Paul Krugman on the electronic voting machine anomalies in FL-13:
Although state officials have certified Mr. Buchanan as the victor, they’ve promised an audit of the voting machines. But don’t get your hopes up: as in 2000, state election officials aren’t even trying to look impartial. To oversee the audit, the state has chosen as its “independent†expert Prof. Alec Yasinsac of Florida State University — a Republican partisan who made an appearance on the steps of the Florida Supreme Court during the 2000 recount battle wearing a “Bush Won†sign.
Ms. Jennings has now filed suit with the same court, demanding a new election. She deserves one.
But for the nation as a whole, the important thing isn’t who gets seated to represent Florida’s 13th District. It’s whether the voting disaster there leads to legislation requiring voter verification and a paper trail.
And I have to say that the omens aren’t good. I’ve been shocked at how little national attention the mess in Sarasota has received. Here we have as clear a demonstration as we’re ever likely to see that warnings from computer scientists about the dangers of paperless electronic voting are valid — and most Americans probably haven’t even heard about it.
As far as I can tell, the reason Florida-13 hasn’t become a major national story is that neither control of Congress nor control of the White House is on the line. But do we have to wait for a constitutional crisis to realize that we’re in danger of becoming a digital-age banana republic?
This is an important one.
I wonder if an org like MoveOn will get involved?
But do we have to wait for a constitutional crisis to realize that we’re in danger of becoming a digital-age banana republic?
Since it’s already happened, and not too many people seem to have realised it yet, I think the answer is, ‘Yes.’
*But do we have to wait for a constitutional crisis to realize that we’re in danger of becoming a digital-age banana republic?*
Too late to worry about the “danger”.
We’ve arrived.
I voted in that Sarasota election- on those same electronic touch screens. No problems. I would like to point out that this district is very, very Republican and financially well-to-do. The Repub voters were likely to have felt disinterested in voting for their party’s candidate because of stories which detailed how he dealt with a bankruptcy in one of his businesses and nasty rhetoric during the later parts of the campaign, i.e. they were not happy with their candidate. Those same Repubs were very unlikely to vote for the Democrat - just out of partisan spite. It is entirely possible the undervote reflects voter’s disgust with that particular race and not necessarily a flaw in the vote count or a cheat in the computer code. At any rate, please keep questioning the results …Mr Bush’s abuse of power must put into cheque.