VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader Says A Close Election Will Be Decided By Political Parties

Presidential candidate Ralph Nader held a press conference in Los Angeles on Saturday where I asked him on behalf of Brad Blog about whether the upcoming election would turn out any differently than the 2004 election which Nader believes was hijacked by the Republican Party and the 2000 election which the Supreme Court decided. The video is above (2:37) and the transcript of our exchange follows below:

Alan: In 2004 you said that the Republican Party was able to “steal the election before election day” and that the “election was hijacked from A to Z”. And in 2000 the Supreme Court decided the election. Do you have any reason to believe that 2008 will turn out any differently.

Ralph Nader: If the 2008 election comes down to one or two states that are very close in the polls between the candidates, the way you can predict the outcome is simply to ask one question – who controls the state government. If it’s the Republican Party or if it’s the Democratic Party. Whoever controls the state government can maneuver a win whether by the distribution or maldistribution of voting machines, deregistering people, all kinds of ways. There are now 50, 100 ways that the state government in a close election can throw the election in the direction of the party that that state government reflects.

And so to answer your question, if it comes down to that close margin, whether it’s Florida or Ohio, they can do it again. But Ohio is now Democrat. Florida is still Republican.

We have a political system that is vulnerable to continual theft, to continual confusion for the voters, to continual failure to keep an accurate paper trail in order to double check.

Why don’t we simply adopt the Canadian system where in that vast country they have a paper ballot, they have small precincts with no more than 500 voters, and by 11pm that night they know who won and who lost. And if there are any questions, the paper ballots are the verifiable material.

Why are we into this huge electronic miasma with different kinds of machines? Why? Because it is big business. Because it is a procurement item that is growing by the billions every four years. And whenever you get a procurement item that interferes with election integrity you have politicians that are crooked and companies that seduce them into this kind of dishonesty.

And it isn’t just taking money. It is dishonesty in not having the best available electoral technology or electoral ways of counting votes accurately.

The entire press conference (31:06) with Ralph Nader and his running mate Matt Gonzalez

“The Good Fight: Declare Your Independence and Close the Democracy Gap” (Ralph Nader)

Cross-posted at Brad Blog

Technorati Tags: democracy, democrats, election, Matt Gonzalez, recession, republican

Comments

[Jurgen Rommel Vsych]

Thanks for posting the entire press conference. I noticed you uploaded it to YouTube, but not Matt Gonzalez's footage. When you have the time, would you please upload Matt's footage to YouTube?

Thanks,
Rommel
Nader/Gonzalez Campaign Videographer