What Will It Take?

I don't know about you, but I am getting a little weary reading about yet another instance of "election irregularities" in Ohio and elsewhere, and not seeing any particular leadership towards resolving the issues they raise, except from John Conyers, Jesse Jackson and scores of activists and some media folks. Today, we have "The greatest story never told," from the Columbus Free Press, that frames the issue like this: "The United States is in crisis, 271 years after Zenger established press freedom as a precious right of Americans. A new despot has emerged in the form of corporate control of media." Then here's a quote from "No Vote In Ohio !!??" in alt press online: "The voting irregularities in the state of Ohio just won’t go away. Yesterday, in the state’s capital in Columbus, democratic members of the House Judicial Committee met for a rare field hearing to investigate alleged incidents of ‘election malfeasance and manipulation in the 2004 vote.” The article then lays out the major problems that were observed during the past election. Wired News gives us "Ohio Recount Stirs Trouble," today. It takes us through the now familiar tales of misdeeds. Finally, even the NEW YORK TIMES finally comes out editorially as follows:
"In Washington's gubernatorial election, Dino Rossi, a Republican, and Christine Gregoire, a Democrat, finished in a virtual dead heat. With nearly 2.9 million votes cast, Mr. Rossi initially led by 261 votes. A machine recount took his lead down to 42. Ms. Gregoire requested a hand recount. During it, King County, a heavily Democratic area that includes Seattle, found 723 absentee ballots that had not been counted because election workers made errors like failing to verify the voters' signatures. Republicans, fearing that those ballots would throw the election to Ms. Gregoire, have gotten a lower court judge to prevent them from being counted, at least temporarily. But there is no reason these ballots and other valid ballots that have turned up during the recount should not be counted. The right to vote cannot be taken away because an election official did not do his or her job correctly.In Ohio, where a recount of the presidential election is under way, it is becoming clear that as important as recounts are, they are not enough to ensure the integrity of our elections. Representative John Conyers Jr., a Democrat from Michigan, has charged that an employee of a company that makes vote-counting software used across the state may have tampered with one county's vote tabulator after the election to make the recount come out right. If people other than election officials have free access to the tabulation software, it can make a recount an empty gesture. Clearly the American election system needs significant improvement, starting with voter-verified paper trails for every vote cast electronically. In the current flawed system, the best chance we have of producing accurate results is to be on guard for manipulation of electronic voting machines and tabulation software, and to conduct conscientious recounts when the outcome is at all in doubt."
Tepid, reasoned and very sensible. The only problem with all these comments is that to date, nobody is acting in support of them, like say, in the UKRAINE. Like other "bad" things (racism comes to mind), nothing seems to be changing fast enough to make a difference. In the case of Ohio, the lack of action is impacting who is going to be declared victorious in the presidential election. It remains to be seen how the Washington Governor's race will be resolved, once the courts get involved. The P-I sums up today's events this evening with, "Governor's race heads to Supreme Court."