[EL] Why the Selfie is a Threat to Democracy"

[BZall at aol.com]

A list participant who shall remain anonymous said: " Honestly,  doesn’t 
anyone on this list serve know how to steal an election?" And Rick  pointed 
out: "I'm getting interesting off-list responses confirming this is a  problem 
in certain parts of the country. As I've long written, what might work  in 
Oregon might not work in other parts of the country with longer and more  
illustrious histories of vote buying."
 
Many years ago (decades, actually), I managed a congressional campaign in  
an area where vote buying was not only common, it was expected and  
well-organized. Local bosses had price lists, based on capitation and  
characteristics, resulting in specific demands for "walking-around money" or  similar 
terms. As I recall my DNC campaign manager training materials, there  were 
veiled instructions for how to handle such situations, including  requirements 
for some form of verifiable receipts for paying and producing such  
"grassroots" efforts. 
 
It being long ago, the polling places used machines,  and bosses left open 
the backs of the machines to watch as individuals  cast votes. Only then, 
after leaving the machine, were payments  made (whites got money, 
African-Americans got whiskey). My candidate didn't  have the money to compete (and so 
never actually made deals with any  bosses) and lost badly, but the victor 
served in Congress for many years  afterwards. 
 
In a selfie era, I would expect any such effort would also require  
immediate payment, based on tangible evidence. Schemes like this don't work well  
with delayed gratification. But anyone with any advanced technical knowledge  
could probably figure out how to remotely track cellphone images; it's a  
standard cybersecurity training technique to grab someone's cellphone screen  
from the audience during the training. 
 
Barnaby  Zall
Of Counsel
Weinberg, Jacobs & Tolani, LLP
10411 Motor City  Drive, Suite 500
Bethesda, MD 20817
301-231-6943 (direct  dial)
bzall at aol.com 
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