Thank you Brad. Addressing the issue of vote rigging be it an individual and or perhaps someone tied to a private electronic voting machine corporation for example, who is given the right to count the American vote is daunting problem in itself.

Is this or is this not compounded by the fact that each State's city, district, or county has a different way of holding elections, counting votes, and the placing people into this coveted role as an Election Official as opposed to 1 nationally recognized method?

Then there is the 3rd issue I personally have a problem with and that is the fact that most all elections of importance, major party candidates, and mass media press coverage are all financed by the US ruling class's big corporations.

An example of this vulgar display of this power was the only anti-war Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich being complete blacked out of the nationally televised debates.

It is my opinion that the self-serving private interests of these corporate agendas be it a multi-national bank, credit card company, oil or coal company or "death" contractors (gun and bomb makers) ARE NOT the interest of the MAJORITY of American voters.

Corporate held elections produce corporate results. I think this is a serious another serious flaw in the current US system of election that need immediate overhaul if the WE THE PEOPLE are to ever take control of their own elections.

Denying someone the right to vote is reason, punishable by execution.

Bring it on.

Social engineering the vote by misinforming the uneducated to cast an incomplete or non registered ballot. Coming in after the fact to alter the incomplete ballot before finalizing it.

Social engineering by corrupt insiders who know how to take advantage in a weakness inherent in this voting system.

Corrupt insiders and an ignorant and blindly trusting electorate.

It's the American way.

why aren't the corporate news reporting this?

Brad, check out this story. An ES&S lobbyist admitted to fixing ballots in a Green Party primary in New York so that a Republican won their cross-endorsement.

http://www.nypost.com/p/...g_amT1cLmvJc3iFSZDvYMNcJ

And to think, all these years I missed out on all that Hillbilly Heroin in exchange for my vote...

This should be considered treason if it is not already. The problem is at the top and bottom. We will not have justice in this country until we have a Supreme Court that is not fixed. We must impeach and remove all members who voted that the vote should not be counted in Florida. We should even think about reversing decisions made by Bush because he was an illegitimate president.

If I'm required to have a photo ID in order to pilot a 747 then why shouldn't I be required to have a photo ID in order to vote?

#8 is that a joke? I don't get it.

As for the story... DECADES? That means it went on long before e-voting, but it just goes to show how greed for money and power corrupts our political system, from the poorest county officials to the highest offices in the land. Where there is motive and opportunity, there is graft and corruption. How to remove the motive is the problem- how do you get criminals to stop committing crimes when crime pays so well?

The free and secure vote is the hallmark of a democratic society, that it is placed in the hands of a for profit corporation is a travesty.
We will never be able to trust election results as long as the real potential for abuse exists.
At the very least voting for national offices should be hand marked and hand counted.

GBD asked @ 1:

Is this or is this not compounded by the fact that each State's city, district, or county has a different way of holding elections, counting votes, and the placing people into this coveted role as an Election Official as opposed to 1 nationally recognized method?

A case can certainly be made for the above. However, our Constitution is set up to allow states to determine their own means of running elections. It would take a Constitutional amendment to change that, and I'm not sure that'd be a very good idea, even if it wasn't next to impossible to do. For one reason, such a "nationally recognized method" would likely be put into place (or at least signed off on by) a President. And let's say that President is someone like George W. Bush. Do you want him, in one fell swoop, to determine how elections will be run in the U.S.A.? I suspect that question likely answers itself.

Then there is the 3rd issue I personally have a problem with and that is the fact that most all elections of importance, major party candidates, and mass media press coverage are all financed by the US ruling class's big corporations.

I'd move that one up to number 2, if I were you (actually, number 1, though media reform is a definite contender there as well!)

So long as corporations are allowed to drown out the "free speech" of everyone else, we the people will continue to get screwed. So all we have to do is sit back, and wait for those who benefit from that system (the elected officials, for example) to reform that system, and all will be well.

DeeCee asked @ 4:

why aren't the corporate news reporting this?

Because Republicans aren't complaining about it.

Colin James asked @ 9:

how do you get criminals to stop committing crimes when crime pays so well?

For one, start treating election manipulation as a crime. Everywhere. Create criminal penalties for the disenfranchisement of even one voter. And then enforce it. That might be a nice start, anyway.

How can any election be legitimate without proper identification? I have to prove who I am with a photo ID to use a credit card, but not to vote for elected officials?

Every state that offers state ID cards also has a 'hardship clause' so you can get an authorized ID for free if you say you can't pay the $20 or less they usually charge. How does that disenfranchise anyone?