John:

Have you ever worked in an election? Have you contributed in a positive way to the improvement of elections? My question to you is where were you when punch cards, with an estimated error rate of 15%, was occurring. I am not saying "electronic" voting, of which has been occurring in one form or another over the last fifty years, is a perfect solution, but I am curious about the voices who were not present twenty five, thirty and forty years ago.

I could argue elections are more transparent in this country than forty years ago. John, since you are an "expert," give me some analysis on that one.

He's been contributing in a tirelessly positive way for a very long time, Phil. Go take your nasty attitude somewhere else.

Agent 99 - I am not slamming John. However, I am asking a legitimate question about why now the inquiry into counting votes. Why were not these questions asked fifty, forty years ago. What about "Landslide Lyndon" Johnson and winning by 86 votes for a US Senate seat in Texas in 1948, when voting was done by hand (counted) and the voter rolls were completed in alphabetical order (signed in order by voters, which never happens in the real world). I am just asking about people's experience in elections and working elections, which county staffs' work tirelessly for six months to prepare for a major election.

I like the website...Please 99, do not jump and say I am being nasty, for I am not so.

Get over it, Phil. We're talking about a wholesale slaughter of the Constitution here, and your line of questioning is just nasty, beside the point tonight, in a serious way. John Gideon has been breaking his butt for YOU, every single day, all day, for a very long time. Desist with your blubbering. Contribute positively to the present emergency, or just dry up.

99:

I do not need to get over it. Please knock out the irrevant chatter 99, and speak about the facts. Have you ever seen voter fraud on touch screens? optical scan? What do you find to be the slaughter of the Constitution? Instead of trying to imply the questioning by me is nasty, answer me what have you done to improve the constitutional process in America? What is the present emergency?

phil mccracken

We do not have habeas corpus anymore, and the Posse Comitatus Act has been gutted. Any one of us can be picked up, taken away, locked up, by members of the military, without recourse to an attorney, without ever being charged, executed at the whim of the executive. That is the present emergency... beside, of course, the hundreds of thousands of innocent people we are killing. This is the Constitution you once told us you would die to defend, voided in front of your eyes, and you can't see the emergency?

You don't come to a blog full of people working their butts off to prevent more election fraud --- which is what brought us to this emergency --- and ask them what they've done. Even a dope can tell that's offensive... out of line... an ad hominem attack.

Have you ever seen voter fraud on touch screens? optical scan? What do you find to be the slaughter of the Constitution?

You'll never see voter fraud on touch screens. That's the point. It's easy to access the machines, easy to code exploits and easy to cover your tracks.

Furthermore, all of the above is made easier by the fact that many (or perhaps most) election staff either did not understand the voting machines properly or didn't understand the counting process properly. One of last night's key races still hangs in the balance due to user error on the systems.

More than the Republicans, the real losers in this election were the election officials. Even if you throw out the electronic voting issues, there were reports of people handing out campaign literature in polling places, massive shortages of paper ballots despite predictions of massive voter turnout and reports of unannounced polling location changes.

I'm all for giving people a break. I know they work hard. But an election process that functions properly is integral to the stability of our democracy --- there's no reward for second place in elections and there's no room for C-grade work in the elections process.