If you aren't outraged, you aren't paying attention. Numerous voting irregularities have been reported across the nation, ranging from an electronic voting machine in PA selecting Romney when the voter clearly pressed the Obama button (above), and apparently the reverse happening in CO; hundreds of robocalls were made from a Republican elections official in a majority Democratic county stating that people could vote tomorrow; various election observers have been accused of intimidating would-be voters. This simply did not happen 20 years ago and I cannot believe that we allow partisan officials to run elections. Elections should be run by professionals in a professional, non-partisan matter. FWIW, several cycles ago CA did not vote through a particularly partisan Democrat to be Secretary of State (the head election official) and I was one who refused to vote for her specifically because she had made a partisan appeal. OH, PA, and FL all have made a series of questionable decisions relating to voting in a transparent attempt to affect the outcome of the election, and it disgusts me.
Hopefully there will be no drama and we'll have a clear winner tonight, but just in case, here is a link to one of the leading experts in election law.
We should fix this mess no matter what happens tonight.
5 comments:
I think this really had to do with the general cheating culture of our society--people are just accustomed to use unethical means to gain an advantage, for a person is really at a disadvantage if everyone is cheating and a person is not. (ex: a poll officials might think that in order to make the election fair, he or she should intimidate would-be voters since other officials are doing it, and to not to do it is to let the other candidate gaining an unfair advantage.)
As a result, I think a possible reform in the future to fix this mess should not be limited to just certain new laws to more closely monitor the election. The country as a whole has to reflect on why it has become a society where competition is so pervasive. Perhaps certain moral values should be more emphasized during the course of a citizen's education or some fundamental change should be made to make the society less competitive.
It is sad to know that in certain countries such as the UK and Canada, people are voting or starting to vote online. I agree with the article that such online voting system would never be possible in the US in the near future, for some people would definitely attempt to gain an unfair advantage of the online system as a result of our cheating culture.
I agree Kevin. That reading we got earlier in the year is definitely coming into play here. I have to say, in my opinion, it is completely inappropriate for a partisan official to run an election. How can they be expected to work without bias, conscious or unconscious, if they are an official from one candidate's party.
Also, just to address the picture, touch screen invite so much possibility for error, even if they re-calibrate it every time a new person uses it. If they use a machine, it should be required to have physical buttons, that push, and not those plastic thing that just sense when your finger is on it.
Another interesting bit of news today includes Rob Gleason of Pennsylvania complaining that "It is clear the Obama campaign has taken their campaign in the gutter to manipulate this election however they can," claiming that an Obama mural at a polling location is partisan and influences voters. Past noon, Philadelphia court ordered the mural to be covered throughout the entirety of the election. It is undoubtable that the mural is partisan, but the GOP going to court seems to be taking it to another step. Although partisanship is in elections (and shouldn't be) I just feel like this court order is a bit extraneous for the GOP to claim its effect on influencing voters, especially in a heavily Democratic district.
It is also a relief that the malfunctioning voting machine in PA was taken offline and recalibrated soon after the video was posted.
People claim that the cheating culture comes from the adolescents of this generation. However, it seems that cheating is ingrained in all of our culture. Whatever can be done to gain an advantage is a goal in all politics(Even if sometimes it is underhanded). However, it is astonishing that votes would be collected by non-partisan, unprofessional workers. The United States political system supposedly has gotten better from the times of patronage and political machines. However it seems like as time goes along there will still be people who will do anything to win a high spot in the government. Fortunately, the machines were mostly taken down and the election could continue on track.
Although I do find this news about the voting machines outraging, I feel like should have been expected, since this isn't the first time that voting machines have had major problems (For example, in 2004 over 4,000 votes went missing in Maryland due to a programming glitch). That doesn't make it okay, but it really could have been forseen to happen. I feel like though there has been many instances of voting machine malfunctions, intentional or unintentional, not much has been done in terms of fixing this issue. This is a big deal especially when 25% of those voting voted through these machines that have already been repeatedly proven to be faulty. However, the issue with the robocalls is just plainly unacceptable. Regardless of whether it made a difference in the outcome of the election, it's still wrong and distorts the integrity of the voting system.
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