Let's chew over some old defeats and some old victories. I was in Florida in 2000, for the whole hanging chad debacle. " Floriduh!" was probably my favorite headline. Boy! Was that true. The place is a Banana Republic. The legislature, when in session, is practically a Klan meeting. It's almost a surprise the gubernatorial inaugurations don't include a cross burning. Jeb Bush was governor then. His political career, like his more infamous brother's, was largely funded by Kenny-Boy Lay. He signed off, on his signature alone as a trustee on the Florida State Teacher's Retirement Fund, in riding Enron stock to the bottom while it collapsed. That represented the theft of over 115 million dollars in public funds. It was Enron executives cashing their options when no one in their right mind would buy them. How do I know that? It was in the newspapers while it was going on. No one batted an eye. The other two signatories complained. No one batted an eye. Floriduh! The current governor was involved in the largest Medicare fraud in history! What a place.
Why do I bring this up? Mainly because there was nothing wrong with the voting machines in Palm Beach County. The "butterfly" ballot was confusing but no where near as obtuse as the confusion the republicans then created.
The truth is we have been holding elections for over 200 years. Everything that can go wrong has been the object of endless litigation. In that particular case, in Florida, the settled case law said Palm Beach should have been a do over. Al Gore would have clearly won Florida and the Bush debacle would have been avoided. You can thank the majority republicans on the U S Supreme Court for that bit of chicanery. Yeah. Explain that to the innocent dead. But, I digress.
There was nothing wrong with the machines but the whole mess set off a scramble to replace and update voting machines across the country. Why? What better way to deflect from having stolen an election?
It's important to note the real power resides with those who count the votes. That was figured out in Chicago in the '20s.
The new generation of electronic machines were thoroughly investigated by all the experts for accuracy and vulnerability to tampering. It was found that certain of these machines could be manipulated in such a way as to alter their totals for one candidate or the others within a range of about 10%.
In 2004 there were certain precincts in Ohio that recorded more votes for G W Bush than there were registered voters. Those supposed "Diebold" incidents were largely ignored. At the same time there were predominantly black precincts in Philly that didn't record a single vote for G W. I think the latter is more believable than the former. Certainly more understandable all things considered.
In 2008, I don't think Jesus Himself could have helped John McCain. That was almost painful to watch. Whether you liked the guy or not, you really couldn't help feeling sorry for him. But that brings us to 2012. Karl Rove came dangerously close to revealing what he knew to be going on with these machines when he melted down over the results in Ohio. He knew the fix was in. Since he had no respect for or understanding of Barack Obama he couldn't believe the legitimate vote totals would overcome that "fix". He didn't count on that and he didn't understand the "Diebold incidents" had caused the malware to be adjusted.
Where's my tin foil hat? That all sounds a little strange without some kind of confirmation. That brings us to 2016.
Hillary Clinton, although a very bad candidate, wins the popular vote by nearly 3 million but Trump ekes out victories in notably, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania and that gives him the Electoral College. In reality, something like 50,000 votes made him President. The Electoral College was conceived as a means of thwarting the "tyranny of the majority". It was meant to check the power of the more populous urban areas over the rural areas. That idea was turned on its head in 2016 and it ended up imposing a kind of tyranny of the minority. That's a result worthy of more thought but not today.
I think my opinion of Donald Trump is fairly obvious but that's not the point here.
Hillary Clinton could not be seen as a sore loser for a number of very good reasons. However, the same computer experts who had demonstrated the vulnerabilities of the various machines early on, pointed out the results in Wisconsin particularly and the other states showed the same results they had predicted for malicious employment. So, Jill Stein is tapped to demand recounts. The recounts were never meant to overturn the outcome of the election. They were meant to audit the machines and stop the abuse. Stories have begun to surface that officials nationwide are scrambling to get funding to replace the machines. I'll remove my tin foil hat now.
Do I think Trump was involved in this? No. I doubt seriously if the republican establishment would trust him with so much as the combination to a gym locker. Do I think these local, rural, republican officials were complicit in some national scheme? No. I don't think they're guilty of more than overzealous partisanship. Do I think the people responsible on a national level should be prosecuted?
In a perfect world, there just isn't a jail deep enough but we can't afford that spectacle. We could not afford that assault on our faith in our elections. President Obama got that and threw the republicans the Russian fig leaf which they have fallen all over themselves to grasp. Everyone was surprised Trump actually had extensively colluded with the Russians. Everyone, that is but the intelligence agencies that had been watching all along.
So, blame the Russians and replace the machines. This time, pay attention to the experts about their security. Boneheads!
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