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Departments Election Issues The vote protectors This is democracy raw, warts exposed. It's not the kind you see on TV - all sanitized numbers and gleeful winners - but the real deal, one vote at a time, a power struggle in every precinct, as fair as it has to be (and no fairer). Our vaunted, flawed system - loose from its moorings, adrift in cyberspace, sealed off from real scrutiny for so long by media smugness - had a lot more eyes on it than usual last week. This is the untold story of Election '06. "The real winner in the Nov. 7 election is the grassroots voter protection movement," wrote Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman at FreePress.org. "That the well-oiled, well-funded Rove/Bush theft machine lost control of (Congress) says just one thing: Somebody was watching." This doesn't mean the election was fair or even reasonably accurate. Electronic and other horror stories abound. The touchscreen machines in Sarasota County, Fla., for instance, seemingly lost more than 18,000 votes in a congressional race in which 373 votes separate the Republican and Democratic candidates. But in the midst of the chaos, dirty tricks and possible fraud, a principle emerged from this election that will be our salvation: The fairness of the election is more important than the results. Say again? Sure, glad to, especially for anyone out there who produces TV news shows and is agonizing over how to cover Election Day: The fairness of the election is more important than the results. That means the locus of power must reside with the principle of democratic choice, not with the politicians who temporarily benefit from that choice, or who game the system with the most ruthless effectiveness. (And we all know they'll try.) In terms of election coverage, I'd say far more oversight of, and reverence for, the voting process is in order, including more bedazzled curiosity about what voters are really thinking and feeling, not just who "won." Such analysis is overwhelmed by the winner-take-all pseudo-drama that invades our living rooms on election night. A society can only embrace the concept that fairness matters more than results when it has attained a certain level of maturity. Many of the institutions we have in place remain, I think, in preadolescence. It has fallen to private citizens, organizing nationally, locally, and sometimes simply acting on their own, to force us - and our institutions - to grow up. Record numbers of them, including my friend Anne Schultz, responded for the first time to the imperative to get involved as an election monitor. She was a Democratic poll watcher in Illinois' Sixth Congressional District (Roskam vs. Duckworth). Her dispatch to me afterward was full of the nitty-gritty details of precinct-level confusion: "There were two African-American women and one Latino man who just coincidentally weren't on the rolls, though all three of them had voted before in that district," she wrote. Her hot-line calls and insistence that they get a ballot led to the stand-off with the election judge. In the end, all three got provisional ballots, which "almost certainly won't be counted," she concluded sadly. Another friend, Janet Vernell, was an election inspector in North Miami, Fla. Her workday lasted from 5:45 a.m. to 8: 30 p.m. Among the crises she encountered: About 50 Haitian would-be voters, during the course of the day, showed up at her precinct when the place where they'd been voting for years, a nearby church, turned out to be closed. Janet's precinct, to which someone at the church had directed them, wasn't the right one either. "All the Haitian women were saying, 'I hope this isn't a repeat of 2000,'" Janet told me. Ultimately, the vanishing precinct was located and they were directed there. Janet also went to bat for a young first-time voter who, although he had his driver's license and voter registration card, wasn't on the voting roster. "They were giving him the 'well, we'll have to straighten this out, so next time . . .' routine. The kid was crushed. If you could have seen his face," she told me. "I said, 'You're going to vote.' I walked over to the girl at the computer. She inputted (the necessary info). He was able to vote." This is protecting democracy one vote at a time. I know, it's not enough - not when votes disappear wholesale on touchscreen machines; not when every electronic system is error-prone, privately serviced and hackable; not when our media watchdogs maintain an arrogant denial that anything could be wrong with the system; not when the folks in power don't care, or actively contribute to the problem. But I salute the vote protectors anyway, because without them democracy doesn't stand a chance. --- Robert Koehler, an award-winning, Chicago-based journalist, is an editor at Tribune Media Services and nationally syndicated writer. You can respond to this column at bkoehler@tribune.com or visit his Web site at commonwonders.com. © 2006 Tribune Media Services, Inc. |
