Howard Dean, Pundit

Howard Dean Starts Syndicated Column

The first piece by the former Democratic presidential candidate and Vermont governor appeared yesterday. In it, Dean called for electronic voting to be shelved until 2006 or until it's "reliable and will allow recounts."

Syndicate founder Daryl Cagle told E&P he contacted Dean through a mutual friend. One reason why Dean agreed to write the column was his interest in CC's reach -- more than 600 newspapers subscribe to the service in English. All clients get all of CC's features, and then decide which ones to publish.


Gov. Howard Dean, M.D., May 31, 2004

Electronic Voting – Not Ready For Prime Time

In December 2000, five Supreme Court justices concluded that a recount in the state of Florida's presidential election was unwarranted. This, despite the desire of the Florida Supreme Court to order a statewide recount in an election that was decided by only 537 votes. In the face of well-documented voting irregularities throughout the state, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision created enormous cynicism about whether the votes of every American would actually be counted. Although we cannot change what happened in Florida, we have a responsibility to our democracy to prevent a similar situation from happening again.

...

To the governments of the fifty states, Republican or Democrat, I ask you to put paperless e-voting machines on the shelf until 2006 or until they are reliable and will allow recounts. In a democracy you always count the votes no matter who wins. To abandon that principle is to abandon America.

Permanent Online Location For Dean Columns