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Paper Trails Don't Ensure Accurate E-Voting Totals
An anonymous reader writes "In an new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation they say that paper trails increase costs and can actually reduce the chances a voters' choices are accurately counted. Congress is considering a 'Voter Confidence and Increased Accountability Act of 2007,' which would mandate 'voter-verified' paper audit trails."
But of course the two major parties benefit from voter apathy
We don't have two major parties, we have ONE major party with two wings. The DMCA, Bono Act, misnamed "PATRIOT" act, all were passed with 100% or close vote. There was probably more dissention within the USSR's Communist party than there is among the Republicrats.
What benefits them isn't the apathy; the apathy is rational. If you're a loveless nerd and want prostitution legalized (because dammit I'm horney), what use is going to the polls? Because they've convinced us that if you vote for a Green or a Libertarian you're "wasting your vote".
Why should a potsmoker go to th epolls when all the candidates want dope to remain illegal? What's the fucking point?
But personally, I feel that voting for one of the Republicrats is a waste of my vote, because they only vote against my interests. Better to vote FOR a Green or a Libertarian, even though they will lose.
The Republicrats have lost my vote. The last few elections I've split my vote between the Greens and Libbies.
The corporate media brazenly showed its true colors last Presidential election, and nobody seemed to notice. Ralph Nader, the Green candidate, got tons of press despite the fact that it was mathematically impossible for him to win office; he wasn't on the ballot in enough states. The Libertarians, OTOH, were on the ballot in 49 states and NONE of the corporate media had squat to say about them.
But "corporate" is the key here. The Republicrats are funded by corporations, who "contribute" to "both" parties. Doesn't matter which candidate loses, the corporation wins.
Nobody should be eligible to contribute to a candidate he, she, or it isn't eligible to vote for, and nobody should be able to contribute to more than one candidate in any given race. But don't hold your breath waiting for these reforms to happen.
The WTA rules the whole world, make no mistake about it. Unbeknownst to any of us, Italy won WWII. Why else is the whole world now Facist?
-mcgrew
PS: SLOW DOWN, COWBOY! Slashdot requires you to wait between each successful posting of a comment to allow everyone a fair chance at posting a comment. It's been 25 months since you last successfully posted a comment. Loser!
I find it ironic that we are so adamant to forcibly spread our democracy to other nations when we don't have a good grasp on it ourselves.
The article didn't mention WHY paper trails don't lead to more accurate voting totals. What was more frightening, that the solution seemed to be super-secret cryptography with no paper trail. Yeah, that's the way we can guarantee accurate voting and have I got a bridge I can sell you.
My guess is that this group is somehow funded by the Diebolds of the industry (they have to be getting their money from somewhere).
I know that paper trails cannot guarantee that elections won't be corrupted, but I'm quite sure that without paper trails, any corruption will be undetectable. In this day and age where we see corruption rampant among those that would claim to lead us, we need every little bit of help we can get.