"The trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury" (U.S. Constitution, Art. 3 sec. 2)...."by an impartial jury" (U.S. Constitution, Sixth Amendment)..... comprised of computers
Computerized voting means substituting our judgment for that of a computer, which we know to be potentially unreliable. So unreliable that our current system of justice would not permit the evidence produced by the computer to prove the accuracy of the vote count. No one would dispute the limitations of a computer, dependent as many of us may be on them. If you were accused of murder, would you be willing to let the computer decide your fate? Sound ridiculous? Not anymore so than letting the computer decide how we voted.
Just think, if we were willing to let the computer handle our responsibilities as jurors, we could do away with the labor intensive voir dire (the preliminary examination of prospective jurors to determine whether they are qualified or suitable to serve on a jury). The computer would not have those prejudices the voir dire is suppose to uncover. We could eliminate the time consuming process of jury deliberation. Whether it's intent of the innocent until proven guilty accused or the intent of the voter- makes no difference to the computer: It doesn't recognize intent. Having computers fill in as jurors would certainly make our lives easier and would make trials much more efficient, assuming those are our paramount societal goals.
How important is the protection of our civil liberties? How important is it to us to preserve our ability to determine that the system is working – either by way of our participation in our justice system or our election system? If we're not willing to let computers take over on juries, how can we allow them to take over our vote counting?
The ultimate authority ... resides in the people alone – James Madison
We used to enjoy saying that the United States is governed by the rule of law, not men. It has become difficult to make that statement in the last 6 years- just about the same time that most Americans have been forced, by the 2002 Help America Vote Act (HAVA), to vote on these machines. All the more reason to step up our collective responsibility to strive towards our ideals and resist those who would deprive us of our inalienable right to be a free, self-governing people. As long as we are able, each citizen privileged to live in a country founded on the fundamental right of a democracy – government by the people, of the people, and for the people -- has the duty to fight to preserve that democracy.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government."
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