OR: Both Sides Play Dirty, We the Voter Loses
BUSH CAMPAIGN OFFICIAL RESIGNS President Bush's New England campaign chairman stepped down Friday after the Democrats accused him of taking part in the jamming of their telephone lines in New Hampshire on Election Day 2002. "The Democrats' allegations against me are without merit," the official, James Tobin, said in a statement. "But to avoid any harm to the campaign from their underhanded tactics, I elected earlier this week to step down from my voluntary position with the campaign." Last summer, Chuck McGee, former executive director of the state Republican Party, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and admitted paying $15,600 to a Virginia company that hired another business to make computer-generated calls that jammed Democrats' phone lines for about 90 minutes. Mr. McGee acknowledged speaking to an unidentified official with a national political organization about the jamming. Democrats have said they believe that Mr. Tobin was the official. (AP)
The last few days have refocused the election now that the debates are over on the actual voting. The election seems to have more abuse going into it than one in Afghanistan. The sophistication of the participants and the millions of dollars that will be spent signal an ever increasing desire on both parties parts to win at all costs.
This is not new, of course, as voter outrages in many states occured in 2000. However, now that the focus has shifted to "how" the election will be conducted it is obvious that both sides need to take a close look not at what could be done, because in a high tech age the election could be invalidated by many different means but rather the result of the tampering.
When I was in high school (back in the middle ages) the girls in my class always served as class officers. But I knew that I could win some spending cash by getting a guy elected. My friends all took the bet and pooh poohed any chance I had of doing it. Just to make it more lucrative, I had them pick the guy we would elect, who was, of course, the class clown (not me, btw, I finished second in that voting). What I did was go to the nominating committee meeting and talk about virtue and honor and, knowing that the class president of our sophomore and junior classes had groups of different friends nominated both of them (well, the junior class president was nominated by someone else, but you get the idea). Anyway, the day of the election came (which was done by getting everyone together in the auditorium (all 91 of us) and electing by a show of hands. The guy my friends picked was sitting in the back trying to think of a way to escape.
I stood up, talked about the rancor in the campaign (both candidates were bitter) and said we needed someone to bring the class together and so I nominated the class clown. He was stunned, of course, but in a brief moment of lucidity stood up, said he would do the best he could and sat down.
The vote went straight according to sex, all boys for the class clown and the girls split down the middle. The class clown was elected, I was a little richer and the rightful officers were usurped. As class president, the class clown went on to anger both teachers and students, cancelled the senior dance (he hated dancing) and divided up the class treasury at the end of the year and then had a "graduation beer bash blowout" following the ceremony.
Here's another issue. The report above was about a Republican campaign chairman for the Northeast (Maine, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont). Run a search on the man's name (James Tobin) at CNN. You won't get a thing back. This story broke on Saturday the 16th. People at JU are extremely aware of most stories occuring. Had you seen this one?
The point is that elections can be manipulated, but at what cost? Would you want either of these men to be elected because their side played a little dirtier? How much dirtier is acceptable to you before even you could not vote for the man you believed so strongly about?
Can we afford to not have the right to elect?