Denying the Troops a Secret Ballot (Handled by * Backers)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/03/opinion/03fri2.html

Members of the military will be allowed to vote this year by faxing or e-mailing their ballots - after waiving their right to a secret ballot. Beyond this fundamentally undemocratic requirement, the Electronic Transmission Service, as it's known, has far too many problems to make it reliable, starting with the political partisanship of the contractor running it. The Defense Department is making matters worse by withholding basic information about the service, and should suspend it immediately.

The Defense Department is encouraging soldiers to use absentee ballots or fax votes directly to local officials, when possible. But it also provides an alternative: Omega Technologies, a private contractor, will accept soldiers' faxed and e-mailed ballots on a toll-free line, and then send them to the appropriate local elections office. Handling ballots is always sensitive, but especially so when, as in this program, they are not secret. An obvious concern is that votes for a particular candidate could be reported lost in transit, or altered.

Omega Technologies is not an acceptable choice to run the program. Its chief executive, Patricia Williams, has donated $6,600 in this election cycle to the National Republican Congressional Committee, and serves on the committee's Business Advisory Council. And while everything about the conduct of elections should be open to public scrutiny, Omega is far too secretive. In an interview, Ms. Williams refused to say who would handle military votes, and whether they could engage in partisan politics. "I will not allow the public to invade the privacy of the employees of Omega," she said.

The secrecy of ballots could be breached at several points: when they are faxed or e-mailed from the field, when they go through the contractor and when they are received by local officials. The Pentagon has not explained why it is acceptable, or legal, to ask soldiers to waive their right to secret ballots. Laughlin McDonald, director of the Voting Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, says he cannot recall another group of voters being asked to give up such secrecy. It is particularly inappropriate, he says, for soldiers, who are under the direct control of the Defense Department.

[bryant69]

1. Crapping Jake !

Even if the program is run right and there's no premeditated plan to screw liberal soldiers, all it takes is some guy in the mail room could just send the votes to timbucktoo.

This is nuts.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[denverbill]

2. I already had my doubts about the military vote.

I have a feeling enlisted personnel are much more likely this time around to vote for Kerry, however, the officer corps is like 90% conservative and Republican. I don't know how an enlisted man can be sure his ballot is actually even mailed if it has to pass through the hands of a lot of officers.

[CarolynEC]

3. Big fan of this quote: "I will not allow the public to invade the privacy

"I will not allow the public to invade the privacy of the employees of Omega."

Oh-so-very noble-sounding, but Go Fuck Yourself. How about this:

"I, as an American, will not allow some partisan stooge to play games with MY democracy."

We, the voters will make the rules, sweetcheeks. You will play by our rules, or you will face the consequences. That's the way it is, and there is no room for debate.

We're approaching a critical threshold here, where the opportunities for election theft are becoming too numerous to track. And if this election is stolen, I've really come to believe that the best recourse we have is revolutionary violence.

Fill the streets. Tear the walls down around 'em. Start burning shit and don't stop until we've cleared out enough rotted wood to start rebuilding.