Excerpt: "As the 2016 election approaches, we must remember that our
electronic voting system as it currently stands is thoroughly rigged. The
entire outcome can be flipped with a few late night keystrokes, as was done
in Ohio 2004."
Voting booths. (photo: Flickr)
Why We Must Now Adopt the "Ohio Plan" to Prevent the "Strip & Flip" of
American Elections
By Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman, Reader Supported News
21 January 16
s the 2016 election approaches, we must remember that our electronic voting
system as it currently stands is thoroughly rigged. The entire outcome can
be flipped with a few late night keystrokes, as was done in Ohio 2004.
This year, at least 80% of the nation's votes will be cast on electronic
machines whose outcome can be altered by a governor and secretary of state
with just a few keystrokes, and without detection.
There is a way - we call it "The Ohio Plan" - by which we can attain a fair
and reliable vote count.
The Ohio Plan is this:
1. Voter registration must be universal and automatic for all citizens
as they turn 18.
2. Electronic poll books are banned, with all voter registration
records maintained manually.
3. All elections happen over a 4-day weekend - Saturday, Sunday,
Monday, Tuesday - which together comprise a national holiday, preferably
around Veterans Day in November.
4. All voting happens on paper ballots, using recycled or hemp paper.
5. All vote counting is done manually, with ballots preserved at least
two years.
6. Polls are run and ballots are counted by the nation's high school
and college students, who will get the days off and be paid a "scholarship"
for their work at $15/hour.
Part One of the Ohio Plan is to guarantee all citizens are registered to
vote when they turn 18. Postage-free mail-in forms are available at schools,
post offices, driver's license bureaus, etc.
Today millions of Americans, mostly of color, are being wrongfully denied
their right to register, with decisive partisan impacts dating at least to
Florida 2000.
Part Two of the Ohio Plan requires that these registration records be
maintained on paper logbooks that will be present at the voting precincts on
election day.
The great investigative reporter Greg Palast has reported that a proprietary
computer program being used by the GOP is center stage in the purging of
countless voters in more than a dozen states as you read this. Those being
stripped of their right to vote are mostly African-American and Hispanic, as
well as students and the elderly.
Stripping at least 90,000 such voters in Florida 2000 was key to putting
George W. Bush in the White House for the first time. His official margin
was less than 600 votes. More than 300,000 voters were stripped from
electronic logbooks in urban, largely Democratic areas of Ohio prior to the
2004 election, which was officially given to George W. Bush by less than
119,000 votes.
Under the Ohio Plan, all voter registration rolls must be maintained on
paper files with double-blind multi-partisan supervision (to include Greens
and other minority parties as well as the Democrats and Republicans) to
guarantee they are not illegally purged in the lead-up to Election Day.
Part Three of the Ohio Plan requires our elections include extensive voting
hours over a full four-day weekend, including Saturday, Sunday, Monday and
Tuesday. Vote counting should begin as the polls close on Tuesday.
The Constitution requires voting happen the first Tuesday after the first
Monday in November, i.e. sometime between November 2 and November 8. But
Tuesday is a work day, and millions of working Americans are deprived of
their vote due to employment requirements. By extending access to the polls
over a four-day holiday weekend we guarantee access to the millions who work
as well as those who don't.
Part Four of the Ohio Plan is to require all voting be done on paper
ballots.
Electronic machines as currently constituted are virtually all
corporate-owned. Courts have ruled the software is proprietary, meaning even
the election boards that buy or lease the machines cannot verify the
outcome. Internet voting is also impossible to verify. Thus our elections
can be easily flipped with a few keystrokes by shadowy operatives, and
without open public verification, as happened in Florida 2000, Ohio 2004 and
elsewhere.
Germany, Ireland, Romania, Japan and Canada all conduct their elections on
hand-counted paper ballots. Ours should be printed on recycled paper or
paper made with hemp grown in the United States.
Part Five of the Ohio Plan requires that the ballots be hand-counted and
preserved under federal protection for at least two years. Recounts are
automatic, no matter what the apparent margin of victory, at public expense.
Part Six of the Ohio Plan provides for the nation's polls to be run by our
high school and college students, and for them to do the vote counting. They
will be given time off from school to participate in this great civics
lesson, and be paid at the level of any American city or state's highest
minimum wage, at this point $15/hour.
The provision for universal automatic voter registration has been endorsed
by Democratic candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Sanders has
endorsed the requirement of universal hand-counted paper ballots, as has
more than 90% of the American public.
It should be understood that the ongoing electronic stripping of our poll
books, as reported by Greg Palast, has already eliminated hundreds of
thousands of American voters, most of them people of color.
The way things stand in 2016 with electronic vote counting, there is no
paper trail, no transparency and no public verification. The Information
Technology companies with the state contracts to tally most US elections
have full control over the outcome, with no public scrutiny or recourse.
Thus the election of 2016 is likely to be decided by a tiny handful of
governors, secretaries of state and computer operators in the deep hours of
election night, with no verification or recourse available to the public,
and no necessary connection to how the public actually voted.
We support strict regulation of campaign financing. But without the
mechanics of reliably registering our citizens to vote and guaranteeing an
open, public, verified vote count, all else is moot.
We hope at least that much can be dealt with by Election Day 2016, lest it
more accurately be known, once again, as Corporate Selection Day.
________________________________________
Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman are election protection activists. Bob &
Harvey's "The Sixth Jim Crow: Electronic Election Protection & The 2016
Strip/Flip Selection" is available at www.freepress.org., along with six
other books on election protection.
