We — the American people — have a right to participate in the last vestiges of this tattered democracy.
Donald Trump campaigning for president in 2016. (oriana.italy, Flickr)
By Lee Camp
Special to Consortium News
Donald Trump will win reelection. I take no pride in saying that.
I will feel no thrill or joy to witness the Oval Office occupied for another four years by the most grotesque, venal, incompetent, amateur megalomaniacal man-child this country has ever seen. He’s bush league, and he’s not even in Bush’s league of idiots.
And no, the reason Trump will triumph is not just because Joe Biden happens to be the most pathetic, contaminated, befouled, out-of-touch hapless candidate the Democratic Party has ever put up since Hillary Clinton way back in… WAS THAT JUST FOUR YEARS AGO?! Seems like 900. Ugh, god. (Is life slowing down? Speeding up? Are we in purgatory? Perhaps a collective hideously-gruesome dreamscape that’s supposed to teach us some kind of lesson?)
No, Donald Trump will likely prove victorious because nearly 17 million Americans have been purged from the voter rolls over the past four years and your corporate media doesn’t have the genitalia to effectively report on it.
Investigative reporter Greg Palast has uncovered yet another way our sham democracy has been rigged. If you don’t know him, he’s the tenacious fellow who discovered how George W. Bush stole the presidency in 2000; the guy who uncovered how the Deepwater Horizon oil spill actually happened; the guy who revealed how California was stolen from Bernie Sanders by forcing provisional ballots on every carbon-based lifeform that entered a polling place; and the guy who discovered where I left my underwear that crazy night in Vegas.
In his new book “How Trump Stole 2020,” Palast writes, “Between 2014 and 2016, the number of voters purged for moving their residence had soared to 16,696,470 — one in 12 registered Americans.”
And most of them didn’t actually move, and almost all of them didn’t actually move out of their city, meaning almost all of those 16.7 Million should be able to vote but won’t when they show up to their polling place in November.
To give you an idea of just how much 16.7 million scrubbed voters could matter in this year’s election, Trump won the state of Michigan against Hillary Clinton in 2016 by 10,704 votes. That’s .065 percent of the number of people purged across the nation for supposedly moving residences.
And please keep in mind I am not saying anything complimentary of Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden. That’s not the point. I just want a legit election. I will call out all election meddling, fraud and suppression whether it comes from the GOP, the DNC, the CIA, Run-DMC, or Blink182. I don’t care. I just want an actual legitimate adult big-boy election.
Ballot Robbing
And in reality, it’s even more than 16.7 million robbed of their ballot. That’s only the people who were scrapped for supposedly “changing residences” when most didn’t. That’s not even counting the people purged by way of Interstate Crosscheck, or due to closed polling places, or due to thrown out mail-in ballots, etc. Yes, even though some people are now pushing for a complete mail-in election this coming November due to the pandemic, Palast reports, “Mail-in ballots are a nightmare. Twenty-two percent are thrown out. Move to 80% mail-in voting and 25 million people would lose their votes.”
The powers-that-be can throw out mail-in ballots for just about anything. Maybe the signature doesn’t quite match, maybe the would-be voter had a stray mark or rogue booger on the page, maybe despite being an American citizen, they signed their name in their native language – such as Korean, maybe the voter just barely – hardly at all – ever so slightly… wiped their ass with the ballot. But can you blame them? When it’s Donald Trump vs. Joe Biden? Why would you not?!
Occupy Wall Street joined the NAACP to defend voting rights, midtown Manhattan, December 10, 2011. (Michael Fleshman, Flickr)
So knowing that so many Americans, mostly minorities and young people, will be disenfranchised in November, we have to ask, “Where the hell is the Democratic Party? Why aren’t they acting like their panties are in a bunch, their hair is on fire, and their sofa is ravaged by bed bugs?” (I made up that last expression.) I will try to answer this greatest of all questions.
