Sure, the reporter at TIME magazine gets much of the terminology wrong (hey, he works for TIME, he doesn’t have the kind of resources we do here at The BRAD BLOG to get things right when we report them, so we’ll cut him some slack), but as a national writer friend of ours commented in a late-night email last night, “DREs are now junk, officially, in mainstream publications such as Time.com”
Well, it’s about damned time.
Reporting on the new Nelson-Whitehouse Election Reform bill, which we covered late last week, and which would ban Direct Recording Electronic (DRE, usually touch-screen) voting systems by 2012, TIME declares that the reversal, since 2000, away from such unverifiable, unauditable, unsecurable voting machines “couldn’t be more stunning,” adding that the bill is “the clearest sign yet of the stampede away from touch-screen.”
The report also quotes Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) mirroring his comments when he released the legislation with co-sponsor Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) as saying “Voters have to feel confident that their ballot will count as intended.” Last week he had said, in his statement, that DREs are “unreliable and vulnerable to error,” and that “[t]he bottom line is we have to ensure every vote is counted — and, counted properly.”
To which occasional BRAD BLOG Guest Blogger, Emily Levy of VelvetRevolution.us, asked Nelson rhetorically in comments here, if that’s true, “as declared in your November 1 statement, why would you be willing to wait until 2012 for DREs to be banned?…I mean, isn’t there a somewhat important election coming up in, oh, let’s say, 2008?”
Good point, Em!
The TIME piece also quotes Dan McCrea, of the Florida Voters Coalition borrowing one of our own oft-used metaphors (which we are quite happy to donate to the cause!) in regard to those who fear banning DREs would be a huge waste of their previous investment in the shitty machines.
McCrea tells TIME that such thinking is similar to “buying a fleet of Pintos whose gas tanks you later find out blow up on you, but insisting you’re going to keep using them because you spent all that money on them.”
Thanks for getting that into TIME, Dan! Smartly done!
He also points out, for those who claim there is not enough time to switch away from dangerous DREs to paper ballots before the November 2008 Presidential Election, “New Mexico voted to convert back to a paper ballot system in the spring of 2006 and had it ready by last November’s elections.”
Thanks again, Dan. Now if we can just get those Democrats and Election Integrity folks who continue to negotiate with themselves by watering down their own bills, and putting off reform for years down the road — in order to garner support from folks who are going to oppose them on such bills no matter what — to start realizing that, and calling instead for real reform NOW, we might actually be in business!
Good one Emily, kick Nelson in the nuts for me next time, will ya?
I gotta go with ‘Vermin Supreme’ for Pres. next time, (wait until you see his middle name, what a hoot)
Vermin Supreme
This is good news Brad. I’ll feel better when it’s a done-deal that DREs are officially outlawed.
Speaking of outlaws, we’re entering an important phase regarding the impeachment of Dick Cheney. Dennis Kucinich needs your help at this critical moment.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/K...ouse_1102.html
Sign the petition:
http://www.democrats.com/impeac...ssional-record
We really must act now. I included this message when I signed it:
– Tom
Once we have verifiable votes secured, then it is on to an end to voter purges, caging lists, national IDs, denying recounts etc., etc.
Some day I hope Brad can retire to go camping or whatever because every citizen of the United States can register to vote and have their vote counted.
Trying to prevent Americans from voting or interfering in any way with a true vote count should be considered treason. It is the highest treason in a so-called democracy.
“Some day I hope Brad can retire to go camping or whatever because every citizen of the United States can register to vote and have their vote counted.”
Oh, MsKitty. Your mouth. God’s ears.
Someone please put me out of “business” soon!
It’s not that there isn’t time to get back to paper ballots counted by hand before the 2008 General Election. It’s just that doing so would prevent the “gaming” of that election, which will probably be the last one held. So, promises of solutions in 2012 are great, since they won’t matter.
The best voting machines a corrupt empire can provide “¦ that is what the EI movement is for?
Or paper ballots a la Stalin?
Either way when you have a corrupt empire and focus on the vote as the salvation of the empire … well you have a purple finger up your DRE … just ask Musharriff … defender of “freedom”.
Who will pay for it:
(Bondad).
That sounds trendy. And the trend is toward virtual slavery. Hail Ceasar.
Who stuck his thumb up his DRE and pulled it out all purple, and said what a good boy am I?
Dredd,
Fight the empire! If that’s any more of your personal intent than “activism” or “election integrity” was… which is to say: not so much.
An awful lot of us are fighting the crazyness as best we can.
And meanwhile quite a few of us are also working on insuring that there’s a viable democratic method to return to when the madness is ended.
Boy, Vermin and the Gathering did a hell of a lot down in Waveland after Katrina
REMA Response Thanksgiving Waveland, Missahippie
At this point, I’ve lost all track of what the hell Dredd is calling for (or condemning, or even talking about).
He’s pointing to Mushareff, who is in power because of the military coup he led several years ago to enlighten us about what, exactly?
Color me completely confused about what he’s talking about. I suspect I’m not the only one.
FUCK 2012! I want hand counted paper ballots NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shit, organize PEOPLE!
Do you know, they won’t release how many precincts there are nationally… for some reason… HHHHHHMMMMMMMMMMMM?
Hey Brad, leave DREDD alone …….some of us get him.
Thanks Flo.