Why voting anomalies are a big deal

I could have titled this post "why voting anomalies are a big deal TO ME." That would be more P.C. -- me owning my perspective and not proposing to put that perspective on anyone else. But I chose not to.

To use the hackneyed Stalin Quote, "It's not who votes that counts, it's who counts the votes."

If you live in the United States, voting anomalies are a big deal. Whether they are created by cute 70-year-old ladies screwing up vote counts, or agents of the corporate plutocracy hacking paperless electronic voting machines -- they are a big deal.

One of the many reasons I jump up and down when voting anomalies happen, and I post about them, is that I want to make sure they don't become background noise. I don't want folks to become complacent about this news.

As it turns out, the "voting anomalies" in those NY districts from the article below are a result of reporting to the news before the real counts are in. They confuse buffleheaded reactionaries like myself into thinking something real happened, when really it is just a case of counting the eggs before they are hatched. Not a good example reflecting my concern... though annoying. Thanks for the continued heads up on that Msherm.

Here is a list of states where those votes cannot be recounted, because the machines are paperless and currently unverifiable: Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. And for good measure here are the eight states that don't require a paper trail but they do use it statewide (ie, they use mostly optical scan machines): North Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.

If the stories of the cute old ladies in [enter district here], and New Hampshire (and again in New Hampshire) get everyone used to voter anomalies -- then when they happen elsewhere, people can sit back and not be as alarmed. They will be conditioned to see it as small news, not a big deal, "someone will fix it." But in many states, there is no fix, there is not way to recount, it just is what it is.

That's a big huge deal -- not just for me but for all U.S. citizens.

And, lets just say I'm touchy after Bush was appointed by the Supreme Court against the will of the voters. I'm no fanboi of Gore's, but I doubt he would perpetrate the worst presidency in the history of the U.S. as W did.

I wish to hell I could be more eloquent and logical about this stuff -- but I can only do what I can do. I hear you Msherm, when you call out the way I post this information, I hear you. I get worked up because I think the electoral system is absolutely screwed up, from the electoral college, to the 2-party system, on up -- it all seems like this big pile of unnecessary horse shit that just keeps the will of the voter further and further away from the action. A big pile of red tape to make it easier to protect the powers that be.

Why aren't all states allowing registered independents to vote in the primaries? Why does the U.S. insist on a two-party system, when multiple parties seem to work fine in many other civilized nations? Why have superdelegates at all? Why can the two parties just change the rules when it looks like a viable third party candidate may rain on their parade, thus protecting their entrenched power center?

I don't like any of it, not a bit. So I hollar, what can I say.

Bp