The Most Important Electoral Issue: Does Your Vote Count?

Sock Monkeys Unite!! — Photo by Bolobilly on Flickr. (License: Creative Commons Attribution)We are two elections in to the Presidential primary races, and already it has begun: conspiracy theories that the votes have been tampered with. And now, thanks to Dennis Kucinich we’re starting to get some evidence that, indeed, something is not quite right with the way we conduct elections. Now, you don’t have to believe that someone deliberately hacked the machines. It’s possible that the optical scan machines are simply not always scanning. The results are speaking for themselves, though. The original vote was not accurate.

We have had plenty of evidence for seven years that our electoral system is shot through with flaws. The 2004 Presidential election merely underscored this point. And here we are again, after years of neglect and head-pats, facing an election that no one in their right mind is going to believe accurately reflects the votes cast. No matter who wins the 2008 Presidential election, if the system is not fixed, there will be many who question their right to hold the title of President of the United States. Why, in a country where we hold the democratic process in such high regard, has so little effort been made to ensure that election results are valid? Why have our Congressmen not demanded careful oversight of elections (in order to ensure that no one is unfairly disenfranchised or discouraged from voting), and proof of security and 100% accuracy from the voting machines our tax dollars purchase? For that matter, why have the American people, as a body, not been demanding more from our representatives?

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Kids These Days

Before we go any further, there is something you should know about me. I was one of those kids. The scary, weird kids that you try to keep an eye on, ’cause you know there is something wrong, but you don’t know what to do about it. The kids that you say are so intelligent, they could do anything they wanted to, if they would just apply themself. The quiet, sullen kids that you know are up to something, but you can’t ever manage to prove it. The ones you want to approach, but they just aren’t approachable, so you let it go, hoping some miracle will float down from the sky and change their view on the world, before they hurt themself or someone else. Those kids. Continue reading