Re: Absentee voters; Macho

["amaynard_1@xxxxxxxx" <amaynard_1@xxxxxxxx>]

"Throwing the bums in jail" is a lot easier said than done.  I filed a
28-page affidavit with the district attorney for the 18th judicial
district about the election law violations in Castle Rock, which was
thoroughly documented.  They didn't even need to do any work:  I did it
all for them.  They kept assuring me they were "working on it," then
they let the statute of limitations expire without filing any charges.
It's because, on the other side, are a bunch of politically powerful
people.

Also, much of your email addresses vote-counting, not vote-casting. 
The vote-counting problems are the same whether or not the ballots are
voted absentee or in person.

Absentee voting was found constitutional in Colorado in around 1947
because it had a lot of controls on it:  i.e., the person wanting to
vote absentee appeared in person before the clerk with two witnesses,
there had to be good cause for voting absentee, etc.  All those
controls now have been removed--and, as I pointed out, there is the
significant new incursion into voters' privacy rights, with their names
appearing on the ballot (because the ballot is contained in the marked
envelope).  Numerous types of conduct which are criminal if conducted
at the polling place--e.g., electioneering--are countenanced in
absentee voting.  People are now getting together to vote their
ballots; and the dictating of a vote by an employer is perfectly
possible.  The worker just shows the voted ballot to the employer
before mailing it back.

The problem with ballots going missing may still exist in precinct
polling place elections, as you assert--but nothing on the scale that
we see with mail ballots and absentee ballots.  I read a small item a
few weeks ago saying that our secretary of state is presently
considering liberalizing the absentee voting requirements for military
personnel serving overseas, so that they do not even need to fill out
an application.  This is an open door for voting fraud.  (Not that the
mere fact of personally signed applications in any way addresses the
numerous other opportunities for fraud that exist in the absentee
voting process.)

So, the best solution, although still not perfect, because nothing is,
is to have the whole voting process conducted in front of a multitude
of eyes, as I said before.  Especially the "eyes" of people who are
neighbors.  For instance, the polling place procedure required by law
has the election judges announcing the name of the voter before the
voter is given a ballot.  Given that this person is surrounded by his
neighbors, there is a much better chance of detecting a phony than if
that voter is submitting a ballot through the mail.  

All these voting "advances," like expanded absentee voting, mail
ballots, electronic voting and vote-counting--and even the mechanical
lever machines--have been brought in under the rubric of convenience,
but the real reason for each one of them, I am convinced, is that they
enable the election to be co-opted.

Alison Maynard


-- "R. Mercuri" <notable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I am sorry to break this news to you, but if your county absentee 
ballots are disappearing, then there is every reason to believe that 
your precinct ballots are disappearing too. You are suffering from an 
illusion that has you believing that the precincts are safe from 
corruption. Numerous computer scientists have already demonstrated that 
the precinct ballot counters can be rigged so that incorrect vote totals 
are reported. This will only be caught with a 100% in-precinct hand 
count, RIGHT at the end of election day, publicly performed.

BTW, if you want to see votes disappearing en masse in the precincts, 
just move to Ohio. I am currently the key expert in a recount from the 
November 2006 election in Franklin County, Ohio. After we revealed the 
facts about votes going missing at polling places, Franklin County 
election officials admitted (in court) that 86% of the precincts had a 
different vote signature totals from the polling books than were 
reported as the number of ballots cast in the precincts. They told the 
judge that this was "normal." I'm sure if it's normal for Ohio, based on 
what you've told me, it's normal in Colorado too. Ballots go missing and 
ballot boxes get stuffed in the precincts just as easily as they do in 
the county with absentees -- this is a PROCEDURAL PROBLEM. If you want 
to stop it, it has to be stopped by holding people accountable and 
throwing them in jail if they aren't (as was done recently in Ohio due 
to the corruption in the Cuyahoga County elections office). Your voters 
who were told they had already voted should have SUED.

Eliminating absentee ballots disenfranchises the many citizens who are 
unable to make it to the polling place on election day. I do not believe 
that eliminating absentee ballots will solve your corruption problems. 
Addressing your corruption problems is the only way to solve your 
corruption problems. You need to throw the bums in jail and ensure total 
transparency and total public oversight of your election process end to 
end in order to have confidence in your elections.

Sincerely,
Rebecca Mercuri.