A judge in Florida ruled yesterday that it was more important to keep the trade secrets than to examine the electronic voting machines. In this race currently decided by less than 400 votes there were around 18,000 ballots that had voted on other races but did not register a vote on the congressional race. This seems more than a little strange by itself and opening up the code of the machines to test them for errors or tampering might allow this close race to be sorted out. However, the judge decided that it was merely conjecture that there were problems with the machines and ruled to protect the trade secrets of the manufacturer.
The expectation that someone could produce evidence of tampering or problems with the voting machines without having access to the workings of the machines itself is an absurdly high standard. Sadly, if there was tampering with the machines it is reasonable to expect that someone who had access to the machines prior to the election had access to them after the election as well. There has been testing on the machines so it isn’t as though they have been sealed up somewhere the whole time
Electronic voting has some real issues to get people to trust that it is a valid means of determining elections. Sealing up the processes by protecting trade secrets is not the way to get people to believe in this system.
Thank you again, Florida, for showing the rest of the world how not to run an election.
It started off sunny this morning and the sun is still trying to shine through the endless Seattle gray. The Republicans lost control of the House, the Senate is still undecided possibly until New Years and it appears that at least some of the conservative ballot initiatives across the country are failing to pass. There were some reports of some voting issues but none of the major problems that might have happened.
All in all not a bad day after a major election, kind of a nice change really.
The day after the election just gets better. One of the key architects of the failed Iraq policy, Donald Rumsfeld is stepping down. Its a few years too late but it is finally happening. It seems that the current administration might have realized in a Democracy the leadership is supposed to actually listen to the people. The insular world that W and co. have lived in the last several years has made them follow a path that looked bad at the outset and has only become worse from there.
Rumsfeld Resigns as Defense Secretary After Big Election Gains for Democrats – New York Times
Get out there and fill in the ovals, punch out the chads, mash on screen buttons or whatever you have to do. Sure, it isn’t a perfect system but it is the system we have. Despite all the potential issues with the voting process if you fail to participate your voice definitely will not be heard.
The erosion of the separation between church and state has continued unabated the last couple years. I had some issues with my site and really had intended to set up self hosting of this blog. Then time passed. Far too much time. It isn’t like I’m the only one out there seeing the changes in our country. But I definitely feel that everyone has something to add to the discourse. I want to make sure my voice doesn’t remain silent.
I’m restarting my American Theocracy blog. I might on the future add in the posts from my old site. I might even enter in some of my writings over the past couple years. I’ll see how things go as I get this moving.
Some might consider it odd to be restarting this on the eve of the 2006 congressional elections. Truly an opportunity to limit the damage that can be done by the Bush administration. Sadly, even if the Republicans are run out of both houses there will still be strong influence of religion in American politics. Our liberties are being attacked on multiple fronts in the name of security. There will always be a need for people to speak out about the problems they see in our country. When we are no longer able to publicly discuss these issues we are in a lot of trouble as a nation.
If you should happen to read my opinions on this site, Thank You.