Why elections must be scrutinized
Current conditions in the U.S. election system have shattered the basis for confidence in results:
- Millions of voters are illegally denied the right to vote.
- Votes are counted by computers that can produce any result, regardless of the voters' real votes.
- Exit polls, used worldwide to detect suspicious election results, are altered to match official totals.
Fraud has occurred in our elections since the nation was born; the prize of winning tempts
parties and candidates alike. Yet deliberate fraud is not the only reason to scrutinize
elections. Errors in tabulation, machine distribution, or ballot design, as well as poorly
designed or poorly executed procedures can also thwart the will of the people.
For example:
- Registered voters may not be on the list at the polls. Valid voters have been refused a
regular ballot at the polls in many states by errors in the statewide voter registration
databases and malfunctions of electronic pollbooks attempting to retrieve voter information
from the database. Federal law requires all such voters to be offered a provisional ballot,
but provisional ballots may be treated differently in different precincts, and valid votes may not be counted.
- Machine malfunctions may lead to voters being disenfranchised. Every election sees voters
turned away from the polls because machines malfunctioned or the polling place didn't have
enough machines or ballots. Sometimes, polls are left open for additional hours, but not all
voters can return at the end of the day.
- Election results tabulated by computers may be wrong. The poor design of today's complex
voting systems leads to innocent errors in every election. Ballot programming can hand one
candidate's votes to another. Errors uploading precinct data to the central tabulator can
cause votes to be counted twice or not at all. Or the votes from a precinct can be easily
neglected since they are often transported on a device that fits easily into a pocket. Strict
chain-of-custody procedures are crucial, yet are not always followed.
- Lack of transparency in electronic voting systems makes evidence of anomalies more difficult
to find. In paper ballot systems, tabulation can be easily observed by the public and the media.
Errors in vote counting can be detected and corrected. With electronic voting systems, even
election officials themselves are excluded from observing the vote counts for which they are
responsible! Private voting system vendors exert increasing control over local election procedures,
as detailed in a new report
by VotersUnite.Org.
Public oversight of elections -- including observation of the election processes by citizens, scrutiny
of the results, and the courage to challenge election results when necessary -- is essential for the will
of the people to be supreme.
Additional information about problems such as those listed above is available at the websites listed
on our links page.
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