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No! The current election system is very unfair. Evidence: Exit polls, which are usually accurate, showed that John Kerry should have won in Ohio. A Columbus Dispatch poll showed that two of the voting reform issues on the 2004 ballot in November of 2005 would win by 19%. All four of these issues went down in all 88 counties. That is statistically very improbable.
Methods making it difficult for Democrats to register to vote: Before the 2004 election Blackwell made a rule that registration had to be on 30 weight paper. A court ruling rescinded his edict, but damage had already been done. In 2004, registration in churches was allowed. Many fundamentalist and Republican dominated Catholic Churches allowed registration, but most progressive churches did not because they thought it was a violation of the separation of church and state. Blackwell’s recent rule requires voter-registration form to be delivered to election officials within 10 days by the person who collects them, holding them criminally liable if they do not. This effectively prohibits organizations, most of which are Democratic, from registering voters.
They limit the Democratic vote: Not enough voting machines were put in the heavily Democratic areas in 2004. The Republicans recently passed a law that voters have to a picture I.D. or a receipt to show their place of residence. The poor, mostly Democrats, will not know the rule, don’t drive, share a home with someone or are homeless. There has been almost no fraud with the signature system we have been using.
Most voting machines used in Ohio do not have a paper trail, so an accurate recount can not be done. Voting machines can be used to effect the outcome by the way they are programmed or adjusted, or by the use of Infra-red Transfer Ports. Simple paper ballots which are used in Canada and Europe should be used to prevent fraud. When they are counted at the precinct level, with a representative of each political party present, the results are available the evening of the vote. To make your vote count, vote absentee.
Sincerely,
Albert A. Gabel
Professor Emeritus
Ohio State Univesity
Methods making it difficult for Democrats to register to vote: Before the 2004 election Blackwell made a rule that registration had to be on 30 weight paper. A court ruling rescinded his edict, but damage had already been done. In 2004, registration in churches was allowed. Many fundamentalist and Republican dominated Catholic Churches allowed registration, but most progressive churches did not because they thought it was a violation of the separation of church and state. Blackwell’s recent rule requires voter-registration form to be delivered to election officials within 10 days by the person who collects them, holding them criminally liable if they do not. This effectively prohibits organizations, most of which are Democratic, from registering voters.
They limit the Democratic vote: Not enough voting machines were put in the heavily Democratic areas in 2004. The Republicans recently passed a law that voters have to a picture I.D. or a receipt to show their place of residence. The poor, mostly Democrats, will not know the rule, don’t drive, share a home with someone or are homeless. There has been almost no fraud with the signature system we have been using.
Most voting machines used in Ohio do not have a paper trail, so an accurate recount can not be done. Voting machines can be used to effect the outcome by the way they are programmed or adjusted, or by the use of Infra-red Transfer Ports. Simple paper ballots which are used in Canada and Europe should be used to prevent fraud. When they are counted at the precinct level, with a representative of each political party present, the results are available the evening of the vote. To make your vote count, vote absentee.
Sincerely,
Albert A. Gabel
Professor Emeritus
Ohio State Univesity