Tuesday 12/21

[MelissaB]

In order to organize and document I thought it would be a good idea to have a daily thread to place items related to the recounts/fraud. This also make it easier to "catch up" when we are away from the computer for a while.

Please help us. If you see something that isn't here post it with a link to the thread and a thanks to the author. Thanks to everyone who is helping in this project.

Thread from Monday: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x180476#182720

Thread from Sunday: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Thread from Saturday: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph ...

[MelissaB]

1. "No vote tampering seen in election computer fix " Cleveland Plain Dealer

bones_7672 (417 posts) Tue Dec-21-04 07:30 AM
Original message

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/ba...

"Logan, Ohio - Prosecutors and local police found no evidence of election tampering when they watched Monday as a technician repeated a repair to a tallying computer that led a congressman to request an FBI investigation.

Observers, including Green Party representatives who re quested a presidential recount, agreed that the procedure did not alter the hard drive where data are stored, Hocking County Prosecutor Larry Beal said."


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x182916

[sabra]

2. Thanks for doing this!

Bookmarking your daily threads help as any easy reference points to all of the days activities.

- sabra

[SueZhope]

3. Salon finally starts covering Ohio (Conyers Interview)

Post by: tasteblind 
Tue Dec-21-04 08:44 AM
Original message

Salon finally starts covering Ohio (Conyers Interview)
http://salon.com/news/feature/2004/12/21/conyers/index....

Haven't finished reading yet. I wrote in a couple times to the Premium help people about the lack of coverage. Guess I wasn't the only one.

Full link here:
http://nov2truth.org/article.php?story=20041220234357145

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x182932

[dzika]

4. Justices to hear case for blocking votes Wed.

Justices to hear case for blocking votes Wed.


BRAD SHANNON THE OLYMPIAN

-snip-
The state Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday morning on the
latest vote-counting dispute prompted by the closest governor's race
in Washington history.

At issue are 573 ballots mistakenly rejected by the King County
canvassing board and 162 ballots that apparently had been misplaced
in that county.

The number of votes is just enough that it could tip the election in
favor of Democrat Christine Gregoire, who trailed Republican
governor-elect Dino Rossi by just 42 votes after the first recount,
done by machine. A statewide hand count of ballots is under way and
could wrap up Wednesday when King County, a Gregoire stronghold, is
expected to finish its tally.


http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20041221/topstories/53523.shtml

[dzika]

5. New Wheel of VOTER Challenge III: $.5K

New Wheel of VOTER Challenge III: $.5K

NEW $500 CHALLENGE

Due to the popularity of the last two Wheel of VOTER Challenges 2004 -- in which it was paper-trail voting emerged to have an unrivaled mandate and undetectable machine hackability became shockingly indisputable -- we at WVC headquarters now offer the following $500 opportunity for an equally tantalizing issue:

We will send a $500 cashiers check to the first Diebold or Tri Ad elections systems information technology employee who provides proof they:

a) Voted for Gore and Kerry in the last two general elections.
b) Are registered Democrats.
c) Worked at Diebold or Tri Ad for at least three years.
d) Will answer eight queries below to the best of your ability.

Your name and identifying information will be NOT be made public in any way without your permission. Your identifying information will be held strictly confidential. A signed non-disclosure agreement will be provided. Non-identifying information, such as staff listing and party affiliations, will be published at WVC discretion.

To win:

a) Provide a copy of your last two Diebold or Tri Ad paystubs.
b) Provide proof you worked on the company's election software as a developer, programmer, or tester.
c) Provide a sample of programming work or similar that you coded or supervised at said elections company.
d) Provide a staff list of all current and five past IT workers at said elections company.
e) Provide a good faith percentage estimate of partisanship breakdown in IT department in said elections company, including management.
f) Provide a copy of voter registration card and info that allows confirmation on SBOE web site.
g) Indicate whether you were asked about your political affiliation prior to being hired or during performance reviews.
h) Summarize whether you are aware of discriminatory hiring practices by this employer, such as hiring more of a particular political party or race.

Terms and payout ARE negotiable on some items causing difficulty. You can also win the same amount by referring someone's email address who successfully meets the above criteria who will then win their own separate payout. Two payouts maximum for this challenge.

In summary, go visit the Fraud Slide Show:
http://www.electionfraud2004.org/presentation/index.html


Robin Baneth
2004 National Wheel of VOTER Challenges Chair
Raleigh, North Carolina
[e-mail]


To take the last two challenges (they still stump America):
http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_15806.shtml
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=4705

[dzika]

6. Election official: Other counties included 'new' ballots in recounts

Election official: Other counties included 'new' ballots in recounts

07:44 AM PST on Tuesday, December 21, 2004


Associated Press and KING Staff Reports


-snip-
SEATTLE — At least five Washington counties found ballots that weren’t included in the original tally for governor and added them to the recount, according to an affidavit by state Elections Director Nick Handy.

The state Republican Party’s lawsuit seeks to stop King County from
including 723 newly discovered ballots in the hand recount of the
excruciatingly close race for governor.

But five other counties have already done what King County wants to
do, and the Supreme Court’s ruling on the case could affect voters
all over the state.

“In similar situations, ballots like these were counted,” Handy
said.

The Supreme Court will hear the case Wednesday. Democrats say state
law allows canvassing boards to correct mistakes, such as King
County workers’ errors that mistakenly excluded 723 ballots from the
original count and the first recount by machine.

Link:
http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_122104ELKnewballotsLJ.2f73c2ce.html

[texpatriot2004]

7. Thank for the daily thread

[MelissaB]

8. New Olberman Blog Entry!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/


Thanks to VTGold here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x183047

[MelissaB]

9. Ohio Supreme Court Could Begin Ruling on Presidential Election Challenge

Ohio Supreme Court Could Begin Ruling on Presidential Election Challenge

Monday, December 20, 2004

This could be the week that Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Moyer makes a ruling that could at least BEGIN to answer a legal question with world-wide implications --- Will President George W. Bush's election victory in Ohio be allowed to stand?

Ohio Public Radio's Bill Cohen reports:


link to the stream:
http://www.wksu.org/news/story/17888

Must say this guy's report is not very fair to the suit. Says legal experts expect Moyer just to toss it out
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x182845
Thanks to EMunster here:

[dzika]

10. Desperately Seeking Senators

Here is a direct link to the email form:
http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=6770366

Desperately Seeking Senators
December 21, 2004
Greetings!

-snip-
We all remember that early scene from Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit
911", where one African American after another stands up in the well
of the House to challenge the Florida vote from 2000, only to be
ruled out of order due to the lack of a single signature from a
single Senator.

Not this time.

On January 6, 2005, the House and Senate will once again meet to
consider the electoral vote count. And once again, that vote count
is likely to be challenged by a group of progressive House members,
who will make the case that the misallocation of voting machines
(especially in Ohio), the abuse of provisional balloting in numerous
states, and the refusal and/or inability to conduct the recount in
an open and auditable manner in Ohio, in Florida, and in so many
other key states, mean that the certified electors should not be
seated.

This time, we want several U.S. Senators to join with them, to make
a serious voting rights challenge that the entire world will hear.
This time, we want so much polite-but-firm grassroots contact from
progressive voters beforehand that a whole group of Senators will
choose to stand up and fight for the voting rights of African-
Americans, Latinos, and youth voters that the Republican Party
targeted for disruption and disenfranchisement in the 2004 election.

-snip-
To remind them why they're in Washington, click here. Ask them to
stand for every American's right to vote (and have it counted.)

Go to http://www.pdamerica.org to take action.
Thank you for forwarding this action alert to your networks.

Standing tall in solidarity,


Tim Carpenter
Progressive Democrats of America

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

email: [e-mail]
phone: [phone]
web: http://www.pdamerica.org

[MelissaB]

11. CNN's Attempt to Discredit Conyers and the entire Fraud case

This is probably on LBN, but check it out:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/12/21/ohio.vote.ap/...

The title is "Observers rule out computer tampering" and they show a picture of Conyers et al.

The story implies that the request to the FBI isn't necessary because of the fiasco of a demonstration of what the TRIAD employee did to the machine and how everyone "felt better" afterward.

People, I'm afraid to say it, but the "Fix is in." It really paints things in such a way to say that all the concern is for nothing really.


Thanks to berni_mccoy here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x183067

[sabra]

12. Chair of Franklin County's Board of Elections Critizes Blackwell !

<<SNIP>>
http://www.elitestv.com/pub/2004/Dec/EEN41c754d14d6d9.h...

Like Tim Burke, Chair of Hamilton County's Board of Elections, William A. Anthony, Jr., chair of Franklin County's Board of Elections disagrees with the uniformly positive statements coming out of Ohio's secretary of state's office. Carlo LoParo, the spokesperson for Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio's Secretary of State, encouraged us to contact these local county elections boards to refute any allegations of problems with Ohio's Presidential vote. He specifically mentioned that we should contact the chair's for Hamilton and Franklin County. On December 14th, we reported that Tim Burke had a lot of complaints regarding decisions made by the Secretary of State. If anything, Franklin's chairman Anthony went further.

'A lot of the problems and allegations could have been avoided if the Secretary of State hadn't made the rulings he did in the last few days leading up to the election' said Anthony, 'We in the local election boards tried to do the best we could '. Prior to the election, Franklin county joined in a lawsuit against the state regarding Blackwell's restrictive policies on provisional ballots, restrictions that prevented certain ballots from being counted that would have counted in previous years. 'In Franklin County, we tried to set up sites specifically for provisional voting ahead of the election to make sure everyone could vote and all votes were counted...in previous years you could provisionally vote anywhere in your county. We tried to take this step because we knew the state didn't allow us enough voting machines.' Blackwell's rulings prevented them from having specific sites throughout the county for provisional ballots. 'All across this county, we didnt have enough voting machines. People are blaming us at the local level, but the real blame should be placed on Blackwell, HAVA and the Republican state legislature.' Anthony blames the legislature for part of the problems because they did not vote to authorize paper trails for Ohio's electronic voting machines until late in 2003, too late to change the machines that the counties already had purchased.

