| updated weekly |
home - contribute - donate - message board - events - links - contact us - archive |
| September 22, 2006 Editor’s Desk by Aaron Selbig, insurgent49 It’s been a victorious week here at Insurgent Headquarters. A month ago, I wrote in this space about some strange goings-on at the Alaska Division of Elections. In addition to numerous reports of problems and inconsistencies during the August 22nd state primary election, the fact that the Division still hadn’t turned over the electronic data file for the 2004 general election cast a stormcloud of doubt over the entire election system. Well, friends, I am pleased to announce, one month later, a major victory for all Alaskans. On Tuesday, September 19th, the Division of Elections finally agreed to turn over the files. As of Wednesday, the Alaska Democratic Party, who had been engaged in a nearly yearlong battle with the State to acquire them, had taken possession of the files and begun to examine them with a team of assembled experts. It seems that the Division of Elections, headed by Lt. Gov. Loren Leman, balked at the proposition of having to prove in a courtroom that the ‘central tabulator file’, the raw data from the 2004 election, was not a matter of public record. They likely knew they couldn’t do it. The Superior Court judge in the case, Stephanie Joannides, had put that burden on the State after rejecting their weak argument that the Democratic Party had waited to long to request the records (the Division of Elections has been stalling on this for nearly a year). The writing was on the wall. And now the Party’s attention turns to some unanswered questions. Perhaps the voters of Alaska will finally learn the reason why more than a 200% voter turnout was recorded in 18 voting precincts during the 2004 election. Perhaps this will be an important first step in restoring confidence (for those who have been paying attention) in a system that has proven itself badly broken. Or maybe … there really is some fishy business going on here. Maybe there was a vast right-wing conspiracy, as some have understandably concluded, to fix the election of 2004. Maybe the Division of Elections’ stalling was a tactic to buy more time so their tech minions could scrub the data clean. When the Democrats got the files, I wonder … did they look anything like Nixon’s White House tapes, missing pages and redacted beyond comprehension? Probably not … I hope. More likely, the Democrats will find that the Division is guilty only of gross incompetence, and attempted to hold on to the voter files to cover their own butts. The shame of it all, of course, is that the Democrats had to file a lawsuit over this in the first place. There should be no question that raw data regarding an election is definitely a matter of public record and, if the State is serious about maintaining voter confidence in the system, they will perform their duties in a transparent manner. Hopefully, this victory for democracy in Alaska has sent a strong message to the Division of Elections. Hopefully, its not too late for the election of 2006. Aaron Selbig is an activist and media junkie who resides in an undisclosed location in downtown Anchorage. He is the winner of a 2006 Alaska Press Club award for Best Editorial Writing, host of KUDO 1080 AM's 'The Aaron Selbig Show' and a co-founder of Insurgent49. Aaron may be contacted at editor@insurgent49.com |
-
Columnists -
- column archive -
September 15, 2006 September 8, 2006 September 1, 2006 August 25, 2006 August 18, 2006 August 11, 2006 August 4, 2006 July 28, 2006 July 21, 2006 July 14, 2006 June 30, 2006 June 23, 2006 June 16, 2006 June 9, 2006 June 2, 2006 May 26, 2006 May 12, 2006 May 5, 2006 April 28, 2006 April 21, 2006 April 14, 2006 April 7, 2006 March 31, 2006 March 24, 2006 March 17, 2006 March 3, 2006 February 24, 2006 February 17, 2006 February 10, 2006 February 3, 2006 January 27, 2006 January 20, 2006 January 13, 2006 January 6, 2006 December 30, 2005 December 23, 2005 December 16, 2005 December 10, 2005 December 2, 2005 November 25, 2005 November 18, 2005 November 11, 2005 November 4, 2005 October 28, 2005 October 21, 2005 October 14, 2005 October 7, 2005 September 30, 2005 September 23, 2005 September 16, 2005 September 9, 2005 September 2, 2005 August 26, 2005 August 19, 2005 August 12, 2005 August 5, 2005 July 29, 2005 July 22, 2005 July 15, 2005 July 8, 2005 July 1, 2005 June 24, 2005 June 17, 2005 June 10, 2005 June 3, 2005 May 27, 2005 May 20, 2005 May 13, 2005 May 6, 2005 April 28, 2005 April 21, 2005 April 14, 2005 April 7, 2005 April 1, 2005 |
|||||||
| Copyright 2005
Insurgent Media.
All rights reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
||||||||
