Thank you Center for American Progress

Paper Ballots and Pencil

The back and forth conversations on voting are interesting but distant to the real issue.

It is not I that must prove the vote counted but rather the state must prove to me my vote counted.

That can only be done with a paper ballot count. Any discussion about whether or not a machine run by a corporation rather than my government leads quite frankly to illegal and most certainly unconstitutional acts to be perpetrated upon the electorate.

We are not discussing some minor dispute over a bauble or trinket but the very life blood of our country (the vote). We are discussing the very foundation of our nation (We The People)and its’ effects locally, nationally and internationally.

Quite frankly that there is such a great question and debate over the integrity of the vote count only serves to my point. This is presently a system of extreme secrecy which is totally incompatible with our Constitutional Republic and must be replaced with an open and transparent system.

This is not rocket science it is a vote. Paper ballot and pencil has and continues to serve quite well in such places as Ireland(copy and paste link below)

http://www.ireland.com/focus/election2007/features/features25.html

They have a vote day and then a count day with interesting results on the populace:

“On election day the nation votes and on count day the nation waits to learn what it has collectively decided. This is an awesome moment and for as long as we are without electronic voting machines it will remain a slow moment. There is a case to be made that it should remain a slow moment.”

I grew up in New Hampshire at a time when the paper ballot and pencil, hand count process took place. It was slow and intimate as everyone in town converged on the polling places to cast a ballot. In tow where us young folk witnessing the exchange and actions (not always pretty but honest) of the voting process and an ever watchful eye by all parties concerned (the citizen) with little opportunity for skull duggery.

What a pitty that we are now a nation of self serving be rights positioning the vote to better reflect a market share than a singularly awesome moment in a nations history.

Shame on us all for obfuscating this most important issue and destroying the future for the real focus of a nation our children.

I say Paper Ballot and Pencil and let’s slow down