E-MAIL: Indiana "a whopping 1,134,427 voter registrations have been cancelled"

[L. Coyote]

BBV report: Exclusive - Indiana's Incredible Shrinking Voter List
Monday, May 5, 2008 3:35 AM
From: "Black Box Voting" <[e-mail]>

In April 2008 when Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita announced the release of "record high" voter registration rolls, with 4.3 million voters set to vote in the Tuesday May 6 primary, he didn't mention that a whopping 1,134,427 voter registrations have been cancelled.

Now, the voter rolls are supposed to be tidied up prior to each election. Indiana's last general election was in Nov. 2006, and they have had a slew of special and general elections since then. So how have 1.1 million voters -- 26 percent of the current statewide list -- escaped the voter registration cleanup squad? Who are these million voters and where do they come from?

One quarter-million of them come from just two northwestern Indiana counties: Lake and Porter. Lake County reports purging 137,164 voters and neighboring Porter County cancelled out 124,958 voters.

Lake County, the home of Gary, Indiana, has spawned the Jackson Five and a great old musical (The Music Man) and has been referred to as "the second most liberal county in America." Lake County also has one of the heaviest concentrations of African-American voters that you'll find anywhere in the USA.

Nearby Porter County, the home of Valparaiso, is 95% white and went solidly for Bush in the 2004 election. It's also got a lot of college students.

For whatever reason, these two counties had ... what ... massive data entry problems? Exceptionally messy records? Lots of dead people who climbed back into their graves? I truly hope we aren't going to see a lot of disappointed voters on Tuesday, when they perhaps learn that they were among the lucky million people who got purged.

HERE'S WHERE THE HEAVIEST INDIANA PURGES ARE:

Lake 137,164 48% (Gary)
Porter 124,958 115% (Valparaiso)
Marion 68,120 10% (Indianapolis)
Monroe 66,009 85% (Bloomington)
Tippecanoe 53,456 58%
Madison 42,952 47% (Anderson)
Hamilton 42,325 26%

Here's a picture map with the numbers and percentages for the whole state:


The percentage represents the ratio of the number of purges to the current voter list. Example: If a location currently has 100,000 voters on its rolls, and purged 53,000 along the way, we assign a ratio of 53% to the purge vs. current list.

It would be nice to have the original quantities, it would make for a cleaner number, but this is not available on the Secretary of State's Web site, so I haven't got a tidier statistic for you, wish I did. I also wish the time period for these purges was clearly indicated, but it is not indicated -- nor can it be derived -- from available information at Indiana's official election Web site.

TOOLS YOU CAN USE

It's always interesting to look for impossible numbers on election night, like the "more votes than voters" situation that sometimes crops up. It speeds things up to have a place to plug the information in. Here is a spreadsheet -- quick and not too fancy, I'm sure you can improve on it. It has every Indiana county, along with their official registered voter statistics for the 2008 primary, and some historical data from 1992 to the present, along with links for the source documents from the secretary of state:

http://www.bbvdocs.org/IN/state/quickrank-INDIANAreg.xls
(Excel file, 71 KB)

Here are links that may be very good to provide additional statistical information which you can plug in:

http://www.in.gov/sos/elections/elections/index.html

And here is a link to the source document containing the cancelled registration information used for this article:

http://www.in.gov/sos/elections/pdfs/Statewide_Voter_Count_by_County5.1.08.pdf

Here's a quick spreadsheet with the Indiana voting machines by county -- you can get that on the Sec. State's Web site too, but it's not in a database format. You can cut and paste these into your analysis sheets if you'd like to get comparisons of results by county.

AND NOW ABOUT THOSE VOTING MACHINES

Another press release on the Indiana Secretary of State's Web site deals with the $360,000 penalty he's hitting Microvote with for failing to follow the law. Oh yes, and the Microvote Infinity voting machine, which will be very widely used in the Tuesday May 6 primary, has been DECERTIFIED!

That's not going to stop anyone in Indiana from using it, however. The decision was that anyone who already bought these things gets to use them -- despite the fact that these machines have been embroiled in lawsuits in at least three places, one in Pennsylvania for machines that just didn't work, and two in Tennessee where candidates have asked to redo elections due to bizarre anomalies -- like vote totals that wandered away in the wee hours of the night.

Microvote's insurance company declined to cover the firm, according to yet another lawsuit, because the insurance company alleged that Microvote was selling defective products. The judge ruled against the insurance company, saying the product wasn't defective, it just didn't work.

I haven't plugged this in yet, but those of you who are comfortable with spreadsheets can quickly add the voting machines by county to your voter registration spreadsheet, using that voting machine spreadsheet I linked above, to see how many votes all together will be subjected to Microvote.

