Republican Conspiracy Theorists
One of the things that made me decide to run for county board last year was an article about the selection of new voting machines. The first newspaper article I could find about the selection process for the new voting system was published a few days before the final vote by the county board when it was already a "done deal." That was too late for the average voter to play a meaningful role.
I wrote a letter to the editor criticizing the lack of public involvement in selecting the new voting system. My letter received a defensive response letter from a member of the voting machine selection committee that, among other things, accused me of spreading conspiracy theories. I found that response odd because my letter never suggested anything remotely resembling a conspiracy theory or a plot to steal elections. The same "conspiracy theorist" name-calling continued to come from county Republicans whenever I raised the issue of public involvement with a decision that affected every voter in the county.
My concerns were later validated by documents I received after filing a Freedom of Information Act request with the County Clerk's office. The voting system selection committee made a deliberate choice to not involve the public until after their decision was made because it might "confuse" voters to present them with multiple options. Also, I received no copies of press releases or public notices of the committee meetings, which I requested. If there really were no public notices its possible that the committee violated the open meetings act since it included elected officials and county employees.
Far from being a conspiracy theory, this issue was about county governments' relationship with the voters and the paternalistic attitude that runs rampant in county government. The responses to my criticism was for the county clerk to repeatedly call it an open process (because the committee included a few Democrats) and for others to repeat the "conspiracy theory" accusations.
Clearly, the conspiracy theorist labeling was an attempt to de-legitimize the issue I raised and avoid a meaningful response. Given what I've heard from others, the reaction by local Republicans to any critical question about the new voting system is to immediately label the questioner a conspiracy theorist. So, I'm not surprised to see the same tactic used by Bruce Stratton in today's State Journal Register article about a serious mistake involving the new voting system.
I spoke with Mike Ziri about this issue recently and I heard no conspiracy theories of any kind. He seems to be raising a serious issue, documented by facts from the Clerk's office itself and concern from the board of elections, that should be discussed openly and publicly.
I find Stratton's comparison of this issue to 9/11 and Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories ironic when he said, "As far as I know, nobody devoted any time or thought to any of that." Yet, earlier in the article County Clerk Joe Aiello says he spent time studying what happened and that, "a mistake that was made, and one that we take very seriously." So which is it? Is this something crazy not worth spending time on or is it something to take very seriously? Stratton and Aiello apparently disagree on that point.
The repeated use of the cynical "conspiracy theorist" name-calling tactic should raise a red flag with the public and reporters that some county Republicans are trying to deflect attention from the central issue and avoid answering questions. It also hints at the broader trend among some local officials who seem to think their work should be above questioning by outsiders.
Stratton is trying to erode the credibility of Ziri and Tim Bagwell, but the more local Republicans resort to that cheap shot, the more it erodes their own credibility. How many times can they cry wolf before the public and press stop buying it? There's a real issue here and it should be discussed honestly without the name calling.
Comments
Attributing the voting errors to anything but reality is a cheap shot. Voters deserve better. Aiello & Stratton have done a great disservice to the public trust by not maintaining the integrity of the election process. Whatever their partisan goals, Ziri & Bagwell (a PHD in public policy) have seen the discrepancies, asked questions, & told the truth. They're voters & constituents. It's in their job descriptions.
Posted by: Alison | September 18, 2007 8:38 AM
[For reference, SMEAA is the Springfield Metropolitan Exposition and Auditorium Authority, an autonomous eleven-member board that oversees and administers the Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield, IL.]
Three candidates were removed from the ballot for bogus petition signatures. Then, there’s one legal counsel contracted to SMEAA and yet also representing SMEAA candidates in electoral challenges. Now, we find out that taxpayer-paid election judges in one of the key SMEAA Dist. 1 precincts—and one of the highest turnout precincts in Sangamon County—didn’t count any of the write-in votes on Election Day despite the machines printing a report and the election judges having years of experience working elections. Two of these situations in a single election for a specific office would seem coincidental, but three such situations should raise red flags and give pause to voting citizens. We should examine how we conduct elections locally and nationally.
A key point was omitted from the SJ-R article: Tim Bagwell is actually Dr. Timothy Bagwell with a Ph.D. in public policy and public administration not from Conspiracy U. but St. Louis University, a prestigious institution not usually disposed to accepting and fostering Kennedy assassination and 9/11 conspiracy theorists. Dr. Bagwell also has three other degrees, from SIUC. Clearly, the news article about the write-in votes denied Tim his credibility and allowed others to paint him as a conspiracy theorist when, in fact, he’s articulate and thoughtful, catching a problem that nobody else acknowledged until now.
Sangamon County Clerk Joe Aiello said "red flags went up with us long before that [Dr. Bagwell’s] report came out. ... That's why we did a hand count. We were curious more than anybody." If that’s true, why didn’t Aiello uncover the problem and go public with Precinct 91 then, not months later when the State Board of Elections—prompted by Dr. Bagwell’s institutional analysis of the SMEAA election—requested an investigation? I’m also interested to know how diligent the County Clerk would have been to perform a hand count of the 47 SMEAA Dist. 1 precincts had pressure not been applied through an SJ-R column as well as letters I wrote to the State’s Attorney’s regarding the significant and questionable number of SMEAA Dist. 1 write-in votes that were invalidated.
While I agree that electronic voting machines have been shown to be terribly problematic and deeply flawed during elections around the country in the last few years, I need to point out that the voting machines in Precinct 91 did indeed produce write-in results on the final report. They just weren't counted. So, I don't think the machines can be blamed. Call it human error. Reported votes were not counted. I’m aghast that some people would prefer to brush this under the rug and act like eleven votes here and six votes there don’t matter. If nothing else, Judy and Liam should be angry!
It's funny how the status quo attacks institutional analysis as conspiracy. I posit that the bigger conspiratorial fraud here is committed by those individuals who would slander and attack an honest public citizen because he or she saw a problem and worked to fix it. They commit a kind of intellectual censorship of the mind and civic fraud. Do we live in Sangamon County--the Land of Lincoln--or Cook County?
I suggest concerned citizens who care about the state of their city, county, state and country take a stand on voting rights and honest elections.
•Send a letter to the editor: letters@sj-r.com and editor@illinoistimes.com.
•Contact the County Clerk and express your outrage: (217) 753-6740.
•Call in to radio programs and sound off.
•Become an election judge or Precinct Committeeperson: http://www.co.sangamon.il.us/Election/FilingInformation.asp.
These are just a few ways you can help make a difference in the Republic. After 2000, those of us who love our country and want to take it back from the cynics must be vigilant. Remember: Democracy isn't in the voting. It's in the counting.
Posted by: MichaelZiri | September 18, 2007 12:58 PM