What if we had an election without electronic voting machines?

[ellennelle]

13. HANDS ON VOTING!!!

this has been my meme since 2000, and for all the good reasons listed here.

stevepol, absolutely YES, we need to hand count ballots that can be held in the voters' hands. period. it's done the world over, and drastically reduces problems. the counting is done publicly, with a rep from each interested party counting; they count, bundle with the tally sheet attached, and then the rest do the same (or the other does the same in our wicked 2-party system). if they don't match, then they are redone till they do.

also stevepol, yes, the polls are suspect too, for all the reasons you list, which is why we should take note of the reliable ones; 2012 was perfectly predicted by PPP and nate silver. but it's the exit polls that were so badly sullied in 2000, and i believe intentionally so, because exit polls have always been THE gold standard for checking the validity of elections the world over. just ask jimmy carter. there is in principle no need to adjust exit polls as they are not projections, but actual voters, there and on the ground. the only reason i can see is if the exit polls significantly missed the actual ratio of dems and repubs voting from what the registrations listed. but even then, why would you do that?? their votes can cross over, ferchrissake. we really need to bring exit polls back in to provide this outside check on the system; note how the rightwing press actively vilified them after 2000. which, by the by, never forget: GORE WON. once FL ballots were all counted by the news consortium, that was the result. gore made a tactical error to just beg for recounts of those select counties instead of the whole state, as that is the point on which the supremes nailed him, and Selected bush.

tho many more issues abound here (and i have not read red shift; should), i'll end with the fact that coakley lost that election to brown fair and very square. she was and is a terrible candidate, and i was baffled that she was the ma dem choice for the campaign, and even more so for this last gubernatorial. there were infinitely better candidates than she had proven herself to be, and she lived down to everyone's expectations. so, we now have another repub guv; ugh.

but yeah, this banner needs to be taken up and put before the candidates at a national level. have no idea why the dems have shied away from this, but it's like it has some kinda stank on it that completely freaks them out. barbara boxer's backing of the refutation of the OH vote in congress in 04 is the only establishment peep amongst crickets on the entire matter. because consider this, something everyone (except fox bots) knows but will not discuss publicly: the GOP has not won a general election since 1988! seriously, think about it. clinton's 2 terms, then gore beat bush, and technically speaking kerry beat bush, then obama's 2 terms.... folks, that is almost 30 years of the general population exposing their rejection of republican politicians and policies.

the GOP knows this, and has known it since FDR, which is why they are so inclined to cheat. HANDS ON VOTING reduces that opportunity.

thx for posting this.