Why vote in a rigged election?

I guess this post is more for my own benefit than yours.

Why vote in a rigged election? I was asked this question a few days ago and I've thought about it for a while.

I believe our election system is as crooked as a crowbar and yet I still intend to vote in our next election. The thought never occurred to me that it truly is an utter waste of time. I know my ballot will be cast for which ever candidate some unknown party wishes. Whether it's through shit-canning the ballot or computer manipulation, the end result will be the same. Whatever I want for the future of my country and community is utterly irrelevant to what is going to happen. I have no means of changing this system since the very people that rigged it are the ones who administer the election and are the only ones who can change the rules. We can't change the rules through petitions because it will ultimately rely on a vote that can be manipulated.

I guess it does seem like a complete waste of time and hope. However, it sort of reminds me of buying a lottery ticket and dreaming about what I would do if I won all that money. Every time I buy a ticket, which is rare, I spend a little bit of time building an imaginary world where I can work on inventions or build my own business or just finally relax without worry. For me, a lottery ticket has a value and even though I never get paid, I get to enjoy the dream.

So I guess that's why I plan on voting in my crooked election in '06 in spite of the fact that it's a complete waste of time. For a time, I get to dream and hope that something will go terribly and spectacularly wrong and maybe this time they won't get away with it. I know it's a remote possibility, I probably have better chances of hitting the lottery, but I don't play the lottery to win, I play it to dream.


On edit
P.S. By terribly and spectacularly wrong, I mean something more terrible and spectaculer than shutting down Warren County BOE by faking a terrorist attack. I'm not sure what they could do to top that one but there's always hope. Cha-ching!

instead of Tim Kaine.

Vote, vote, vote!

save us. This is the heart of the beast, it really is. I thought it was Florida or Texas but no, the heart of the evil GOP empire lies somewhere in Ohio. If you defeat the GOP here, the war is over. With our laws the way they are, we can't legally do anything to stop this fraud. If you guys can win back Congress, you can change the Federal laws and also turn Conyers loose on by then Gov. Blackwell. If you can't, I'm probably going to move to Canada.

I think that these corruption probes will get to blackwell hopefully after he gest the Republican nomination for governor. If he goes to jail, your sec. of state and governor should be secure.

That's what's wrong with America. American's go along with the crookedness like everything is ok no matter how much things are screwed up.

My guess is that there is a limit to how many votes can be stolen. So I vote to overwhelm the thieves.

not that they can't throw my paper ballot in the waste paper basket but . . .

ellen fl

Because we went out and voted in what we were terribly afraid would be a rigged election, we were able to come up with evidence that yes, the election was rigged.

Let me explain. The races on the ballot were for the national offices plus one or two district judges. There were 17,000 more votes cast for judges than were cast in the national election. That means to think that the election had been fair and honest, you'd have to believe that 17,000 people in this state made the effort to go out, stand in lines, and vote for judges while ignoring the main races. That boggles the mind, and I don't care how rigidly authoritarian and respectful of offical explanations one might be. Since Democratic candidates swept those judges' races, I think it's pretty safe to assume that many, if not most of those 17,000 votes were Democratic votes, and that only fraud won this state for Stupid. If we had not voted, we wouldn't know that.

If people had not voted in the rigged election of 2004, we would have no idea of the scope of the fraud. Since they did, here and elsewhere, we have the numbers to prove just how corrupt the whole thing was. There is a case clawing its way through the courts here; there are similar cases in other states.

Consider also the ballot initiatives in Ohio last month. The historically accurate newspaper poll numbers were nearly reversed by those voting machines, and the discrepancies were up to 30%, far outside any margin of error. If people had not voted, we wouldn't know just how sloppy those companies are getting in their quest for stolen elections.

"Sloppy" is the key to all this, and "sloppy" will be what brings these men down. If we had not voted, and had our votes stolen, we would never be able to fight them and have a chance of bringing them to justice.

And some of the measures were real close calls.

Sorry to hear your fatalism, but I'm glad you'll continue to cast a ballot.

Only a percentage of the votes get changed/discarded. If an overwhelming landslide of dems turn out to vote, the Diebold fix is not effective, it will be found out if they try to alter too many votes. If we had 100% turn out like they do in Australia where you get taxed if you dont vote, Diebold would not work at all.

So, yes, there is a chance that your vote wont be counted, but there is a higher statistical probability that your vote WILL be counted the way it was cast.

