The U.S. Inability To Count Votes Is A National Disgrace. And Dangerous.
November 5th, 2020Via: Glenn Greenwald:
The richest and most powerful country on earth — whether due to ineptitude, choice or some combination of both — has no ability to perform the simple task of counting votes in a minimally efficient or confidence-inspiring manner. As a result, the credibility of the voting process is severely impaired, and any residual authority the U.S. claims to “spread” democracy to lucky recipients of its benevolence around the world is close to obliterated.
At 7:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, the day after the 2020 presidential elections, the results of the presidential race, as well as control of the Senate, are very much in doubt and in chaos. Watched by rest of the world — deeply affected by who rules the still-imperialist superpower — the U.S. struggles and stumbles and staggers to engage in a simple task mastered by countless other less powerful and poorer countries: counting votes. Some states are not expected to finished their vote-counting until the end of this week or beyond.
Compared to every other country in the English-speaking world, the way we do elections in the USA is a joke and a mess from top to bottom (though I really do think that my home state of Wisconsin has a lot more integrity in its process than most other states). Simply having a nationwide system of hand-counted paper ballots would fix so many problems, but that will never happen because our political class likes the joke and the mess and likes them very much.
Other than that, I have nothing else to say about 2020’s election cycle, because I…just really don’t want to talk about it, at least not here.
Simply having a nationwide system of hand-counted paper ballots would fix so many problems, but that will never happen because our political class likes the joke and the mess and likes them very much.
You are absolutely correct.
I was having this conversation with my wife just now. I was telling her how the system works in the U.S. and her eyes were wide with shock. She could hardly believe it. Her mother used to work elections in NZ (paper based elections), so she knows how a legit voting process works.
I told her that I’d concluded long ago that both major parties in the U.S. are so corrupt that they both like the idea of being able to steal elections when possible.
If not, why hasn’t this disaster even been sorted out?
Compare voting in the U.S. to something that actually works, like getting cash from an ATM or a technology like Bitcoin. haha
I like the paper based system. I’d add open source hardware and software layers, a quantum-proof cryptographic signature/blockchain entry for every vote. Finally, hard copies for both the voter and for the election officials. Verify your vote on the public blockchain immediately! The hand count totals need to match the totals on chain, or there would have to be some ‘splainin to do.
Also, would-be voters would need actual verification that they are eligible to vote. haha No way. Won’t happen.
No point in thinking too much about this, because none of this will ever happen in the U.S.
Apart from the sheer shadiness of the counting process, the most convincing analysis pointing to ballot stuffing I’ve seen so far is the comparison of presidential vs senate votes: Why Does Biden Have So Many More Votes Than Democrat Senators In Swing States? (Nothing that would stand up in a court of law, of course)
The interesting thing to me here is the motivation. If Democrats were going to steal the presidency, why not steal a few senates seats while they’re at it? It would look more convincing. This points to a Democrat-Republican stitch up where the Republican party agree to turn a blind eye to ballot-stuffing as long as the senate seats stand. Great business for the Republicans: lose the hated Trump *and* collect a price from the Democrats for doing so.
I’m probably over-thinking it, again. If it was a Republican stitch-up, better to throw a few senate votes their way to make it look like never-Trumpers. Probably the obvious explanation is best: they needed to write a *lot* of ballots, quickly