By Jean G. Braun
Former Secretary of State James Baker III, as campaign manager for George W. Bush in 2000, repeatedly met the media and used the term "recount" during the Florida election debacle. The "recount" referred to those ballots assembled by Vice-president Al Gore, which had been discarded because of chad-gorged machines and never counted. As candidate Gore looked to the courts for guidance on how the incompletely imprinted ballots could be counted, Baker complained to the media on the uselessness of the "recounts." It was a successful strategy. To this day, many Americans believe that the election crisis, in which the conservative Supreme Court Five, acting within hours, illegally stopped the counting of lawfully cast votes, involved only a recount.
It was a surprise to many others, therefore, that former President Jimmy Carter joined with Baker to head a commission on election reform. Just released in September, the report of the Commission, entitled "Building Confidence in U.S. Elections - Report of the Commission on Federal Election Reform," contains some interesting recommendations, which are fairly well offset by key provisions which would serve to preserve the power of the established government. One of the basic issues is its affirmation of the right of the electronic voting machine companies to retain their proprietor ownership of the programming source codes of the machines - effectively turning publicly conducted elections into privately conducted elections.
Republican Senator Chuck Hegel, who has made some friends with his criticism of the war in Iraq, is the poster boy for electronic voting machines. As Bev Harris, author of Black Box Voting, has discovered, Hegel won his Senate seat in an upset election, conducted with the electronic voting machines, made by the company, of which he was the president.
The Commission also calls for a universal voter registration database, carried on an electronic system. Anyone who has ever used a computer, however, knows that a registered voter’s name can be deleted, with no apparent trace, in the flick of an eyelash. The Commission’s call for a photo voter ID card, moreover, has lit fire in the eyes of Rep. John Conyers, for one.
In another provision, the suggestion is made to add a fifth seat to the Election Assistance Commission, with that chairman seat to be appointed by the president, with the confirmation of the Senate. (Shades of Michael Brown and the Federal Emergency Management Agency!) The Election Assistance Commission is charged with virtual control of elections: its general operation, including the testing and certification (or de- or re-certification) of the voting software or hardware. The Bev Harris book, Black Box Voting, describes some testing and certification experiences, which reflect abysmally on the EAC.
The Carter/Baker Commission notes that the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) itself calls for voting machines to produce a permanent paper record, with a capacity for manual auditing. (The paper trail.) However, the Commission adds, this has been generally interpreted to mean that the permanent paper record only be used in case of disputes, or a recount. The Commission suggests no other interpretation of that section in the law.
What the Commission does recommend is the voter-verified paper ballot machine. This electronic machine, which allows the voter to review a paper record of his/her vote before it is recorded, constitutes an improvement over what has been previously used, except for the optical scan machines, which simply scan the voter’s paper record. The Commission does not consider the possibility of a remote disconnect between what is printed on paper and what the machine actually tallies. Nor does the Commission make the critical recommendation on whether the machine count or the paper ballot should constitute the official count.
If the voter verified paper copy is reserved only for a recount, most candidates, unless they are very wealthy, will not have the financial reserves to pay the considerable financial charges of a recount - charges which face hefty increases by legislators. A recount is automatic only if the results show a thin margin of difference. In the case of fraudulently manipulated machines, the margin of win would predictably be high enough to supersede any automatic trigger.
Of the Carter/Baker Commission’s 87 recommendations, many can surely improve the conduct of U.S. elections; others will improve the control of the established government over U.S. elections. Some address the problems and outright election violations documented in Ohio’s election contest which is still awaiting trial. However, none would have the potentially lethal reach over our public elections that is carried by an electronic election system, with the obvious capacity by remote control, to design and set the numbers for election results before the election is ever held.
© Copyrights 2005 by AxisofLogic.com and Jean G. Braun
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