Election Theft 2004

The Government Accounting Office (GAO) has completed its investigation regarding the use of electronic voting machines in the 2004 presidential election. I knew that things in Ohio were bad last November, but I didn't realize they were this bad:

1. Some electronic voting machines "did not encrypt cast ballots or system audit logs, and it was possible to alter both without being detected." In short, the machines provided a way to manipulate the outcome of the election. In Ohio, more than 800,000 votes were cast on electronic voting machines, some registered seven times Bush’s official margin of victory.

2: the report further stated that: "it was possible to alter the files that define how a ballot looks and works, so that the votes for one candidate could be recorded for a different candidate." Very many sworn statements and affidavits claim that did happen in Ohio in 2004.

Next, the report says, "Vendors installed uncertified versions of voting system software at the local level." The GAO found that falsifying election results without leaving evidence of doing so by using altered memory cards could easily be done.

The GAO additionally found that access to the voting network was very easy to compromise because not all electronic voting systems had supervisory functions protected by password. That meant access to one machine gave access to the whole network. That critical finding showed that rigging the election did not take a "widespread conspiracy" but simply the cooperation of a small number of operators with the power to tap into the networked machines. They could thus alter the vote totals at will. It therefore was no big task for a single programmer to flip vote numbers to give Bush the 118,775 votes.

The way I see it, the re-installation of Bush in the White House involved more than just a bunch of corrupt individuals in Ohio -- it was a joint effort involving many others, including members of Congress as well as the Corporate Media.

But beyond the effect the GAO Report will (hopefully) have on future elections, I don't really care anymore. Let's face it -- if Kerry had been declared the winner in 2004, he could have blamed Bush for the Iraq Catastrophe, but only for a year or two.

Then Iraq would have become Kerry's problem, and Bush would have published his book -- the first presidential memoir ever written in crayon on brown paper bags -- and blamed Kerry for "not being able to finish the job in Iraq," and all would be well within the Republican ranks.

But Bush now has to live with his failures while still in office, as does the rest of the GOP. And Iraq is one of these failures. In fact, it is all about Iraq. TraitorGate is, at its core, all about Iraq. All of the other scandals are merely icing on the cake.

The one thing I'm going to enjoy the most is watching the Republicans who are up for reelection in 2006 distance themselves from Bush and his administration in the coming months.

UPDATE: The actual GAO Report is here.