Spirits are high in our camp, and I'm very glad to see that: It actually makes the job I've taken on myself easier - namely, thinking about the "sub-optimal contingencies" we would all much rather not face. In other words, what we should do if Republicans recommence their program of stealing presidential elections, which is a major possibility given the vast web of coordinated GOP efforts to sabotage the vote - onerous ID laws, purges, disinformation about the times and places where voting can occur, intimidation, limiting early voting hours, reducing the resources made available to places that lean Democratic, throwing out registration forms, etc. People who do these things don't stop short if they can go further, so I have a very specific recommendation to offer Ohioans in particular about what to do in the event of an anomalous result.
The aforementioned actions are crimes against democracy already taking place and well-documented, but the most ominous possibility is difficult to prove, and yet the indications are even more difficult to dismiss: Reports that voting machines in Ohio are being "updated" with uncertified, unvetted "experimental" software "patches" by the company that owns them for reasons unstated, unknown, and at this point unverifiable even if they were to comment on it. That deserves very close attention.
If I understand the record correctly - and feel free to correct me if I get anything wrong - similar events took place prior to the 2004 election, also leading to questions about the legitimacy of the result in light of significant deviations from polling: Unfortunately, those questions were never answered, because (a)John Kerry conceded (I continue to strongly recommend that President Obama be urged not to do so if similar events unfold), (b)the Democratic base were too demoralized to organize a response quickly, and (c)the machines were quickly repossessed by the companies that own them, and their contents irrevocably erased.
Granted, I haven't delved that deeply into those specific events, but we can nonetheless all agree that there are credible concerns about the potential of these machines to be tampered with - concerns raised by various software experts who understand the inner workings of such technologies. As far as I can tell, those issues have not been addressed despite having been repeatedly and consistently raised for over a decade, so there has to be a contingency plan in place if there are serious doubts once again.
This is my recommendation: In the event of an anomalous official result, Ohioans should be prepared to physically secure the voting and tabulating machines, quickly, to preserve potential evidence and prevent technicians or Republican officials from altering them in any way. This obviously doesn't mean stealing them, since that would destroy a chain of custody and make any evidence found afterward inadmissible in court - and also because it would just plain be impossible on a practical level. What I refer to is occupying the rooms and buildings where the machines are housed, with cameras trained on the machines and networking systems at every second they're being guarded so that it's documented that the machines have been kept exactly as they were during the vote counting process. Do not permit anyone to alter the machines in any way or remove them.
That sounds like a tall order, I know. Anyone who did this could end up facing any number of criminal charges over it - possibly serious ones if they were forced to physically defend themselves and the machines from being taken or tampered with. But keep this in mind: (1)This is just a contingency, and there is no guarantee that such a thing would have to occur; (2)elections are not a game - there are millions of lives on the line, especially in this one, and those lives include yours and those of your families, so if the contingency occurred, such an action would be purely defensive rather than radical - and, of course, the action would be completely fair since it would merely allow credible experts to assess the state of the machines.
If there is nothing wrong with them, it would be somewhat embarrassing and the legal consequences would still have to be faced, but if something is caught you would have saved the country from a disaster not to be contemplated: People who will take your votes are not that far away from taking your lives, and the more they get away with the former, the closer the day comes when the latter becomes part of the program. If there are significant differences in the programming between machines that showed anomalously pro-Republican results and those which did not, then the result is effectively proven to be invalid. But again, this is just a contingency scenario to keep in mind: No need to get worked up one way or another - just treat it like an intellectual exercise.
Now, you would want to make sure to secure both voting and vote tabulating machines - the entire electronic path of the process has to be secured. Priority should be placed on those machines where specific questions have been raised, such as those related to the "experimental patches" described above, so anyone willing to put themselves on the line in this manner should keep track of these machines' whereabouts (if possible) from the moment they begin being used. If the worst happens, move quickly - don't wait too long to get organized, don't try to whip up support to make yourself feel justified, just act.
So you have my recommendation and my support. The idea is now out there: You now have an option at your disposal to safeguard the evidence if there has been tampering with voting or tabulating machines in your state and area. Whether we are confronted with such a choice depends on fate, but if it happens, the decisions we make amid confusion, demoralization, and fear would determine the shape of our future. Be optimistic, but be prepared - at least in the back of your mind - to stare straight into the face of something frightening and run right at it.
7:22 PM PT: These recommendations apply equally well to voters in all swing states, but particularly Ohio and perhaps Wisconsin.
8:04 PM PT: Just to be clear, this is not an attempt to claim that electronic tampering is the most likely or biggest threat to the election. Obviously the tactics that have already been proven to be occurring are - things that Republicans have never been held accountable for, and are doing with impunity. Nonetheless, there is no reason not to look at this issue and have plans in place if it comes up.