Folks, forget about a paper trail. In South Carolina, some Republican primary voters cast their ballot on paper towels.
Unreliable electronic voting machines proved to be, well, unreliable. In Horry County, e-voting machines in 80 percent of the precincts malfunctioned. Predictably, election officials tried to hide behind the hoary catchall “human error” to dodge responsibility for disenfranchising voters.
Since the machines were not programmed properly, the problem should be characterized as a programming error so that those responsible are held accountable.
Unlike Jim Crow laws that disenfranchised black Americans, the shift from the ballot box to the black box has put all Americans at risk. Jim_Crow.com is an equal opportunity threat to democracy. E-voting is wreaking havoc at the polls and eroding confidence in the integrity of the electoral process.
The voting irregularities occurred in a John McCain stronghold. Thousands of voters reportedly were turned away from the polls. Before being declared the winner, the McCain camp was "still weighing our options.”
Does anyone doubt that McCain would have challenged the results if, say, Mike Huckabee had been declared the winner?
