If you happen to look or hear any mainstream media today you most likely heard about how the Democrats have taken control of the House of Representatives or the resignation of the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. I too saw these headlines today but it was something in the very back of the local paper that caught my attention. There was an article titled “Long lines, mischief make for slow voting” which didn’t catch me at first. I continued reading about problems with electronic voting machines, glitches, polls not be opened on time and even voter intimidation. I’m sorry but did I wake up in another country today? I thought the reason we are a Democratic Republic is because the people have the power to vote for whom they choose and that elected official then represents us.
I should have expected this amongst all the cries of scandal with Diebold Electronic Voting Machines. Please if you have heard nothing of this matter go to this link where you can watch a free HBO documentary about voting machine fraud http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8367786376074634512&q=hacking+democrac y . After I watched this film I realized that these things are going on and have been. Look back to the 2004 Presidential election where voters stood outside in lines out in the snow for up to 5 hours to cast a vote. Not that waiting in lines or voter intimidation means anything if certain people have access to the voting machines or the computers that tabulate the final counts of ballots.
This article documents the disarray that our voting system is in. It states that federal agents were called in to investigate allegations of voter intimidation in a closely watched U.S. Senate race in Virginia. In Arizona they were anti-immigration activists and Minutemen at Arizona polls questioning people waiting to vote to determine if they spoke English. I am deeply disturbed by this because it has just been brought to my attention. How have I missed it right underneath my nose, all of our noses with the exception of the brave few who fight against the injustice? Americans have always based our power and pride in the fact that we are free. The voting system gives us that power, but did we ever look at the voting system and determine what constitutes a free and public election? I still have faith in the democratic system we have here in America, but I also feel that it needs to be regulated by the people and fair for all citizens to be represented equally.
