Will Your Vote Count in November?

Posted on September 10, 2004

With all the media coverage being accorded to the Vietnam-era activities of President Bush and Senator Kerry, there is another -- much more important -- story simply falling through the cracks. After the voting debacle of the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election, you'd think that our government would have taken steps to ensure that yet another one million African American votes aren't mysteriously "lost" in Florida or elsewhere, for that matter. But you'd be dead wrong if you thought that.

As Election Day approaches, most voters are unaware that approximately 50 million votes cast in this upcoming election will be made on voting machines which give no paper receipt or have any way to verify what votes were cast. The major vendor of these voting machines, Diebold Inc., makes cash registers -- you know, the kind that give you a receipt after you buy your groceries? Or buy gas? But for some reason, Diebold decided that there was no need to leave any paper trail or tangible record of how people cast their votes.

Election officials from a number of states have pooh-poohed the idea that a receipt or paper trail is needed in case of a recount. Unfortunately, those election officials have neglected to mention their cozy relationship with the voting machine industry. According to the New York Times, California's Secretary of State, Bill Jones, left office in 2003 to take a cushy job with Sequoia Voting Systems, as did the assistant Secretary of State. And now the former secretaries of state from Florida and Georgia have signed on as lobbyists for Election Systems and Software and Diebold Election Systems. How nice for them!

A bipartisan bill to require a paper trail for the new machines stalled out in the U.S. Senate. According to Wired magazine, saner heads have prevailed in California and Nevada, where laws have been passed to require a paper receipt for electronic votes. But has Florida, Ohio or Pennsylvania passed such a law? Not a chance. But, don't worry. Walden O'Dell, the CEO of Diebold, Inc. (a major contributor to President Bush) wrote in a Republican fundraising letter to potential donors that he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president." Diebold is based in North Canton, Ohio.

Thank goodness! For a minute, I was beginning to worry that there might be something crooked going on.