As with everything involving the Democrats, the answer is a beautiful recipe – a crème brûlée – of incompetence and corruption. It’s a crime-brûlée. Some of the voter suppression they might not know of. For example, it seems to have taken them an impressive amount of time to learn about Interstate Crosscheck, which eliminated millions from the rolls in 2016 (and is one of the many, many reasons Hillary Clinton lost).
Then, when they do find out about the dastardly election shenanigans, they seem to think, “Eh, let’s not make a big issue out of it because if we do, people will start asking about election fraud in the primary elections too. And we totally rigged those against Bernie Sanders in a dozen different ways. Oh man, we screwed him harder than an IKEA coffee table that you put together wrong and tried to make it work with a power drill. So let’s not turn kicking voters off rolls into a national issue. Best to leave that can of worms sealed with super glue.”
Instead the Democratic Establishment and the liberal-aligned media remain nearly completely silent about the millions of American voters thrown out with the evening garbage. But the Democrats and the media don’t seem to realize their silence is deafening. We — the American people — have a right to participate in the last vestiges of this tattered cadaverous democracy. We have a right to a ballot, be it dirty and bloodied. We have a right to a voice, even exhausted and hoarse. Everyone should agree with that – no matter your political beliefs.
If you feel this column is important, please share it.
Lee Camp is the host of the hit comedy news show “Redacted Tonight.” His new book “Bullet Points and Punch Lines” is available at LeeCampBook.com and his standup comedy special can be streamed for free at LeeCampAmerican.com.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
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I like to vote in person. Low turnout gives undemocratic candidates a better chance of winning.
I was an election judge (read gopher) in 2010. Just wanted to see how the people responsible for conducting the vote and carrying the ballots to headquarters did it. There was a proportional number of democrat and republican election judges/poll workers. The 3rd parties didn’t have any poll workers. It was a 14 hr. day as turnout was normal. An optical scanning machine counted the ballots. There was a touch screen laptop for handicapped voters. The laptop paper trail looked like a cash register tape. It was big enough to record all 900 + votes if the Optical Scanner failed.
Volunteer to be an election judge/poll worker if you have time. Most poll workers are seniors as we have more free time. This year could be different if younger people who are laid-off volunteer. They may not have another chance until they retire or elections are holidays or happen on weekends.
All – mail elections work very well as Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington state have proven. Here is some pro & con on all-mail voting- www(dot)ncsl(dot)org/research/elections-and-campaigns/all-mail-elections(dot)aspx The cons are easily fixed.
Canada hand counts paper ballots in small 150 voter precincts. The results are quicker than U.S. machine counts in large precincts.
Canada hand counts paper ballots in small 150 voter precincts. The results are quicker than U.S. machine counts in large precincts.
School classrooms are large enough for 150 voter precincts, especially if mail-in voting is optional. voters can also line up in heated or cooled hallways.
Suppose: 125 voters vote in person and 25 vote by mail. In person voters see a sign that reads 25 people voted by mail, and a stack of 25 unopened mail-in ballot envelopes. When voting closes, some of the in-person voters file back into the room and participate in the vote count. (SRO is OK)
The ballots are projected on a wall one at a time so voters can participate in the count. A few voters will have movie cameras going. When the final count is projected phone cameras will be clicking. Instant run off ballots will take a little more time to count. The vote totals are phoned or emailed to election central, which is a TV & Radio station owned by the federal election district.
Election Central’s TV scrolls the results by precinct and candidate for several days. The ballots are mailed to central, digitalized and viewable on the district website.
The voters of each precinct are responsible for the integrity of the vote rather than a distant unknown, non-responsible bureaucracy. Some precincts will have beer and barbecue for those wearing an ‘I voted did you’ sticker. A collateral benefit will be a much less atomized population.
Sadly, I know perfectly decent Americans who would not vote for Bernie, they would for Biden, they are American elders. All their lives they have lived comfortably, like Biden, with America’s wars abroad – tacitly they share a common understanding of “the American way of Life” .
Yes, indeed. They are hoodwinked and will help leave behind a terrible historical situation.
