You must have skimmed over this part:
Florida’s computerization had its first mass test in 2002, in Broward County. The ES&S machines appeared to work well in white Ft. Lauderdale precincts, but in black communities, such as Lauderhill and Pompano Beach, there was wholesale disaster. Poll workers were untrained, and many places opened late. Black voters were held up in lines for hours. No one doubts that hundreds of Black votes were lost before they were cast.
Or this part:
Even when computers work, they don't work well for African-Americans. A July 2001 Congressional study found that computers spoiled votes in minority districts at three times the rate of votes lost in white districts.
Or this part:
Although the computer rigs cost eight times as much as paper with scanners, they result in many more spoiled votes. In this year’s presidential primary in Florida, the computers had a spoilage rate of more than 1 percent, as compared to one-tenth of a percent for the double-checked paper ballots.
Apparently some Bush boosters were not keen on a fix so inexpensive and effective. In particular, Sandra Mortham— a founder of Women for Jeb Bush, the Governor's re-election operation — successfully lobbied on behalf of the Florida Association of Counties to stop the state the legislature from blocking the purchase of touchscreen voting systems. Mortham, coincidentally, was also a paid lobbyist for Election Systems & Strategies, a computer voting-machine manufacturer. Fifteen of Florida’s sixty-seven counties chose the pricey computers, twelve of them ordered from ES&S which, in turn, paid Mortham's County Association a percentage on sales.
And then you have the "gone lost" ballots, and then you have the phoney felon lists, and then you have 1000's of Republican folks, for the first time ever, challenging new voter registrations across the country. And you have the voter intimidation strategies practiced forever against Blacks in the South.
It's OK; it's SOP. The dems just have to work harder.
John |
