24 Oct 2012 10:44 am
About that Voting Machine Company Tied to Mitt Romney and Bain Capital...Late last month, Gerry Bello and Bob Fitrakis at FreePress.org broke the story of the Mitt Romney/Bain Capital investment team involved in H.I.G. Capital which, in July of 2011, completed a "strategic investment" to take over a fair share of the Austin-based e-voting machine company Hart Intercivic. [...]Once again, we're reminded of the dangers of the privatization of our once-public electoral system. The company's ties to Romney aren't the only disturbing ones we've seen with similar companies over the years. The fact is, that nobody other than the public should have any sort of control of our elections. The proprietary voting systems now in use in all 50 states, whether owned by Romney associates, a George W. Bush associate (as with Diebold in 2004) or even a company tied to Venezuela's Hugo Chavez (as with Sequoia Voting Systems which blatantly lied about that tie to public officials, and the Canadian firm Dominion which purchased Sequoia and also immediately lied about the fact that Intellectual Property of their voting systems used all across the U.S. is still owned by the Venezuelan firm), continue to be a grave threat to American democracy and confidence in U.S. Elections.There has been a false Rightwing story that's been bubbling around this cycle, charging, inaccurately, that perennial Republican target George Soros owns or controls a company (a Spanish-based firm named Scytl) which will count 25% of U.S. votes in this year's election. While the story, spread first by public airwaves clown and radio host Michael Savage and, naturally, Fox "News," is completely false, the general concern at the heart of it is not. Indeed, it underscores, yet again, the very point we've been making on this topic here for years.[...]Despite the Rightwing reports, Soros has no apparent control of the Scytl outfit, but it doesn't matter. Other private corporate entities ---unaccountable to the public --- do. Either way, whether it's Soros or entities tied to Mitt Romney, George W. Bush, Hugo Chavez or anybody else, the fact that we have allowed this complete corporatization of the machinery of our public elections, the very lifeblood of our democracy --- the first and most important element of true self-governance --- is, in and of itself, a continuing shame for what was once regarded as "the world's greatest democracy."NBC News Election Expert Chuck Todd: Voting Machine Concerns are 'Conspiracy Garbage'Former Ohio election official: Tagg Romneys stake in voting machine firm doesnt look good.