Sunny, I don't believe that the Clinton camp rigged the election. On the BradBlog, the guy, Ben Moseley, who was researching whether Diebold machines made a difference in NH, put out an article today that the votes did match the EXIT poll results which are important. http://benmoseley.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html What they did not match was the ENTRY polls days before where people said they would vote for one person or another. People could have changed their minds. It is what they say when they come out that is more telling. In 2004, the Kerry vote results did not match the exit polls.
The voting was not done on the touch screen Diebolds but the optical scanners, which can be hacked but also still have a paper ballot that the people marked and the machine is supposed to read. There is evidence that these machines do not always read accurately, but the good thing is that there is a paper ballot that voters actually marked that can be recounted. If discrepancies continue through the primary and the general election, we should be able to demand hand count recounts.
At this point, I don't believe that the Clinton people rigged this election. I think it is importnat for us to watch our elections closely and work to get Diebold out of every precinct. However, I think it is pretty dangerous for us to make these accusations at this point. It also sets us up to have voter fraud as the reason Obama might win future elections. I do not believe that Obama would want his camp floating these accusations or engaging in this negativity.
I am really afraid of Dems getting too ugly with each other in the primaries and then the rethugs using it against us in the general election. Discussing someone's record is fair game. Making them defend their policies and goals is fair game. Accusing someone of voter fraud is pretty serious and could open Obama's people up to all kinds of criticism and negative backlash. I hope the Obama camp will not pursue this. I just don't believe it is true.
I believe there should not be a Diebold machine anywhere near a precinct in America. At very best, they are not accurate. They can misread votes. At very worst, they can be hacked. I hope and pray we get these machines out of our voting booths. Hopefully there will be no touch screens left that have no paper ballots. However, the optical scanners can misread. Thank heavens there is a paper ballot that people marked before they went into the machine. If they are preserved, a recount is always possible. I have been saying for years now that the security and integrity of our vote is the most urgent and important issue our country faces. If we don't have faith in our voting, the issues and candidates really don't matter. If the people's vote does not count, we are really not a democracy. Every single state and the federal government should be addressing this issue. We cannot afford another stolen election.
2 comments:
What they did not match was the ENTRY polls days before where people said they would vote for one person or another. People could have changed their minds.
Actually I did. I don't remember which post but go back to it and actually the entry polls support the theory that there could have been fraud. Obama recieved the 37% that the polls predicted but Clinton was 9 points above what the polls the predicted and I if you do some research on the polls, polls aren't that far off.
Indeed people could have changed their minds, but it definitely deserved to be looked at.
At this point, I don't believe that the Clinton people rigged this election. I think it is importnat for us to watch our elections closely and work to get Diebold out of every precinct. However, I think it is pretty dangerous for us to make these accusations at this point
I don't believe the "Clinton people" rigged the election either and have been sure to make that distinction in my posts. All I say is that the possibility should not be thrown out.
Btw, Dennis Kucinich is calling for a recount to make sure that all the votes are accounted for due to the Diebold discrepancies. We need transparency and that's goal of my work.
Ben, thank you for following up on this. I am so glad that people like you are watching the vote not only during the general elections, but during the primaries. I have long followed Brad Friedman's work at the Bradblog along with Greg Palast and Bev Harris. I believe the most important concern for the American people right now should be securing the vote. Thanks for being one of our watchdogs.
Kathy from MO
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