Today's CA-50 ruling
Here's why I'm not completely bummed about the outcome in today's ruling w/r/t the CA-50 effort. I sort of expected it, even though it's rather jaw dropping to realize that the House of Representatives is in no way bound to wait for the official results of an election before swearing in the "winner". Then once that's done, the election is essentially over unless someone has proof positive of election fraud. I figured it was going to end up being dismissed based on the Constitutional phrase "each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members . . .."
There are some positives realized from this case, and I don't consider my attention to this issue to have been in vain.
It raised awareness in the public, and in the media that there are important security issues to be dealt with regarding electronic voting equipment. I look at this as another little nudge in the direction of more transparent elections. The more people are educated about the problems and understand the risks, the more they will demand clear accountability toward the public when it comes to elections. Proprietary, secret voting software will not provide that. The way things are now, it would be simple to manipulate an election, if one were inclined to do so, and we have to remain vigilant in protecting the essential features of democracy. Don't take it for granted. Demand secure elections. The results of the Zogby Poll that show the vast majority of people insist upon secure and transparent elections. That is a fact, and it is also a fact that can not be guaranteed with the majority of the existing voting systems.
It also let me see who all has their fingers in our election. I still can not believe the Republican assistant Secretary of State can fax unofficial results to Dennis Hastert, a Republican leader in the House of Representatives, telling him to swear in the Republican candidate. Bilbray flew off to DC to be sworn in while the votes were still being counted. That's not good enough for me.
That early swearing in sure looks a lot like a grab for power. They knew that would be the end of the election process. I don't like it. The election was prematurely taken from the San Diego and the 50th Congressional District, and they knew they were doing it. The only thing that would stop Bilbray from keeping his seat at that point, would be blatant evidence of corruption of the voting process. Why would one need to resort to fixing an election, if they had the power to stop the vote counting at will.
I smell a trend.
I do have hope that eventually (sooner rather than later, I'm hopin'!) people will start asking serious questions about our elections, and there will be more nudging. . . and out of that nudging will come solutions. We all want huge, rapid fire change, but it just doesn't work that way. Democracy is designed to be nudged. It's complicated on purpose to keep BAD changes from happening quickly...Unfortunately it also prevents necessary change from happening quickly. We change in small increments.
Now, where is my corkscrew. I have a bottle of Amielie 2004 Cabernet that I got a couple days ago from Mankas Hills Vineyard through their Free Wine for Bloggers promotion.
I hear it calling me....
VelvetRevolution.us is now collecting donations to help defray costs.
There are some positives realized from this case, and I don't consider my attention to this issue to have been in vain.
It raised awareness in the public, and in the media that there are important security issues to be dealt with regarding electronic voting equipment. I look at this as another little nudge in the direction of more transparent elections. The more people are educated about the problems and understand the risks, the more they will demand clear accountability toward the public when it comes to elections. Proprietary, secret voting software will not provide that. The way things are now, it would be simple to manipulate an election, if one were inclined to do so, and we have to remain vigilant in protecting the essential features of democracy. Don't take it for granted. Demand secure elections. The results of the Zogby Poll that show the vast majority of people insist upon secure and transparent elections. That is a fact, and it is also a fact that can not be guaranteed with the majority of the existing voting systems.
It also let me see who all has their fingers in our election. I still can not believe the Republican assistant Secretary of State can fax unofficial results to Dennis Hastert, a Republican leader in the House of Representatives, telling him to swear in the Republican candidate. Bilbray flew off to DC to be sworn in while the votes were still being counted. That's not good enough for me.
That early swearing in sure looks a lot like a grab for power. They knew that would be the end of the election process. I don't like it. The election was prematurely taken from the San Diego and the 50th Congressional District, and they knew they were doing it. The only thing that would stop Bilbray from keeping his seat at that point, would be blatant evidence of corruption of the voting process. Why would one need to resort to fixing an election, if they had the power to stop the vote counting at will.
I smell a trend.
I do have hope that eventually (sooner rather than later, I'm hopin'!) people will start asking serious questions about our elections, and there will be more nudging. . . and out of that nudging will come solutions. We all want huge, rapid fire change, but it just doesn't work that way. Democracy is designed to be nudged. It's complicated on purpose to keep BAD changes from happening quickly...Unfortunately it also prevents necessary change from happening quickly. We change in small increments.
Now, where is my corkscrew. I have a bottle of Amielie 2004 Cabernet that I got a couple days ago from Mankas Hills Vineyard through their Free Wine for Bloggers promotion.
I hear it calling me....
VelvetRevolution.us is now collecting donations to help defray costs.
posted by Terry at 7:49 PM
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