Burke and Anthony both seemed to stress the problems created by Blackwell's many directives and opinions in the days right before election day. 'Why, since Blackwell has been Secretary of State since 1998 did he wait until 37 days before election day to make this ruling ?' Anthony wondered.

...


My conversations with two of them, the two that the secretary's office directed me to call, suggest a long litany of issues that may very well have changed the outcome of the election.


<</SNIP>>


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=183080&mesg_id=183080

[dzika]

13. Interview: Wednesday Resolution Expected for Washington Gov. Race

Interview: Wednesday Resolution Expected for Washington State Governor's Race
Olympia, Washington
21 December 2004

Lapidus Interview-Download MP3:
http://128.11.143.114/mediaassets/english/2004_12/Audio/mp3/lapidus_washington_governors.mp3

Lapidus Interview-download RealAudio:
http://128.11.143.114/mediaassets/english/2004_12/Audio/ra/lapidus_washington_governors.ra

Listen to Lapidus Interview:
http://www.voanews.com/english/figleaf/ramfilegenerate.cfm?filepath=http%3A%2F%2F128%2E11%2E143%2E114%2Fmediaassets%2Fenglish%2F2004%5F12%2FAudio%2Fra%2Flapidus%5Fwashington%5Fgovernors%2Era

-snip-
It's been more than a month since the U-S elections. But in
Washington State the governor's race remains unresolved. Fewer than
one hundred votes - out of nearly three million cast - separate the
two leading candidates. According to election officials, it's the
closest statewide race of its magnitude in U-S history. A hand
recount of the ballots is just wrapping up. But a legal battle is
underway over whether 700 previously disqualified ballots should be
included in the count. These ballots could tip the outcome of the
race. Reporter Austin Jenkins told VOA's Faith Lapidus where things
stand as the week begins:

Continued here:
http://www.voanews.com/english/AmericanLife/2004-12-21-voa18.cfm

[MelissaB]

14. I need help from citizens of New Mexico

There has been well-documented fraud in New Mexico that has been posted on DU. Here are just a few of the links:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

http://www.helpamericarecount.org/NewMexicoData/NewMexi...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

With so much evidence of fraud in Nex Mexico, I thought it would be a good idea to ask Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico) to help Conyers in putting a halt to the 2004 election. I read his email policy and he says that he will respond to residents of New Mexico:

http://bingaman.senate.gov/Contact_Me/e-mail_policy.htm...

So, if you live in New Mexico, please send Senator Bingaman as much information about fraud happening in New Mexico (and the US) and urge him to help Conyers. Again, his email policy states that he will reply to your letters if you are a resident. Thank you!!
--------------------


Senator Bingagman's contact page:

http://bingaman.senate.gov/Contact_Me/contact_me.html

Thanks to Vote4Kerry here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x182675

[MelissaB]

15. Scripps Howard Election study finds widespread ballot-counting problems

By THOMAS HARGROVE
Scripps Howard News Service
December 20, 2004

Thomas K. Hargrove is director of survey research for Scripps Howard News Service and a frequent consultant on polling and quantified research for newspapers and television stations owned by the E.W. Scripps Co. He is also a veteran newspaper reporter, former White House correspondent and investigative journalist specializing in database research. Hargrove has conducted extensive research into election irregularities in America.

http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=MISCOUNT-EL...

This is a long article with information from several states. The overall impression is one of a chaotic system riddled with incompetence (and infinite opportunities for "shenanigans").

snip>

The study - part of a yearlong project examining errors in America's election practices - checked the accuracy of the Nov. 2 election by comparing official results for president against the reported number of ballots cast in more than 2,400 counties nationwide.

Ten counties with some of the nation's worst voting record discrepancies were selected in the project. Local election officials were asked why their vote tallies didn't match their ballot counts.

All but one county official admitted they did not make this important crosscheck before reporting results that, most now concede, contained significant errors. State officials also failed to notice the discrepancies.

"This speaks to the need for states to be more thorough," said DeForest Soaries, chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, after seeing results of the Scripps Howard study. "Every state is accountable to ensure their procedures and practices deliver election results with integrity."

Four of the 10 counties contacted in this study have amended their official vote certifications.

"We're so glad we found this. I don't know how it happened. Thank you so much for calling us," said Registrar of Voters Bettye Moore in Madison Parish, La., after finding errors that misplaced 419 votes for Democrat John Kerry and 15 lost votes for President Bush.

snip>

I found this article at The Votergate Resource Center at
http://www.miamedia.com/votergate/index.html
Thanks to KaryninMiami for her post about that excellent site


Thanks to enough here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x182894

[rerdavies]

47. Corrected URL

This is the correct URL.

[HEAVYHEART]

16. ..

Damn Melissa. You rock!

[MelissaB]

17. Thanks, HEAVYHEART!

"I get by with a little help from my friends."

They rock! Thanks to everybody who is helping. This can't be a one person job. I don't know of anyone who can read everything on this website. This is too much for one person to handle.

The old saying is, "It takes a village to raise a child."

My new saying is, "It takes a village to bring down a powerful idiot." Here is to us! :toast:

[althecat]

27. Seconded.. this is extremely useful

[MelissaB]

18. Election Fraud Slideshow

ElectionFraud2000.org put together a slideshow about election fraud.

It gets the point across in a way that is easy to understand.

Available in online and PDF formats here:
http://www.electionfraud2004.org /

(by Peter Drekmeier and Amy Adams)

Thanks to dzika here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x182547


(This was posted at 11:29 last night. I don't think it made the other thread.)

[MelissaB]

19. Guess what is on Michael Moore's homepage this morning?

Check this out:

http://michaelmoore.com /


http://michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=664

Thanks to Vote4Kerry here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=183446#183459

[dzika]

20. Inauguration protesters plan weeklong, family-friendly events

Inauguration protesters plan weeklong, family-friendly events

EMILY FREDRIX, Associated Press Writer

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

(12-21) 09:47 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --

-snip-
Groups targeting President Bush's economic agenda, the legitimacy of
his election and the war in Iraq plan a week of events to counter
his inauguration Jan. 20.

"Our intention is to show President Bush and the world our movement
is energized, mobilized and determined to fight back," said Gael
Murphy, of the activist group Code Pink.

Inauguration week will feature rallies, marches and demonstrations
with the focus on peaceful, family-friendly gatherings, said
organizer Shahid Buttar. Hundreds of groups throughout the country
will participate, Buttar said, including Mobilization for Global
Justice and the Committee to ReDefeat the President, a PAC that sees
Bush's presidency as illegitimately won.

Link:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/12/21/national1247EST0553.DTL


Inauguration Protests: www.counter-inaugural.org

[MelissaB]

21. new Village Voice article: The Case of the Ohio Recount - A Whodunit

Haven't read it yet but looks long and thorough:

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0451/perlstein.php


Thanks to VTGold here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x183658

[MelissaB]

22. "Ohio: A Crime Against Democracy "

Ohio: A Crime Against Democracy

by Stuart Comstock-Gay, TomPaine.com Exclusive

The director of the National Voting Rights Institute on why the recount of Ohio votes should matter to every American.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/ohio_a_crime_against_d...

Electoral votes have been submitted by all states and the national news media has moved on, but a test of U.S. voting rights continues in Ohio. After the Ohio delegation to the Electoral College cast its votes for President Bush last week, election officials in Ohio counties began the recount of votes cast in the election. Concerns about the integrity of the 2004 election continue to surface. Something's wrong with this picture.

We at the National Voting Rights Institute—on behalf of Green Party Candidate David Cobb and Libertarian Party candidate Michael Badnarik—are providing legal representation in the recount effort. We also want to find out what went wrong. Because clearly things went wrong. And whether in the end they are serious enough to change the outcome of the election, they create a cloud over the elections of 2004.

Too many commentators continue to claim the recount effort is the result of bad losers. Some have even gone so far as to say that if the Republicans lost, there would be no recount—that Republicans “play fair.” In fact, concern about "fairness" is in part what is driving the recount. These commentators overlook the fact that this effort is not only about verifying the outcome of the vote. More importantly, it’s about ensuring accountability of a highly fallible elections process.

As long as any votes are miscounted, misplaced or misdirected, our elections cannot be said to be properly working. And with an electoral system that provides no consistency in how votes are counted—and some election officials hostile to a full accounting— there remains work to be done to restore voters' faith in the system.

What Went Wrong On Nov. 2
..continued..

Thanks to G_j here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x183643

[MelissaB]

23. Ed Schultz will re-play the Congressman Conyers interview...

....today. Here is the email I received from the executive producer, Mr. James Holm

*****************************

Thank you very much James. I will post the info on DU.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
From: James Holm, Ed Schultz Show <mailto:[e-mail] >
Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2004 8:15 AM
To: xxxxx
Subject: Re: important request


We will replay the interview TODAY 12-21-04 and post it on our website. Thank You

James Holm
Executive Producer
Ed Schultz Show


----- Original Message -----
From: xxxxxx
To: [e-mail]
Sent: Monday, December 20, 2004 5:03 PM
Subject: important request


Good afternoon,
Can you provide some form of access to Congressman Conyers' comments on Mr Schultz's show (from earlier today). Many of us are eager to both hear the Congressman's words and to have some form of archive to point others.
Thank you,
xxxxxxx


&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Peace.

"I'm an American patriot, not a pro-fraud theocrat"

Thanks to understandinglife here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x183262

[MelissaB]

24. response from Senator Chambliss of georgia -trusts blackwell

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Ohio election.
It is good to hear from you.

