Reply #6: Duplicate reply to a duplicate thread:

[Tom Rinaldo]

I care a lot about this issue. I've organized against election theft. But at this point this line of thought is simply counter productive. Warning against the possibility of election theft, even at this late date, DOES serve a positive function, it puts the G.O.P. on notice that this issue is being closely monitored. It puts the public on notice to be vigilant.

But worrying in public about whether a fix is already in and that it doesn't matter how people actually vote does nothing but sap energy away from people's motivation to bust their asses to influence the outcome of these elections. It runs directly counter to all the efforts so many of us now need to make to convince people that they need to vote this year, and that Democrats can win IF they DO vote.

Personally I don't know to what extent anyone plans to screw with the vote this election, but I do know this. This election is as important as virtually any we have ever been through. Public perceptions are increasingly swinging toward the inevitability of a large Democratic victory in November. That was NOT the case in either 2002 or 2004.

Whereas in prior elections Republican spokespersons and "pollsters" were able to quasi plausibly explain previously under reported Republican majorities by arguing that the Republican base was totally fired up behind the Republican ticket this time around, and all those church goers were giving each other rides to the polls in numbers no one could ever have predicted yada yada yada, they can NOT make that claim this year. The news is constantly reporting that Democrats are much more motivated to vote this time than Republicans. News reports keep coming in about even conservative Republicans being disgusted with their Party this year.

Does any of this make the elections completely theft proof? Life never comes with that type of guarantee. But the more momentum we can generate for Democrats through our hard work heading into the elections the more dangerous any attempted theft of the elections would become for those who would attempt it. People are much more aware now, and the plausibility excuses they might be tempted to use to cover it are increasingly being shredded daily because people believe the Republicans really deserve to lose this time. In 2002 and 2004, despite how obvious it seemed to us at the time, the choice was never that obvious to the American people.

But assuming you believe Republicans think they can and will steal the elections in November, it doesn't change ANYTHING. We still need to do everything possible to support the campaigns of every single Democrat running, because we want to feed into our momentum, we want everyone and their distant cousin to be able to reel off the names of 5 people they personally know who voted Republican in 2004 but voted Democratic this year. IF an election gets stolen we will need people to have had that type of first hand personal experience that would undercut the validity of any fraudulent election result numbers.

So I think we all should be doing everything in our power to strengthen the growing perception, both through our deeds and words, that a huge Democratic victory this November is inevitable, NOT that "the fix is in". At this point all that "the fix is in" talk does is suppress voter turn out on OUR side. If you know ahead of time that your vote simply will not count, why bother casting it? I will have no part of spreading such a message.

And feel free to help volunteer through phones and/or checkbooks to help us in NY win up to 5 new Congressional seats next month. We still use the same simple mechanical voting machines we have used for generations. THAT would be a productive response to this concern.