59% to 33%, with about 8% undecided. The outcome was 63.5% against, with just 36.5% in favor. I think these numbers just blew your theory all to hell. They can reverse the results when ever they like and never have to justify any discrepancies. They use machines to count the votes that are open to fraud as confirmed by the latest GAO report. The only ones who can investigate this are also the ones who run it so I'd say, it's pretty much a done deal. The turnout is irrelevant if they have the ability to change the numbers.

about the results of this election. It is a case of "Pigs flying in Ohio"

http://www.grandtheftelectionohio.com/051116.htm

As I note in the cartoon strip, MSM reporters have been slow to notice the flying pigs, but ordinary citizens have eyeballs and 20/20 vision.

One more time, the citizens of Ohio need to take creative action. I suggest refusing to pay state taxes until their right to have their votes counted is restored. No taxation without representation. An Ohio Tea Party.

the more likely they will get caught.

even if it doesn't have any effect on the overall election. When it's all over, when the perpetrators are nailed, I'll feel good about having done what little I did to resist this criminality that is running rampant in our country under the guise of HAVA. Those that protested during the Civil Rights marches and so on must have felt at times that nothing would ever come of it, but eventually the laws were changed. And those who worked for civil rights can feel good about having done their tiny bit to advance a noble cause.

only to make it harder for their cheat to 'win', and easier for us to detect their cheat.

they won that is half the battle. I am not going to give up voting. They want us and people who don't usually, vote to believe that they won.They didn't win in 2000 or 2004.Give up and you won't have any rights. I don't believe that they only cheated in Ohio, I believe it happened in other states.

With all of these members at DU I don't see why we don't have a writing campaign or something to get on these senators asses to do something to pass legislation for a receipt or something. When the repubs vote something down, why don't we get on them or write these papers and email tv to let tell them know,which senators to light the fire under and don't let up.

We have all of these members at DU when we want to Du a poll a lot of people get on it. These senators are suppose to work for the entire state not just repubs. If the situation were reversed they would be all over the Dem president and House and senate and the press. They never let up, when dems were the majority.

Low turnout is a key ingredient for election theft and a critical part of the Republican strategy. They get much bigger results from their voter suppression projects than they can ever hope to steal.

And then there's no chance of anyone going to jail or of outrage or of exit polls that wildly diverge from reality.

first just control the election fraudulently. Break the spirit of those like you.

An soon those that believe the election is rigged ( informed activist Dems and Greens) will stop voting.

From that point it's no longer necessary to rig the elections because of the significant progressive voter drop off makes it unnecessary. And if challenged then the investigators find no fraud.

hang themselves in public for all to see.

If nothing else each election provides more information and chances to catch them in the act.

Besides, maybe some of us can stop having nightmares that we wake up and find ourselves in Ohio. I had one recently, but I must say I did live there once upon a time, so the nightmare is about a little more than Ohio's politics.

And maybe we can answer that question at long last:

Why, oh, why, oh why oh did I ever leave Ohio?"

Like I said, I still plan on voting but I also know it's a complete waste of time. But maybe this time will be different, maybe this time they'll shut down a BOE and someone will actually investigate it. Maybe this time, the statistical anomolies will be so stark that even the blind could see the fraud, maybe this time a good person will win in Ohio instead of a crony. Maybe this time... I think I'll go buy a lottery ticket tonight, maybe this time I'll win...

And what are you trying to convey to everyone here with that kind of thinking?

Vote anyway, Mike. If you Give Up then they truly have won.

NEVER stop fighting until the fight is done. And NEVER Give Up, even if there is no hope.

It doesn't matter if it's a waste of time, Mike. We must Resist these thugs at every turn.

There is no guarantee on the Future, and they may win in the end. But I will NOT make it easy for them.

Go Down Swinging.

So what if they have the machines.

Resist anyway.

Is there any proof it was rigged?

Thats the question that always gets me. it's right up there with can you prove Kerry won?

I think it should be the governments responsibility to prove it wasn't rigged and that Bush won. But what do I know. touch this computer and your vote will be counted. Ya right. Give us your Poor, Tired, and Hungry so that we can test Biological Weapons on them. Slavery Abolished? My Ass.

(yes I went to school when they taught civics) it is either

BALLOTS OR BULLETS....

If the pukes want to make a choice I will be glad to help them.

I have an elephant gun in my house....

Damn it to hell, it is the truth.

My fantasy is that the Dems - who are infinitely smarter and better looking - will devise a counter defense that involves our own magical software that will change the votes and create a landslide win, something outrageous like 95% of the vote. I dare the bastards to start quacking about us cheating more efficiently than they.

I don't think they can reverse a landslide victory for Dems.

If it starts with dems not voting then repubs will surely win.

If people vote Dem en-masse, then there's a chance of Dems actually winning.