The Kerry campaign has recently joined the presidential
candidates for the Green and Libertarian parties who are asking for
a recount of the 2004 Presidential Election. The political groups
felt there were many problems with the voting process in the state
on Election Day. Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, the
state's chief election official, stated "This was an election where
you have some glitches, but none of these glitches were of a
conspiratorial nature and none of them would overturn or change
the election results." I support Kenneth Blackwell and his ability
to render a fair and proper decision.

Again, I appreciate hearing form you on this matter. If I
may be of assistance to you in the future, please do not hesitate to
let me know.





Sincerely,

Saxby Chambliss
United States Senate


Thanks to keepthemhonest here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x183714

[MelissaB]

25. Contest the Vote Met with Senator Boxer Please Help!

Thanks again for signing our petition at http://www.contestthevote.org

This week we have reached three significant milestones.

1. On November 17, 2004, we received our 10,000th signature on the online petition (more than 14,000 now) and have over 1,000 signatures on the hard copy petitions.


2. There has been much interest from across the country, so we decided to go national and extended the deadline for the petition due date to December 31, 2004. Each senator will now receive petitions with the signatures from his or her constituents. Additionally, we will forward all of the signed petitions to the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary to encourage them to hold formal hearings on the election irregularities.


3. Four members of Contest the Vote went to Los Angeles on 12/15/04 and asked Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) to join with Representative John Conyers (D-MI) and others in contesting the official electoral vote count on 01/06/05. Though she has not yet firmly decided to join Representative Conyers, she gave us every indication that she is seriously considering this matter and is consulting with the representatives from Ohio.


Her State Director, Tom Bohegian, spent a considerable amount of time with us over dinner answering our questions and reviewing this serious matter. He indicated that he would be sharing points from our in-depth conversation with Senator Boxer. We indicated to him that the numbers of signatures were increasing daily and would soon top 10,000. We advised him to inspect our website, www.ContestTheVote.org, for the latest information on this.


Our website has been updated to include a FAQ page and more links to other election related websites and organizations.

With your help we can hit 100,000 by the weekend! Please re-visit www.ContestTheVote.org and forward our example email by clicking the "Tell Others" button. It's easy, and within a few minutes you can empty your address book and save Democracy!


Have fun spreading the word. Print out our ContestTheVote.org bookmarks, take them to your local book stores or other fun place, and put a bookmark in any book or spot you see fit. Be creative. It's a great bit of activism that ties in with holiday shopping.


Continue to reach out to organizations, friends and affiliates. The response has been fantastic. Call in to a radio station. Send a letter to the editor. Don't forget to mention www.ContestTheVote.org !

Thanks!







Sincerely,


Maegan Prentice
Volunteer
Contest The Vote
[e-mail]

Thanks to BernieBear here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x183873

[MelissaB]

26. Salon's Tim Grieve Interviews John Conyers

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/12/21/conyers/pr...

Investigating Ohio
Rep. John Conyers isn't ready to declare the election stolen, but he'll continue to dig into the droves of complaints -- and fight to fix the broken U.S. election system

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Tim Grieve

Dec. 21, 2004 | For those who believe that the 2004 election was stolen by George W. Bush, Karl Rove and an unholy alliance of party operatives and voting-machine impresarios, a 75-year-old Democratic congressman from Detroit has emerged as the last best hope for American democracy. Almost alone in official Washington, Rep. John Conyers has insisted that the nation understand -- and then correct -- the problems that plagued the 2004 vote.

With little attention from the media and little support even from members of his own party, Conyers has launched his own probe of the 2004 election. His early conclusion: There may not have been an active conspiracy to suppress the vote and steal the election, but all those problems in Ohio -- the long lines in Democratic precincts, the voting machines that may have switched votes, the suspicious actions of a voting-machine company representative, the trumped-up concerns about terrorism in Warren County, the Republican-friendly rulings by the state election official who also happened to chair the Bush-Cheney campaign -- well, those things didn't all happen by accident, either.

"You know, orchestrated attempts don't always require a conspiracy," Conyers told Salon on Monday. Conyers said that Bush's supporters in Ohio may have worked to suppress the vote based on cues rather than orders from party officials. "People get the drift from other elections and the way talk about how they're going to win the election."

Conyers isn't looking to overturn the election, and he won't say that the Republicans stole it; coming from a member of Congress, such an allegation would be "reckless," he said. But neither is he willing to put the election of 2004 behind him yet. This is the second presidential election in a row in which Republicans have succeeded in suppressing the vote, Conyers said, and he wants to ensure that the system is changed so that it won't happen again. He'll continue his investigation, he'll join the Rev. Jesse Jackson in a protest rally in Ohio on Jan. 3, and when the new Congress meets in January he'll push for further investigation and reform.

Conyers spoke with Salon by phone from Detroit. (Date of interview not mentioned)

more...requires subscription or free day pass


Thanks to flpoljunkie here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x183765

[understandinglife]

28. Ask Members of the Senate and House to Declare Their Intent to Object ...

....to Tainted Electors on January 6th, 2005

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/issues/alert/?alertid=6763491&content_dir=ua_congressorg

Easy to use form and they provide a low cost option to have the your letters printed and hand delivered to each of your Congressional representatives.

[MelissaB]

29. RAW STORY responds to Olbermann reporting

Glad to see Olbermann looking at the story, but wish he'd actually do reporting. Thought this merited it's own thread.

###

http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=509

Olbermann response to programmer’s affidavit fails to ask tough questions, note Feeney ties

This from Keith Olbermann, the lone ‘reporter’ on the voting irregularity beat. Olbermann gets responses from Feeney, who seems to laugh at Curtis’ claims and gently threaten NBC with legal action.

Olbermann, however, gets some facts wrong – that Curtis was a ‘disgruntled’ employee is certainly in the eye of the beholder; on his departure, he was thrown a party and the company, Yang Enterprises, is said to have asked him to stay on. It’s certainly possible, however, that Curtis became a disgruntled employee long after he left.

Olbermann fails to note that Yang Enterprises has already lied about employing an illegal alien who later tried to export sensitive missile technology to China. He’s also failed to ask the FBI about an alleged investigation into Yang’s dealings about knowingly employing an illegal alien and falsifying his employment status to get him security clearances at NASA.

Also curious is that Olbermann takes Yang’s lawyer at his word – who was previously Rep. Feeney’s law partner and gave $1,500 to Feeney’s 2002 congressional campaign.

Meanwhile, he failed to interview Curtis entirely.

RAW STORY does not claim–nor has it ever claimed–that there is evidence to show that Curtis’ program was ever used or even existed. It has, however, confirmed numerous elements of Curtis’ affidavit.


Thanks to rawstory here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x183389

[dzika]

30. In the whodunit over who won it, the true villain is slipping away

In the whodunit over who won it, the true villain is slipping away
The Case of the Ohio Recount
by Rick Perlstein
December 21st, 2004 12:00 PM

-snip-
If the Democrats had a Karl Rove—a cunning master strategist who
thinks so far in advance that he wins new wars before the other side
even wakes up to discover there's been a fight—setting up an
election reform movement might be the first thing he would do. It
just wouldn't look anything like the reform movement we have—so
uncoordinated, strategically unsound, and prone to going off half-
cocked that it may end up hurting the crucial cause it seeks to help.

-snip-
What's wrong with this picture? These people should be working
together, not fighting each other. None seems to know what a
coordinated, disciplined, long-term progressive strategy on election
infrastructure would look like; certainly, no one seems to be
working toward one.

Which is exactly what Karl Rove would be doing, if he were a
progressive.

-snip-
As a strategy for election reform, a recount can only work if it
produces a convincing record of abuse. That hasn't happened, and so
neither has the necessary work of educating the public. "Nobody can
say that there weren't long lines in Ohio. And nobody can say that
there weren't more machines in the suburbs than there were in the
inner city. There was not equal protection under the law," observes
Frank Watkins, a longtime progressive activist and campaign manager
for Jesse Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign. But the recount has
achieved naught in publicizing these problems.

Republicans rely on such failures. If everyone in the country voted
under the same rules of residency and eligibility, their votes
counted the same way, using the same equipment, it would be a lot
harder to hide needles in haystacks. Getting rid of the current
flawed system, ultimately, has to be the long-term strategy—but it
is hard to get good answers from recounters, lawsuit-filers, and
hearing-holders about how that long-term strategy could come
together.

Link:
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0451/perlstein.php

[dzika]

31. Interview of Rep. Conyers on Ohio Election

Presidential Election 2004: Interview of Rep. Conyers on Ohio Election

Posted by : DavidSwanson on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 02:58 PM

Interview of Congressman Conyers on Ohio Election

By Tim Grieve, Salon.com

-snip-
Rep. John Conyers isn't ready to declare the election stolen, but
he'll continue to dig into the droves of complaints - and fight to
fix the broken U.S. election system.

-snip-
"You know, orchestrated attempts don't always require a conspiracy,"
Conyers told Salon on Monday. Conyers said that Bush's supporters in
Ohio may have worked to suppress the vote based on cues rather than
orders from party officials. "People get the drift from other
elections and the way talk about how they're
going to win the election."


The entire interview is posted here:
http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1309&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

[dzika]

32. Ohio Recount has trimmed a few hundred votes from margin

Ohio Recount Continues

-snip-
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Ohio inched toward a final recount that trimmed a
few hundred votes from President Bush's six-figure margin.

With recount results reported in 85 of 88 counties, Bush picked up
437 votes. Senator John Kerry got an extra 680. That narrowed Bush's
119,000 vote lead by 243 votes, according to an Associated Press
survey of the counties.

Both sides agreed last month the recount wouldn't change the
outcome. Meanwhile, election officials said electronic voting
systems worked as promised in the seven Ohio counties that used it.
Critics were unconvinced.

Posted Tuesday, December 21, 2004 at 5:05 p.m.