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Voting booths. (photo: Flickr)
http://readersupportednews.org/http://readersupportednews.org/
Why We Must Now Adopt the "Ohio Plan" to Prevent the "Strip & Flip" of
American Elections
By Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman, Reader Supported News
21 January 16
s the 2016 election approaches, we must remember that our electronic voting
system as it currently stands is thoroughly rigged. The entire outcome can
be flipped with a few late night keystrokes, as was done in Ohio 2004.
This year, at least 80% of the nation's votes will be cast on electronic
machines whose outcome can be altered by a governor and secretary of state
with just a few keystrokes, and without detection.
There is a way - we call it "The Ohio Plan" - by which we can attain a fair
and reliable vote count.
The Ohio Plan is this:
1. Voter registration must be universal and automatic for all citizens
as they turn 18.
2. Electronic poll books are banned, with all voter registration
records maintained manually.
3. All elections happen over a 4-day weekend - Saturday, Sunday,
Monday, Tuesday - which together comprise a national holiday, preferably
around Veterans Day in November.
4. All voting happens on paper ballots, using recycled or hemp paper.
5. All vote counting is done manually, with ballots preserved at least
two years.
6. Polls are run and ballots are counted by the nation's high school
and college students, who will get the days off and be paid a "scholarship"
for their work at $15/hour.
Part One of the Ohio Plan is to guarantee all citizens are registered to
vote when they turn 18. Postage-free mail-in forms are available at schools,
post offices, driver's license bureaus, etc.
Today millions of Americans, mostly of color, are being wrongfully denied
their right to register, with decisive partisan impacts dating at least to
Florida 2000.
Part Two of the Ohio Plan requires that these registration records be
maintained on paper logbooks that will be present at the voting precincts on
election day.
The great investigative reporter Greg Palast has reported that a proprietary
computer program being used by the GOP is center stage in the purging of
countless voters in more than a dozen states as you read this. Those being
stripped of their right to vote are mostly African-American and Hispanic, as
well as students and the elderly.
Stripping at least 90,000 such voters in Florida 2000 was key to putting
George W. Bush in the White House for the first time. His official margin
was less than 600 votes. More than 300,000 voters were stripped from
electronic logbooks in urban, largely Democratic areas of Ohio prior to the
2004 election, which was officially given to George W. Bush by less than
119,000 votes.
Under the Ohio Plan, all voter registration rolls must be maintained on
paper files with double-blind multi-partisan supervision (to include Greens
and other minority parties as well as the Democrats and Republicans) to
guarantee they are not illegally purged in the lead-up to Election Day.
Part Three of the Ohio Plan requires our elections include extensive voting
hours over a full four-day weekend, including Saturday, Sunday, Monday and
Tuesday. Vote counting should begin as the polls close on Tuesday.
The Constitution requires voting happen the first Tuesday after the first
Monday in November, i.e. sometime between November 2 and November 8. But
Tuesday is a work day, and millions of working Americans are deprived of
their vote due to employment requirements. By extending access to the polls
over a four-day holiday weekend we guarantee access to the millions who work
as well as those who don't.
Part Four of the Ohio Plan is to require all voting be done on paper
ballots.
Electronic machines as currently constituted are virtually all
corporate-owned. Courts have ruled the software is proprietary, meaning even
the election boards that buy or lease the machines cannot verify the
outcome. Internet voting is also impossible to verify. Thus our elections
can be easily flipped with a few keystrokes by shadowy operatives, and
without open public verification, as happened in Florida 2000, Ohio 2004 and
elsewhere.
Germany, Ireland, Romania, Japan and Canada all conduct their elections on
hand-counted paper ballots. Ours should be printed on recycled paper or
paper made with hemp grown in the United States.
Part Five of the Ohio Plan requires that the ballots be hand-counted and
preserved under federal protection for at least two years. Recounts are
automatic, no matter what the apparent margin of victory, at public expense.
Part Six of the Ohio Plan provides for the nation's polls to be run by our
high school and college students, and for them to do the vote counting. They
will be given time off from school to participate in this great civics
lesson, and be paid at the level of any American city or state's highest
minimum wage, at this point $15/hour.
The provision for universal automatic voter registration has been endorsed
by Democratic candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Sanders has
endorsed the requirement of universal hand-counted paper ballots, as has
more than 90% of the American public.
It should be understood that the ongoing electronic stripping of our poll
books, as reported by Greg Palast, has already eliminated hundreds of
thousands of American voters, most of them people of color.
The way things stand in 2016 with electronic vote counting, there is no
paper trail, no transparency and no public verification. The Information
Technology companies with the state contracts to tally most US elections
have full control over the outcome, with no public scrutiny or recourse.
Thus the election of 2016 is likely to be decided by a tiny handful of
governors, secretaries of state and computer operators in the deep hours of
election night, with no verification or recourse available to the public,
and no necessary connection to how the public actually voted.
We support strict regulation of campaign financing. But without the
mechanics of reliably registering our citizens to vote and guaranteeing an
open, public, verified vote count, all else is moot.
We hope at least that much can be dealt with by Election Day 2016, lest it
more accurately be known, once again, as Corporate Selection Day.
Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman are election protection activists. Bob &
Harvey's "The Sixth Jim Crow: Electronic Election Protection & The 2016
Strip/Flip Selection" is available at www.freepress.org., along with six
other books on election protection.
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
