A Real Vote Must Be Verifiable

From Ernest Partridge at the Crisis Papers:

"Let us state the fundamental moral and political issue clearly and emphatically:

The citizen has no obligation to prove that his ballot is secure; the citizen has a right to be confident that his vote will be counted, as he cast it. And it is the solemn obligation of the government to secure that right.

The right of the citizen to a secure ballot is the foundation of a democratic society and the guarantee that the government rules with the consent of the governed. If that right has been violated by supporters and/or agents of the government, that government has no legitimacy.

We do not know if Election 2004 was fraudulent. But equally important, the paperless machines have made it impossible to verify that it was not fraudulent. And it is the inalienable right of a free people that their franchise be fair, accurate, transparent, and verifiable.

This, at least, we can affirm: there are disquieting indications that this Presidential election, like the previous, was a fraud and that in a fair election, John Kerry would now be the President-elect.

It is unlikely that the media will raise the issue and that there will be a thoroughgoing investigation of this election. Not unless an outraged public demands such an investigation. And so, if John Kerry was fraudulently deprived of his office, and a possible majority of American voters denied the election victory that they had earned, then that crime can not be rectified after December 12, when the Electoral College finalizes the election. If the case is to be made, and if Kerry and Edwards are to assume their fairly won offices, this must be accomplished in a mere five weeks. It is in the hands of the people.

Even Kerry supporters should hope that the election was fair, for if it was not, American Democracy is dead today, even though few Americans are willing even to contemplate that possibility. If in fact the election was rigged, and if nothing is to be done to restore the integrity of the ballot, then the Democrats might just as well save their time and money and not bother to contest the next mid-term election in 2006 and the Presidential election of 2008. The outcome of these elections will be pre-determined, as was the election just completed. The rule of the Republican party will be permanent, and independent of the consent of the governed.

And that precisely defines a tyranny.