be useless to expect any action will come from contacting your Representative, still I haven't given up trying. When I called my Rep to request that he co-sponsor, at least the staff member who answered the phone knew what I was referring to. (I was encouraged to do this by MoveOn.) We've got to make a concerted effort to get this bill out of committee and into law. Pardon my naivete, I hope this info is of interest.

[p]

Does anyone have a link for no exit polling in 2006? This is the first I've heard of it.