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Politics : Bush-The Mastermind behind 9/11? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Don Earl who wrote (2050)	8/17/2003 7:18:59 PM
From: Raymond Duray	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20039

Hi Don, Re: "personally I've never been able to think of a good reason why (the secret ballot) would make any difference in a free country." That assumes we live in a free country. The reason for the secret ballot, historically, has been that there is a fear of reprisals for voting incorrectly. Intimidation is a common problem worldwide when ballots aren't secret. For example, employers who support Republican candidates would naturally have a tendency to want to marginalize or fire employees voting for union-supporting Democrats. I find myself in agreement with xymphora's sentiment. "Paper Ballots, Counted In Public". Here in Oregon, we have a wonderful system with all voting done by absentee ballot, a paper ballot. One which can either be mailed or hand delivered to the County Clerks's office. This method provides the auditable paper trail necessary to ensure fair elections. And it is highly resistant to any sort of vote-tampering. So what has been the result? For one thing, a campaign by the most popular right wing talk radio host who is railing against the system for its inherent "corruption". <gg> What does this joker propose to replace this sane system with? The latest in touch scree voting, of course. And his public audience is probably naive enough to be persuaded to doubt our present system, without understanding the pitfalls of electronic voting.