In an interview on NPR Karl Rove claims his access to private polls indicates a Republican win in the coming elections. He and George Bush are curiously serene in the face of massive public polling to the contrary. For decades American polling has been regarded as so accurate that west coast voters often complained winners were announced before the polls closed. In earlier elections, such as 2004, these polls predicted a Democratic win. Suddenly, they were wrong. Oddly wrong.

Do you wonder why?

The October 5 Rolling Stone has an excellent article by Robert Kennedy, jr., on why Rove’s polls may not be of voters but of operatives in a position to fix elections. California’s Secretary of State has decertified Diebold machines in that state and, even more revealingly, asked the Attnorney general to consider prosecuting the company for fraud. Attorney General Bill Lockyer then sued Diebold who settled the case by paying $2.6 million in fines.

As a diary on Daily Kos demonstrates, Diebold waited two years to then use vicious tactics to punish whisatleblowers who exposed the company’s dishonesty. See also here and this Los Angeles Times article.

In 2005 Diebold again failed California tests on the accuracy and reliability of its machines. But for today’s Republican Party democracy is really not a value. Winning is. Bruce McPherson, the current Republican California Secretary of State then recertified Diebold machines one Friday night, after the close of business hours, at the start of a 3-day weekend. See the analysis at Bradblog, here.

A careful study at Princeton University has proven beyond all reasonable doubt that Diebold machines can be hacked in minutes, leaving no trace of interference. See the video for yourself.

Of course Diebold has tried to bluster its way through this (and many other) demonstration. See why their response to the Princeton study is utterly without value in this report from Computerworld, as well as an example of how Diebold deals with its customers, in this instance Utah, here.

America’s elections are too important to our liberty and well being for us to tolerate the likelihood of serious dishonesty. The higher the stakes the less tolerable the crime, and in their repudiation of the Constitution the Republican Party has already raised the stakes intolerably high for any decent person. Anyone convicted of tampering with voting results in an American election should receive an automatic sentence of life in prison. That, of course, is one law the Republican Party will not pass. If there is a “suprise” win for the republican patrty in November, Americans should think about a precedent we established against tyrants in 1776.