All this talk of voting machines and computers as if they are unavoidable. What about the fact that they are unecessary.

Lance Gleich

Toronto, Ontario

Anyhow, …you sound like an old friend of mine who says, “They ought to demand that people pass an IQ test before they are given a passport.”

There are uninformed and gullible people in the world; this is a given. Hail FOX Network! Just have to deal with it the best we can.

Mark Wolfe

Koh Samui, Thailand

“…all I can say is that such thinking may make sense in a country with a king, but not in a country where a few of us still value our liberty.�

Uh…you must be confused with the story of The King and I. The king of Thailand doesn’t “ruleâ€? as you seem to think….and there is liberty here. You are geopolitically challenged.”

Not true. In fact, in the last election it was only after King Bhumibol Adulyadej intervened that the courts decided to review the validity of the last election.

Furthermore, my point was that the idea of depriving people of their liberty in the manner you suggested might be more palatable to people who are used to revering a king. There are still many people in Thailand who regard the king to have connections with the divine.

““I can’t think of any rational reason to make voting mandatory. We already have too many people voting who probably should not be voting – people who simply don’t have a clue about even the most basic features of the Constitution, the voting records of the candidates, or anything going on in current events.â€?

There’s some profiling if I ever saw it.”

Profiling or not, just address the facts: Are you denying that a HUGE proportion of the US population haven’t got a clue about the Constitution, history, or current affairs? The fact that we’re in a ridiculous war in Iraq is a direct result of this. I’m not proposing to have a poll test, but the facts are the facts, uncomfortable though they may be.

“…all I can say is that such thinking may make sense in a country with a king, but not in a country where a few of us still value our liberty.”

Uh…you must be confused with the story of The King and I. The king of Thailand doesn’t “rule” as you seem to think….and there is liberty here. You are geopolitically challenged.

Jon Garfunkel:

“…everybody loves quoting that Diebold letter.”

I was just furthering the debate by providing information.

Plnelson:

“I can’t think of any rational reason to make voting mandatory. We already have too many people voting who probably should not be voting – people who simply don’t have a clue about even the most basic features of the Constitution, the voting records of the candidates, or anything going on in current events.”

There’s some profiling if I ever saw it. Perhaps we need to have a pop quiz for potential voters before allowing them into the booths:

Right to poll question 4: What article in the Constitution refers to the suspension of the Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus? Under what conditions can it be suspended?

Right to poll question 13: Which amendment to the Constitution refers to bail and fines?

Yes, keeping the dumb people out of the balloting is a great idea.

Mark Wolfe

Koh Samui, Thailand

As far as Winston Dodson’s comment about how Mexico is a model for clean elections, I find Mauel Obrador’s contention that three million or so citizens voted in that country than were votes counted eerily echoing the US goverment’s census stating that 3.4 million folks voted than were counted in the 2004 election. Yes, Mexico has cleaned up its act. But the same company, Choicepoint Systems, that drew up the list of registered voters to be scrubbed form the rolls in Florida in 2000, purpotedly because they were ex-felons, but whose only crime was in fact, that they were voting while African American, was hired by Bush republican insiders to do they same job in Mexico. Jeb Bush was informed that the Choicepoint list was bogus in 2000 and told secretary of State Catherine Harris to go ahead with the scheme anyway. Apparantly the same shadowy group has tried to do the same thing in Argentina, Columbia and Venezuela, and were even outed in the press.

We used to invade these countries south of the border when we didn’t like the outcome of their elections. But now the Bush mafia has learned how not to leave fingerprints on the crime.

The question, which ROS punted on in this story, I think, is whether this country has become a banana republic to the Bush crime family? I think the answer is a resounding, ‘yes’!

When you vote the machine should issue you a receipt with a number on it and how you voted. The number is unique but does not in any way tell you anything about the voter. The voter can then check on the web (or phone) anonymously that the number corresponds to the voting shown on the receipt (or they can give it to a 3rd party to check). This has the advantage that if you make a mistake in your vote (and realize later before the polls close) you could return and ask for it to be voided and have another go. I think enough people would check their own votes against the official log to make voting fraud by the machines very difficult to pull off.

“David Bear, a spokesman for Diebold Election Systems, said the potential risk existed because the company’s technicians had intentionally built the machines in such a way that election officials would be able to update their systems in years ahead.

“For there to be a problem here, you’re basically assuming a premise where you have some evil and nefarious election officials who would sneak in and introduce a piece of software,” he said. “I don’t believe these evil elections people exist.”

So, by Diebold’s own admission, voting integrity with Diebold machines is completely dependent upon the honesty of a given election official—or Diebold technician. A simple search reveals numerous cases of dishonest election officials.

Who’s willing to bet the farm—US democracy—on the integrity of any of thousands of people now and in the future?

Here is the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/12/us/12vote.html?ex=1305086400&en=5b3554a76aad524a&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

Thanks!