California Secretary of State Kevin Shelly, in an about face, that was apparently planned all along has suddenly recertified Diebold's voting machines for use in The Golden State. Back in August of 2005 California had rejected the machines due to a 10 percent failure rate mainly due to jamming printers, and freezing screens on the machines monitors.
"After rigorous scrutiny, I have determined that these Diebold systems can be used for the 2006 elections," said Shelly who was appointed to his postion by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Rather then just keep the current voting system in place, which has worked fine for the past 100 years or so. Shelly had decided it would be better (for Arnold?) to allow the Diebold machines which were responsible for Bush stealing Ohio and therefore his second straight election in 2004. In order to make sure the machines are accurate he has imposed a list of requirements for the machines such as making sure the tamper evident seal, and its serial number is verified by election workers. Seems like they are bending over backward to allow the machines which have failed many tests to determine whether they can be hacked.
This is clearly a Republican attempt to steal the California Gubenatorial Election for Republican Swarzeneggar, whos approval ratings in California are about equal to Bush's in The U.S. California, the bluest of blue states has been called America's largest "voting market" by the makers of the Diebold voting machines who of course long ago pledged their allegiance to Bush and the Republicans, not only that, but the company is owned by GOP operatives. The fact that Democrats in congress absolutely refuse to even discuss this issue leads one to believe that the whole American voting system is fixed, and that Democrats, and Repubs both are conspiring against the American people. (How else do you explain John Kerry's performance in the 2004 Presidential campaign?)
If the California GOP can set up a system where they can steal the state in 2008 for the Republicans it would virtually assure them the election as California holds a whopping 54 Electoral Votes. In a story on Bradblog which reported the Diebold recertification, Debra Bowen a Democrat from Redondo Beach who is the Senate Elections, Reapportionment, & Constitutional Amendments Committee chairwoman had this to say. "How the Secretary can re-certify the Diebold machines when they don't comply with California law, they violate the standards set by the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) that the Secretary said he intended to follow, and he still doesn't have the report back from the ITAs that he said he was waiting for is beyond me."
Indeed. If you live in California, now is the time to write your congressmen, and Senators, and tell them to fight against this attempt by The Republicans to seize permanent dictatorial control over our supposed Democracy for good, because that is what will happen if this decision by Schwarzenegger, Shelly, and The Repubs stands.