Voter Bill of Rights

[Peace Patriot]

1. Hear, Hear! Great post!

I agree with each and every one of these proposals!

I would only raise a word of caution about federal control over elections. As a civil rights worker in Alabama in 1965-66, I am acutely aware of the importance of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (and the Civil Rights Act of 1964), which put the election systems under federal control (certain southern states) where African-American voting rights were being systematically denied.

However, 50 years later, given the corporate coup d'tat of corporate-run, 'TRADE SECRET' voting systems that was spread like a cancer to every state, during the 2002 to 2004 period, and the continued and worsening non-transparency of U.S. vote counting, I have to say that the federal government, specifically Congress, was the culprit and cannot therefore be trusted with the remedy.

In passing the so-called "Help America Vote Act," including a $3.9 billion boondoggle for private voting machine corporations, in Oct. '02 (same month as the "Iraq War Resolution&quot , and EXCLUDING any audit requirements or controls of any kind for these systems, Congress set the American people up for one of the filthiest lobbying scenes we have ever suffered AND for multiple stolen elections. A Democratic Congress, at that.

Now, a private corporation--ES&S, which bought out Diebold--has acquired a 70% monopoly over U.S. vote counting, all done with 'TRADE SECRET' code--code that the public is forbidden to review--and with NO AUDIT AT ALL (comparison of ballots to electronic results) in half the states of the U.S. (and a miserably inadequate 1% audit in the other half). And this is not just any corporation--it is a corporation with hair-raising far rightwing connections, and furthermore one that asserted in a Florida court that its right to profit from our election system trumps the right of the voters to know how their votes were counted and won that point from an obviously corrupt (or mentally incompetent) judge.

All done by Congress. All done by corrupt lobbying. (Congress did NOT mandate e-voting; just funded it.)

How to undo this horror? There is only one way, in my opinion--by grass roots movements in every state and local jurisdiction, to throw the purchasers of 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines out of office.

The power to choose voting systems still resides at the state/local level! We live under constant threat of that changing--of the federal government usurping the power of the states to choose the method of voting. And believe me, they are not going to fix this, if they get involved again; they are going to make it worse and much harder to fix. But, for now, the only hope of returning to a transparent, PUBLIC vote counting system is LOCAL.

You may never meet your congressperson face to face and certainly can have little idea of what they are doing in Washington DC and little or no say in any policy, unless you are very rich. Your local voter registrar, on the other hand, may live down the street from you and most Americans don't live that far from their state capitols and have more access to state legislators than to congressional reps.

We currently HAVE the power--the state and local power--to throw the 'TRADE SECRET' voting systems out. We have no reason to believe that Congress, the Courts or the President will help us rid ourselves of these diabolical machines and every reason to believe they will make things worse and harder to remedy. Currently, citizen movements pressuring local and state officials is the only way to change it.

I do understand the possible implications of what I'm saying. We may end up with "blue states" with transparent voting systems and an array of voter rights protections (like the above) vs "red states" that will continue to be subjected to rigged elections and voter repression. But is this worse than, say, a Bush Junta II gaining control of the federal government and REQUIRING an easily riggable, unverifiable, privately-run, national vote counting system?! Where would you go to demand a recount? What would you use for a recount in an e-voting system with no ballot? Who would you complain to, of miscounts or voter suppression? Who would have the power to do anything about blatantly rigged, phony vote counts?

One more thing about power: The "military-industrial" complex is among the top worst threats to our democracy. It is based in Washington DC and embedded within every branch of government and agency. Should control over election systems also be located there?

We have A LOT OF work to do before we are in any position to get a Constitutional Amendment on election integrity. It is a worthy goal but we mustn't ignore what is happening in the meantime, because what is happening in the meantime--highly riggable vote counting in all states--is going to add to the difficulty of getting a Constitutional Amendment, and probably make it impossible.

It's better to have half the states with true vote counts than none, if nothing else is possible on the near horizon.

One final thought on the above proposal. Okay, say you get the Amendment passed. What then? Who enacts its provisions? Who implements them? Who runs our election system?

I would include a provision in this Amendment to re-assert states rights over election systems, with perhaps some oversight duties by a new and independent agency (an elected one?). One problem will be how to certify election systems as being in compliance with the provisions of the Amendment. Currently, Congress supposedly "certifies" the results from the states on the presidential election (via accepting the Electoral Votes). If you remove the Electoral College, what mechanism is there to certify--or challenge--the presidential vote? Many of us will remember the dramatic, heart-breaking challenge of the Ohio Electoral Vote in Congress in 2004. Though it failed, it did provide a mechanism of challenge and did bring the matter to public attention. What will substitute for this?

I think the power to establish voting systems and administer them, and certify elections, should remain with the states, but--as with the Voting Rights Act--there should be some federal power to certify the system, guided by the new Amendment. Doing otherwise--general federal control of elections--will lay us open to massive abuse, whereas states rights only lays us open to local abuse. Which abuse is easier to remedy--local or federal? Which officials are the most accessible? Which officials are most vulnerable to citizen pressure?

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"Any system that allows secret and therefore unaccountable vote counting is unacceptable because it denies the right to vote and to 'kick the bums out' at precisely the moment when that right is needed the most."

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Yes, but what if the "bums" have control of the whole, national election system?

They can--and will--make up their own rules about what "secret" means, and what "accountable" means--just like they made up their own rules on torture and many other matters. Our only defense against this, on election integrity, is states rights--ironically enough.