Dodd's HAVA accountability

A couple of days ago Ned went to NH to represent Chris Dodd. I finally got around to reading the MLN blog entry. The 1st question was about HAVA. As much as he is one of the better candidates running on the Democratic side, he should be held as accountable for his HAVA vote as Joe Lieberman should be for Iraq votes. (Because Dodd was a leader in HAVA and Joe was a leader in the original Iraq resolution). Here is my comment.

Dodd's HAVA accountability

Dodd killed paper ballots in CT for one year by intervening in the House after it was passed unanomously in the Senate.

The next year I was on a conference call with a dozen concerned CT voters, with Dodd's commitee staffer who wrote the HAVA bill. She suggested votes could be verified and machines audited by calling voters after the election and asking who they voted for (I trust I don't need to explain how rediculous this would be).

I agree with many of Dodd's other strong positions such as Iraq and Habius Corpus, these were also strong positions where he is leading. He is one of the candidates I would be glad to see as president.

However, just as George Bush should be held accountable for starting the Iraq war and its consequences, Chris Dodd must be held accountable for the lack of integrity in the voting systems in Ohio in 2004, Georgia in 2002, Sarosota in 2006. HAVA without paper ballots, strong audits, strong recounts, and enforcement is as big a mistake as his Iraq vote and may have prolonged the war for several years.

Our ancestors died to give us the vote. Our friends and descendents may well have died because it has been given over to Diebold, ES&S, etc., with hardly a wimper from our media and our representatives.