Ah, but we aren't done with Indiana voting machines yet. Indiana is also fond of the ES&S paperless iVotronic touch-screens, the ones that lost 18,000 votes in Sarasota County Florida and were the subject of a blistering report by Dan Rather. In Rather's report, he showed shocking footage of the touch-screens being manufactured in a sweat shop in the Philippines. Their quality control test was to shake the machine and if it didn't rattle, it passed the test.

THINGS YOU CAN DO ABOUT INDIANA

1. Do some public records requests to either the state or the counties, and ask for their VRG-5 form, which is the NVRA tracking form on which the number of voters purged must be reported.

For tips on how to do the records requests, here's our tool kit, scroll down to the section on public records:
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/toolkit.html

Post the documents and ask for any advice you need here, and report your front-lines information for both Indiana and North Carolina here:
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/73/73.html

I'm pushing hard right now to get TOOL KIT 2008 done -- it's a stripped-down model with emergency measures for the fall election. Unless you tell me not to, I'll let you know as soon as it's ready for download.

2. Another useful form you can request: The CEB-9 form, which is the Indiana County Election Report that must be turned in after the election. Here's one, take a look at the information it contains:

http://www.in.gov/sos/elections/pdfs/CEB-9.pdf

3. If you are a number-cruncher, grab the spreadsheets here and wail on 'em during Election night. You can get additional historical information from this site:
http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/index.html
(Choose the drop-down menu "general by state" and select Indiana, then choose the year you want. Confusion factor -- this site color-codes Republican as blue and Democrat as Red. Has lots of good stuff).

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE: People usually catch things like "more votes than voters" weeks after the election. The dang Indiana information doesn't break voter registrations out by party which makes crunching the primary numbers a little harder. But you may still get the jump on some red flags if you track this stuff as it's coming in on spreadsheets that tell you what the stats are going in.

[speedoo]

1. K&R, and bookmarked.

So, these purged voters are not just Democrats? That's my reading.

[Echo In Light]

2. K&R

[Sancho]

3. We haven't had a fair election in Florida in a decade; voter registration is next!

I wish that half the energy that DU spends on trashing your least favorite primary candidate was targeted at fixing the election process. It won't matter who is the Democratic candidate if the election is rigged.

Right now, keeping Democrats from registering is the main push of the GOP.



:dem:

[L. Coyote]

5. Let's make voting a right! Why should one need to go to so much troube to retain the right

Everyone should be able to vote if they are a citizen.

Republican efforts to prevent voting must be put into the dust bin of history, as a vestige of racism and hatred.

[Ichingcarpenter]

33. I have a lot of problems with this site because of the late Andy Stephenson

Bev Harris has been proven to be questionable.

[NikolaC]

38. Well, While I agree With You Wholeheartedly,

the Supreme Court just made it possible for the state of Indiana and any other state that relies on state issued identification (driver's licenses) as proof of eligibility and a tool to keep people from the polls "legal". It's gonna be an uphill battle.

[defendandprotect]

25. You are so right --- and I also wish this were a concern for our Democratic Congress --- !!!

[iamthebandfanman]

4. glad to see the republican fraud machine

is alive and well.

wonder who they favor this time around?

[roseBudd]

7. If disenfranshing African Americans benefits HRC, wonder which DUers are for it?

[iamthebandfanman]

9. you tell me

someone has obviously been taking notes from previous elections ;)

lets see if 95% of the list is wrong like it was in florida.

[roseBudd]

18. When 90% of a demographic votes for your opponent, then GOP tactics become D primary tactics

[Triana]

8. they've gotten away with it for so long, they have it down to a science. n/t

[pleah]

6. K&R

[mopinko]

10. well, if it comes from bev, something in there is bullshit.

most of it, likely.
how are the scans of those florida poll tapes coming, bev?

the obama campaign has a commitment to making sure people can vote. if they say something was fucked up, i will believe it.

[MiniMe]

11. Is she looking for donations??

Somehow I remember that she ended up doing nothing, and there was no accounting of the money donated.

[mopinko]

35. not even to the irs

iirc

[Richard Steele]

56. The fact that she isn't in jail for that is proof positive that BushCabal™ considers her an ally. nm

[Richard Steele]

14. That's a certain fact. nm

[Ichingcarpenter]

34. Andy Stephenson....... I think many know that story here n/t

[bbgrunt]

12. astounding. k n r

[Breeze54]

13. Holy shit and with the new ID law....

this doesn't look good at all! I hope people in Indiana are checking their voter registrations today!!

:grr:

[roseBudd]

19. Haven't you heard, certain counties in Indiana, hint Gary, have had massive purges

[TBF]

31. Coincidentally, I hear Black Americans live there...

Is Hillary helping with the "voter registration effort" in those counties by any chance?

