Quote: (10-23-2012 04:03 PM)rationalize_this Wrote:
Quote: (10-23-2012 03:43 PM)speakeasy Wrote:
Is Romney going to steal the election? Interesting that his family will own voting machines in swing states. Now if the Obamas were buying up voting machines in Ohio can you imagine how loud the right would be screaming?
How the fuck is this even legal? Yeah, no conflict of interests here!
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/r...d-Colorado
I'm not defending this, it definitely looks sketchy. But he merely maintains a financial interest in a company that invests in these machines. He doesn't have a controlling share in that firm, and as many know he doesn't even manage these investments. Someone does it for him. Many people especially the wealthy have investments in companies that if they were up for election would make them look "sketchy" as well.
Secondly, these machines have extremely complex algorithms that cannot be hacked or tampered with by even some of the most gifted experts. Not only this, each machine must be approved by a plethora of U.S. Organizations including NIST.
Plus, think about the ramifications of this. Do you really think Romney is that stupid to try and implicate himself with something like this at this juncture of the election? Seems like further fear mongering drawing tangential connections that aren't really founded.
Voting machines can be hacked: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/22...92992.html
At the very least, all electronic voting machines should be required to print out a paper receipt.
I'm not saying Romney necessarily is going to do something shady here, but I do think we need to draw a line legally that no candidate should have any stake in any contractors or companies evolved in the election process. This is the type of financial-political cross-pollination that we really need to be vigilant against. Having Bain Capital as a major investor in the company that makes voting machines just looks bad, even if it isn't. I think it's much more suspect than someone owning a basket of stocks through a mutual fund that they don't closely monitor.