5 ms·

The article says citizens can (and did) monitor vote counting? What more openness do you want?

m0zg 8y ago
You haven't lived under a closed government, and it shows. Here's what happens in Russia (a far more "open" government, because it only controls like 90% of their press and not 100%) during elections. Citizens "can and do" monitor vote counting. The very same citizens (mostly government employees such as local administration officials, schoolteachers, municipal employees, etc) also engage in ballot stuffing, count rigging, and multiple voting, to the point where the vote percentages rounded up for the officially sanctioned candidates show up as prominent spikes on vote count distribution. I.e. if there's an "understanding" that the "right" candidate should get 80% of the vote, they round it up to pretty much exactly 80% by subtracting votes from other candidates. And if that doesn't work, the government controls the very electronic system ("GAS Vybory") which computes the final tally. You can even see evidence of all of the above on Youtube, but nobody gives a shit, because nobody believes anything can be changed. Heck, most people don't believe anything _should_ be changed, because aside from the brief period in the 90s (of which the US "cured" Russia by directly and openly helping Yeltsin secure a win in a runoff election), that's the way it's always been there. Heck, with the recent ballot-related shenanigans in Broward County FL and elsewhere, I'm not sure everything is 100% sanitary with this stuff in the US either anymore. And in case the downvote brigade thinks I'm making this up: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=russia+ballot+stuffing https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=russia+ballot+s... https://www.globalresearch.ca/us-meddling-in-1996-russian-elections-in-support-of-boris-yeltsin/5568288 https://www.globalresearch.ca/us-meddling-in-1996-russian-el...
- advisedwang 8y ago
  The article literally cites a dissident who did monitored counting; not some stooge. The dissident didn't even allege there was ballot stuffing. I have no doubt that vote stuffing happens in Russia and many other countries, but that doesn't mean it's happened in this election.
  - m0zg 8y ago
    I can 100% guarantee that in any such elections all of the aforementioned "irregularities" happen on a massive scale. If you believe that an autocratic government is going to yield power peacefully, you're beyond naive.

m0zg 8y ago

You haven't lived under a closed government, and it shows. Here's what happens in Russia (a far more "open" government, because it only controls like 90% of their press and not 100%) during elections. Citizens "can and do" monitor vote counting. The very same citizens (mostly government employees such as local administration officials, schoolteachers, municipal employees, etc) also engage in ballot stuffing, count rigging, and multiple voting, to the point where the vote percentages rounded up for the officially sanctioned candidates show up as prominent spikes on vote count distribution. I.e. if there's an "understanding" that the "right" candidate should get 80% of the vote, they round it up to pretty much exactly 80% by subtracting votes from other candidates. And if that doesn't work, the government controls the very electronic system ("GAS Vybory") which computes the final tally. You can even see evidence of all of the above on Youtube, but nobody gives a shit, because nobody believes anything can be changed. Heck, most people don't believe anything _should_ be changed, because aside from the brief period in the 90s (of which the US "cured" Russia by directly and openly helping Yeltsin secure a win in a runoff election), that's the way it's always been there. Heck, with the recent ballot-related shenanigans in Broward County FL and elsewhere, I'm not sure everything is 100% sanitary with this stuff in the US either anymore. And in case the downvote brigade thinks I'm making this up: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=russia+ballot+stuffing https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=russia+ballot+s... https://www.globalresearch.ca/us-meddling-in-1996-russian-elections-in-support-of-boris-yeltsin/5568288 https://www.globalresearch.ca/us-meddling-in-1996-russian-el...

advisedwang 8y ago
The article literally cites a dissident who did monitored counting; not some stooge. The dissident didn't even allege there was ballot stuffing. I have no doubt that vote stuffing happens in Russia and many other countries, but that doesn't mean it's happened in this election.
- m0zg 8y ago
  I can 100% guarantee that in any such elections all of the aforementioned "irregularities" happen on a massive scale. If you believe that an autocratic government is going to yield power peacefully, you're beyond naive.