[defendandprotect]

26. In the new ID law . . . is a free ID covered . . . ???

I would imagine it would be difficult enough for an elderly citizen to, for instance, get to their
town office where you might get a passport to get an ID . . . but it should be free.
Otherwise, it's just another "poll tax."

[jaxx]

15. This is good info.

Scroll down:

<snip> A WORD ABOUT THE TV PROJECTIONS

The first number they quote is the adjusted exit poll number, and it comes from asking people about who they voted for.

You'll notice that those projections often change -- sometimes dramatically -- just an hour or so later. That's because we have learned that they are paying elections officials (through their associations or otherwise) to call and fax them the results off the voting machine poll tape.

In fact, the National Election Pool (used to be Voter News Service) is getting this stuff BEFORE the election officials and way before the secretary of state.

http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-bin/forums/board-auth.cgi?file=/1954/73758.html

[Indenturedebtor]

16. Yep

Hitting some Republicans or not, they pretty much wiped out the Dem parts of the state. Sigh.

[Winterblues]

17. Good to find out now instead of a week before the general election

There is still time to correct all of this...

[SoCalDem]

20. Except for the fact that THIS election is almost as important

because the perception of a "win" or "loss", could set in motion, a cacophony of screaming heads on tv...These screaming, sputtering heads will not see the purged voters as a possibility for "less turnout".. they will see rev Wright, and the spin will be about 5Gs..

the media has already pre-determined the "issues" and they are the only filters that will be used:
elite
bitter
clinging
Wright
"working class white men"

The media we have, will NOT see the forest, because they have their noses pressed against one tree.. they may mention, in passing, the voter purge or the Limbaugh effect, or the impossible MATH, but those will be spun away and ignored, as "conspiracy theories"..

[truedelphi]

46. It is a very sad and sorry state of affairs. And Hilary is not very concerned about

Anything but winning - no matter how she ahs to play the game in order to win.

[AzDar]

21. K & R...

:kick:

[Retrograde]

22. there are only about 6,300,000 people in Indiana!

1,130,000 cancellations is about 20% of the entire population, probably more than 25% of the voting age population. Something here just doesn't look right: how do you purge 115% of the voter list?

[defendandprotect]

27. What officials should be investigating something like this . . . ?

Bushed again ---???

[flashl]

23. K&R

[defendandprotect]

24. We need to have same day registration and polls open for 24 hours . . .

there also has to be penalties for districts that don't provide a sufficient number of machines to begin with --- who don't provide services --- and the Federal government should be paying for a lot
of this --

[EndofTheRepublicans]

28. That's just silly...

Everyone knows Quest is on the job, so nothing can happen.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Because of all the work that has gone into securing Lake County's system, it was disheartening last week to learn that a contractor hired by Secretary of State Todd Rokita had tampered with some of the votes cast in the county. As county officials were entering absentee ballot information from the May primary into the data base, they found the intrusion from downstate.

Local officials were recording 58 absentee ballots that had been rejected, only to find the database indicated they had been accepted.

Steve McNear, CEO of Quest, the contractor hired by Rokita, said it was a one-time mistake and it wouldn't happen again.

http://www.blueindiana.net/showDiary.do?diaryId=575

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

Nothing to see here... move along.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Edited to add, Quest handles the statewide voter registration database

[struggle4progress]

29. Well, something is screwy. Lots of 2005/2006/2007 data is missing from the site but

between the 2004 and 2006 elections Indiana lost a lot of voters

In 2004, about 2.466 million Presidential ballots were cast, identified as 58% turnout, for a total of about 4.252 million voters. In 2006, about 1.340 million Senate race ballots were cast, identified as 40% turnout, for a total of 3.351 million voters. So about 902,000 voters simply vanished from the rolls between 2004 and 2006

http://www.in.gov/apps/sos/election/general/general2004?page=district&countyID=-1&officeID=36&districtID=937&candidate=
http://www.in.gov/apps/sos/election/general/general2006?page=district&countyID=-1&officeID=4&districtID=514&candidate=

Now the SOS page says "2008 Registered Voters: 4,318,983" and "New Voter Registrations since the 2006 General Election: 321,191" http://www.in.gov/sos/

It's odd, no matter how you slice it. If there were 4.252 million in 2004, 0.321 million have been added since 2006, and there are 4.318 million today, then a quarter million voters have disappeared. If there were 3.351 million in 2006 and 0.321 million have been added since, then there are 0.647 million who have mysteriously been added to the rolls

Here's a link to the 4/30/08 pdf of Voters by county, and it doesn't clarify matters at all http://www.in.gov/sos/elections/pdfs/Statewide_Voter_Count_by_County5.1.08.pdf

It lists Active (3.9 million), Inactive (0.4 million), Total (4.3 million), Pending (667), and Cancelled (1.1 million)

And yes, the number cancelled sometimes exceeds the number active

[Juche]

30. I have no idea whats going on

Thanks for this info though. I voted early in the primary a few weeks ago.

