Georgia voters MUST pay VERY close attention to today's primary races

[woldnewton]

With Georgia's electoral votes at stake, it is simply crucial that you act on the following.


As you may know, Georgia is one of the states that uses Diebold voting machines for the entirety of its polling. This has been the case since before the 2002 midterm elections for which the results have been suspect, especially in Georgia.

Concentrating on what to look for in today's primaries, let's review what happened in 2002 in the state:

An Atlanta Journal Constitution poll on Nov. 1st came up with the following percentages for the governor and the contested US senate seat, respectively:

Roy Barnes (D) 51%
Sonny Perdue (R) 40%

Max Cleland (D) 49%
Saxby Chambliss (R) 44%


But when the results were tallied on Diebold 4 days later, these were the "official" results:

Roy Barnes (D) 46%
Sonny Perdue (R) 51%


Max Cleland (D) 46%
Saxby Chambliss (R) 53%


The only powerless position in the state was given to a Democrat - that of Lt. Gov. And although I've contacted his office a couple of times, he seems to completely ignore the seriousness of the possibility that Democratic votes are being stolen in the state he's supposed to watching out for.

So, as always, it's left to the people to ensure that democracy is being safeguarded. The way it's always been and it seems, the way it will continue to be until these fraudulent systems are completely abolished and even the mention of their return will be met with ridicule and dismissal.

When Georgia voters go to vote today, bring your Democratic buttons, stickers, lapels, and pins with you. Don't wear them on the way to your polling place or on line to cast your ballot, of course. Keep alert for any discrepancies while there. Ask the polling place worker how you can ensure your vote is counted for the person you meant it to go to. Ask him or her to get some record for the vote (there's no way for that to be done, but it will plant a seed and raise awareness for the demand). Ask the workers if they themselves feel confident casting a vote on the Diebold machine ballots, given their reputation. If polling workers are aware that you are concerned about voter fraud and the issue is consistently, repeatedly raised throughout the day, the people who commit the fraud will be less likely to try it, especially in races where their side has overwhelmingly lost. And then, only after you've successfully been allowed to count your vote, hang around outside your polling place and put on your Democratic paraphernalia in as highly visible a way as possible. See if you can meet up with other Democratic voters and ask them if they share the same concerns about their vote going without counted. Ask them if they've heard reports of a Florida being pulled even here, north of panhandle border. If you both feel comfortable enough, exchange contact info and be ready to plan emergency rallies to protest allegations of vote fraud at specific polling locations if they come up.

Unfortunately, due to the contenders in the U.S. Senate primary race, it's unclear who the Re-THUGs would rig the vote in favor of. Both Denise Majette and Cliff Oxford are useful for Re-THUG-liKKKans to select, and there's few indicators of fraud until the general race for the seat, after the nominee from each party has been picked. However, in the unlikely chance that the ultra-KKKonservative Oxford has a huge lead over Majette, anything showing Oxford at 55% or more and Majette at 20% or less, then that will be one more scrap of evidence to add to the real red flags.

The real race to pay attention to and notice -- for here's where any vote rigging will surely manifest itself -- is the primary in which Cynthia McKinney is seeking to regain GA's 4th district congressional seat. It's definitely in the re-THUGs interest to knock Cynthia out in the primary, but they will have to be very deft into doing so, because Cynthia (and others interested in this race) will be paying close attention. Some will use the fact that Cynthia is considered "too outlandish" to "explain" a lopsided turnout in favor of one of her opponents. However... if primary challenger Cathy Woolard receives more than 48% of the vote and secondary challenger Nadine Thomas receives more than 20%, you know there's something wrong there... 4th district voters would never give anyone other than Cynthia that much of their support... hopefully voters in that district will be able to rally to Cynthia's defense and demand the truth and paper ballot verification in Georgia by November and cancel this primary and a new one with paper ballots instead of these vote stealing machines.


So I urge all Georgians to please keep your eyes and ears alert, and be ready to gather in large numbers and short notice and make your concerns and demands known... the accuracy of the democratic ballot is at stake - ever since the arrival of Diebold.

[Mistress Quickly]

1. Georgia is a puke state

and turning pukier and pukier.

[MasonJar]

2. I was shocked this morning when I heard on NPR that Georgia

is an excellent example of how the BBV machines do a good job. What utter bull.

[schultzee]

3. Democrats need to organize and peacefully march on the state

capital about this issue. They stole your elections as sure as they did in rotten Florida. In La. we only got Blanco and Landrieu in because we had the old honest machines. We have got to take our country back from the corporate thurs and their candidates.

