Tom Fuentes Taking 2000 Florida Vote Nationwide?

Our buddies at Dissent the Blog are following up on announcement made at the most recent South Orange County Community College District Board of Trustees' meeting that former Orange County Republican Party chairman Tom Fuentes has been appointed to the agency that “certifies” electronic-voting systems. As DtB so eloquently put it:

“Uh-oh.”

The spot for Fuentes on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission board may have opened up due to its vice chairman's recent resignation. Dtb cites the following from an organization called Verified Voting Foundation:

This week Ray Martinez, 2006 vice chair of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, submitted his resignation to President Bush. In his letter he cited family considerations as his primary reason for stepping down and lauded his colleagues at the EAC and the agency's staff for their continued work on behalf of the nation. Commissioner Martinez's resignation is effective June 30, 2006. He was appointed to serve as one of two Democrat Commissioners mandated by the Help America Vote Act.

The main goal of that act is to replace paper voting with electronic voting. As DtB so eloquently put it:

“Yikes!”

Joining the U.S. Election Assistance Commission is apparently a more plum (plumer? Plumber? Dick Nixon? Hello?) appointment than the National Dog Catcher Commission board or whatever the hell that lowly agency was that Bush appointed Fuentes to after the 2000 stolen presidential election.

INSTA-ADDENDUM: Say, who was that Orange County Republican Party chairman who in 1988 approved the use of poll guards to intimidate Latinos going to vote? And he's now gonna help oversee national elections at a time when anti-immigrant fever is spreading like lube at a Young Republicans circle jerk? Good times!