Ameritocracy

Oct2408

Election protection in an acorn shell

The right to a valid, counted vote is a democratic (with a lower-case “d”) issue of such import that it should be a priority of all Americans - regardless of party afflitiation - and especially the media to point out when it occurs, to whom, and why.

The fact is, in the history of democracy, there probably never has been a 100% fair election. Tampering happens, votes are miscounted or misread, and the factor of human error is always present. Ideally, we would have a way to safeguard such instances. But when tampering, fraud, error, and sly partisan tactics start affecting the outcome of the election, such that whether the will of the electorate is represented by the result of the election is brought into question as it was in 2000 and 2004, then it becomes a democratic and patriotic duty to assure that all legitimate voters are able to vote, and that their votes are counted.

Ameritocracy has recently seen a rise in voter-protection related from politicians and pundits on both sides of the partisan spectrum. Here are a few starting points to help you educate yourself about what to look out for and how to protect your vote

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Republican election officials at the local and state level have used [HAVA] to give GOP candidates an edge on Election Day by creating new barriers to registration, purging legitimate names from voter rolls…and discarding valid ballots