Link:
http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=2720887&nav=5UaiURBG

[dzika]

33. Ohio: A Crime Against Democracy

Ohio: A Crime Against Democracy

Stuart Comstock-Gay
December 21, 2004

-snip-
The Bush electors in Ohio have cast their votes, even though the
bitterly contested ballots that allegedly gave them standing as
electors have not been recounted. When asked, the mainstream media
will admit that there were rampant problems with this election. But
there's no juicy story for them to cover because they don't believe
a recount would change the outcome of the election. Thus, they
neglect what's happening in Ohio. Here Comstock-Gay explains why it
matters.

Stuart Comstock-Gay is executive director of the National Voting
Rights Institute.

-snip-
As long as any votes are miscounted, misplaced or misdirected, our
elections cannot be said to be properly working. And with an
electoral system that provides no consistency in how votes are
counted—and some election officials hostile to a full accounting—
there remains work to be done to restore voters' faith in the
system.

-snip-
It is shocking that the cherished right to vote, which should be a
major issue in this country, has become an invisible one. Even in
the Ukraine, there will be a new election because of widespread
irregularities in the presidential election. As the Supreme Court
stated over a century ago, the right to vote is "a fundamental
political right, because preservative of all rights." Now, more
than ever, we must fight for this right.




Article Link:
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/ohio_a_crime_against_democracy.php

TomPaine.com's coverage of the problems with election 2004:
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/best_of_tompaine_election_2004_irregularities.php

National Voting Rights Institute:
http://www.nvri.org/

[dzika]

50. sorry, this is a dupe. nt.

[dzika]

34. Giving new meaning to 'every vote counts'

Christian Science Monitor (from the December 22, 2004 edition)

Giving new meaning to 'every vote counts'

The interminable race for Washington governor may hinge on whether 723 originally untallied votes count.

By Dean Paton | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

-snip-
SEATTLE – Cecily Kaplan is a mother of two, a program manager at a
local synagogue, and what they call a perfect voter. She is proud of
casting ballots in every election since 1976 because she adores this
thing called democracy. But now she is angry.

Ms. Kaplan learned last week that she is one of 723 King County
voters who cast valid ballots in the Nov. 2 election but whose vote
has not yet been counted - and may never be. With Dino Rossi (R)
leading Christine Gregoire (D) by just a handful of votes in the
hand recount for the governorship, these absentee ballots have
become 24-carat jewels coveted by both Democrats and Republicans.

"I spent a week with my ballot and my voter's guide, studying the
issues," says Kaplan. "It's not an issue of who wins but if my vote
counts."


Link:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1222/p02s01-uspo.html

[dzika]

35. The Republican Leadership’s Problem With Democracy

The Republican Leadership’s Problem With Democracy

by STEPHEN CROCKETT
www.OpEdNews.com

-snip-
In the last two Presidential elections, Republican Secretaries of
State in key swing states (Florida in 2000 and Ohio, Florida, etc.
in 2004) have seemingly manipulated voting rolls and regulations
before Election Day. They seemed to have sabotaged legal vote
recounts after Election Day in the 2000 Florida and 2004 Ohio races.
In those two situations, the Republican Secretaries of State were
serving as Bush statewide campaign officials while they were
seemingly twisting voting regulations to benefit Republicans seeking
office.

Republican leaders in most states have engaged in actions both legal
and otherwise to limit the opportunities of likely Democratic voters
to exercise their voting rights.

See: “Stolen Election?”
http://www.democratictalkradio.com/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.cgi?action=Read&BID=1&TID=8500&SID=736

See: “Republican Dirty Campaign Tricks 2004”
http://66.39.111.188/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.cgi?action=Read&BID=1&TID=8282&SID=736

Many of these Republican leaders have used Republican dominance of
our federal courts to keep legally cast votes from being counted.
Republican dominance of all branches of the federal government has
kept investigations into vote fraud from being undertaken in most
cases and carefully controlled in many others.

Written by: Stephen Crockett (co-host, Democratic Talk Radio http://www.DemocraticTalkRadio.com ).

Read the full article:
http://www.opednews.com/crockett_122104_republican_leadership_problem.htm

[dzika]

36. WA Governor: King County UPDATE

WA Governor: King County UPDATE

"...results of the hand recount in the governor's race by 3:30 tomorrow..."

-snip-
SEATTLE King County election officials say they will announce
results of the hand recount in the governor's race by 3:30 tomorrow
afternoon. Results will not be certified until the state Supreme
Court rules on disputed ballots. Anticipating a court decision, the
King County Canvassing Board is scheduled to meet at 3 p-m Thursday
to certify results.

Link:
http://www.kptv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2721172

[dzika]

37. Group, Web site aim to create election standards

December 21, 2004

Group, Web site aim to create election standards


By Jennifer Squires
Ashland Daily Tidings

-snip-
The national effort to expose voter fraud gained a local presence in
early November when Joe Dully launched the American Election Fraud
Working Group Web site (www.aefwg.com).

-snip-
"There's a sense of urgency and immediacy in this issue," Dully
said. "Constitutionally, the (presidential) election is not yet
over."

Technically, until the U.S. Congress certifies the election results,
George Bush has not won his second term. However, both the AFEWG Web
site and organization have chosen to look beyond the 2004
presidential election, aiming to make a permanent impact on how
votes are tallied in the U.S. The group, which numbered 15 at the
last meeting, is drafting a voting reform manifesto.


Link:
http://www.dailytidings.com/2004/1221/122104n2.shtml

[MelissaB]

38. Wow, dzika!!

You have definately been busy! :yourock:

[dzika]

40. Thanks.

I'm an information junkie and it's no fun if you don't share!

[MelissaB]

39. Accenture Booed In Madison

Accenture voter deal will stand, board head says

By Aaron Nathans
December 21, 2004

The executive director of the state Elections Board is defending the decision to hire the private firm Accenture to create a state voter database.

Kevin Kennedy dealt with hollers and catcalls from the crowd of slightly more than 100 Monday night at the Wisconsin Memorial Union. Citizens are questioning the $9.7 million state contract with Accenture, a Bermuda-based consulting firm, to create the voter database system by Jan. 1, 2006. The state will pay about $3 million more for maintenance and support through 2010.....


more:
http://www.madison.com/tct/news/images/index.php?ntid=2...


Thanks to EMunster here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x184233

[MelissaB]

41. Rep. Conyers asks networks for exit poll data

The following letter, issued by Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich), calls on the five major television networks and the Associated Press to release the raw exit poll data from the 2004 presidential election. The letter below is a facsimile; the congressman's office said an actual image of the letter will not be released until Wednesday.

The letter was sent to: Anne Sweeney, Co-Chairman, Media Networks, The Walt Disney Company and President, Disney-ABC Television Group; Bob Wright, President, NBC; Gail Berman, President, FOX; Jim Walton President, CNN; Thomas Curley, President, Associated Press; and Andrew Heyward, President, CBS.

"As you are aware, the American citizenry has voiced a collective lack of faith in government to carry out fair election procedures," Conyers writes. "It is important that the Judiciary Committee access raw voter poll data so that discrepancies between those numbers and certified election results can be investigated...Without the raw data, the Committee will be severely handicapped in its efforts to show the need for serious election reform in the United States."


Letter Page 1
http://rawstory.rawprint.com/1204/conyers_exit_polls_12...


Thanks to cal04 here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x184158

[GetTheRightVote]

42. I hope he gets the exit poll info, praying for Rep. Conyers

[dzika]

43. Washington end game

Washington end game
by kos
Tue Dec 21st, 2004 at 15:17:54 PST

-snip-
The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m.
PT whether 500+ ballots incorrectly rejected can be included in the
recount. Optimist Washington Dems think that regardless of the
morning hearing, unless some shocking new information comes to
light, the court is ready to rule in Gregoire's favor upholding the
radical notion that a valid ballot should be, er, valid.

Gregoire will be at the state Supreme Court and hold a press
conference immediately following the results. If the court allows
those ballots, Gregoire has all but won the election. If they don't,
then it'll be a nail biter to the end as King County completes its
recount and reports on Thursday.

Link:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/12/21/181754/08

[dzika]

44. How Bush Really Won

This isn't really about election fraud but it's worth the read.

From: The New York Review of Books

How Bush Really Won

BY MARK DANNER January 3, 2005

"I have won what I call political capital and now I intend to spend it."

Link:
http://www.markdanner.com/nyreview/110304_bush_wom.htm

[MelissaB]

45. Well I was in Warren County Ohio today...

Something is rotten there including the lockdown. We were told yesterday there was a meeting between the county commissioners and Homeland Gestapo today but no one at the county office knew anything about it. Does anyone know anything about this meeting? Did anyone attend? Did it happen? Also, does anyone have the absentee numbers from there? I need precinct by precinct data. The Supervisor of Elections does not have it by precinct breakdown. This seems odd...I looked at the web site but I could not find it. Perhaps I am bleary eyed from looking at poll books all day long. Harmony Guy...if you are there...please respond. If anyone has this data you do.

Andy


Thanks to God_bush_n_cheney here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x184189

[Darknyte7]

46. Election results in Southwestern Ohio Study

This particular article was brought to my attention in another thread by Botany.

Election results in Southwestern Ohio

by Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.

December 21, 2004

<snip>

Three contiguous counties in southwestern Ohio, all traditionally Republican counties, gave unexpectedly large margins to George W. Bush over John F. Kerry on election night. All three counties experienced a huge increase in voter turnout. In all three counties, Bush received a higher percentage of the vote than he did in the 2000 election, and Kerry received a lower percentage of the vote than Al Gore did in 2000. This study analyzes how it happened.

In Warren County, the administrative building was locked down on election night, all in the name of "homeland security." No independent persons were allowed to observe the vote count. Compared to 2000, the population increased by 14.75%, the number of registered voters increased by 29.66%, voter turnout increased by 33.55%, Bush’s point spread increased from 42.24% to 44.58%, and Bush’s victory margin increased from 29,176 votes to 41,124 votes.

