’tis a small thing, but a smart thing

When you do a little digging, one finds that things are rotten in the state of Ohio. And Florida. And Nebraska. For that matter, any state that has bought into the idea of using touchscreen, paperless voting machines.

So what do we do?

Here’s a list of things we must do:

First, we must remove the people who oversee elections in these states – the very ones who championed paperless voting machines long before they were proven secure. That means we need to focus attention on Secretary of State in each and every state. We’ve seen what Katherine Harris was able to do in Florida in 2000 and what Kenneth Blackwell was able to do in Ohio in 2004 for George W. Bush. Al Gore actually won the state-wide vote in Florida in 2000, and exit polls showed John Kerry carrying Ohio by a comfortable margin in 2004.

Second, we need state legislation barring any official holding state-wide office from holding any position in a national campaign. If some Katherine Harris or Kenneth Blackwell wants to chair a campaign, make them resign their office. You don’t put the fox in charge of the hen house, and you definitely do not want the person overseeing an election guaranteeing to deliver a state for his or her candidate.

Third, we must, MUST, enforce election laws already on the books. This country was built on the foundation of one person, one vote – and yes, I know that originally did not include African Americans or Native Americans in the early days. Republican thuggery always has focused, and must continue to focus, on denying people the opportunity to vote. From throwing people off voter rolls in Florida to forcing heavily Democratic areas in Ohio to use far fewer than the minimum number of machines needed, Republicans have scammed the system for the last time.

Which leads me to the most important item on this list: Each And Every Democrat Must, MUST Vote By Absentee Ballot!!!!!

The only way to thwart these paperless machines – machines that have proven to be so vulnerable that a laptop computer with an Internet connection sitting outside the polling place can manipulate the vote tally – is to make sure every vote is cast, counted and available for recount. Under the current system, that means obtaining an absentee, paper ballot and voting by mail. In addition, Democrats must be careful and diligent with their vote. As for the ballot, vote and submit that vote. Do not allow anyone else to request the ballot for you – Republicans attempted to do that in 2000 in Florida for residents overseas.

We must vote.

We must make sure that our vote counts.

More soon.