This tiny news item might have escaped you, given the flood of horrible news items pouring out of the White House and the Congress.
But it is a very important one:
In a little-noticed 6-3 vote today, the House Administration Committee voted along party lines to eliminate the Election Assistance Commission, which helps states run elections and is the only federal agency charged with making sure voting machines can’t be hacked. The EAC was created after the disastrous 2000 election in Florida as part of the Help America Vote Act to rectify problems like butterfly ballots and hanging chads. (Republicans have tried to kill the agency for years.)Why would anyone wish to kill this agency? The article mentions that it hasn't achieved very much, but is that worse than nobody knowing how votes are counted?
Transparent voting is the most essential safeguard for a democracy. Once we have no idea if the vote totals actually reflect how people voted, all sorts of foreign powers can stick their fingers in the pie. Not to mention domestic powers.
I agree with the author of this piece, Ari Berman, that we should have strengthened the commission instead of destroying it. And, honestly, let's return to a way of voting which allows for transparency. Before it is too late.
All this is darkly funny, given that Trump wants to find and deport those three million imaginary illegal voters who chose not to kiss his feet.
Has anyone else noticed how the Republicans never see any possibilities for election fraud at the counting end? Only at the end where they try to stop Democrats from voting, especially African-Americans?