<snip>

Link
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2004/10...

[dzika]

48. Auglaize County, Ohio - Dem party witness not allowed to view poll books

Sorry for the long post.

I can't find a link to this article so I don't know if it is real. If you can find a link or confirm that this is not true then please post...

From an email message:


The Daily Standard

Auglaize County, Ohio - Democratic party witness not allowed to view polling books

WAPAKONETA ‹ John Kenney, a witness for the
Democratic party, objected to two separate actions
during the Auglaize County recount of the presidential
election Saturday.

Kenney, who has been on a hunger strike since Sept.
7 to protest the use of touch screen voting, objected
to not being allowed to view polling books. He also
objected to not being able to see a report on the
random selection process for choosing the 3 percent of
the ballots used as the test during the recount.

"The signature books are public record," Kenney
said. "We should have public access."

Kenney asked to look at the polling signature books
so he could hand count the number of voters and make
sure they matched, he said.

His attempt to view the books was halted by board
of elections Director Jean Burklo and reaffirmed by
the Secretary of State's northwest Ohio field
representative Toni Slusser.

"His request to handle the poll books was
inappropriate at that time," Slusser said. "He wasn't
there when they did that process. Jean (Burklo) had
already told him the same thing, and he wanted to try
to go over her head. My statement concurred what she
had already told him."

Burklo said the board was not required to restart
the process for someone who wasn't there. The public
viewing of the signature books was done on Dec. 17 as
part of the recount process that was completed in two
days.

"If we kept starting the recount over for everyone
who requested it because they weren't there, there
would be no end to the process," Burklo said.

While Kenney challenged the availability of the
signature book because of public records laws, Burklo
and Slusser both said that items needed for the
recount are locked down as public records until the
recount is finished to prevent possible tampering.
Kenney denied this, saying the records were still
open, and said he had been allowed to handle the books
in Lake, Mahoning and Tremble counties. However,
election officials at all three counties denied his
claim.

Kenney said he wanted to view the books because he
thought numbers were inconsistent in Auglaize County.

"There is about a 2-1 margin of Republicans to
Democrats for voters who have declared a party,"
Kenney said. "The presidential vote usually reflects
that. But Bush's edge in the county of 74 to 26
percent is not consistent with the numbers."

He said an example of the disparity was in the Ohio
Supreme Court race between Republican Thomas Moyer and
Democrat Ellen Connally. Moyer prevailed in the county
by about a 61-39 percent margin, numbers Kenney said
were closer to the registered voter margin.

Kenney's objection will be among others submitted
by recount witnesses throughout the state. The
objections go to attorney Donald McTigue of Columbus,
who is in charge of overseeing the recount process in
Ohio for the John Kerry/John Edwards campaign.

"We are in the stage of gathering reports from all
88 counties and analyzing what was permitted and what
was not permitted," McTigue said. "We will review
these reports and then present options to the
Kerry/Edwards campaign."

McTigue added that Kenney was asked to object to
the random selection process because touch screen
votes are not included.

[dzika]

49. Democrats advocate a cherished value

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Democrats advocate a cherished value

By JIM SAWYER
GUEST COLUMNIST
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

-snip-
Washington state has become ground zero in the war between reds and
blues as the gubernatorial race between Republican Dino Rossi and
Democrat Christine Gregoire heads to the wire. The chairmen of both
political parties -- Republican Chris Vance and Democrat Paul
Berendt -- need to chill out.

-snip-
Democrats argue every vote should be counted; they paid for a second
recount by hand, provided by law. As this final process draws to a
close, the fragility of our legitimate election system is laid bare.
But Vance's rhetoric is calculated to lead voters to the unwarranted
conclusion that in King County the problem is gross incompetence or
gross fraud.

Consider the case of tiny Asotin County, a Republican stronghold, in
which Rossi gained 10 votes in the most recent hand recount above
the 4,904 votes in the prior machine recount. Vance is not claiming
gross incompetence or gross fraud in Asotin, yet the error rate
there is about two votes for every 1,000 recounted. If the same
error rate were to be applied to Gregoire's King County machine
recount numbers, it would be more than 1,000 votes.

-snip-
To use Vance's rhetoric, Democrats are pursuing an "Armageddon"-type
outcome that will "blow up" the state's election system. To the
contrary, Democrats are advocating a cherished democratic value that
every vote be counted.

Link:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/204509_recount21.html

[lonestarnot]

51. Damn good idea!

:toast:

[lonestarnot]

52. Link for Sunday and Saturday not working

[MelissaB]

59. You are right.

They were working this morning. I don't know what happened.

[MelissaB]

66. Try this for Sunday.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x177892

[lonestarnot]

78. Thank you Melissa B.!

[MelissaB]

67. and this for Saturday

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=175473#176457

[jdog]

53. This is so awesome.

It's like having our own nightly news!

You are too cool Melissa! :headbang:

[dzika]

54. Incredible Newsweek Photos from Election Night!

Thanks to 'Laura PackYourBags' for posting this.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3720360/site/newsweek /

"Click on Photo Gallery - All selections of Election Night. BEWARE It will make you weep !!!"


Here is a direct link to the slideshow:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6399124 /

[dzika]

55. WA Recount: Keep eye on the goal

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Keep eye on the goal

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

-snip-
The Washington Supreme Court convenes today to consider the King
County recount case. The resulting ruling may well be a rather cut
and dried pronouncement that Pierce County Superior Court Judge
Stephanie Arend should not have read into the high court's decision
last week any prohibition on county canvassing boards reconsidering
erroneously rejected ballots.

If, however, the justices presume to take on the broader decision of
which ballots should be counted, we trust they'll keep their eyes on
this -- or any other election's -- paramount goal.

-snip-
The goal is to as accurately as possible determine the will of the
governed, as represented by the ballots cast by the voters. Even in
pursuit of that goal, some ballots must be excluded: ballots of
those voters who failed to sign them or get them in on time, voted
twice or were blatantly incorrect in marking their ballots or failed
to make their intent clear.

The ballots of those voters who cast them correctly and on time but
were not tallied because of elections officials' errors must be
counted now.

There is no sustainable argument for disenfranchising these voters.

In at least five Washington counties, legitimate ballots not counted
in the original tally were added to the recount. Why, then,
disenfranchise King County voters? To keep Gregoire from winning?


Link:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/204699_govoted.html

[dzika]

56. Election study finds widespread ballot-counting problems

From yesterday but I didn't see it posted. There are a lot of interesting details in this article. Many of which, I have not seen before.

Sorry if this is a dupe.

Election study finds widespread ballot-counting problems

By THOMAS HARGROVE
Scripps Howard News Service
December 20, 2004

-snip-
A review of election results in a 10-county sampling revealed more
than 12,000 ballots that failed to record a vote for president,
almost one in every 10 ballots cast. The unofficial audit by Scripps
Howard News Service uncovered malfunctioning voting machines,
improperly designed ballots and poor accounting procedures around
the nation.

The review of certified election returns led authorities to restore
662 votes for president in Louisiana and West Virginia that had been
miscounted in easily detectable errors made by local officials.

But most of the ballots discovered missing in the study will remain
lost.

-snip-
Ten counties with some of the nation's worst voting record
discrepancies were selected in the project. Local election officials
were asked why their vote tallies didn't match their ballot counts.

-snip-
Officials in two of the 10 counties selected in this study refused
to review ballots or check for missing votes.

-snip-
"We sent a technician to Pike County to check," said Meghan
McCormick, spokeswoman for Omaha-based Election Systems and Software
Inc., which manufactured Pike County's optical scan machine. "There
was a scratch on Sensor 'A' that has already been repaired. The
scratch probably occurred during the election, but we'll never be
certain."

Link:
http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=MISCOUNT-ELECT-12-20-04&cat=AN

[dzika]

57. Medina County, Ohio, recount irregularities

(don't shoot the messenger)

December 21, 2004

Medina County, Ohio, recount irregularities

From: Patricia Blochowiak - [e-mail]

I observed the Medina recount this morning and found the following problems:

1.) The precincts to recount were not chosen randomly. According to
Mr. Thomas E. Wolfe, Chairman of the Medina County Board of
Elections, "I took two Medina precincts because I knew they had a
high vote." "I could have taken five precincts, but then we'd be
counting for another hour." "Brunswick Hills A was the first with
enough votes to get to 3%" after the two Medina precincts were
chosen."

2.) Witnesses were not allowed to review the selection and
preparation of the ballots to test the voting machines, nor did we
have an opportunity to examine them, either before or after they
were used to test the machines. We did not see the testing of the
machines.

3.) Two ballots in Medina City 4F each had one vote on position 9,
which was between position 8, a vote for George Bush, and position
10, a vote for John Kerry. These were separated from the votes for
other candidates, but we were not allowed to examine them at the end
of the process, or at any other time, to see whether other votes on
that ballot might also be offset by one position, thus allowing us
to ascertain the intent of the voter, and these ballots were not
saved for Mr. Wolfe to examine.

4.) Two ballots in Medina City 4F had votes in both position 8 and
position 9. Those ballots were not rejected as overvotes, but were
counted as votes for George Bush (position 8). I was refused time to
examine these ballots in order to ascertain positions of other
votes, and these ballots were not saved for Mr. Wolfe to examine.

5.) According to Mr. Wolfe, in Medina City 3F, "Two girls with
styrofoam and punchers were sent out to the line because the lines
were so long." Some votes were offset from the correct voting
positions.