[the ether]

4. Georgia Primary Heats up - Voting Machines breakdown

http://www.americanether.net/georgia.html


Georgia Primary Heats up - Voting Machines breakdown in DeKalb and Chatham Counties




This is some info from VotersUnite.org/ballotintegrity.org about how Georgia voting activists witnessed a whole slew of disasters from start to finish on the recent July 20th Georgia primary election.

How many machines overheated or will overheat in your county?

Please pass this information on to you're Representatives in Congress and ask them to speak out on this issue - especially at the upcoming Democratic Convention. - Contact info below.

This is one state, but what is going to happen with our country on election day, while these election machines are blowing up and glitching our votes out of existence?



The 2004 Solution from http://www.ballotintegrity.org/mpacs.html

Tell your Representatives to take a look at the best solution I've seen for the Electronic Voting disaster-waiting-to-happen.

MPACs: MPACS (Manual Parallel Accounting Control System) The MPACS Solution consists of simply running the manual systems in parallel with the automation (electronic voting machines), as a check on the accuracy of the automation now being integrated into America's election systems. Top computer security and accounting systems experts have reported that parallel systems checks have long been standard practice, in industry, in periods of transition between manual and automated systems. These experts add that it is unheard of for an organization to plunge into automation without first running a parallel systems check.







"One precinct reported almost upon opening of the polls
that all machines (10) were failing." - Georgia pollwatcher



It was a very ordinary primary election day.
~ Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox
July 20, 2004


What do you think? Do you trust Cathy Cox?




Voting Machine Mess-up Du Jour

--------------------------------------------------------------------
DeKalb County, Georgia. July 20, 2004.
Diebold TS paperless voting machines and County
election procedures. Over 150 Georgia citizens
volunteered as poll watchers in the Tuesday primary.
They observed machine malfunctions and insecure
election administration procedures. Here are excerpts
from one observer's report.*

When the polls opened ...

We had a poll watcher in every precinct, informed
and trained with the things to look for and how to
address the problems the moment they cropped up. We
insured the law was followed to the letter.
The calls from the poll watchers began promptly at
7:00 AM with every irregularity, improper behavior and
machine malfunction they saw reported to the
attorneys.

One precinct reported almost upon opening of the polls
that all machines (10) were failing. Voters inserted
the access card and the card was immediately ejected.
The pollwatcher reported that voters were offered
provisional paper ballots, but they were prepared with
only 25 of these ballots and ran out within 10
minutes. It took almost 2 hours to rectify the
situation even though our HQ personnel reported it to
the County office immediately.





Attempting to observe at the election office ...

I was badged as a NAACP Pollwatcher as was another
member of our team. We arrived at the Election
Supervisor's office at 9:00 AM and asked to observe
the operation throughout the day. The employees were
disconcerted by the request and we were asked to
repeat it several times. 20 minutes later, the
Elections Supervisor explained to us that we would
not be granted access because the center was "too
small and there just isn't room for you." Our
response was that we would do anything necessary to
stay out of the way and make ourselves unobtrusive.
We also offered to have only one observer in the
room at a time, trading off throughout the day. The
Elections Supervisor refused every alternative and
offered us a 10 minute tour, but we would have to
leave.
... The end result of the negotiations with the
attorneys was that we would not be granted access
until the polls closed at 7:00 PM so we returned to
our HQ location.


When the machines overheated at the polls ...

At 4:15 we received a call from one of the
precincts. The poll manager had announced to the
pollworkers that all the DREs were malfunctioning
because the polling place was unairconditioned and
unventilated.
We arrived at the polling place and asked to speak to
the Poll Manager who explained that they were
experiencing some problems but they had a technician
on the way.

Our Pollwatcher had asked the technician to note the
problems on his forms. He signed his name, wrote in
the time (1:00 PM) and noted "All machines running
hot."

We spoke with the technician and he explained that the
machines were behaving erratically. Because of the
heat, when a voter placed their hand on the
touchscreen, their chosen candidate would change (the
red X would jump all over the screen) and voters would
have great difficulty casting their vote for the
candidate of their choosing. He informed us the
problem began occurring at 12:15 and was getting
progressively worse as the environment in the polling
place was heating up with the daytime heating.

Voting continued on the overheated machines until the
polls closed at 7:00 PM.


At the election office after the polls closed ...

Modem communications are not monitored by anyone at
any time. No one is assuring what is being moved
between the computers, nor that someone might be
connecting to the GEMS server inappropriately. One
can hear the modem connections being made, see the
screen on the GEMS server moving lines of text, but
no one is monitoring it.
As poll workers bring the reports and PCMCIA
cards back to election center:

1. HQ Poll workers receive the envelopes, checking the
seal. ...
4. At no time during this process does any HQ poll
worker check, monitor or verify the serial numbers or
any other identifying information on the PCMCIA cards.


