The REAL Terrorists: Conservative ‘CHRISTIAN’ Pastor Openly Calls For EXECUTING ALL GAY PEOPLE By Christmas Day

[Peace Patriot]

136. I didn't say that hand-counting is perfect.

But machine 'counting' of votes that are nothing but manipulable electrons or the electronic 'totals' of paper ballots, with all the electronics controlled largely by ONE, PRIVATE, FAR RIGHTWING-CONNECTED CORPORATION, using 'TRADE SECRET' code, is a way, way, WAY wrong for a country that is supposed to be a democracy. Privately controlled electronic voting and tabulation is the old "ballotbox stuffing" but on steroids, this time hidden by 'TRADE SECRET' code whereby the manipulation, on a vast scale, and at a level of complexity and subtlety that ordinary citizens can hardly fathom, let alone see and verify, can literally destroy any vestige of democracy, and, I believe is quickly doing so.

"Ballotbox stuffing" can certainly occur with paper ballots, but it CANNOT occur in the vast, complex and unseeable fashion of e-voting and e-tabulating. There is no comparison.

You say "I know how our votes are counted." Well, please describe it, if you will. And what rare state do you live in that has no private corporate electronics involved in the process?

You say, "We have a hand recount going on right now...". That tells me nothing. HOW MUCH of the vote is being 'hand-counted'? And if, as I suspect, you have privately coded electronic tabulators (into which scanned ballots are fed), WHY ISN'T THE VOTE 100% AUDITED EVERY ELECTION, or even TEN PERCENT (the size of audit recommended by election experts whom I respect--who say that 10% is the MINIMUM needed to detect fraud in an electronic voting system). Maybe your state is an exception and does a real recount (100%, or at the very least, 10%). Please tell us, so that it can used as an example to others. And, please, what state do you live in?

OF COURSE you can choose your own issues of concern. I'm sorry if I got too much on my soapbox and wrote as if my concern is superior. I didn't mean to say it that way. I am, indeed, much more concerned about nutball homophobes getting power in public office than I am about one nutball homophoblic preacher. But that doesn't mean that your concern is off-base in any way. It is very much on-base. This preacher is disgusting and dangerous. I just don't want to see him in Congress, and I greatly fear that that's what's coming, if we don't take back our voting system. The nuttiness there and in other public offices is already at an alarming level, for which, I firmly believe, we can blame ES&S/Diebold and their 'TRADE SECRET' code, s/electing public officials who do NOT represent most people.