Yesterday in Washington, the Holt bill (HR 5036) – which would authorize reimbursement for states and counties that convert to paper ballot voting machines before the November elections or help pay for manual audits after the election – was added to the congressional calendar used for non-controversial measures. And then prompted objected to by the Bush administration and defeated along party lines. Apparently, free and fair elections in this country are controversial:
“…the Administration opposes the bill’s authorization of excessive spending for reimbursement to States for the costs of obtaining paper ballot voting systems and conducting audits or hand counting of election results….”
Excessive spending? Really?!? How much is too much to have verifiable elections in this country? Please add this to my list of bitter-worthy Bush administration manufactured realities. Rep. Holt responsed, “I note that many people who opposed this legislation supported spending almost $330 million in recent years to provide election assistance in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. I would have hoped those who supported efforts to export democracy abroad would be equally committed to strengthening democracy here at home.”
You can hope, Mr. Holt, but remember, these are the same bunch who believe that supporting the troops means preventing wounded ex-soldiers living in VA facilities from registering to vote because “voter registration is a ‘partisan distraction’ that would detract VA staff from their mission of caring for sick ex-soldiers.” Actually, it’s who you vote for that’s partisan. And secret. Allowing those who served their country to register to vote is the most non-partisan, and the very least, we can do.
Luckily, we have at least one presidential candidate who has not only called out the new VA Secretary, General James Peake, on his bizarre anti-participatory democracy, anti-American rationalization but has also demanded, in tandem, a full accounting of “wounded, injured and medically evacuated troops when discussing the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Not sure why, though, we expect them to count the votes of our wounded vets when we can’t even get them to count as one of the terrible costs of war. Blood and treasure, indeed.
“President Bush announced tonight that he believes in democracy and that democracy can exist in Iraq. They can have a strong economy, they can have a good health care plan, and they can have a free and fair voting. Iraq? We can’t even get this in Florida.” — Jay Leno
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