6.) In Medina City 3F, a ballot with a vote on 11 that did not
correspond to any candidate's position also showed every other vote
to be offset by one, thus making the intent of the voter clear, but
this ballot was rejected according to Al Junke. BOE Director Susan
Strasser, BOE Chair Thomas E. Wolfe, and NE Ohio Field
Representative for the Secretary of State, Madhu Singh all refused
to allow further inspection of the ballots from Medina City that I
requested to view in more detail. They stated that our purpose was
to decide how the computer would count the vote, and not to
determine the intent of the voter. Other problems with the voting
process in Medina:

7.) In Medina City 1B, where there were long lines, the police were
standing outsie all day, walking up and down the line, looking at
people, and looking at cars according to Al Junke

Link:
http://fairnessbybeckerman.blogspot.com/2004/12/medina-county-ohio-recount.html

[dzika]

58. Wash. Governor Race Goes to Supreme Court

Wash. Governor Race Goes to Supreme Court

U.S. National - AP

By REBECCA COOK, Associated Press Writer

-snip-
OLYMPIA, Wash. - A busy day beckons in Washington state Wednesday,
with the state Supreme Court hearing arguments on the extremely
close governor's race and officials in a key county expected to
finish their hand recount.

But whatever happens, the drama will probably not be the end of the
epic 2004 governor's election — just the beginning of a new chapter.

If Republican Dino Rossi loses the third count — after winning the
first two — he may challenge the election in court. Republicans are
already preparing for a possible legal challenge.

-snip-
King County's recount of 900,000 ballots could flip the results,
even without the extra 723 newly discovered ballots — potentially
making the state Supreme Court case moot.

But if Rossi is ahead after King County reports on Wednesday, the
Supreme Court's decision will be very important. Though the 723
ballots haven't been counted, it's believed they would give Gregoire
a boost larger than the current 49-vote margin.

-snip-
About 350 people gathered Tuesday in front of the Supreme Court to
show support for Rossi at a rally sponsored by KVI-AM, a
conservative talk-radio station.

The crowd chanted "No new votes!" and "No more fraud!" They held
signs saying "Welcome to Ukraine" and wore orange, a tribute to the
signature color of demonstrators in Ukraine who protested a fraud-
marred election there.

(Does anyone else see the irony?)

Link:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041222/ap_on_re_us/governor_recount

[MelissaB]

60. Cries for Electoral Standards Mount

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/122204A.shtml

Cries for Electoral Standards Mount
By Steven Hill and Rob Richie
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Wednesday 22 December 2004

The day following Election 2004, retiring NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw indicated the need for strong national standards in how we count the votes. In an unusually serious interview with David Letterman, Brokaw said point blank, "We've gotta fix the election system in this country."

In a message to supporters, former presidential candidate John Kerry echoed this sentiment, calling for new "national standards" for elections and saying "It's unacceptable that people still don't have full confidence in the integrity of the voting process." In Ohio, Reverend Jesse Jackson also called for reform, emphasizing the need for a Constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to vote, a right guaranteed by most established democracies. Every returning member of the Congressional Black Caucus has signed onto Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr's HJR 28 to provide a constitutional right to vote.

The 2004 elections underscore the urgent demand to modernize our elections and bring them in line with international norms. Without such modernization, we will fail to establish a vital democracy and remain vulnerable to electoral breakdowns.

Consider these reforms:

1. Non-partisan election officials. At the top of the list must be nonpartisan election officials. It hardly matters whether the method of voting is with paper and pen or open-source computerized equipment if election administrators are not trustworthy. The secretaries of state overseeing elections in three battleground states - Ohio, Missouri, and Michigan - were co-chairs of their state's George Bush reelection campaigns. In Missouri, that Secretary of State was running for governor - he oversaw elections for his own race! A highly partisan Republican Secretary of State ran elections in Florida, as did a partisan Democrat in New Mexico. A Mexican observer of the 2004 election commented, "That looks an awful lot like the old Mexican PRI to me." Election administrators should be civil servants who have a demonstrated proficiency with technology, running elections, and making the electoral process transparent and secure.

2. National elections commission. The U.S. leaves election administration to administrators in over 3000 counties scattered across the nation with too few standards or uniformity. This is a formula for unfair elections. Most established democracies use national elections commissions to establish minimum national standards and uniformity, and to partner with state and local election officials to ensure pre-election and post-election accountability for their election plans. The Elections Assistance Commission established recently by the Help America Vote Act is a pale version of this and should be strengthened greatly.

3. Universal voter registration. We lack a system of universal voter registration in which citizens who turn 18 years of age automatically are registered to vote by election authorities. This is the practice used by most established democracies, giving them voter rolls far more complete and clean than ours - in fact, a higher percentage of Iraqi adults are registered to vote than American adults. Universal voter registration in the U.S. is now possible as result of the Help America Vote Act which mandated that all states must establish statewide voter databases by 2006. It would add 50 million voters to the rolls, a disproportionate share being young people and people of color.

4. "Public Interest" voting equipment. Currently voting equipment is suspect, undermining confidence in our elections. The proprietary software and hardware are created by shadowy companies with partisan ties who sell equipment by wining and dining election administrators with little knowledge of voting technology. The government should oversee the development of publicly-owned software and hardware, contracting with the sharpest minds in the private sector. And then that open-source voting equipment should be deployed throughout the nation to ensure that every county - and every voter - is using the best equipment. Other nations already do this with positive results.

5. Holiday/weekend elections. We vote on a busy workday instead of on a national holiday or weekend (like most other nations do), creating a barrier for 9 to 5 workers and also leading to a shortage of poll workers and polling places. Puerto Rico typically has the highest voter turnout in the United States, and makes Election Day a holiday.

...more, including more reform suggestions...


Thanks to WilliamPitt here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x184362

[MelissaB]

61. Progressive Democrats take Voting Fraud Issues to the Floor of the Senate

PRESS ADVISORY
----------------------------------------------------------------------

For Immediate Release // December 21, 2004
Contact: Tim Carpenter [phone]
http://www.pdamerica.org

Progressive Democrats take Voting Fraud Issues to the Floor of the Senate

Washington, D.C. – Today, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) launched an online campaign to send thousands of emails to members of the Senate, urging them to stand with progressive members of the House of Representatives on January 6th. Rather than have a repeat of the Senatorial silence of 2000, this election's certification should find at least one Senator, and perhaps many, who will stand with the voters who were disenfranchised and suppressed during the November 2nd, 2004 election. Tonight, PDA is reporting over 12,000 emails sent to targeted Senators.

"We cannot expect to promote democracy around the world when we cannot even guarantee the right to vote in the state of Ohio," Tim Carpenter, National Director of PDA stated. "There are outstanding lawsuits, testimonies, and growing data proving votes were deliberately suppressed in Ohio. Until these issues can be fully aired by a Congressional investigation, we ask that Senators of conscience stand with the many members of the House who will contest the vote."

Progressive Democrats of America has heard from thousands of voters who have had their right to vote compromised by actions ranging from blatant electioneering to irresponsible management of election technologies. As a result of these testimonies, and the mobilization effort within PDA's constituency, the staff at PDA was instrumental in bringing testimony to the Minority Judiciary Hearings held on December 8th by Rep. John Conyers, and to the hearings in Ohio.

Progressive Democrats of America has already launched several email campaigns regarding this issue, targeting members of the House and the national media. Over 30,000 email messages have been sent by grassroots activists to targeted members of Congress.

This new email campaign, focused on targeted Senators, launched on the morning of December 21st, the same time a nationwide conference call on voting issues was made to mobilize around this effort. The call included Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rep. Barbara Lee (CA), Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (OH) and dozens of the coalition groups who have mobilized around this effort.


Thanks to kevin_pdamerica here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x184959

[dzika]

62. Bob Fertik's Wed. Update - Numerous Problems in Ohio Recount

by Bob Fertik on 12/22/2004 12:03am. - revised 12/22/2004 12:13am

-snip-
The Ohio recount is coming to an end, and the Green Party has
documented numerous significant problems, especially the refusal to
choose random precincts for the 3% handcount.

-snip-
"Mountains of evidence have documented the voter suppression,
intimidation and disenfranchisement which took place in Ohio on
Election Day. Secretary of State Blackwell labeled these deeply
troubling problems as 'glitches.' He appears to be similarly
unconcerned that the Ohio recount is being conducted without uniform
standards and in apparent violation of Ohio law," said Cobb-LaMarche
Media Director Blair Bobier.

Link:
http://blog.democrats.com/node/2086

[MelissaB]

63. Here are the rules regarding Jan 6th vote to approve electors

The way I read it, both the Senate and House would have to vote concurrently to reject any State's electors...fat chance of that happening!!!

http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/electoral_coll ...

<snip>

Counting electoral votes in congress


Upon such reading of any such certificate or paper, the President of the Senate shall call for objections, if any. Every objection shall be made in writing, and shall state clearly and concisely, and without argument, the ground thereof, and shall be signed by at least one Senator and one Member of the House of Representatives before the same shall be received. When all objections so made to any vote or paper from a State shall have been received and read, the Senate shall thereupon withdraw, and such objections shall be submitted to the Senate for its decision; and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall, in like manner, submit such objections to the House of Representatives for its decision; and no electoral vote or votes from any State which shall have been regularly given by electors whose appointment has been lawfully certified to according to section 6 of this title from which but one return has been received shall be rejected, but the two Houses concurrently may reject the vote or votes when they agree that such vote or votes have not been so regularly given by electors whose appointment has been so certified. If more than one return or paper purporting to be a return from a State shall have been received by the President of the Senate, those votes, and those only, shall be counted which shall have been regularly given by the electors who are shown by the determination mentioned in section 5 of this title to have been appointed, if the determination in said section provided for shall have been made, or by such successors or substitutes, in case of a vacancy in the board of electors so ascertained, as have been appointed to fill such vacancy in the mode provided by the laws of the State; but in case there shall arise the question which of two or more of such State authorities determining what electors have been appointed, as mentioned in section 5 of this title, is the lawful tribunal of such State, the votes regularly given of those electors, and those only, of such State shall be counted whose title as electors the two Houses, acting separately, shall concurrently decide is supported by the decision of such State so authorized by its law; and in such case of more than one return or paper purporting to be a return from a State, if there shall have been no such determination of the question in the State aforesaid, then those votes, and those only, shall be counted which the two Houses shall concurrently decide were cast by lawful electors appointed in accordance with the laws of the State, unless the two Houses, acting separately, shall concurrently decide such votes not to be the lawful votes of the legally appointed electors of such State. But if the two Houses shall disagree in respect of the counting of such votes, then, and in that case, the votes of the electors whose appointment shall have been certified by the executive of the State, under the seal thereof, shall be counted. When the two Houses have voted, they shall immediately again meet, and the presiding officer shall then announce the decision of the questions submitted. No votes or papers from any other State shall be acted upon until the objections previously made to the votes or papers from any State shall have been finally disposed of.


