Jun 012006
I’m usually suspicious of conspiracy theories, whether they come from the right or left. So often, conspiracy theories seem to force a narrative on events that allows proponents to avoid confronting the more prosaic factors underlying most large-scale tragedies: human failings on a massive scale and an indifferent universe. But I just scanned Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s Rolling Stone article in which he makes a compelling case that significant voter fraud occurred during the 2004 presidential election, particularly in Ohio. I’ve heard similar claims in the past and I always dismissed them as more hyperbole from the fringe left. I reasoned that any indications of election fraud would have been revealed in the media. Perhaps the idealist in me wanted to trust in the supposed transparency of our electoral process–to refuse to believe that another fiasco like the election of 2000 could happen again. I’m certainly not qualified to judge whether fraud did indeed occur in Ohio, but I may have been mistaken when I so casually dismissed the protests of some of my fellow progressives.
I’m also starting to think that the disability community’s push to have electronic voting machines installed in every precinct might be making us unwitting enablers of future stolen elections. I’d rather let another person mark a ballot for me than have any concerns that the security of my vote could be compromised.
