A setback for the integrity of the election process
Rep. Rush Holt’s (D-N.J.) Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act seemed like the kind of bill that should sail through Congress. The legislation would help local governments pay for paper trails and audits for electronic voting machines, adding safeguards to potential recounts and a layer of integrity to the election process.
Indeed, Holt’s bill was so obviously worthwhile, when it came for a vote in the House Administration Committee a few weeks ago, even House Republicans voted for it — unanimously.
It was a very encouraging development. Five years ago, Holt nearly passed a similar bill, before it was blocked by far-right lawmakers. That the bill cleared committee unanimously suggested the elections in 2008 would not be marred by some of the problems we’ve seen in recent cycles. Finally, something everyone could agree on.
[T]wo weeks later, those same Republican members voted against moving the bill to the House floor. It would have taken a two-thirds vote to push the bill to the floor; with most House Republicans opposed, the bill didn’t make it that far. […]
Under the Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act, the federal government would help localities switch to paper ballots or attach printers to their electronic voting machines in time for the November elections. To overcome states’ rights objections, Holt crafted the bill as an opt-in: Nobody would be required to switch technologies or conduct audits, but federal funding would be available to offset costs for those who did.
Without a mandate, Holt’s bill drew more bipartisan support; Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) was one of the 92 co-sponsors. “We need standards to ensure that things are auditable, verifiable and give the voters confidence, and [Davis] doesn’t think that what we have now does that,” said Davis spokesman Brian McNicoll.
“The principle reason for the bipartisan consensus is that this was opt-in,” Holt told Politico after the bill passed committee. “Everybody, Democrat and Republican, would prefer fewer disputed elections and better ways of resolving disputes. You can’t resolve disputes without a paper trail.”
For too many conservative lawmakers, that apparently doesn’t matter.
First, the White House announced its opposition. Soon after, the same House Republicans who’d voted for the bill in committee didn’t even want it to reach the House floor. (A spokesperson for Republicans on the Administration Committee said lawmakers didn’t realize how expensive it would be, and $685 million for reliable election results was apparently too high a price — though Holt insists it would actually cost far less.)
The result: The elections in November will likely be marred by the same accusations of fraud and error involving voting machines that arose in the aftermath of the 2004 presidential race. […]
Holt is predicting exactly that: Ultimately, he said, the bill’s failure will mean that “millions of voters will leave the 2008 election questioning the process and whether their vote means anything.”
The mind reels.
To be the worst president ever is one thing—but to be the mindless puppet of the worst president ever is an insult that no evolved human would ever dare embrace. Can you spell “Proto-Simian”, boys and girls?
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Good. I knew you could….
I’m not a political strategist, but it sure seems to me that electoral reform is one of those issues that smart Democrats could use to embarrass sane Republicans. Voting is still an important American value and aligning with the pro-democracy forces in America seems like a powerful weapon in the fall elections. Keep pushing-and pushing hard-for voting rights in America. It’s good politics and the right thing to do.
(Yes, I realize my argument fails at the suggestion that there are sane Republicans capable of embarrassment…)
Every Republican obstructing this legislation should be the gleeful recipient of a good old fashion fist fight! -Kevo
Can anyone be shocked or surprised by anything the Bush thugocracy pulls off? If the mindless Rethugs who vote the administration line, no matter how stupid or outrageous, actually are representing their constituencies (doubtful) then the country is beyond help.
So does this suggest that the election is in the can for McCain?
Parliamentary procedure ignoramus here, but I don’t understand why it would require a two-thirds vote to bring up the bill. In any event, couldn’t Pelosi just bring it up if she chose?
This ad writes itself. “Republicans want to continue to steal elections”. And name names dammit! If Dean doesn’t pick this one up and run with it he’s as worthless as tits on a bull.
It’s basic etymology.
PROgress vs. CONgress
LIBerated vs. CONstipated
LIBerty vs. CONspiracy
They’re setting us up to repeat what’s happening in Zimbabwe right now. They’ll start the recounts before announcing the initial results, and then just recount in different ways until they get the outcome they want.
I don’t care if the Federal gov’t pays for it or not. But auditable elections should be absolutely mandatory, even if local governments have to pay for it themselves.
First, Obama gets the nomination. He’ll easily beat McCain in national polls by at least 10 points.
Second, the smear machine begins but in low gear. Obama will stop gaining any new ground.
Third, come the debates. Obama will make McCain look like the backwards fool he is, and his popularity will skyrocket. The media will try to mute this news as much and as often as possible.
Forth, the smear machine will really kick into high gear. Completely unsubstantiated rumors about Obama will be taken as fact.
Fifth, Obama will be hounded by paparazzi who will initiate a confrontation that will turn violent. The media will side with tha paparazzi. McCain, in a faux show of bipartisanship, will say Obama deserves to have his private life be private, poor fella, after all he’s been through. The media will call McCain a “true gentleman as well as a maverick,” and as an added bonus, it will be implied that McCain’s personal life is, as it has been, off-limits.
Sixth, the smear machine against Obama will go into hyper-drive. Chris Matthews will drop any pretense left of ethics and actively tell his viewers to vote for McCain. Local priests will tell their parishoners that it’s a sin worthy of confession to vote for the Muslim-in-Christian’s-clothing Barack Hussein Obama.
Seventh, for a vast majority of Americans, none of this will matter, and will turn out in record numbers to vote for Obama. But the fix is in. There will have been enough questions raised about Obama’s background and agenda and motives for the media (who invented and pereptuated these questions in the first place) to NOT act surprised when the election has stolen. “When all was said and done, there were just too many people leery of what Obama WASN’T telling them,” and McCain will win in a squeaker.
Hope to hell I’m wrong, but when I’m right, there will be no paper trail to prove it.
I agree that even if the Feds don’t pay for it, we all deserve an audit-able election, even if our taxes go up a few dollars. If we don’t fix the problem we don’t have a democracy. Period. Long ago I gave up waiting for the feds to fix anything, so what’s new? The name of every legislator who managed to block this legislation should be emblazoned on every newspaper on the USA. It would be nice if CNN or someone would pick this story up and run with it.
It would be nice if CNN
had their bandwidth turned over to public access shows about agricultural machinery. The lives we’d save might be our own.
$685 million for reliable election results was apparently too high a price
Oh no, 2 days worth of Iraq war. How will we ever come up with the money to make sure our elections are fair? God, I hate Republicans. Lying hypocritical crooks, the lot of them.
Any Publican who would support laws making elections more fair, more transparent, more open to voters, etc., etc., is obviously a menace to his Party and should be ejected. How does anyone think that Publicans could actually get reliably elected if it weren’t for Diebold machines and such?
How can anyone be surprised about this? The Bush people have spent eight years concentrating power into the hands of the executive. Were you really so naive as to think they would just give that up simply because a majority of people voted for the wrong guy (or gal, as the case may be)?
Fixing the electoral process would make it that much harder to steal the 2008 vote, which is really just about the only way the Republicans can hold onto the White House. Why in heaven’s name would Republicans be for electoral reform? Where’s the percentage in that?
Its like my Grandfather used to say “how do you know a democratic is lying?…..Their mouths are moving” In the case of this place your your keying your keyboards.
Why don’t Bush and Cheney just declare martial law already, and then the people can respond with a second American Revolution?
On April 26th, 2008 at 9:53 am, Speed said:
Why don’t Bush and Cheney just declare martial law already, and then the people can respond with a second American Revolution?
Yeah, We’re right behind ya…um, after American Idol is over. (Mebbe we should revolt during the weekend, ’cause I gotta get up early for work all week?)