Transnational corporations will continue to grow,leaving countries themselves semi-meaningless.
Trump was aided in winning the last election by the DNC. The stole the nomination from Bernie and put up Hillary, a corrupt, worn out, establishment hack,
But I was actually incredibly surprised that Daniel Kelly lost in Wisconsin, that’s not a good sign for Trump. Usually there is a voter turnout of like 10-12% for that, and people seemed to be so pissed that they braved the virus exposure and beat him quite easily, it was really shocking and maybe a good sign for Biden. And I think voters over 65 who mostly voted Trump probably will change their mind this time, also black voters I think, to the extent that they aren’t disenfranchised, will turn out for Biden in record high numbers. But even with all that said, Lee is right probably because the will of the people isn’t necessarily reflected in the corrupt vote counts. I really believe that Sanders was treated like the misassembled Ikea table, however, I actually think most people voted for him, but the votes were not counted correctly. I have more faith in Americans than believing they would actually choose Biden over the other candidates, I can’t mentally accept that something so terrible is true. One would think that a cheerleader for the war in Iraq could never possibly be nominated again. It proves also that some of the higher ups in the Democratic Party are actually working for the other team clearly, because they are actively trying to help Trump win by pushing the worst possible candidates like Clinton and Biden. The last thing I would say, is that I think most people find it so repulsive that the Democrats never ever seemed to take any responsibility for why they lost, the real reasons, like the fact most people were financially broke after Obamas two terms, instead, they invalidated everybody’s righteous anger, and told us all that it was because of Russia somehow, some way, and most people don’t buy that ridiculous explanation, in fact, it makes them angrier. If the elections are all corrupt now, I feel like all of the sound and fury from now until November will signify nothing as Shakespeare put it. It may be out of our control anyway. If so, we are all that unfortunate Ikea table either way it goes. The 1 percent will win again.
Sadly, I know perfectly decent Americans who would not vote for Bernie, they would for Biden, they are American elders. All their lives they have lived comfortably, like Biden, with America’s wars abroad – tacitly they share a common understanding of “the American way of Life” .
Have you taken leave of all your senses or just completely lost your mind?
Ummm, who was President from 2014 to 2016 again? That Barry guy, right?
The Democratic Party does not want to win this election. Why would any party want to win this coming election?. The winner is going to inherit perhaps the greatest depression that the USA has ever experienced. The 1930s will look like a minor slump in the stock market compared to what is coming. One that even the Fed won´t be able to print enough dollars to alleviate. On top of that , the way the US is handling the pandemic, it could be completely out of control by the time the President Elect takes office next year. Who in Hades wants to deal with monumental problems like that with half the elected representatives trying their level best to throw a monkey wrench into any proposed solutions to those problems. Biden will stand against Trump, because he is the least likely person to beat Trump in this election. The Democrats want it that way.
I’m not impressed when Donald speaks, but what’s worse is I will not stand for how the Democrat Party has handled this guy the last 3.5 years. Never have they had any deep introspective as to why people would vote for a nationalist carnival barker over what they claim to offer. Instead of taking a real hard look at reality, the Democrats and their corporate media pushed a Russian conspiracy theory as a scapegoat and to attack this current administrations credibility, and now it appears to be falling apart. The spying allegations, false statements under oath and falsifying data are deeply troubling. I’d like to learn more about the origins of Russia-Gate at this point, too much “There, there” to ignore it.
Sidwell,
I agree complete with what you said.
And to add on to it.
The Democrats are now running a corporatist, out of touch elitist who represents everything that is wrong with this country.
Trump wins, America loses.
Biden wins, America loses.
That is our non-choice in the coming election.
Spot on. After watching Trump’s speeches I’m saddened by the competence of a U.S President. But after watching the disgraceful actions and lies by the Democrats (Schiff, Nadler, Pelosi, Schumer) and their agents in the Deep State and MSM I’m furious at the seditious behavior. Instead of developing policies and competent candidates to challenge Trump in 2020, they decided that lies and sedition would be much more effective to get them back in power. The Russia Hoax lies worked to regain the House in 2018, so the Impeachment should get them the White House in 2020. I will never vote for a party that is willing to corrupt the institutions of government in order gain power.
