Election Fraud in the USA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Election Fraud in the USA - Essay Example Being a democratic state, it is of paramount importance for America that the elections must be fair, neutral and faithfully conducted. The US constitution empowers the federal government to conduct the presidential elections. Their role is, however, very questionable. In 2000, the butterfly ballots were modified with new electronic voting machines to avoid accidental votes but it failed to generate any document that proved voter’s intent to vote. Besides that, in Florida alone, a list of 50,000 ex-felons was compiled with a directive to bar them from voting but it turned out that the list had the names of almost 20,000 innocent people. That list was discarded and a new list was generated which also turned out to be flawed. Furthermore, many votes were uncounted till at the very last time. With unsatisfactory results, a recount was held which did not make much difference. According to D. Margolick, E. Peretz and M. Shnayerson, â€Å"†¦many of Florida's 67 counties "recoun ted" merely by looking at their previous tallies†¦Ã¢â‚¬  In the state of Ohio, which has always played a decisive role in presidential elections for more than a century, the results shifted dramatically in the favor of Bush. Most of the Americans living abroad did not receive their ballots or received them too late. It is alleged that many voters who applied for registration were not registered and many fake votes were cast. From the results of exit polls, it looked like Kerry would win easily as he was ahead in the polls in 10 states out of 11. It is generally the case that the outcomes of the exit polls do not deviate very much from the actual polls. Exit polls are conducted because of their brilliant accuracy. Great deviation from the exit polls means that there has been a sudden and dramatic change in the general public opinion in a very short period. The political campaigns attempted to mould the public opinion as always. In 2004, people were discontented from Bush as the y regarded him to be reason for some troubles that the Americans had. Also, in Ohio, according to Robert F Kennedy Jr, â€Å"(The officials) illegally derailed a recount that could have given Kerry the presidency.† During elections, the people at the structural level might be regarded as those who help in conducting the elections at the very basic level. Many polls were understaffed and it became difficult to keep track of the votes. A lot of news reports and analysis showed that a lot of votes casted by eligible voters were neglected and a lot of them were not registered deliberately. Their dishonest role is evident from the story of two sisters who voted in different lines. The vote in favor of Bush was counted and the one in favor of Kerry was not. If the elections were rigged, the whole system is responsible. Opinion I think that most of the allegations are credible. It is because whenever the questions were raised, for example, when media revealed that almost 20,000 of t hose enlisted in the ex-felon list were innocent, there was no negation of this fact by the higher authorities. They simply compiled another list which was also faulty. Failure to count votes in a timely manner naturally raises some objections. Also, the actual polls deviated too much from the exit polls.