5. HQ Poll workers return to the envelopes and check
off that it contains "tapes." The tapes are not
removed from the envelope, they are not read, they are
not documented and the envelope is dumped into a bin
with other envelopes. These "tapes" contain the Zero
Total Report and the End of Day Precinct Totals.


Talking to the Elections Director ...

One of the questions we asked involved the 13
overheating machines and she repeated the "human
failure" response saying it was the humans who
overheated and overreacted. She went on to explain
that the Diebold DREs were "certified to operate to
200 degrees" and the humans weren't.

* Wish us luck! Poll Watching in Georgia. National Ballot
Integrity Project Discussion Forum. Posts by Roxanne Jekot.
July 20-22, 2004. See: Diebold in the News


--------------------------------------------------------------------


It was a very ordinary primary election day.
~ Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox
July 20, 2004



http://www.votersunite.org/info/content/mess-up_072304....






DeKalb and Chatham Counties, Georgia. July 20, 2004.
Diebold AccuVote TS paperless electronic voting machines.

In what Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox called "a very ordinary primary election day," voting problems ranged from incorrect summary pages ... *

Ziyadah Sabir said she's concerned the touch-screen machine didn't properly record her vote. The summary page, which allows voters to review their choices before casting their ballots, failed to show some of her choices and showed incorrect choices for others, Sabir said. Poll workers could not fix the problem, she said.

"That's not very reassuring," said Sabir of DeKalb County, who was voting for the first time on the machines.

... to incorrect ballots ... **

Voting problems seemed widespread enough in Tuesday's primary election to prompt the two candidates in the District 1 Chatham County Commission race to pledge a challenge if the vote were close.

Colin McRae said he asked for the Democratic ballot because he wanted to be sure to vote in the 12th Congressional District race. He double-checked with the poll worker, asking if the computer card really activated the Democratic slate.

When the poll worker said it did, he put the card in the machine. But it only showed the nonpartisan judicial candidates.

The poll workers called a technician and held up the line until the problem was solved - 45 minutes later.

... to lost ballots.*

Craig Kidd of Buckhead said he voted last week as part of the state's advance voting program, which allows people to cast ballots during a five-day period before an election.

Kidd said on Tuesday he went to his precinct to make sure his vote had been recorded. Poll workers said they had no record of his vote and advised him to cast another ballot, Kidd said.

"I find that a little distressing," said Kidd. "I like the concept of advance voting, but if this is a common thing, you could have hundreds or thousands of people who think they voted but they actually haven't."

* Few snags seen at polls: Technical problems small, but unsettling. Atlanta Journal Constitution. July 20, 2004. By Carlos Campos.

** Problems plague primary: From incorrect addresses to improper instructions and confusing ballots, many found it difficult to cast their ballots Tuesday. Savannah Morning News. July 21, 2004. By Bret Bell.


http://www.votersunite.org/info/content/mess-up_072204....






Original source for the Georgia reports, which keep getting updated with more information:
http://www.ballotintegrity.org/DCForumID1/61.html#10




Send this stuff to John Kerry, please ask him to protect your vote against the threat of electronic voting and to talk about this issue at the Democratic National Convention.


Send a Free Fax by putting this in your email's "send" box and click "send". If you fax doesn't send - you have up to 3 chances to send a fax

remote-printer.bob_ney/[e-mail]...

remote-printer.sen_kerry/[e-mail]....

Washington D.C.
304 Russell Bldg.
Third Floor
Washington D.C. 20510
[phone] - Phone
[phone] - Fax

http://kerry.senate.gov/text/contact/email.html


To find your own elected official go here:

http://congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials /

What paper ballots for 2004? <http://www.votersunite.org >

Alert | Hide Thread | Nominate Topic for Homepage Printer Friendly | Edit | Reply | Top

Replies to this thread:
This is urgent, folks. hedda_foil Jul-25-04 03:58 AM #1

hedda_foil Donating member (1000+ posts) Click to send email to this author Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Sun Jul-25-04 03:58 AM
Response to Original message
1. This is urgent, folks.

Please send the faxes and also sign up for the forum at www.ballotintegrity.org.

"Change is difficult. You cannot expect people with great privileges, taken at the expense of ordinary working people, to surrender them lightly. But the history of humanity is that determined people will overcome obstacles." -- Howard Dean 18 February 2004

Alert Printer Friendly | Reply | Top

Previous thread | Next thread

Lobby / Latest Activism/Events
Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1
Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com



Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home | Forums | Articles | Links Directory | Store | Donate

About DU | Contact Us | Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Send us an email at [e-mail].

© 2001 - 2004 Democratic Underground, LLC

miserable failure