Please explain the fascination and concern about elections.
Our elections are rigged and have been for decades.
But if you think the extent of corruption is limited to elections, please get ready for sad reality.
The entire edifice is fraudulent.
We are ruled by our own consent.
We are taxed, robbed and humiliated by gleeful concept.
Our city, state and federal governments are artifical constructions to which we foolishly submit our will and subservience.
Step out of the haze and understand that so called authorities’ jurisdiction does not extend to you.
However, if you wish to play house with costumed officers, supposed judicial personnel in fancy robes, amateur gangsters disguised as political heavyweights and musterious robber barrons who pull the strings of the talking heads who populate our un-civil disocurse please go right ahead. The land of Oz needs idiots; how else could the theatrical production proceed.
As much as what you say rings true, it goes against all we have been taught through the years (I am 75). While growing up in the deep south and living with racism and reading our history of genocide re: native people (in order to steal the land on which they had lived for thousands of years, I slowly began to realize that what had never felt right to me (even as a very young boy) could not be denied. Since I had come from a professional, upper middle class family I had been shielded from the additional ongoing economic inequalities of our country which also continue. How to correct all of these past wrongs in our history I do not have answers for; but, to continue these wrongs into our future we have the duty and responsibility to stop. This duty and responsibility is not only to ourselves but to our posterity!
So true. But hard for people to fathom that they have missed the con their entire life.
You’d think the pandemic would wake people up to the utter manipulation of their thoughts, air, movements, and feelings.
But alas, the public sponge is needed so a small percentage can squeeze them.
I know millions are being purged from voter rolls. But what difference does it make if we vote? Look at our choices. Who out there is worth voting for? It’s a pretend choice between the Cadaver and the Village Idiot. I wish they would purge my name. Then I wouldn’t have to go through this useless process. Purging names is just one of the dozens of ways we don’t live in a democracy. You know all the others: rigged voting machines and scanners; huge secret corporate donations; a biased and corporate owned media which blacks out or savages candidates which don’t do corporate bidding; closed polling places and long lines; superdelegates, etc. The games the DNC played this time around: packing the field, culling debates; running pretend progressives splitting that vote and sheep herding us into the arms of the Biden Zombie. If it made any difference they’d make voting illegal (Emma Goldman said that). They used to assassinate my faves, get patsies to put bullets in their heads, down their planes, etc. Now they just program the voting machines to get the results they want. And the media is silent, even the so called liberal media.
Charlotte, your comment is one of the very reasons I always go over the reader comments. Thanks for yours.
Nailed it. These ludicrous elections are such a sham it’s pathetic anyone pays any attention to them.
Keep your eyes on the men behind the curtain people! Not the phony front men.
Everything you said is true and I’m particularly pissed off about this year because of the fact that Bernie Sanders allowed millions of people to donate money they should have saved for themselves, led them to believe he wanted to fight the system, and then threw in the towel, allowing all the time, energy, and those hundreds of millions of dollars to be quashed by the corrupt Democratic party.
Hell, he may have done us a favor, by angering a few more people to the point they ‘wake’.
Mail in ballots are probably better than whatever passes for an election in the states without it – especially with machine-generated votes- but not near good enough to inspire confidence. No election system is 100% immune from cheating, whether by barring voters, tricking voters into using the ‘wrong’ ballots, having machines display one choice while counting another, and the list goes on. If ‘Our Democracy’ (pause for effect) is so damn important, why do we squeeze it into a Tuesday between going to work, dropping the kids off at their_______, picking up tonight’s or tomorrow’s dinner at the take-out or supermarket, running a few more errands and then hopefully remembering to pick the kids up?
