A Vote Of No Confidence-Democracy left to languish in living rooms&garages

[kpete]

A Vote of No Confidence
Democracy left to languish in living rooms, garages

By ROBERT C. KOEHLER
Tribune Media Services

June 15, 2006

“Before his swearing-in, Bilbray said he looked forward to replacing the images of airplanes that used to decorate the walls with photos of surfboards and sailboats.” — USA Today

Unfortunately, the immigrant-bashing Brian Bilbray wasn’t talking about decorating his dorm room. California’s newest congressman is moving into the Rayburn House Office Building, specifically the office vacated by Randall “Duke” Cunningham, bribe taker extraordinaire, who is now serving eight years in prison. Bilbray edged past Democrat Francine Busby in a special, allegedly closely watched election on June 6, allowing Republicans to hold the 50th District in traditionally conservative San Diego County.

And the folksy detail about Bilbray’s taste in poster art, in lieu of reportorial outrage, seems to signal that, once again, America has moved on from a shoddily conducted election — making Congress seem about as trustworthy as a New Orleans rebuilt atop the toxic waste stirred up by Hurricane Katrina. Somebody’s going to get sick from this sooner or later.

Indeed, the “democracy extremists” out there — the ones who take procedural integrity seriously, especially in the era of electronic voting — are sick already.

Let’s forget for a moment the political significance of Bilbray vs. Busby, or even who won, and pare the contest down to one essential fact: The use of Diebold optical-scan and touchscreen machines in last week’s voting in San Diego County was subject to rigid procedural standards set down both by the California Secretary of State’s office and the National Association of State Election Directors, the point of which was to guarantee that the machines arrived at their polling places untampered with and inviolate.

This is no small matter. People across the political spectrum have begun waking up to the immense risks posed by electronic voting. For instance, conservative CNN commentator Lou Dobbs recently weighed in that, “The security of our elections and the integrity of our democracy is in jeopardy. Nationwide, there is concern and even alarm that electronic voting machines are simply too easily compromised and vulnerable to fraud.”

And Diebold machines, which were decertified in California at one point, are probably the most controversial of all. Computer experts given even brief access to a Diebold machine have demonstrated how easily it can be hacked, with election-changing results. A highly detailed “security alert” about Diebold, issued in May by the nonpartisan Black Box Voting, warns:

“Based on publicly available documentation, source code experts and testing performed with the system, there seem to be several backdoors to the system which are unacceptable from a security point of view. .

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