Both democracy (right of the majority) and the republic (rights of all minorities) are under siege during elections. For example, promising candidates are squashed by controlled media and privileged parties, which stifle minority voices, and hobble the right of the majority to make enlightened decisions. Individual voting fraud (impersonation) is also problematic, but that is resolved by voter identification. Absentee and similar ballots, however, remain unprotected.
The greatest challenge of all to fair elections, is an age-old nemesis: vote-count rigging. Let’s focus upon this. To prevent rigging, some areas keep completed ballots in vaults guarded by security cameras. But, not in New Hampshire. Cameras in grocery stores and even on the streets monitor us, NSA snoops criminally, yet our legitimate system of voting ballots has no protection. To preserve the viability of our state, we citizens must recognize: any potential for falsification of vote counts is unacceptable. Trust but verify, rather than trust blindly. Today, almost perfect vote-counting/recording is just as achievable as corruption. Unfortunately, the “Help America Vote” Act of 2002, a typical Trojan-horse Federal grant, funded corruption, disguised as “better vote-counting machines”. The computerized machines are either ones where one sticks the manually completed ballot down a slot to be counted optically, or the already discredited paperless touchscreens still being used in seven states. Either way, the machines are illegal. Constitutions being our highest law, New Hampshire’s, and most state constitutions, specify that every vote must be counted in full public view. Computer devices are the exact opposite of viewable, transparent counting. The (inherently unviewable) software in a computer is highly manipulatable by the unscrupulous or the scrupled alike. Consequently, all software-counting, all “black box” voting, is in defiance of the visible-counting Constitution requirement. Computerized devices can be programmed to count votes falsely. And this is happening. Polls and other checks showed hacking (electronic rigging) seemed to occur for example in the 2004 Ohio Presidential votes, and in 2016 primaries around the nation. An Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology study (Sept. 2016), “Hacking Elections is Easy” at icitech.org states: ”a remote unsophisticated attacker is capable of altering digital databases”. Just imagine what sophisticated ones could do, with insider connections to machine manufacturers having reassuring names such as “Safevote”. A 2006 Princeton University study found machines can transmit computer viruses from one to another “during normal pre- and post-election activity.” Incredibly, this year the NH Supreme Court unconstitutionally ruled against ballot transparency in Jaffrey (and thereby New Hampshire), supporting instead, a surreptitious insertion in 2003 NH legislation that denied ballots status as public records under our Right to Know Law! Clearly, if we want legitimacy back, we must start by insisting on propriety locally, and demanding reversal of such irresponsible decisions, at our state level.
Every ballot should be paper, should be manually-completed, protected, and a long-term record made of it. Vote-counting machines are irredeemable due to their unconstitutionality, but two other inventions in lieu of them, will yield transparency. The first invention, we actually had all along: hand-counting for all voting. It’s easy, if one values democracy. The second invention, is the video camera. Video cameras take a permanent record of each and every ballot, close-up enough so particular votes are clearly viewable. This has been done in areas of Ohio. The ballots are arranged upon a table and the camera is passed over them. The recording is then preserved permanently. For all to see.
Let’s claim our responsibility as citizens
Jay Iselin lives in Harrisville. He is a member of Citizens for Open Government.