And then flipping on the news/checking our phones the second the polls close to be told immediately (if it’s NOT going our way) that we lost, or (if it appears to be going our way) that the counting of votes takes time, and please be patient while we try to figure out a statistically possible way of changing the outcome. Stand by!
So, what do we need to do instead? If we really value elections, we must have a voting holiday, where only emergency services are working and can vote by turn when relieved by coworkers. Everyone else heads to the local precinct (assuming social distancing won’t be a huge problem for decades). The truly shut in can vote by paper with affidavit brought to the polling station. Everyone else votes on paper at the polling station. The fewer restrictions on voting, the better. Any adult during the allotted time should be assumed to be an eligible voter. Votes on paper ballots, hand marked. NO BALLOTS LEAVE THE LOCAL STATION UNTIL COUNTED. That’s the big one: When the time is up to complete voting, the counting starts immediately, by voting officials, openly (visibly) in front of all interested parties. Every voter who cares to stay will be able to have some confidence that their area, at least, had an honest count. They can know the totals and then follow them as they are added at the precinct, county, state levels.
There’s nothing that has to be hi-tech about the voting, other than possibly for the severely disabled or otherwise unable to vote by hand locally. Counting things is not difficult. Again, if we really care about voting, we’d move to something similar to what was described above.
We’ve had vote-by-mail — and increased voter participation — in Oregon since 1998. Not a hint of fraud despite predictions that would be the result. See generally, hXXps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vote-by-mail_in_Oregon
John,
This is, of course (and as you probably know) the way elections are run in several Western, even NATO, democracies.
Excerpted from Sortition – Wikipedia
“In governance, sortition (also known as selection by lot, allotment, or demarchy) is the selection of political officials as a random sample from a larger pool of candidates,[1] a system intended to ensure that all competent and interested parties have an equal chance of holding public office. It also minimizes factionalism, since there would be no point making promises to win over key constituencies if one was to be chosen by lot, while elections, by contrast, foster it?[2]
In ancient Athenian democracy, sortition was the traditional and primary method for appointing political officials, and its use was regarded as a principal characteristic of democracy.[3]
Today, sortition is commonly used to select prospective jurors in common law-based legal systems and is sometimes used in forming citizen groups with political advisory power (citizens’ juries or citizens’ assemblies).[4] ”
Complete text: en (dot) wikipedia (dot) org/wiki/Sortition
Also see: www (dot) britannica (dot) com/topic/sortition
Direct democracy wherein members are chosen by lot could provide solutions to our failed “representative” democracies. Switzerland’s governance is based on direct democracy, and it works extremely well… See: Direct democracy – Wikipedia and other sources for an explanation of this political mechanism.
I’ve believed for many years that selection of members of Congress by sortition would:
[i] Go a long way toward getting the money out of politics.
[ii] Result in a Congress that is far more representative of the People’s interests.
Well… The Democratic party is completely corrupted by the existence of the “Democratic” National Committee. The DNC should be dismantled, along with ALL Political Action Committee contributions to those in office and those running for office. The elimination of corporate control over political outcomes is key to reestablishing some sense fundamental democracy, period. The above players play in organized subversive groups, and their activities are acts of subversion and treason. Most potential or informed voters know this, and that’s why they don’t bother to vote.
Also: Elimination of the “electoral” process as detailed in the 8th amendment is mandatory. You don’t have to look very far. Al Gore had obviously won the popular vote in the 2000 election, but thanks to judicial manipulation of the outcome, we ended up with another Caligula as president. The rest is bad history at best.
Critiquing the democratic process involves KNOWING of the historic mechanisms by which it has been corrupted… The rest is nothing more than journalistic terrorism…
I could not agree more with Mr. Hidalgo and Ms. Klocke on this comment page.
No one expected Trump to win in 16 including him. The D party was blindsided. If they let him win this year it’s because they have a better plan. Some generals can get rid of Trump, with wide approval of the coup. Then they install Biden to head the “transitional” government, but this way he isn’t forced by the Constitution to have any more elections. I have no reason to believe this except logic. If elections continue to occur the small and shrinking ruling class can not hold on.
