If you could rig the 2004 election would you?

[CoffeePlease1947]

I am curious what people think about this notion. Here is three situations you could be in, what would you do?

1) A friend that is a computer whiz calls you up and says he can rig the electronic voting machines in Florida. He just wants to do it for the fun of it and asks if you want him to do it and who he should make win the election.

2) A friend that is a computer whiz calls you up and says he knows that the election is being rigged in Oregon, Michigan, and Illionis to have Bush win. He could even it out by rigging the elections in Florida, Ohio, and North Carolina. Do you except?

3)A friend that is a computer whiz calls you up and says: Hey I tapped into the voting machines and found out that Bush is 7% behind in the popular vote but is winning in Florida and will win the electoral college. Do you want me to rig the election in Florida for you?


I thought about this a great deal. Do I ruin the entire faith in the election process and make it a joke, or do I surrender the country to a tyrant that will kill thousands and thousands of innocent people.

What would you do in each of these situations?

Mike

[HEyHEY]

1. Only if I get a kick-ass government job outta it

Seriously, no I wouldn't. If the people wanna screw themselves...that's democracy.

[Iverson]

2. absolutely not

Undermining democracy is simply not in the cards.

[morgan2]

3. of course

but make it obvious that it was rigged by making someone like Adolf Hitler win to point out that its possible.

[Hawkeye-X]

7. Yes! Either that or Alfred E. Neuman

that would make MAD prouder 'n' wet hen.

Hawkeye-X

[GOPisEvil]

4. No, no, no...just an HONEST count of the votes.

That's all I ask. Losing sucks, but if I lose honestly, I can live with that. Losing by dishonesty is NOT good. Winning by dishonesty is just as bad.

[ComerPerro]

5. Ok, a rundown of the three situations

1.) I tell him to allow Bush to win Florida with 100% of the vote.

2.) I tell him that if he has proof, then to go the the press (and anyone that will listen) with his proof and bust Bush, catch him red-handed.

3.) Once again, I ask him to make sure that Bush wins Florida by a completely unbelievable margin, damn near 100%.

[CoffeePlease1947]

14. Good idea, I think that would work, but what if

FAUX News and others would really think it is true that they won it by that large of a margin?

Bush would say "All right I am kicking ass!"

Mike

[tom_paine]

6. What would YOU do "fellow democrat"?

Or is it irrelevnat because you have already done it?

[Toucano]

8. Interesting thinking

1) Absolutely not.

2) Possibly. Depends on the proof that the election is being riged. It would have to be incontrovertible proof.

3) Assumes Bush is winning legitimately? Then no interference.


On the other hand, it might be productive to fix the Communist Party candidate as the winner to demonstrate the problems with computer voting to the world.

[Liberal Veteran]

9. Undermining democracy is not the democratic way....

Under no circumstances would I ever rig an election.

[ParanoidPat]

10. In the case of the 1st scenario.....

NO. In the 2nd and 3rd, NO! I'd do everything in my power to expose the fraud! :evilgrin:

[Cheswick2.0]

11. no, but I would like to rig some peoples brains

actually a fair count of the votes will suit me fine. lets get rid of the BBV machines too.

[On the Road]

12. Hell, No!

Although I do like ComerPero's suggestion.

[htuttle]

13. Tell him to throw the election to Richard Stallman

That way, it will be clear to everyone that the machines can't be trusted.

Either Stallman, or Linus Torvalds. But Linus isn't a US citizen.

[zeemike]

15. It is a question of morality

Exposing voter fraud is a patriotic act. Rigging an election so that your guy wins is an example of moral corruption that should be unacceptable.

[Fridays Child]

16. With "smoking gun" proof of pro-bush rigging and no way possible...

...to effectively expose and stop such rigging, we'd have to agree that our very democracy was at stake and the old rules no longer applied. Under those circumstances, counter-rigging would be only one of many actions that I would be honor-bound to consider.

[Junkdrawer]

17. No. Do I look Republican? n/t

[Deja Q]

19. We can be moral and 'bipartisan' all we want...

They'll still exterminate us whenever an opportunity presents itself.

No. We need to resort to their levels in order to get anywhere.

It's a sad admission.

It's a sick admission.

But we have few choices left.

Name a preferable choice that is right. We can't trust the reich-wingers on ANY level anymore. Period.

[spindoctor]

18. You do it to show that it can be done

That's how we did it in the old days.

But yes, make it obvious, make it funny, piss them off.

The point is, if you can do it, how can you be sure somebody else is not doing it?
Exposing the vulnerabilities of a system is not a crime (although it will undoubtly be treated as one), nor is it immoral. It is providing a service to the people who put their trust in manmade design.

If these boxes can be hacked, they will be hacked. Its all just a matter of time.