Krugman: Jeb must allow independent audits of FL e-voting machines

[flpoljunkie]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/27/opinion/27krug.html?hp

Fear of Fraud


By PAUL KRUGMAN

It's election night, and early returns suggest trouble for the incumbent. Then, mysteriously, the vote count stops and observers from the challenger's campaign see employees of a voting-machine company, one wearing a badge that identifies him as a county official, typing instructions at computers with access to the vote-tabulating software.

When the count resumes, the incumbent pulls ahead. The challenger demands an investigation. But there are no ballots to recount, and election officials allied with the incumbent refuse to release data that could shed light on whether there was tampering with the electronic records.

This isn't a paranoid fantasy. It's a true account of a recent election in Riverside County, Calif., reported by Andrew Gumbel of the British newspaper The Independent. Mr. Gumbel's full-length report, printed in Los Angeles City Beat, makes hair-raising reading not just because it reinforces concerns about touch-screen voting, but also because it shows how easily officials can stonewall after a suspect election.

<>Let's not be coy. Jeb Bush says he won't allow an independent examination of voting machines because he has "every confidence" in his handpicked election officials. Yet those officials have a history of slipshod performance on other matters related to voting and somehow their errors always end up favoring Republicans. Why should anyone trust their verdict on the integrity of voting machines, when another convenient mistake could deliver a Republican victory in a high-stakes national election?

___________________

Let's hope Florida's newspapers editors take up the call. The integrity of our democracy depends on it.

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. It was an excellent article. As always.

It just amazes me how much graft and corruption gets uncovered each month regarding Jebbie's voter lists and it keeps getting logged up to mistakes. I think in court, when you can statistically prove that all the "mistakes" favor one side over the other, it's called evidence.

[Eric J in MN]

4. very good artcle (nt)

nt

[trumad]

2. Here's the Andrew Gumbel piece that Krugman was referring too...

http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=1013&IssueNum=55

[flpoljunkie]

3. Thanks, trumad.

[Kolesar]

5. Sequoia is the brand my county bought a few years ago

darn

[lanparty]

6. Jeb is playing with nukes now ...

If big brother Dubaya doesn't win, the attorney general will be a Democrat. And have no doubt, the Florida election officials HAVE broken the law. And Jeb will no longer be shielded by the lack of REAL prosecutors at the federal AND state level.

If Dubaya doesn't win, the paleo-cons are going to pounce on the neo-cons to get their party back. Jeb will have bloody hands in all these elections shenanigans. It will be just the excuse that the paleo-cons need to block his attempt at the 2008 nomination.

Have no doubt that the pieces have already been set for the 2008 GOP Presidential nomination. It will be Jeb Bush vs John McCain. The Bushes may have to concede the 2004 Florida election in order for Jeb to have a shot in 2008.

[Zorra]

7. PNAC Jeb Bu$h will do everything he can to steal the election.

He has every confidence in his election officials because he is confident that they will help him steal the election.

Is the whole Bu$h family genetically evil? I never thought a family could be genetically inclined toward evil until George and Jeb Bu$h stole the election in 2000, and I found out that their grandfather Prescott Bu$h was a Nazi collaborator.