Does Romney Own Your Vote?

[peristaltor]

I don't ask this as a hypothetical. You see, a company owned by the Romney family may own the machine on which you cast your ballot:

Through a closely held equity fund called Solamere, Mitt Romney and his wife, son and brother are major investors in an investment firm called H.I.G. Capital. H.I.G. in turn holds a majority share and three out of

Comments

[fizzyland]

And if you are a shitty person you may not care, keep smiling and hope things go your way. Lately I've been reading about player behavior in MMO's like WoW and it's amazing not only the crappy things people pull but the way online posters will jump in to defend appalling behavior.

[a_new_machine]

It's a game, dude. And if you want REALLY shitty behavior, you've gotta go for EVE Online (made by, as I'm sure some here will point out, Icelandic vikings),

[the_rukh]

Seriously, you read some of the things people applaud. Years of work destroyed because someone slipped up and somebody thought it would be funny. Apparently that is virtuous.

[fizzyland]

I get that games are environments where anonymity makes for easy dissociation but like the story about that violentacrez guy on reddit being outed in rl, how we behave when we feel complete safety and anonymity is telling about character.

[rick_day]

but Free Market™!

[devil_ad_vocate]

I have no hard evidence, but Romney may control the voting machines from his iPhone.

[rick_day]

Which leads to another series of conspiracy questions: How much $$ has Apple given to the two candidates campaigns?

[allhatnocattle]

Apple basically copied Samsung, so if you can find the $$$ amount from Samsung....

[underlankers]

Would he really be stupid enough to use this to win the election? If he does, you're talking the seeds of the Romney-era version of Birtherism right here. No evidence in the world to prove it, but a powerful core of belief on the part of people who would accept it.

[dwer]

it doesn't work for Democrats. The Republicans simply dismiss them, and walk away. It only works in the other direction.

[ddstory]

Democrats need to step up their assholery.

[htpcl]

And? So what. That didn't get Bush impeached, did it.

[notmrgarrison]

I miss all the "convenient timing" foiled terrorist plots.

[mahnmut]

Nah, better yet: one UN-foiled plot, then a quick war. Boom! Re-election!

[peristaltor]

I know, you've expressed your disdain for "biased" outlets before. As I pointed out in the OP, I am more concerned about the appearance of wrongdoing here.

If Romney wins due to votes cast on machines he in part owns, no amount of Free Market Rah! Rah! cognitive dissonance dancing will give his presidency an ounce of legitimacy, no matter how clean the actual election.

If you don't want to be blamed for farting in church, don't get up early for a massive breakfast and too much coffee at the Bean Cafe.

[oslo]

There's a lot about this story that doesn't add up - I think a more likely description of the arrangement is that Romney has an indirect investment in Hart Intercivic. Not a controlling interest, probably not even a particularly sizable one (they're probably one of many indirect investors). Just owning stock - like millions of Americans do through their 401(k)s.

The HIG/Romney connection isn't particularly surprising, either. I mean, HIG is (if I recall correctly) a Bain spin-off. There are a bunch of Bain spin-off shops like that.

[mahnmut]

Wait, you mean Romney is not arranging an elaborate plot to steal the election? But, but, Alex Jones was already preparing the tapes for his next documentary! WHY ARE YOU ROBBING US OF MELODRAMATIC MOVIE MATERIAL, DAMNYA?

Oh, did I mention you're also a No True Liberal??

[oslo]

That doesn't make any sense either. Bain and HIG are both PE firms. Here's probably how it works