Caught On Tape, The Fix Is In
Aug 21: Philadelphia, PA -- Caught On Tape, The Fix Is In is a new online video about America's flawed voting process by freelance journalist Lynn Landes, producer of EcoTalk.org. In this 13-minute video Landes strongly urges all political candidates to not concede their races until they or their supporters have verified election results through the collection of voter affidavits or signed statements in some or all precincts. She calls these efforts, "Parallel Elections".
The video begins with a now-infamous clip of Congressman Peter King (NY-R) on the White House lawn just before the 2004 presidential election. "The election is over. We won." (Reporter's voice, "How do you know that?") "It's all over, but the counting. And we'll take care of the counting," King boasts.
Also featured are some fascinating clips of an examination of the Danaher voting system by Pennsylvania state officials in November of 2004. In one clip a company representative admits that, in their computer program, every candidate's name must have a party identifier next to it. Landes notes that this feature enables the company to skew election results across-the-board in favor of one party over the other before the machines ever leave the factory floor.
Landes cautions viewers not to jump to conclusions, "Most voting machine companies have close ties to the Republican Party and most voting machine irregularities appear to favor Republicans, but I must emphasize, that is not always the case. Even in Republican and Democratic primaries, where the race is between members of the same party, voting machines are exhibiting suspicious irregularities. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party and the Green Party's measured response to the gravity of this situation makes one wonder."
The film warns viewers that election officials and voting machine companies can easily manipulate votes and not get caught. They accomplish this through the use of the secret ballot, voting machines, and absentee or early voting.
"It wasn't always this way," she notes.
In the first half of our nation's history, Landes points out, elections in America were open and observable. It was only after the Civil War, as the right to vote expanded to African Americans, that the voting process itself began to recede from public view and meaningful oversight. It started with absentee voting by the military in the 1870's, the use of secret ballots in the 1880's, and voting by machine in the 1890's. Today, approximately 30% of all voting is conducted early or by absentee, 95% of all votes are processed by machines, and 100% of all ballots are secret and anonymous. Landes proposes that these voting methods be rescinded and banned.
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Lynn Landes is one of the nation's leading journalists on voting technology and democracy issues. She has also written on the subject of the environment and health. Readers can find her articles and research at EcoTalk.org. Formerly, Lynn was a news reporter for DUTV and commentator for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Contact info: lynnlandes@earthlink.net / (215) 629-3553
