What Counts?

This is a roundup on what is wrong with our voting system. Brad Friedman tries to vote. He had a lot of problems. Fortunately he was wired with the California Secretary of State's office. This was not his first problem with voting irregularities. It was his first personal experience. The comment section (from which I have cribbed some urls) is good too. Brad also discusses Why 'Vote-by-Mail' Elections are a Terrible Idea for Democracy. Thanks to Instapundit for that first link.

Juris-imprudence is very interesting in showing how to take back control of government by ordinary citizens. This bit on Grand Juries [opens a doc] was especially interesting.

I really like Black Box Voting for their coverage of the issues. I did a bit on them (basically a reprint of one of their www pages) at Black Box Voting.

Vote Fraud And Election Issues is maintained by The Equal Justice Foundation. They seem to be libertarian oriented. Their page on the Drug War proves it (as far as proof is possible without a direct statement). They have an article by Harry Browne.

Bill Hobbs talks about election irregularities in 2004. This site looks at the Presidential Election of 2004.

Prison Planet says that there is Clear Evidence Of Widespread Vote Fraud In New Hampshire. They have another report Vote Fraud Expert Warns Of New Hampshire Chicanery. They mention
Black Box Voting, which is a good thing.

There is even a book out by John Fund Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy. He says it is not a party specific problem.

Here is a very nice history lesson: Origins of American Vote Fraud. He says it is the Republicans. I think he is probably right. At least about what went on during and after the Civil War. Which may explain the rise of the KKK.

In February 1867 Tennessee enfranchised freedmen, and Republicans established local chapters of the Union League, a political arm of the party, to mobilize the new black voters. In some respects the KKK became the conservative ex-Confederates' answer to the Union League, a rallying point for white Democrats determined to drive freedmen, Republicans, and their allies from the polls. During the spring of 1867 the KKK's innocent beginnings began to give way to intimidation and violence as some of its members sought to keep freedmen in their traditional place.

The official reorganization of the Klan into a political and terrorist movement began in April 1867, when the state's Democratic Party leadership met in Nashville. An invitation sent by the Pulaski den to others in the state called for a gathering of members at the Maxwell House hotel, where Tennessee's conservative Democrats provided for greater control of an expanding KKK. A prescript established administrative protocols and emphasized the need for secrecy. Subsequently, former Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest was elected the first and only Grand Wizard. In 1868 a revised prescript declared the Klan the defender of the Constitution of the United States and the protector of the orphans and widows of Confederate dead. Klansmen were required to swear that they had never been members of the Union army, the Union League, or the Republican Party, and they supported re-enfranchising ex-Rebels and upholding the South's constitutional rights.

Now isn't that interesting. The Klan was a response to Republican depredations. Something you don't hear much about in most history books. I think that may provide some good background for my 2005 article Dems revert to Klan roots.

Well, that was an interesting digression. Now back to vote fraud.

I think all this points to an essential feature of the internet age. Distance is no longer a barrier to the transport of information. Small groups of interested parties can band together exchange useful information and then get things done. Some one wrote a book about it.

Cross Posted at Classical Values