Politics
Who among us would refuse to accept our receipt at an automatic teller machine? Would any of us buy a new refrigerator and say to the salesperson "don't worry, I trust that you will remember that I bought this appliance here in case it is defective. I really don't need that receipt". Personally, I wouldn't think that anyone could put much trust in an unverified transaction.
Unfortunately, when it comes to verifying one of the most critical transactions in our nation there is one person in our government who insists that there is nothing wrong with trusting error prone electronic machines with our most precious of rights. Yes, central Ohio's very own Bob "Freedom Fries" Ney (18th district) is the chairman of the Committee on House Administration that is blocking the Voter Confidence and Accessability Act (HR2239) that was introduced May 23rd of 2003. It would require that all electronic voter machines have a verifiable paper ballot in case of errors that can and already has occurred. (For an idea of the many errors already experienced, please go to www.blackboxvoting.com). This bill was introduced by Rep. Rush Holt and is co-sponsored by 147 other U.S. Representatives.
One of my favorite U.S. Presidents was Ronald Reagan. I cast my first vote as an adult for him in 1984. One of his quotes still remains with me to this day. Reagan, when he spoke about the Soviet Union's nuclear disarmament said to always "TRUST, BUT VERIFY".
On November 2nd, 2004, one quarter of the United States registered voters will cast their vote on an electronic voting machine. There will be no verification that the votes cast will reflect in the total(with the exception of Nevada, who's state law requires the paper trail). How can anyone else using these machines have confidence their vote will be accurately counted? Hopefully these voters will take a page from Florida's recent play book and request an absentee ballot before the election. Florida's Republican Party even sent out mailers to the party faithful (The Washington Times 7/30/04) imploring them to vote absentee due to unverifiable touch screen technoloy that the state's own Republican majority purchased. How's that for irony?
That is what is so confusing about Central Ohio's Representative Bob Ney. Is he really so naive to believe that nothing could ever go wrong with computers? Does he really think that the cornerstone of democracy isn't worth the trouble of having to verify the outcome. Heck, maybe he knows something about these machines that we don't. Either way, you have to wonder who's interest he's serving as our elected U.S. Representative.
Mr. Ney is up for re-election this November. I'm sure that there will be many questions asked of him during his campaign. Personally, I think it would be interesting to know how without any receipts he can balance his checkbook.
Copyright or Used by Permission, ©2006 ChewinTheFat.com
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