ROLL OVER AND PLAY DEAD

ROLL OVER AND PLAY DEAD: After our excoriation of American democracy, American elections, American sandwiches and Americans themselves yesterday we heard from many who fear the presidential election will be stolen from their beloved Barak Obama.

One in particular commented:

Andy, I think you are being too hard on the American people, but you raise a good question: what should we do if the election is stolen?

I would propose large demonstrations, leading to massive civil disobedience. Each island should figure in advance the best spot for a display of resistance to the theft. On oahu, it would probably be at the Federal Building to start, perhaps moving to the State Capitol as a place to settle in and wait.

We could have a camp-in, a teach-in for democracy, with shared cultural events: music, talks. No business as usual until democracy is re-established.

Heck, I think we should start gathering if the election even starts getting stalled out due to "malfunctioning machines" or obvious voter disenfranchisement in Florida, Ohio or Pennsylvania.

I think most Americans want a strong democracy and are tired of eight years of GOP lies and greed. With Obama, many of us began to hope. If they steal that hope away, we will have to react.

I suggest it should be deliberate, disciplined and non-violent.

Perhaps we should already start scheduling the workshops on non-violent civil disobedience?

What’s become painfully obvious is that, while some may commendably try to actually do something if the election is stolen from the Democrats again, none of them will do a damn thing about the pervasive fraudulency as long as the right corporate party wins.

We finally visited one of this year’s homes of all things electorally bogus at Brad Friedman’s Bradblog today where a story linked to a report from the Colorado Independent (that linked to an article in the Aurora Sentinel) about what may be the first DRE (direct electronic recording voting machines) to be impounded after being caught “flipping” votes- a process whereby, where no matter how many times you try to vote for Obama it comes up McCain.... one that Homer Simpson reportedly will experience this coming Sunday.

In this case it was a Colorado senate race where the “machine knew better”. than the voters as to which candidate they preferred.

But instead of recalibrating the machine mid-election as is the custom in these matters:

(Clerk and Recorder for Adams County Karen) Long said that her office has quarantined the machine, as per the Secretary of State’s instructions. She said the office had not received any prior complaints about the machine, and that she is awaiting further instructions from Secretary of State Mike Coffman.

But that’s just one of the hundreds of documented events of voter suppression, illegal voting roll purges and other nefarious schemes listed by Friedman.

Here’s a small recent sampling of others

500 Absentee Ballots Rejected for Alleged Signature Mismatches in Duval County, FL No Recourse Allowed for Voters Once Ballot is Rejected...

PA Counties Said Unprepared to Serve Voters, Meet Court Order for Emergency Paper Ballots Election Official: '80% of Counties Do Not Have Emergency Ballots'
Early & Absentee Voting Scandals in D.C. & L.A.

More Vote-Flipping in TX by Machines Other Than Those Made by ES&S Direct Recording Electronic Voting Systems Made by Hart InterCivic and Diebold Also Reportedly Now Flipping Votes From Democratic to Republican in TX...

VIDEOS: Vote Flipping on Touch-Screens in WV Failure Seen Persisting Even After Election Official 'Recalibrates' Failed Machine!

ES&S Touch-Screens Keep Flipping in WV, Now in At Least 6 Counties Same ES&S iVotronics Flipping Votes from Democrats to Republicans (and others) in At Least 4 States- Warnings About These Machines Issued Long Ago, Yet Dems Continue to Allow Their Use...

Those are interspersed with stores about the less than conscientious and diligent efforts by the Obama and Democratic Party’s team of lawyers supposedly poised to pounce when these things happen.

But our fear is that this “all’s well that ends well” attitude will cause them to go back to sleep for another four years if Obama wins.

There is a blow back reported in today’s Washington Post. It says

Goodbye, electronic voting. Farewell, fancy touch screen. Maryland and Virginia are going old school after Tuesday's election.

Maryland will scrap its $65 million electronic system and go back to paper ballots in time for the 2010 midterm elections -- and will still be paying for the abandoned system until 2014. In Virginia, localities are moving to paper after the General Assembly voted last year to phase out electronic voting machines as they wear out.

As luck would have it, after a hearings officer found that our own Hawai`i Chief Elections Officer- the despotic Kevin Cronin- screwed up procurement so badly in accepting a multi-year bid from Hart InterCivic for an overpriced slew of DRE’s,. the contract will be re-bid next year.

Now it’s the legislature’s turn to make it clear that, even with supposed paper trails- which as PNN documented are virtually useless due to non use- these machines have to go. Not only are they unreliable and unverifiable they take at least three to five times longer to use, which has caused all day long lines-with many giving up and going home- at early voting centers across the country, especially where they are the sole method of voting.

If Obamaniacs are happy enough with the results to ignore how their votes have been stolen nonetheless they will get just what they deserve in ’12 when you can bet that the other side will have learned the lessons of ’08.

The legislature determines how we vote. And you can bet with the lawsuit demanding valid administrative rules a “bill relating to voting procedures” will be on the agenda in January when the new session is called to order.

Write your or call state legislator today while you still have that anticipatory anger or don’t whine when this ugliness rears it’s head again with a new state contract for more DRE’s.