The ruling class owns the elections, just like they own the government. Election meddling begins at home.
Blindsided? Clinton spent a frelling BILLION DOLLARS and lost to a poo-throwing orangutan, how is that even possible without trying really hard to throw the election? She utterly ignored the battleground states, spending all her time New York and California because that’s where the money was. Then she took that mountain of corporate cash, shoveled most of it into the media companies with a goodly percentage going to the DNC’s pet consultants and advertising agencies. I don’t believe that their intent was to win from the beginning. it’s much easier to give their corporate sponsors everything on their wish list if they can tell voters, “We can’t do anything for you because those meanies on the other side of the aisle won’t let us!”
No one expected Trump to win in 16 including him. The D party was blindsided. If they let him win this year it’s because they have a better plan. Some generals can get rid of Trump, with wide approval of the coup. Then they install Biden to head the “transitional” government, but this way he isn’t forced by the Constiturion to have any more elections. Everybody wins.
I have no actual reason to believe this is the plan except that it is logical. If elections continue to be held the rapidly shrinking ruling class will be in an unsustainable position.
Why would I vote for either of the two evil parties? If I did, then I’d be complicit in war crimes. Neither party represents me or the majority of Americans.
Your feelings on voting are identical to mine. People continue to tell me if I don’t vote for Biden (assumed) then that is a vote for Trump. I call bull shit on this analogy. If i vote in these rigged elections that means I am accepting the status quo legitimacy of our corrupt government; which I do not accept. My refusal to vote sends the message of another outraged American to the powers that be that there is outrage out here among people. If enough people refuse to vote in their bogus elections then just possibly that will put fear in their minds.
A professor at U.C. Irvine in California wrote a book: “Election Meltdown” in which very strongly proved there is no fraud in our American election. Now I am hearing something else. Who should I believe? Who is right and who is wrong? Please help.
Prof. Gregory Ghica
There is no “voter fraud” of the type so loudly proclaimed by the rightwingnuts. The closest we get is a few immigrants mistakenly trying to vote before they’re citizens because its mandatory in their country of origin.
On the other hand “voting fraud”, where votes are stolen, voters disenfranchised, and results manipulated, is absolutely endemic. The Democratic Party “leadership” has known about the issues since the 1990s and has made no move to fix them.
Did you know that everywhere else in the world a 5% deviation between ballots counted and exit polls is considered indicative of voting fraud, and 10% is taken as clear evidence of it? Only in the US does a 20% difference not even make the local news.
I highly recommend Greg Palast’s book ‘The Best Democracy Money Can Buy’ which exposes much of the shenanigans in the US voting system.
That clearly covers 0.05% of the ways in which domestic elections are rigged.
There has to be 2 better candidates than these guys. It’s sad that our country is divided and it all seems to be getting worse. One thing that must be addressed is the $$$ that is allowed to bribe our so-called representatives. It sucks that it’ll get much worse before it gets better.
That reminds me – what is the current status of Tulsi Gabbard? Is she still running?
Nixon after he lost the closest race in history to John Kennedy didn’t ask for a recount and said, “Kennedy cheated better than me”.
And who was the lawyer that shepherded Bush v Gore through the Supreme Court???? John Roberts, YES, that same John Roberts that was rewarded with Chief Justice. We are still in Iraq and Afghanistan six TRILLION dollars later.
News flash Lee Camp, we don’t live in a Democracy, we live in a Constitutional Republic.
A constitutional republic is a state where the chief executive and representatives are democratically elected by the people, and the rules are set down in a written constitution. The head of state and other representatives are elected but they do not have uncontrolled power.
Correct. Thank you for noticing.
