Oct 24


Recipe for a cooked election

by Terry 24 October 2006


Recipe for a Cooked Election

by Greg Palast

A nasty little secret of American democracy is that, in every national election, ballots cast are simply thrown in the garbage. Most are called “spoiled,” supposedly unreadable, damaged, invalid. They just don’t get counted. This “spoilage” has occurred for decades, but it reached unprecedented heights in the last two presidential elections. In the 2004 election, for example, more than three million ballots were never counted.

Grim stuff.  Go read the rest.

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5 Responses to “Recipe for a cooked election”

  1. Lisa on October 25th, 2006 4:38 am

    I was just talking to J over at “Germany Doesn’t Suck” about this very issue. It makes me so angry. I’m represented by the absentee vote that never gets counted, a fact I didn’t find out until registering to vote by absentee ballot in the last election. I was made aware after the fact, unless an election is close and it is suspected the absentee ballots will affect the outcome, they’re not counted at all.

    So here I am, an American citizen in the twenty-first century, and my right to cast my vote for the election of one of the most powerful leaders in the free world - the man who’ll be representing me and making decisions in my name - is worth exactly zip.

    Think of it - effectively eliminated are the votes of all U.S. citizens working temporarily in foreign countries, all U.S. exchange students, tourists, etc. - and here’s a real shame, the soldiers who are directly serving the country, willing to work a job that may require them to die for the democracy they believe in - their vote means nothing either. They’re required to give their lives for it if necessary, but not allowed to participate in the very thing they’re fighting to preserve. How twisted is that?

  2. Terry on October 25th, 2006 11:58 am

    That’s disgraceful, Lisa. I remember in 2000 the controversy over holding the results until the military ballots came in and what a battle it was, with everyone trying to predict who the military would support. Every vote should be counted.

  3. Natalie on October 25th, 2006 12:37 pm

    This just makes me want to cry. I am not at all shocked to hear the numbers but it really makes you wonder.

  4. Terry on October 25th, 2006 12:52 pm

    It depresses me too, Natalie. I grew up with such faith in the system, but now …?

  5. Sherry Chandler » Recipe for a Cooked Election on October 26th, 2006 12:53 pm

    [...] A lively discussion is going on over at I See Invisible People on the subject of a Greg Palast article by the same title in Yes! [...]

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