We, the People, are De-Voted

By George:

The article you will read below was written by me close to a year ago, but for whatever reasons, I didn't publish it. I am not egotistical enough to think that the election results would have been different had I published it, but it would have given me the satisfaction to know that I was able to predict the future. So read the story, and at the end I will inject the new reality into the mix.

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Since this year of 2012 is a leap year, that means it is a presidential election year. All the talking heads are pontificating with self-perceived insight into the ultimate results of said election, but I can only listen and shake my head in disbelief. Don't they realize that all speculations may be moot? Someone has to stand up and scream "It doesn't matter who you vote for, because by the time you cast your vote, the winner may already be chosen".

"What the heck are you talking about?"

All right, let me back up a bit to last Election Day, when I went to my local polling place to cast my vote as I have dutifully done every year. Our polling place used the time tested voting machines, you know, the booth with the curtain, the levers that you turn, and finally the handle that you yank to record the vote and open the curtain to release you. The inner workings of the voting machine was a mystery to me that I could only speculate about, but it has gotten us through many Election Days with relatively little fraud. Then our high-speed, digital, Socially Aware world of Facebook and Twitter crowd determined that it was time to modernize our voting system too. The mechanical voting machines using levers and curtain pulls are out, computerized voting is IN.

So with trepidation in my heart, I put on a "show me" smile and went to vote. I was handed a large piece of paper with the candidates' names printed on it, with little circles next to their names. The instructions stated that we were to use a black pen or pencil and fill in the circles for the candidates of our choice. The first alarm bell went off in my tech savvy logical brain. Since the time that I first voted, many years ago, I have never used "paper" ballots. How is changing from mechanical levers to pencil markings to be considered an advancement? But I shrugged, then standing by a table with short partitions on both sides of my allotted two feet of space, I carefully colored in all the appropriate circles . No longer cocooned within the confines of curtains as I made my choices, I knew that in this age of invisible security cameras, my choices could easily be public knowledge. For the moment, I suppressed the thought, and with my ballot in hand, got in line to have my paper "scanned" by the computer.

Aha, the computer. The poll worker who felt that I was unqualified to feed the paper into the scanner, took my ballot and fed it into the scanner. The computer screen flashed the word "accepted" and I was told to move on. Huh??? Alarm bell #2 started clanging. I asked the logical question "How do I know what the computer registered as my vote? Don't I at least get a little printout showing who I voted for?" It was clear to me that when I buy groceries and they scan my items, I get a register tape showing what was scanned, the least this machine should do is verify to my satisfaction that it read the proper candidates. The answer to my query was a curt "This is the system, now move along!" At this point, the alarm bell went on and remained on. I can't believe that we are swithching to a system that not only permits easy fraud, but actually invites it.

So at this point you are probably saying "Oh, you are blowing things out of proportion. This is the future and they must know what they are doing." And I will reply "Yes, I agree." They know what they are doing. They are setting us up for the biggest election fraud ever.

I have been in the computer business for over 40 years, and I have designed, programmed and implemented countless systems. Never in my career could I have gotten away with such shoddy design, such insecure implementation. But then again, I was working for employers who were concerned with system security and data integrity. Here we are ONLY dealing with the future of our country, so it's OK! Is that what we are saying?

What I am saying is that by "modernizing" the election system, we have taken a quantum leap backwards in our ability to ensure HONEST elections. By rushing into computerized voting machines without the proper analysis by real experts, ike myself, we have given the green light to individuals and organizations with nefarious agendas to be able to easily manipulate election results.

So let's discuss the problems inherent in these "computerized" systems. Some we have already touched on, but it's worth repeating. In all computerized systems, you have three main parts, Input, Processing and Output. Of course, each of these main parts has many sub-processes, but I will try to simplify this discussion to avert somnolence.The "Input" part is where the voters select their choices. With the paper system that I just described, it is quite easy to see where there could be problems. Assuming that everyone marks their papers correctly, how do we know what was actually scanned in. There is no indication. Some people in the line in front of me had to have their ballot scanned a few times because it didn't read right. How do I know how the software handles errors. How do I know that while someone was setting up the machines he didn't pre-load data into the system. In addition, with the "old" voting machines, my vote was confidential, and when I pulled the lever, one vote was registered. With this new system, who knows?

