alternet.org — "American democracy's glaring weak spots include machines that count backward, slice-and-dice districts, felon baiting, phone jamming and plenty of dirty tricks." Who can vote, where people cast ballots, and how and whether their votes are counted depends on dubiously qualified local officials and those who built the voting machines.
Sep 13, 2006 View in Crawl 4
4answer2Sep 14, 2006
Good article with valid points. However, Georgia has 159 counties, and while they do need more DMV offices, I doubt they need 159 of them.
Closed AccountSep 14, 2006
So, info...when a bulls**t ultra left web site makes accusations, it is fact. But when there are NUMEROUS sources for fraud on the other side, you just say "Bulls**t! You are just blindly following Limbaugh." Come on. Do you really not care how stupid you look?
sigmaman2Sep 14, 2006
I'm #9I attended Prairie View A&M back in the early 90s. There were always these pushes to get students to register, but I never participated. At the time, the local politics always seemed too "rural" for me. I was way more interested in student council elections. But if I had been threatened with jail time and fines back then, when I knew the threats were bogus, I damn sure would have mobilized and voted the bums out.I never heard of any overt racism while I was there, but there were those times when a shopkeeper would slip and call us "boy" or "gal", and everyone in earshot would be uncomfortable. And there was always that feeling when going into town that all the older White people were thinking "Thirty years ago, I could lynch you!" whenever they saw a PV student.
wildjohn999Sep 14, 2006
"American democracy's glaring weak spots include ..."Can you please edit that to read "America's Constitutional Republic has glaring weak spots that include..."Just an edit since the USA is not and never was a democracy: <a class="user" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_republic">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_republic</a>
scotty321Sep 14, 2006
Here's a video to explain to the layperson how it all was done:<a class="user" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvwnJqLLgK8">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvwnJqLLgK8</a>
jackytreehornSep 14, 2006
Franklin County also contains The Ohio State University. Bunch a democrats there. There's a single precinct that covers most of the campus (South and West I believe). OSU is among the top three in undergraduate enrollment in the country. I don't know offhand how many of these students live on campus, but imagine a good chunk of 50,000 people trying to vote in one precinct in between classes on a rainy Tuesday.For the 2004 presidential election the student union was full of winding lines of people waiting to vote. Luckily for me I lived in North campus and waited about ten minutes in a much shorter line. As I was getting closer to the voting booths, I watched some girl walk up to a poll worker:Girl: Which line should I be in?Pollworker: What's your address?Girl: [address]Pollworker: That's your line over there, it looks like the end of the line starts downstairs. Somebody down there should be able to help you find it.Girl: F that S [leaves]I probably would have done the same thing. I bet you anything she would have voted democrat. Good thing then that Kerry won that precinct.
jermwertySep 14, 2006
From TFA: "...has found that fewer than a quarter of 18-to-24-year-old black men in that state have valid driver's licenses"LOL, like they were going to vote anyway.
waveySep 14, 2006
No kidding. I can put up with the hardline leftist political slant of digg...sometimes. But when the front page is constantly inundated with articles from whiny-ass liberals like the ones on Alternet, with obvious agendas, inanely ranting about some stupid piddly thing like -- gasp! -- having to actually provide valid IDENTIFICATION when voting -- then it's just too much for me. I mean for chrissakes, some people just have no common sense at all and have to make mountains out of the smallest molehills. Gets on my nerves. Bunch of mealy-mouthed pansies.
sigfpeSep 14, 2006
Felons who are out of jail are people who have served their time. Just about every civilised country allows felons who have served their time to vote.
o0joshua0oSep 14, 2006
The worst place to vote in America == anywhere where you're black or poor.
dblissSep 18, 2006
Good the last thing we need is another american Idiot. (No offensive to the ones that aren't as i know plenty of great american people.)
n00chOct 16, 2006
@KeirGordonThis is not an issue of Economics, where you may justify lack of services for lack of demand. This is a constitutional _right_, of which government bears the burden of doing everything it can to make accessible to everyone. This is not a partisan issue. Secondly, 'fleets of mobile license units' is a stupid waste of taxpayer dollars, and a short-term solution at best. People by nature respond better to consistency, and reliable convenience, which could've been/can be easily accomplished by placement of small DMV nodes. States should be prepared to increase access to proper ID in the long run _before_ they enact legislation requiring it. After which, voting becomes synonymous with DMV, and people say screw it. This hurts everyone.
n00chOct 16, 2006
@debtman7A fine few who would stick it out for 6 hours to cast their vote.