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I'm not saying it's not an important issue, but you're overstating it a tad. Elections are local, and for either party to steal an election, they have to gain access to the local machinery, either at counting or casting the votes. To effect local elections, ranging from US Rep on down, they have to rig local outcomes. That's harder than it sounds, since the local party in charge controls the voting machinery. If you have a Democratic district, and suddenly the votes come out Republican, the local Dems will investigate. Same with a Repub district. So only in close districts can they steal local elections.
Statewide, and especially national elections (which means president and VP only), it is easier, because they can spread their vote tampering out over many districts, so that the outcome doesn't look as anomolous. But even there, the results have to be somewhat in line with what's expected. If a blue state suddenly goes red, against all polling data, then the blue officials who run the state will investigate.
Contrary to common opinion, even the electronic machines leave a trail. In order to rig the numbers successfully, one of three things has to happen. Either the vote has to be changed when it is recorded in the machine, or the counting machine has to count the opposite of what it reads, or the machines have to make up votes. In the first two cases, some formula has to be used to change that vote, and that formula will have to be based on numbers (flip every fifth Dem vote, for instance). If the vote is flipped only on the counting machine, then the casting machine will show a different reading. If it is flipped on the casting machine, then a full test of a dry run election will catch it. In other words, if the machines are rigged, careful testing will reveal that, even without a paper trail or reading the codes. Which means that in a state where one party is solidly in control, the other party can't cheat without fear of getting caught. As for adding votes, there are signed records to keep track of that type of cheating, but that type has been the easiest with paper ballots, as well.
So the cheating will mostly occur in close states and at the statewide level. Cheating in safe districts won't change local elections, though they can pad the numbers in a statewide race, as we saw in Florida in 2000. But cheating in those districts happens without BBVs--LBJ cheated with plan old paper ballots in Texas (so did Cuellar in 2004).
So there is a lot of reason to not give up on all other issues. They can't control all districts, and the more we show Bush as corrupt, or the Republicans as bad on certain issues, the more we have a chance of winning more local elections. More local reps, including US Reps, gives us a better chance of affecting legislation, including voting reform.
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