Then there are the touch-screen terminals that present the candidates to you on the screen, and you "touch" the screen button to make your choice. Beside the calibration problems, when you are finished, you still don't get a verification receipt of your choice. You don't know what the Program actually records.

For the moment let's assume that the data was somehow gathered honestly and securely. Then when the voting is done, that data has to be transmitted to the main server where it will be combined with all the other gathered data, analyzed and presented to the public as the Election Result. These machines are tied together electronically on a Network. So tell me, when was the last time you heard about computer hackers? Would you believe that these Electronic Voting systems are a breeze for experienced hackers? Yup.... on all levels. The voting machines, the accumulating servers, all the way down the line. Just try to Google the words "voting machine hackers" and you get an eye opener.

But for the sake of argument, let's even assume for now that the voting data has survived through the voting machines and the trip through the network communications, to its final destination, which would be the organization charged with overseeing, analyzing and presenting the election results to the public. This organization would be securely housed in its own Fort Knox, manned by a-partisan or bi-partisan personnell. But alas, that is not the case.The company chosen to oversee and present the American Election Results is a foreign company.

And finally, what more proof do you need of an impending fraudulent elections then the bravado of our Actor-in-Chief who was caught on an open microphone telling the Russians, that since this will be his last elections, after the elections he will have more flexibility to deal with them. You notice that he didn't say "if" he gets reelected.

Welcome to America's first Russian Style Elections.
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Reviewing the above narrative, I must say that I hit the nail on the head. (For the sake of full disclosure, I did update one of the links in the story to bring it up to current day).

We have just come off a very contentious Presidential Election, which all the pollsters called as very close. I followed the run-up to the election along with all of my fellow political observers, and found the momentum swinging towards Romney/Ryan following the debates. The week before Election Day, Romney took the lead in the polls, albeit slightly.

The Romney appearances drew tremendous crowds, on the order of 30 - 50 Thousand, while Obama's draw was diminishing to the point where even with Bruce Springstein as a sidekick, he only drew 2,800 people just days before Election Day.

The evening of Election Day I was surfing the Twitter waves, and found the Romney turnout to be very heavy all over. As the election results were rolling in, most of the states were called as they were expected to fall. My interest was in the "battleground" states. As I was watching the numbers rolling in, I was noticing a relatively big lead for Romney in Wisconsin and Ohio and others. I took a break figuring that the trend will carry through.

Imagine my surprise when later I found the trend suddenly reversing, with ALL the "battleground" states swinging solidly to Obama, giving him the win. My logical mind could not fathom this scenario, since in spite of my warnings about electronic fraud, I really didn't think they would dare to attempt it. But at this point I realized that my worst nightmare had become reality.

The next few days I followed the news closely waiting for the Romney team and the Republicans to demand a recount, but alas, it never happened. In the Non-Obama Media I read an listened to a plethora of articles and videos documenting fraud on a pervasive basis. From the registrations of dead and fictional people, to those bragging about voting multiple times, to eye witness testimony of computerized voting terminals negating Romney votes and giving them to Obama. there is even a video of a programmer testifying in front of a Congressional Committee about him actually writing a program to rig elections at the behest of a politician.

The evidence is there, but when I raise the probability I am suddenly labeled as a conspiracy nut. So what is one man to do?

At this point, I will put my thoughts into another article in which I will try to place this election into perspective from a wider point of view. What that point of view happens to be, you will have to keep guessing until I wrench it out of my gut and put it onto this electronic paper.

But for now, be comforted with the thought that God is the Ultimate Voter.