Star-Telegram | Don Erler:
“Conspiratorial fears proved to be unfounded. One staunchly Republican pundit wittily remarked that for the 'first time in four election cycles, Democrats are not attacking the Diebold Corp. the day after the election, accusing it of rigging the voting machines. I guess Diebold has finally been vindicated.'”
Hardly. Mr Erler's witty friend got it wrong. Democratic complaints against voter suppression were restrained because Democrats won, not because the American electoral system is cured. Electronic voting systems are still too open to hacking. A lack of attacks this time is not proof of protection. Technical glitches, whether intentional or not, were common. In one Congressional district in Florida, there were over 18,000 "undervotes" on the touch-screen voting systems, a much higher percentage than in precincts that used paper ballots. That suspicious result is still being investigated. (Coincidentally, the Republican candidate there eked out a narrow victory in the initial, official count. ;-)
There were reports of old-fashioned voter intimidation in Maryland, where anonymous phone calls were made to African-Americans threatening them with arrest if they were registered to vote in more than one locality. In California, Hispanic voters were threatened with jail or deportation if they voted, ignoring the fact that many are citizens. In Arizona, Hispanic voters reported that men with video cameras were harassing Hispanics going to the polls.
The integrity of our elections should be important to all Americans. Republicans don't make this a priority because the abuses are too often for their partisan advantage. And now, Democratic priorities are elsewhere because they won. Democrats and Republicans both, win or lose, should seek continuous improvement in a system that has a history of abuse and vulnerabilities that still exist.
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