You need to watch ‘Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections’

30. August 2008 by admin.

With the party conventions taking place, the appointment of vice presidential running mates, and political posturing, there is a lot of discussion going on.  However, none of it matters if, when election time rolls around and people try to vote, either their votes are never cast or, once cast, the votes are tampered with. 

The documentary, ‘Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections’, a film by Dave Earnhardt, which has now been released on DVD, examines how the voting process has been sabotaged in 2000 and 2004 in particular.  The sabotage manifested itself in a number of ways (and may very well do so again, come this November): insufficient number of voting machines in key Democratic precincts in various States, like Ohio; purposeful disqualification of ballots based on what is called ‘Undervoting’–something which typically occurs in 1-3% of ballots, but in 2004, supposedly occurred 40-70% in some key Democratic precincts; the use of Diebold (an overtly Republican-affiliated company that makes highly accurate ATM machines, but can’t seem to make accurate voting machines) electronic voting machines that, in 2004, exactly reversed the results of the exit polls in some key precincts/States.  It is almost uncontroversial at this point, that the electronic voting machines are easily hackable, and purposely lack paper records which would allow voters to ensure their votes were counted.

Most people I know, who saw the results of the 2004 election, scratched their heads in puzzlement over the results of the election.  Most people said or implied that it just didn’t feel right.  And, guess what? If this documentary is accurate, there’s a good reason why it didn’t feel right: Bush didn’t actually win re-election based on the vote count; he won based on fraudulent manipulation of votes.

Now ask yourself–if the principles of a representational democracy are so important to our current government, why doesn’t the government create a version of the TSA focused on honest, high-integrity election process?  Why would there ever be a lack of sufficient voting booths, precinct personnel, etc.?  People in 2004 in key Democratic precincts in Ohio were waiting as much as 12 HOURS to vote, because the precincts didn’t have sufficient electronic voting machines, or the machines were down for 2 hours or more.  Why was this allowed to happen if our government cares so much about free and fair elections? 

There is no better time to watch this documentary than now.  I commend the people who made this documentary–it is an important piece of work. See it and tell others to see it.

Posted in Uncategorized | Print | 1 Comment »