Yes, I remember the hanging chads. I ALSO remember that we could go back and recount them, and did, and arrived at a pretty solid understanding of the final tally. Without paper ballots, all we've got are a couple numbers. Everything that has been tallied thus far on a given machine can be completely erased and changed to anything else in a couple seconds by a clever hacker.
While you can cheat with paper ballots, it takes a LOT more doing, and is typically much more traceable. In 2000, we have a decent idea of a lot of the voter fraud that went on, because most of it still had to happen with traditional methods of turning people away, messing with people's registrations, and crap like that, which can be traced. In 2004, we have no idea how much fraud actually went on, because all those computerized voting machines are like little black boxes, with no history or anything. Nearly every one of them could have had completely fabricated results, and we'd never know.
Also, you'll notice that I actually DID say that the point of the primary is to pick a candidate. However, the point I was making with that is that this is merely on step along the way to a larger goal, which is to win the general election. If the objective is NOT to win the general election, then the whole process of picking a candidate is completely pointless. Why pick a candidate if we don't intend for them to win?
Plus, low an opinion as I often have of the electorate, I think it's ridiculous to say that they don't remember what happened in the primaries. We're talking a matter of months here. In general, people may not remember all the details, but they WILL remember the general impressions they had about the candidates, and the more negative those impressions get now, the more negative an influence that will have on their impressions in 6 months when they vote in the general election.
(Also, the average U.S. gas prices haven't dipped below $1 since '99. That's nearly 10 years ago. I would think it a lot more ridiculous if people had not yet managed to adjust to the idea that gas costs well over $1/gallon, and likely will for any time in the foreseeable future.)
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Date: 2008-06-03 10:04 pm (UTC)While you can cheat with paper ballots, it takes a LOT more doing, and is typically much more traceable. In 2000, we have a decent idea of a lot of the voter fraud that went on, because most of it still had to happen with traditional methods of turning people away, messing with people's registrations, and crap like that, which can be traced. In 2004, we have no idea how much fraud actually went on, because all those computerized voting machines are like little black boxes, with no history or anything. Nearly every one of them could have had completely fabricated results, and we'd never know.
Also, you'll notice that I actually DID say that the point of the primary is to pick a candidate. However, the point I was making with that is that this is merely on step along the way to a larger goal, which is to win the general election. If the objective is NOT to win the general election, then the whole process of picking a candidate is completely pointless. Why pick a candidate if we don't intend for them to win?
Plus, low an opinion as I often have of the electorate, I think it's ridiculous to say that they don't remember what happened in the primaries. We're talking a matter of months here. In general, people may not remember all the details, but they WILL remember the general impressions they had about the candidates, and the more negative those impressions get now, the more negative an influence that will have on their impressions in 6 months when they vote in the general election.
(Also, the average U.S. gas prices haven't dipped below $1 since '99. That's nearly 10 years ago. I would think it a lot more ridiculous if people had not yet managed to adjust to the idea that gas costs well over $1/gallon, and likely will for any time in the foreseeable future.)