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Recent Election Issues Articles Renowned computer security expert agrees to meet California county supervisor's '1000 to 1' challenge to 'manipulate' Sequoia voting machine! 100 phantom votes found in one precinct; DelCo board of elections hinders investigation Think globally, protect the vote locally Will they or won't they: last chance for Democrats The vote protectors Ohio's 2006 vote count now includes a higher percentage of uncounted ballots than in 2004, and a statistically impossible swing to the Republicans The drama of empty numbers A monumental victory for the election protection movement Pick a number 2006 How they stole the mid-term election STOP Blackwell, what's that sign: Everyone look what's going down Parallel election midday report Tuesday's outcome may depend on the power of the election protection movement The power of a social movement can beat the GOP double Chickenhawks Check out We Count for a great TownHall confrontation between Vicki Lovegren of Ohio Vigilance and Michael Vu, Supervisor of Cuyahoga County BOE Official states electronic voting system added votes never cast in 2004 Presidential election; audit log missing Repairing the U.S. system of voting: 50 concrete steps Will a shocking new GOP court victory and Karl Rove's attack on Ohio 2006 doom the Democrats nationwide? Renoite sue Sequoia Voting Systems Severe election problems seen in ten states Direct material proof of massive election fraud in Ohio in the 2004 U.S. presidential election A talk with Mark Crispin Miller about what voters can do to prevent another stolen election Will Ken Blackwell find the ways to steal Ohio 2006 as he did in 2004? Important voter activism A loaves & fishes/Holy Ghost victory for the GOP in November? Why is the man who stole Ohio campaigning with a white supremacist? This cannot be Court victory lets preserved Ohio 2004 ballots tell new tales of theft and fraud as indictments and convictions mount Unfit for use in ANY democracy An open letter to Gov. Robert Taft and Sec. of State J. Kenneth Blackwell Coshocton County complaint Saving the ballot evidence from Ohio 2004 San Diego suit’s second hearing: Judge to rule next Tuesday on constitutional and jurisdictional questions New Zogby Poll: It’s Nearly Unanimous How the last presidential election awoke me from an unsound sleep PFAW's Neas praises advance of Voting Rights Act, Calls on Bush Administration to start enforcing the law Why Democrats don't count: lessons from the un-Gore of Mexico Resolution of no confidence in current U.S. elections An open letter from Ohio to the people of Mexico The stolen election of 2004 The Democrats must now say "We Do Not Concede" in the U.S. as it's being said in Mexico Project Vote, voting rights organizations, file to overturn restrictive voter registration rules BBV: Unredacted Hursti Diebold reports, photos released Ignore that man behind the screen, Dorothy Bob Fitrakis for Governor -- he is now on the ballot Alameda County supervisors embrace election fraud San Diego’s run-off election aggregate results are plausible A vote of no confidence: democracy left to languish in living rooms, garages Kennedy's challenge: Salon, Mother Jones & the tortured dialogue Warren County revisited Something smells fishy in San Diego! Response to Salon Magazine Analysis of Connally spreadsheet and other documents RFK and Rolling Stone nail Ohio's stolen 2004 election, but much more must be done Pick a card, any card Will the major media finally cover the electronic election fraud issue? The money pit: Diebold vs. America Worst security flaw ever - 3 states invoke Diebold emergency procedures Cranks and Kooks: Kerry won in '04 Ohio 2004 election thief grabs Gov nod while (surprise! surprise!) voting machines malfunction Hand counted paper ballots in 2008 Busheviks connected to New Hampshire phone-jamming scheme Are mainstream churches finally standing up to the GOP’s hateful “Christian” blitzkrieg? Thousands march in New Orleans for right for Katrina survivors to vote in the city’s April 22 election Shocking Diebold conflict of interest revelations from Secretary of State further taint Ohio's electoral credibility Faith-based voting Targeting the voters in Toledo Targeting the voters in Cincinnati Through a glass Darkely Is the Mainstream Media finally getting half the rigged voting machine story? Please help Clint Curtis Utah testing of the Diebold touch-screen reveals new problems Trust us Harman vs. Winograd, tough choice? Why did J. Kenneth Blackwell seek, then hide, his association with super-rich extremists and e-voting magnates? Did 308,000 cancelled Ohio voter registrations put Bush back in the White House? Statisticians recommend new measures to ensure vote count accuracy, release "Ohio’s 2004 exit poll analysis for novices” As Alito takes Supreme Court seat, Ohio GOP guts election protection The Harri Hursti hack and its importance to our nation Programmer Jeff Dean worked for chief of White House Plumbers unit Free Press Editor in Film at Sundance PA activists sue to vote on machines Important documents The gun is smoking - The gun is smoking - 2004 Ohio precinct-level exit poll data show virtually irrefutable evidence of vote miscount Recipe for hacking ES&S and Sequoia, Hursti-style What’s all the fuss about Diebold in Florida and California? New info may take out Diebold touchscreens Read Election Issues Articles by Year: |
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