by Sharon Jenson

Created on: October 26, 2008

WE do. Simply stated, there is no other way to have a universal and fair way to vote that cannot be compromised unless WE THE PEOPLE demand such a law; which should already be taking place. However, it does not. Not only should we stop there. We need this new and safe voting system to be nationwide. Today, there are several different laws, voting machines and state laws that differ. We need it all to change; to be across the board and unable to be compromised. It is unfair that some counties are limited to short voting hours and less machines, while others have longer hours and plenty of machines. Until this happens, there is no real Democracy.

The Federal Judicial Center website talks of federal vs state voting rights and is an informative website to visit. Also, visit cspan.org and click on "America and the Courts". There is a free movie on the subject online, "www.StealingAmerica".org and it deserves close attention.

WHAT IS BLACK BOX VOTING?

It refers to how there is no accountability of the voting machines. In this context, the term "black box" means that something receives input, and gives output; usually it refers to doing so through an unknown method.

They are talking about how one puts votes into a voting machine, and then the voting machine gives results. However, the source code for the voting machines is not publicly available, so it cannot be proven that the voting machine actually counts the votes accurately.

The fact that the tallies in voting machines can't be verified for factual votes, (ie. no paper trail). Funny when you go to an atm, a gas station, or a grocery store, you can get a transaction paper. But the powers that be don't want you to have a hard copy. Why would that be do you suppose? Any safe, reliable voting machine should provide a paper trail, a secure system that is NOT privately owned with multi-million dollar contracts made with state governments, and no conflict of interest! That is to say that a government official partial to any one party should NOT decide who, how, and when votes cast by the American people take place.

In 2002 in Franklin Co. Ohio, ward 1b, 638 registered voters voted, yet the voting machine tallied 4,258 for Bush. Do you want to trust a black box to actually count your vote without a printed paper to place into a tallie box to verify should a recount be required?
For any "undecided" voters out there, Barack Obama has studied constitutional law, respects it, and is not interested in abusing a position of power

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