By Joseph L. Meyers
What a shame that the Daily Press should waste valuable print space on yet another vast right wing conspiracy editorial. Charles Springer (SMDP, Sept. 10, page 4) suggests that computerized voting machines can be manipulated to change votes for Democrats into votes for Republicans. But what about the other way around?
Has Mr. Springer checked into which other companies are producing these electronic voting machines? I doubt it. Could they be run by Democrats? Maybe. But Mr. Springer fails to mention that Democrats might pull the same vote-switching stunt because, of course, only Republicans are dishonest and he has an ax to grind.
What we have is a company (Diebold) that gives money to a particular political party at the same time as making the machines that count the votes. Yes, the CEO of Diebold may be showing poor judgment by offering an appearance of impropriety. However, Mr. Springer offers no proof of his allegations of vote tampering. To proclaim that the CEO of Diebold will manipulate votes is to impugn a man Mr. Springer knows nothing about. I don’t impugn Mr. Springer for how or why he is homeless, and I think a lot of people would rightly express outrage if I did.
Likewise, I doubt if the head of Diebold were a Democrat and contributed heavily to a Democrat’s campaign if he’d receive the same assault for Mr. Springer or any other left-wing supporter.
This all ignores the issue that, should vote tampering ever be discovered, that Diebold would be sued into bankruptcy and its CEO would end up in federal prison.
This is all contrary to a CEO’s main goal: Make money for himself and his company. I doubt Mr. Springer ever considered this.
The Daily Press is wasting its time with partisan rancor that has no basis in fact. If it is going to print editorials, then it should present ones with logical arguments and evidence.
I do, however, agree with Mr. Springer that “we the people” should “clean house of politicians of this ilk.” I, for one, will be doing so with Gov. Davis on Oct. 7. I can point to a lot of real things the Governor has done that are illegal and immoral, as opposed to Mr. Springer’s fantastic conspiracy theories about the election to come.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 17, 2003. Read the original PDF.