Brad by Brad Friedman
JB: My guest today is Brad Friedman of The BRAD BLOG. Welcome to OpEdNews, Brad. You wrote a piece recently about some bad-news legislation: CA Legislature Approves Dangerous Bill to End All Federal Testing of State E-Voting Systems and a follow up to it: CA State Senator Still Misleading About Election Bill That Ends Federal Testing of E-Vote Systems .
JB: Republicans are notorious for trying to disenfranchise voters, mostly voters who tend to vote against their candidates. But in this case, as you point out, the ill-conceived legislation has Democratic backing, and is, in fact, Democrat-sponsored. What's that all about? Have public officials learned nothing since 2004?
Whyever would anyone favor a system that is not extensively tested? Has everyone forgotten all the terrible problems we've suffered nationwide, not to mention the basic unsustainability of a system that can't be verified altogether? I'm flabbergasted!
BF: That's a very nice way to put it. Yes, it seems they have learned next to nothing.
When it comes to voting, the parties are most interested, in general, in what is going to get them the most votes. I hate to be so direct about it, but I've found that to be the case. Yes, there are Democrats who really do want to make sure everyone can vote, simply because it's the right and Constitutional thing to do. But there are many who appreciate the fact that more voters generally means more elected Democrats. In a state like California, that is certainly true. So, anything that is perceived as making it easier for voters to vote is, as many Dems see it, a good thing. Never mind whether a voting system may be secure or not, or if the results recorded can actually be overseen by the citizenry. If it will increase turnout, they're for it!
That's why you see so many Dems supporting the horrific idea of Internet voting, a disaster in waiting that the world's top computer science and security experts -- many of them Dems themselves -- continue to beg Democrats not to implement. Yet, Dems keep on trying to do so out here in California. Even the otherwise very smart and very progressive Gavin Newsom, for example, has come out in favor of the insane idea of 100% unverifiable Internet voting.
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