It is nonsense to say we don’t live in a democracy, although it is true what is left of our democracy is very broken. Constitutional Democratic Republic or Democracy, they are the same thing. Republic is the word in Latin. Democracy is the word in Greek. 99% of Americans believe that our democracy is our proudest heritage. If it functioned properly it would be. We have gone to war over democracy, we haven’t gone to war over republicanism. We don’t live in a Direct Democracy although 25 states have empowered their citizens with the codified power to make laws “of, by and for, themselves thru use of ballot initiatives. Citizens of every state should be so empowered. You can bet the citizens of the states who are would not vote to give that power to legislators. The founding father’s knew that “…all power is originally vested in the people.”
You sound like a very partisan individual and if you can’t see what the Democratic party did to destroy our democracy then your headed for another loss in 2020. You may not like Trump for all your reasons but more than half of America does for now for sure because of what he has exposed and what he has done to make America First. Besides over Benghazi and the Russian Hoax for the last 3 years I guarantee he will win again.
Sorry, but, if Joe Biden is the best the Democrats can put forward, they deserve to loose.
+1. If it’s a choice between two deeply corrupt candidates who will screw us domestically regardless, the only decider is (or should be) which one is more likely to start a nuclear war?
Why legitimize their sham elections by participating in them?
Agree, Ash.
Either way, nothing changes. The rich will get richer, the poor will get poorer, and wars and sanctions will go on as before.
As a resident of Oregon, which was the first state to have mail-in voting, I question the comments about it being a ‘nightmare’, with 22% being thrown out. After mailing in our ballots we can track them online to ensure they are received. We also consistently enjoy a far higher voter participation rate than the national average.
Washington State has the same system with the tracking. It is great and they are very good about sending a ballot when I am out of state.
I read this article several times and couldn’t figure out his solution. Where is the “one thing”, considering he poo pooed the best one, especially considering voting in person now is potentially fatal.
Consider the alternative: Standing in a mile long line six feet apart in the freezing rain or snow waiting to visit an electronic voting machine that can be hacked or programed to change your choice, or as in Iowa reported falsely Mail in ballots guarantee the most important thing: a paper trail.
I recommend, though, Greg Palast’s extensive reporting on election suppression and his book and video, ” The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. He is the only one who has reported on these issues extensively, especially “Crosscheck” one of the most insidious, sleazy and effective methods at wiping out voters of color (i.e. most potential Democrat voters). Fortunately that latter approach has shrunk and is dying, possibly due to Greg. He deserves lots of support$$ as he is a completely independent reporter.
Red Ed in Oregon. I think (so far) that we in Oregon have the closest thing to honest voting. Of course,, it requires honest people handling the mail.
Born in 1927… on homestead farm.. we were so poor that we had to wring out the diaper and pass it on…
@Tennegon 52020 14:13
I think mail in voting could work but it does depend on the specific group of individuals who receive and process the ballots. Seems to me this would be viable in most places. I have no reason not to trust the individuals who process the votes where I live. I’ve voted recently after a long time of feeling alienated and not voting at all, and I trusted those who were facilitating the process. They seemed trustworthy to me and that gives me confidence that local systems of governance will prevail in the end even when the federal gubment has denigrated into a swamp within another swamp.
With that said I totally support voting in person and would just assume do it this way myself. So that should always be an option. And in regards to whether you are on the voting roles or not I don’t understand why it makes a difference if you have moved from one place to another. It shouldn’t be a mystery who lives where and who is allowed to vote or not. In general, if you come to vote, then I think you should be allowed to vote because if you are there to vote you must care. What is complicated about that?
Gosh, I thought the problem was Russians stole the 2016 election. That’s all the media has harped on for more than three years. We don’t have a functioning democracy or media. A majority of citizens think they are well-informed by watching cable news.
I think the Midwest states that did a recount of the 2016 election confirmed the results were fairly accurate. I don’t recall hearing about improper purged votes there. It seems Bush did steal Ohio in 2004. I am so disturbed by the corrupt Democratic Party’s obvious cheating in the primaries that my feelings are they deserve to lose the November election either fairly or unfairly. I was a Democrat all my life until 2016. For the good of the country, they should self-destruct ASAP. Every time Trump does something I hate, the Dems do something that makes me hate them more. You could add a few more adjectives to Biden (corrupt, perverted, lying, war-monger, corporate ass-kisser…)
Amen!