Thanks to Ugnmoose here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x184738

[MelissaB]

64. Rep. Conyers asks networks for exit poll data

The following letter, issued by Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich), calls on the five major television networks and the Associated Press to release the raw exit poll data from the 2004 presidential election. The letter below is a facsimile; the congressman's office said an actual image of the letter will not be released until Wednesday.

The letter was sent to: Anne Sweeney, Co-Chairman, Media Networks, The Walt Disney Company and President, Disney-ABC Television Group; Bob Wright, President, NBC; Gail Berman, President, FOX; Jim Walton President, CNN; Thomas Curley, President, Associated Press; and Andrew Heyward, President, CBS.

"As you are aware, the American citizenry has voiced a collective lack of faith in government to carry out fair election procedures," Conyers writes. "It is important that the Judiciary Committee access raw voter poll data so that discrepancies between those numbers and certified election results can be investigated...Without the raw data, the Committee will be severely handicapped in its efforts to show the need for serious election reform in the United States."


Letter Page 1
http://rawstory.rawprint.com/1204/conyers_exit_polls_12...

Thanks to cal04 here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x184158

[dzika]

65. King County recount puts Gregoire on top

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

King County recount puts Gregoire on top, Democrats say

By The Associated Press


OLYMPIA - Democratic State Party Chairman Paul Berendt says recount
results from King County give Democrat Christine Gregoire an eight-
vote statewide victory over Republican Dino Rossi in the governor's
race.

The report is very preliminary, and neither King County nor the
Republican party could confirm the hand recount results tonight.

But if the Democrats' analysis is right, it's a stunning reversal of
fortune in the closest governor's race in Washington history. Rossi
won the first count by 261 votes and won the machine recount by 42 votes.

"We're confident Christine Gregoire has been elected the governor of
the state of Washington," Berendt said. "I believe Dino Rossi should
concede."

Berendt and Democratic party officials reached the conclusion after
crunching numbers supplied by King County, and adding in the 320
ballots that were considered during Tuesday's canvassing board
meeting. King County has finished tallying its 900,000 ballots, but
election officials said they still need to reconcile differences in
the precinct totals.

"We are not releasing our results until tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.," said
King County Elections spokeswoman Bobbie Egan, who confirmed that
both parties received the recount data on Tuesday.


LINK:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002126929_webrecount21.html

[MelissaB]

68. Denmark's MSM Story on Ohio Recount!

From Coilín ÓhAiseadha, Ireland.
(pronounced koh-LEEN oh-HASH-oo):

Bo (Danish Reporter) suggested that I send English translations of Danish articles about the Ohio fraud to you, so that you could post them to the right forum/fora on democraticunderground.com (or elsewhere). So here comes the first. Hope you find it a useful summary of the story so far.

This translation was done by a translator colleague, Billy O'Shea. Incidentally, Billy was the man who identified the manufacturer of the Raytheon missile that struck the marketplace in Shuale in Baghdad in March last year, leading to embarrassing questions in the British House of Commons.


This is an English translation of an article written by journalist Klaus Justsen for the Danish national newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, www.jp.dk . This English translation is copyright 2004 by Billy O’Shea, www.oshea.dk .

They're counting and counting in Ohio

Jyllands-Posten, 19 December 2004, Section 1, page 8

John Kerry recognises that the new vote recount in Ohio will not change the result of the presidential election, but several civil rights groups are refusing to give up. Irregularities have been revealed, and the protests continue.

By Klaus Justsen
Jyllands-Posten's correspondent

Washington
This week, Ohio's 20 Republican electors met in the state capital, Columbus, to formalise the decision that the voters made on 2 November. As expected, all 20 voted for George W. Bush, before repairing around the corner for a modest lunch. Shortly afterwards, Ohio Secretary of State and electoral overseer Kenneth Blackwell signed the result and sent it on to Washington. The formal confirmation that the Republican candidate George W. Bush had won the election contest against the Democrat John F. Kerry does not, however, mean that the counting is over in Ohio. All this week, the punchcards have been examined under a magnifying glass, and polling officials have discussed whether the choices of voters were clearly for one candidate or the other. The scene at several polling places has revived memories of the long counting processes in parts of Florida four years ago. Back then, the result was not clear until the Supreme Court put a stop to the counting processes and declared George W. Bush the winner. This time there is no prospect of the Supreme Court becoming involved, but parts of the count have already been examined by a local court after two candidates demanded a recount. The state must honour this demand, as the candidates have collected the 113,600 dollars demanded by the state's electoral legislation as a minimum requirement to prevent abuse of the system.

The result will stand
John Kerry's campaign staff did not ask for a recount, but are supporting the demand, although the Democratic graduate has already confirmed that the election result will not be altered, no matter how many times the contended votes are counted. However, several civil rights groups do not regard the issue as quite that cut and dried, and emphasise that a recount is necessary if confidence in the democratic electoral process of secret and fair elections is not to suffer a serious blow. According to the calculation that Kenneth Blackwell signed, Bush won the industrial state by 119,000 votes. This means that the transfer of less than 60,000 votes to John Kerry could have altered the result, which would have resulted in the Democrat being sent to the White House, even though Bush won more than three million more votes at national level. Having cast her vote for the President, Karyle Mumper claimed that the demonstrators outside the state assembly, where she was meeting with her 19 colleagues, were merely bad losers. They should trust that everything had been done correctly. However, this brash claim cannot conceal the fact that several irregularities have come to light over the past seven weeks. There is nothing to indicate that these would have been of a sufficient scope to change the election result, but they raise questions about the accuracy of the process. The first count awarded victory to the President by a margin of 135,000 votes; later, questions were asked about 92,000 votes which were not registered as being for either presidential candidate. This week, John Kerry requested permission to examine these ballot papers; a request to which electoral overseer Blackwell has not replied, provoking charges from critics that the Republicans must have something to hide.

A double role
Kenneth Blackwell is not just the electoral overseer, but also one of the two chairmen of the Bush campaign in Ohio – a double role that he has insisted on retaining, despite growing criticism. Most of the 92,000 ballot papers showing no indication of a preferred presidential candidate were made on punchcards, which has given rise to a court case and the claim that these cards, the use of which was particularly concentrated in the poorer areas of the state, did not ensure equal treatment for voters and their votes. A judge has rejected this claim, stating that everyone had been given the opportunity to vote, and that the actual technical method used was unimportant. This claim has been countered by references to the fact that President Bush did better in areas in which the voting was done on a computer screen, or by filling out optically-read ballot papers.

A new test case
According to civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, this bias adds to the suspicion that someone or other tampered with the machines so as to provide the President with more votes. Jackson has added both pathos and drama to the affair with his claim that Ohio has become a new test case for the civil rights movement. He is awakening memories of Martin Luther King with his talk of "from Selma to Palm Beach to Columbus". Jackson is supported by a few statisticians, who describe it as suspicious that the first exit polls taken on election day indicated a quite convincing victory for John Kerry. The experts claim that such a substantial deviation from the polls would be a one in a million event. However, Kerry’s campaign staff recognise that such statistical comparisons cannot be used to alter the election result.

Computers taken apart
The affair was given an almost tragicomic air when the polling officials in one precinct raised the alarm when a representative of the computer company that supplied the voting equipment turned up to check the system. The technician claimed that there was a fault in the machine, took it apart and assembled it again. A spokesperson for the computer company explained that this was part of a standard procedure in which the machines were adjusted to ensure that they only registered votes for the presidential candidates, and not for the many other posts that are decided on the same ballot paper. This explanation, however, did not satisfy John Conyers, a member of the House of Representatives, who has asked the FBI to investigate. The FBI has apparently not yet responded to this request.

Slow count
It is uncertain when the recount of the votes cast in Ohio's 88 counties can be concluded. State legislation requires three percent of the votes to be counted by hand. If these give the same result as the first total count, all of the votes may then be counted by machine; if the result is different, all the votes must be counted by hand. Such a process is unlikely to be concluded before some time between Christmas and the New Year. Even another clear victory for the President will not put an end to the criticism; a group that has come together under the slogan "Never Again!" has already declared that the protests will continue. They insist that Democratic voters were not given fair treatment, that there was a lack of voting machines in their areas, and that many voters were even lured to the wrong voting centres as the result of a carefully-planned campaign.
klaus.justsen-AT-jp.dk


Thanks to Ojai Person here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x184702

[MelissaB]

69. Karl Rove -- Tabulates Own Results Election Night ....

via BBC via bellaciao....

Karl Rove tabulates own results election night- has network of contacts down to precinct level


from the BBC story "Drawing up blueprints for Bush victory" http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3987237.stm

By the time election night came around, Mr Rove was in the White House, where, unusually for a political adviser, he has an office.

He set up computers in the Old Family Dining Room and started tabulating results. He had set up a massive network of contacts, not just in state capitals, but individual districts and precincts to monitor turnout and support.

