Act or Election Fix Is In

Bet you thought the 2004 national election was over.

Not for unhappy Democrats in Alaska.

The Anchorage Daily News reported in January of this year that the state Division of Elections has refused to turn over its electronic voting files to the Democrats, arguing that the data format belongs to a private company and can't be made public.

The private company?

Alaska's electronic voting machines were supplied by Ohio-based Diebold Election Systems. Diebold has told Alaska officials that it owns the "structure of the database" though the data itself is public.

See any problems here?

In other words, Diebold's position is, we'll give you the result of the votes, but not how the database was constructed that controlled how those votes were tabulated.

The Alaska Democratic Party says the information is a public record essential for verifying the accuracy of the 2004 general election and must be provided.

Elections officials in many states have raised doubts about Diebold's electronic voting machines. Numerous investigations and lawsuits over electronic voting machine election results are ongoing. And getting basically nowhere.

Diebold's CEO in 2004, Wally O'Dell, a major GOP donor and fundraiser, vowed to deliver Ohio electoral votes to President Bush. Bush was declared winner in Ohio even though media consortium exit polls, as well as the Harris and Zogby polls, all declared John Kerry the winner.

This lack of transparency in our elections must be resolved. No private company owns the elections.

If we don't fix the electronic voting system now, we are going to be Bushwacked by the secretive, non-accountable and arrogant administration again this November.