In the past couple months we've seen some powerful retrospective articles about the vote suppression techniques used in the 2004 U. S. elections.
Greg Palast describes how 3.6 million votes were cast and never counted in 2004, more than enough votes to change the outcome in many races. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. shows how an intentional, orchestrated Republican effort in Ohio prevented more that 350,000 predominantly Democratic votes from being cast or counted.
Since the evidence is mounting and the 2006 midterm election looms, I decided to dust off the RantWorld soapbox to try to spread more information about this crucial issue.
We the American people are surrendering our rights of self-government. It's appalling how easy we are making it for the folks who want to manipulate the voting process.
Where is the outrage? Why are none of our elected officials stepping up as champions for fair elections?
The tepid responses to this issue take many forms:
- The mass media is practically silent on this issue
- Citizens aren't exactly making their voices heard en masse either
- State elections officials in many cases are not even enforcing their own voting machine standards
- Political efforts to set up new safeguards for fair voting are often ineffectual, and in many cases become twisted into tools that make vote manipulation easier
Most puzzling is why the Democratic Party doesn't mount an effective, coordinated campaign to ensure fairer voting practices in 2006 and 2008. During the past three national elections -- 2000, 2002, and 2004 -- the Republicans have gained great advantages from vote suppression and manipulation, and the Democrats' expense.
Is it any surprise that Katharine Harris, one of the pioneers of race-based voter suppression techniques, is absolutely sure she will win re-election in November, in spite of scandals and pathetic poll results?
