All who are hoping for continued Democratic control of Congress, and perhaps the presidency as well, in 2008 would do well to get serious about election insecurity, voter disenfranchisement, and the like now, while there's still time to make progress on fixing Anerica's broken election system. And of course this is true, too, for those who would just like to see honest elections in which those who want to vote are able to do so, and the votes of those who do vote are counted correctly.
According to top Republican strategist Karl Rove, speaking to Time magazine correspondent Mike Allen, their Nov 2006 loss was not extraordinary. The RNC is emphasizing how narrow the margins of victory were in quite a few races.
The Republican National Committee has been pointing out that a small shift in votes would have made a big difference. A shift of 77,611 votes would have given Republicans control of the House, according to Bush's political team. And a shift of 2,847 votes in Montana, or 7,217 votes in Virginia, or 41,537 votes in Missouri would have given a Republicans control of the Senate. In addition, the party has calculated that the winner received 51 percent or less in 35 contests, and that 23 races were decided by two percentage points or fewer, 18 races were decided by fewer than 5,000 votes, 15 races were decided by fewer than 4,000 votes, 10 races were decided by fewer than 3,000 votes, eight were decided by fewer than 2,000 votes and five races were decided by fewer than 1,000 votes.
The implication is that politically or financially motivated hackers and programmers; corrupt, lazy, or incompetent election officials; and sundry other malefactors will likely be able to make a significant difference yet again in 2008 unless we sort out our election mess very quickly.
Taking into account that it may take months to get federal legislation passed, that the primaries are only about a year away, and that it can take up to six months for an election jurisdiction to prepare ballots and set up the mechanics for an election, we have no time to waste.
Comments (1)
Other factors to consider, include: (1) with a much smaller net national percentage win, the Republicans in 1994 obtained many more congressional seats than the Dems did with their bigger landslide in 2006, due both to gerrymandering as well as election irregularities. See Landslide Denied http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/landslide_denied_exit_polls_vs_vote_count_2006
Secondly, the institution of Congress is greatly diminished in its relative power. It is loaded with trillions more in debt, the executive ignores many of its laws passed (signing statements) it has historically ceded war powers, and privatization has transferred other powers away. Habeas corpus is suspended and the executive does not need to explain who or why it imprisons.
Yet, due to the new Dem Majority it will still be possible for Dems to be blamed in 2008 for the state of the Nation even though we now have a 'strong President' system of government more than a tripartite branch.
Posted by Paul Lheto![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.commonwealinstitute.org/CIBlog/nav-commenters.gif)
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February 24, 2007 11:05 PM
Posted on February 24, 2007 23:05