Wednesday, November 01, 2006

"Reagan! I didn't vote for him. He's dead!"

I've long maintained that if this election is stolen by the Rethuglicans it won't be due to some sophisticated mass reprogramming of touch-screen voting machines. The infernal devices are not suddenly going to report GOP victories because, although reprogramming is possible, it would require a huge conspiracy to pull off in a way that would swing an election.

No. What we are going to see is AccuVote machines (and others like them) crashing by the hundreds...by the thousands. Poll workers taking incorrect or inappropriate measures to fix the problems, such as rebooting the devices while the polls are open. Improper calibrations that favor GOP candidates. In fact, reports are already starting to come in of machines that won't choose Democrats, machines that freeze up, and machines set up to hide or obscure Democratic candidate's names (Webb). And where will these shenanigans hit the hardest? In dense urban areas where higher voter volumes are handled at each precinct. Unfortunately for us, these are also the districts where Democrats are strongest and where the GOP can benefit most from dampening turnout.

So what do we have to do? Remain vigilant and document, Document, DOCUMENT!!! It's not enough to provide anecdotal evidence of election fraud. We need the proof! So carry a camera with you to the polls and photograph your ballot, the screen, whatever. And, if you experience a screwup, DOCUMENT IT!!! Write down what happened, get photographs. Don't let election workers intimidate you. Our democracy is at stake here!

I live in a safe district where we use optical scan machines, and I'll be carrying my camera with me on election day.