Yup, I just knew that if I looked for it in the article that I'd find it: "...No case of a Republican vote flipping Democrat has yet been reported." I hope that the Democrats have sufficient ground forces to deal with these outrages.
Democratic leaders are cowards. They had sufficient grounds to deal with the outrages of Florida 2000 but chose not to. One county in Florida actually had a negative vote count for Gore. An election expert said that could not have happened accidently: it had to be deliberate tampering, albeit of the inept variety to be so obvious.
Well said. Unfortunately regulation is required to keep it in check. But when the regulators fail, greater regulations are needed. And in the end, those who do not fall into the categories you listed will be affected by the regulations needed for those who do. Getting an open audit as you suggest might not even be possible, though wouldn't such a goal be a great starting point for a third party?
In the months before, I have been posting a lot about direct democracy and a representative direct democracy as a transition. Open audit and transparency are possible while still maintaining voting privacy/secrecy - using technology. As long as the technological platforms are 100% transparent, and open to review and improvements, then one can trust fully in election software. Regulations should not be done by individuals, but by automated systems that do not think or offer subjective bias. This especially goes for the regulations supporting something important like democratic processes. Such systems are incorruptible.
Gore outplayed himself with the Florida recount. First thing he should have done is at least look fair, and call for a full state recount. Instead he tried to play the system by only asking for recounts in heavily democratic counties. It was this decision that gave the Supreme court its opening to rule the recount was not equal to all voters in Florida. They then had cause to stop the recount. Why did Gore go this route. Only one answer, he knew he did not have the votes to win a total state recount.
Which Gore didn't have the power to request under Florida state law. (The Florida SC, however, order this -- and was then stopped by the Supreme Court.) Or, possibly, because that wasn't an option under Florida state law. (And by the way, according to the Miami Herald's investigation Gore would have won the statewide recount using the methodology which is most similar to Florida law.)