Reporters surround Karl Rove Mr Rove may spin the news, but the media still wants to hear him Early exit polls quoted by media seemed to give Mr Kerry the edge, but colleagues said Mr Rove indicated right away that they did not tally with his information....



http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=4847

Thanks to EMunster here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x184448

(It is very hard to post this without saying anything about that rat bastard, KR, so I won't). :)

[dzika]

70. Democracy losing its meaning

Letters to the Editor
December 22, 2004

Democracy losing its meaning

To the Editor:

The right to vote is basic to a democracy and was the only element
of democracy left in this country. Now, that too is gone. The
election fraud rife in Ohio carried over into the Green-lead recount
there as well. State and county election officials broke Ohio law by
obstructing the work of the recount volunteers, refusing access to
the records, allowing partisan voting machine companies to rig and
re-rig machines prior to the recount, even slashing tires and other
intimidation techniques. The courts agreed the Greens had
the "right" to a recount, but refused to force the many crooked
election officials to comply with the law. All of this making the
words of Josef Stalin ring so true, "Those who cast the vote decide
nothing, those who count the vote decide everything."

Such lack of respect for voting rights is not just in Ohio and
Florida, it is rife in every state in the union including Tennessee.
When the Green Party made applications to put their candidate on the
ballot, they were met with rude obstructionism at the state level,
officials refusing to give accurate information required for getting
an independent candidate on the ballot, and generally giving Greens
the bureaucratic run-around. Since the Greens could not get their
candidate on the ballot, they then filed papers as a write-in
candidate, supposedly to guarantee that the write-in votes would be
counted. This was met with obstructionism all across the state as
crooked county election officials refused to count the few write in
votes the Greens candidate received.

"Democracy" in America is a total fraud.

Howard Switzer
Green Party

LINK:
http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section_id=38&screen=news&news_id=38043

[dzika]

71. Election Result: Airports will be renamed after Bush

By Ricky Peterson
[e-mail]

There are some reports from higly placed sources (
which havent appeared in the media yet) that there are
plans by Rove and other Right wingers to create a
legacy for Bush equivalent to that of Lincoln or even
George washington.


Time person of the year is only the first step in a
major conspiracy

* Airports will be named after him.. like his father.

* Universities and think tanks will be started and
existing ones renamed.

* a library to make Clinton' s look like a second hand
book shop.

The full details are not known yet, but like all other
things the results will be astounding.

[dzika]

72. America: In Search Of Electoral Standards

TomPaine.com ( Project of The Institute for America's Future )

America: In Search Of Electoral Standards

Steven Hill and Rob Richie
December 21, 2004

-snip-
Lots of ink and pixels have been spilled about the need for
electoral reforms in this country. Both to standardize how we
conduct elections—and more importantly—to restore voter confidence
in the system. Yet—argue election experts Richie and Hill—so far
there's not enough consensus around reform. Topic: Agenda for
electoral reform. Discuss.

Steven Hill is Irvine Senior Fellow for the New America Foundation
and author of "Fixing Elections: The Failure of America's Winner
Take All Politics" (www.FixingElections.com). Rob Richie is
executive director of the Center for Voting and Democracy
(www.fairvote.org).

The day following Election 2004, retiring NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw
indicated the need for strong national standards in how we count the
votes. In an unusually serious interview with David Letterman,
Brokaw said point blank, "We've gotta fix the election system in
this country."


Link:
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/america_in_search_of_electoral_standards.php

[dzika]

73. Governor's race heads to Supreme Court

Governor's race heads to Supreme Court

12/22/2004
Associated Press

-snip-
WHAT HAPPENED: Democratic State Party Chairman Paul Berendt said
late Tuesday that King County's hand recount will give Democrat
Christine Gregoire an eight-vote victory statewide over Republican
Dino Rossi.

HOW HE KNOWS: Berendt said party workers analyzed data that King
County provided to both parties, with the results from the hand
recount in every precinct. They also tallied results from Tuesday's
county canvassing board meeting, in which members decided on 320
ballots with questionable voter intent.

THE CAVEATS: King County and the Republicans have the same data, but
they're keeping mum. County officials say they will reconcile the
recount results with precinct data before reporting the official
results on Wednesday afternoon. Republicans say it's too close to
call.

THOSE OTHER VOTES: The preliminary recount results announced Tuesday
don't include the 723 newly discovered ballots in King County. The
Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments Wednesday on whether
the county should be allowed to count those ballots.

WEDNESDAY: The Supreme Court hears the case at 9:30 a.m. The hour-
long hearing will be broadcast live on TVW, channel 23 on most cable
networks.


Link:
http://www.kgw.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D874HD680.html

[dzika]

74. In the Northwest: A governor's race full of partisan sound and fury

In the Northwest: A governor's race full of partisan sound and fury

By JOEL CONNELLY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST


-snip-
Well-placed Democrats were privately predicting last night that the
hand recount in King County will give Chris Gregoire a tiny lead,
with the county yet to count disputed ballots being fought over in
court.

Not so long ago, Republican State Chairman Chris Vance was
excoriating the Democrats for going to court over the recount.

"King County is doing the right thing by including Democrats and
Republicans in the counting process, and I am amazed that Christine
Gregoire has the gall to challenge this plan in the state Supreme
Court," Vance declared.

At another point, Chairman Vance reiterated his antipathy to post-
election lawyering: "John Kerry did the right thing by choosing not
to drag the presidential election into court. Slade Gorton made the
same choice in the 2000 election. I hope Christine Gregoire will
follow their example."

Yet, the election is back before the Supreme Court today.

It is the Republicans who have gone to court to stop King County
from counting 735 ballots discovered during the second recount.

The voters played by the rules. County election workers rejected
their ballots due to erroneous belief there were no matching
signatures by which to verify the ballots.

Link:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/204758_joel22.html

[dzika]

75. New York Manages To Flunk Electoral College

New York Manages To Flunk Electoral College
BY WILLIAM F. HAMMOND JR. - Staff Reporter of the Sun
December 22, 2004

-snip-
ALBANY - Here's the latest goof out of the state Capitol: New York's
delegation to the Electoral College recently cast its 31 votes for
John L. Kerry to be president; actually, Senator Kerry's middle
initial is "F" as in Forbes.

-snip-
The erroneous documents had been reviewed by other officials at the
department and signed by all 31 electors - including Attorney
General Eliot Spitzer, Comptroller Alan Hevesi, Assembly Speaker
Sheldon Silver, and the chairman of the state Democratic Party,
Herman "Denny" Farrell - before copies were shipped to Washington.

-snip-
"Congress has its own jurisdiction in this," Mr. White told The New
York Sun. "They can make as little or as much of this as they choose
to. It'll be up to them to decide whether this is something that
truly reflects on the intent of the electors or the validity of the
certificates."



Link:
http://www.nysun.com/article/6633

[dzika]

76. Brief likens recount to Nixon's 1960 race

Nixon can't save you now.


Brief likens recount to Nixon's 1960 race
By David Postman
Times chief political Reporter

-snip-
OLYMPIA — The words of Richard Nixon and the deeds of the late
Richard Daley are now an official part of the growing court record
in the disputed recount of Washington's gubernatorial election.

In a friend-of-the-court brief filed yesterday in the state Supreme
Court, former Republican Attorney General Ken Eikenberry and the
influential Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW)
compared King County's ballot-counting problems to Daley's alleged
manipulation of the Chicago vote when he was mayor during the 1960
presidential election.

As evidence, they quote Nixon's memoir, "RN," which says, "the Daley
Machine was holding back the Chicago results until the downstate
Republican counties had reported and it was known how many votes the
Democrats would need to carry the state."

-snip-
The Republican Party's court filings have stopped short of alleging
partisan corruption in the Democratic stronghold of King County. But
the BIAW and Eikenberry said if King County gets to count some 700
disputed ballots, "it will further the perception of corruption
and/or fraud that already exists in King County's ballot-counting
procedures."

-snip-
The Democrats responded to the BIAW and Eikenberry in a filing
yesterday. The party called it "an apparent attempt to insinuate
indirectly what plaintiffs ... could not prove, that there is even
the slightest indication of fraud in the manual recount of the
Washington Governor's race in King County matter.]"

Democrats were unimpressed by evidence presented in the friend-of-
the-court brief, saying it "relies upon letters to the editor, a
Wall Street Journal editorial and newspaper articles quoting the
Washington State Republican Party Chairman Chris Vance's unfortunate
hyperbole."


Link:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002127177_recountside22m.html

[dzika]

77. What can Uncle Sam do to stop voter fraud?

What can Uncle Sam do to stop voter fraud?
December 22, 2004, 4:00 AM PT
By Norman Willox Jr.

-snip-
America was fortunate this year to avoid the drawn-out legal battles
of the 2000 presidential election.

Still, the close margins in some key states, coupled with concerns
over inconsistent election standards, illustrate the continued risk
of having election processes that vary from state to state, and
often from county to county.

With future elections likely to be close calls, our democratic
process is particularly vulnerable to voter fraud and abuse that we
are not yet doing enough to stop.

-snip-
In many ways, the challenge we now face is similar to one resolved
years ago by financial institutions, credit issuers and insurance
companies. In order to verify the identity of individuals opening
new accounts, these businesses worked closely with information
solution providers to develop systems to perform what's known as
information-based identity authentication.

-snip-
Ultimately, the principle of democratic governance is at stake in
voter fraud and abuse. Though information-based identity
authentication will not provide a magic bullet to solve the problem
of voter fraud, it does provide one vital component of a
comprehensive system to ensure that elections are carried out in a
fair and accurate manner.

biography
Norman A. Willox Jr. is the chief officer of privacy, industry and regulatory affairs at LexisNexis.

Link:
http://news.com.com/What+can+Uncle+Sam+do+to+stop+voter+fraud/2010-7348_3-5499824.html?part=rss&tag=5499824&subj=news.7348.5