SPRINGDALE — I was shocked to learn that the Benton County Election Commission has presented a proposal to the Quorum Court to buy 200 used electronic voting machines to implement cost-saving measures.
The implications presented by this proposal are troubling. For those who prefer a paper ballot - and last November over one in three Benton County voters voted paper - this proposal for all intents and purposes will eliminate paper ballots at most polls. Yes, you heard that right. There will be no choice present to you at the polls;
vote electronic, or do not vote.
Benton County proposes to be all-electronic, trusting our entire election to electronic voting machines that have documented vulnerabilities. In fact, counties across the country are scrapping these machines. Either the Election Commission knows something most of the country does not know, or they are way behind the curve.
Electronic voting nationwide continues to lose voter confidence.
Job No. 1 for election officials is not to make decisions about our most sacred right based on costcutting measures, or to speed up the tallying, or to deploy high-tech window dressings, or to ease the workload of election officials. JobNo. 2 for election officials is to ensure that the voter is served and elections are honest and delegating job one to electronic voting machines will lead to trouble. That is the last thing this county needs.
I am one of the 37 percent who voted exclusively paper last November; denying me my choice of ballot diminishes our democracy and our sense of fairness. If you are a “paper” voter, contact your justice of the peace and voice your concerns. If you are a voter who votes electronic and you feel that your fellow voters deserve a ballot choice, call as well. The Quorum Court will vote on this proposal in early December, so please call.
ROBBYN TUMEY / Rogers
WILL WE EVER LEARN?
Apparently we don’t learn, we just react. I remember sitting in high school history class and hearing fellow students complaining about the class with cries of “why do we have to take history - it’s so boring” and the teacher responding with “if we don’t study history we will continue making the same mistakesover and over again.” How true.
Today politicians are telling us that the proposed health-care reform will lower health-care costs and make insurance coverage available to all Americans without affecting the national deficit. History paints a different picture.
President Richard Nixon in 1971 created Amtrak to solve the problem the private passenger rail companies couldn’t solve on their own: keeping ticket costs down and service up for passenger rail customers. He promised that the new program would pay for itself in three years. In its 32-year history, it has consumed more than $25 billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies and has never been in the black.
The United States Post Office doesn’t need any explanation - it continues to bleed taxpayers. Sally and Fanny Mae have cost the taxpayers hundreds of millions and are probably partly responsible for the housing crisis. Politicians said that these programs would help lower-income families buy homes, thus adding jobs and tax revenue to our economy. History teaches us that government programs rarely, if ever, deliver what the politicians promise.
CRAIG HANSON / Bella Vista
Opinion, Pages 5 on 11/27/2009
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