At last someone who reflects my feelings exactly. After Russia-gate, Quid Pro Quo Ukraine-gate, and the assortment of lies that swirl around Trump via the democrats, the corporate owned press, and skeletor Pelosi with her non-stop insults the democrats have made me drop my affiliation with them, and I became an independent. I’m also sick of their lack of regard for the constitution, and the pretense they represent liberal interests. That has been a lie for decades.
I think mail-in ballots, given the right set of controls, are a great idea.
They avoid a lot of costs.
They open voting to those with difficulties, such as the old and infirm.
They are an effective measure against disease, and it is almost certain America will see a second wave of the pandemic ahead, in the fall or winter.
The trouble with them is the same as for every other form of voting in America, lack of adequate security.
Cheating in American elections has been part of the way things were done since I was a boy, and that’s a long time ago.
Just having fifty different states administering voting for a national election has always been a bad concept. Uniformity in how things are done, in the nature of ballots, is very important.
And, I’m sorry to say it, but the ugly values Trump openly espouses, are pretty common in the country. A large minority of it, anyway.
Those values are the values Mike Pompeo joked about a while back in a talk at Texas A & M University. “Lying, cheating, and stealing” brought a big smile to his face. Or Trump bragging about stealing oil. Assassinating a large country’s national hero? Giving away or taking other people’s assets?
Just look at what America is doing in the world right now – in Venezuela, China, Iran, Bolivia, Cuba, Palestine, Nicaragua, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Ukraine, Somalia, and still other places.
Why would anyone expect the same set of values not to be applied at home?
And they are, of course they are. So, I see no solution for better elections. The will really is not there.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
George Bush’s victory in 2000 reflected vote fraud in Florida, where his brother was Governor. Even with that, Bush was a minority President, as is Trump, owing to the workings of the antiquated Electoral College.
Hillary Clinton used numerous kinds of vote fraud in various state primaries to deprive Bernie Sanders of the 2016 Democratic nomination.
John Kennedy, who in a number of ways proved to be a great President, was in fact elected with vote fraud. Mayor Daley’s Chicago political machine assured him victory in Illinois while Lyndon Johnson’s bunch did the same in Texas.
Lyndon Johnson himself won his first election to Congress through vote fraud, as documented by great biographer, Robert Caro.
John, I go it is not the voting that counts or for that matter how the votes are counted. What matters is who we are “allowed” to vote for and if continue to “allow” the ongoing corruption that is our revolving door government. At this point, again imho, I believe sincerely that not voting shows non-support for the corruption that governs all of us. It is when enough people refuse to support that corruption that change will occur. However, with all the flag waving supporting “our” murderous, budget consuming endless wars and our total seeming disregard for the grave threats of human caused climate change it mostly won’t matter if voting, or not voting is the best option. For peace of your own mind do whatever makes you feel best. I will not vote.
Nice. Funny. Thanks for my laugh of the day…..we need to laugh every day if we want to live with each other.
As for your second to last sentence: “We have a right to a voice, even exhausted and hoarse”, I suspect there are more than just a trivial few who do NOT agree with this. They could care less about your voice, but they would just assume stifle it if it is hoarse from exhaustion. They don’t think you have that right, AND, they are the ones in power now! You know it, so do I, and so do many others.
Wonder if it will make a difference knowing the obvious……
Good post Lee.
I’d write more but its time my mainline Clorox injection followed by chugging some Lysol.
Trump 2020 Cant let democrats take our freedom. They are the new world order and will distroy the amazing country if the get back in to office. Obamagate is real and they need to be held accountable for their misuse of power. Obama Biden Pelosi and the rest of the democratic circus the conspired against our country our president and the US citizens. Let the truth come out and let America choose. They tried everything to over throw our president for going on 4 years and the should pay.