As far as purging the rolls in Monroe County, about 35000 of the citizens there are students who won't be there more than a few years. That may be legit. But lake county has about 1/2 million people in it, so kicking 130k off the rolls is troubling, esp. considering that only about half to 1/3 of the public is elegible and registered to vote anyway.

The ID law sucks and it just an attempt to stop non-whites, the poor, the disabled and the young (all of whom lean democrat) from being allowed to vote. An ID is free here but if you don't own a car you can have trouble getting to the DMV. A poor person or a disabled person may not be able to get to the DMV to get a license.

In Indiana we have 9 house districts. Before the 2006 midterm elections 7 of them were GOP, now only 4 are GOP. Maybe this is an attempt to stop the blue wave that shifted 1/3 of the house seats here from R to D.

[delt664]

36. Student suppression?

"As far as purging the rolls in Monroe County, about 35000 of the citizens there are students who won't be there more than a few years. That may be legit."

College students should be afforded the right to vote as long as they meet the requirements for eligibility. You cant deny someone the right to vote because they might later move away.

[Juche]

47. About 8000 people leave Monroe county each year

Due to graduating from IU Bloomington. I was probably purged from the rolls there. So some of the purges are going to be legit as people won't be registered to their old address.

[FourScore]

32. This'll keep happening as long as democrats allow it. n/t

[mcollier]

37. Not this time

... There will be a new party born if this is stolen...

[mcollier]

39. Do you have statistics on

why the 1,134,427 voter registrations have been cancelled?

[FourScore]

53. I couldn't find anything about that.

I wondered it myself.

[RBInMaine]

40. Something just doesn't see right here. Are you sure about this? & how about provisional balloting?

[global1]

41. And Not A Word About This On MSM........nt

[LiberalFighter]

42. How many should Indiana have on the roll if they had 4,358,299 about this time in 2004?

How many should Indiana have on the roll when Indiana's estimated population is 6,313,520 and 18 and over is about 4,735,140?

I think it's more that they are trying to keep the number static.

[McCamy Taylor]

43. Boy who cried wolf effect at play I am sorry to say. Every state Clinton expected to win, this board

comes up with some election fraud theory immediately prior to the election.

The numbers you list with the percentages---unless you tell us what percentage of the total voting population and what percentage of new registrations live in those areas, we can not tell if 10% is low or 40% is high. Some areas may be sparsely populated, others densely populated.

We never see threads about the use of paperless e-voting machines in states that Obama is expected to win. We only see threads warning of their use in states that Clinton is expected to win.

Although some people may be posting with good intentions, once a news source becomes riddled with bias---like DU or KO---all stories become suspect This is why it is important for people who report the news to try to adhere to standards.

[berni_mccoy]

44. The source of this story is not DU or KOS. It is BBV. And I DO NOT Trust Bev Harris. I call B.S.

on her story. At least that is one thing you and I can agree about.

[JohnnyCougar]

45. ^^^BULLSHIT^^^ - This has already been debunked on Kos

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/5/141313/9290/18/509493

"Breaking: A State With a Population of 6.3 Million Can't Have 5.4 Million Registered Voters"

[eggplant]

48. Seconded.

Bev Harris is only interested in Bev Harris.

[JohnnyCougar]

51. What's new?

Harris has about as much credibility as the town drunkard, and she always has.

[KharmaTrain]

60. Look How Many K & R'd This Post

Yep...dubious as all hell. The numbers don't add up. Pure and Simple. Yes, there are voters in Indiana who will be disenfranchised by the latest SCOTUS ruling, but nowhere near these numbers.

I could see a large number if we're talking about a usual check of the voting roles...something that happens in most areas before each election...checking addresses and other information. For example, this year, my daughter, who got married last year, and is registered to vote under her new name in a new precinct was still on the voter rolls here. The same thing happened with her mother when we married in the 80's...it took four years for her name to finally vanish from the voters roles in her old precinct. Most election boards are poorly manned and maintainance of the roles has always been a problem. Thus, using this scenario, I could see a lot of problems on the roles, but not voter suppression.

Also, this post makes no mention of provisional balloting. Just a lot of numbers and plenty of tin foil. If there's voter supression in Indiana we'll see it early today...just watch the returns from NW Indiana (Lake County)...if those numbers are way down or there are reports of voters being turned away, then we have some real smoke to look into.

[JohnnyCougar]

62. Bev's just probably broke and needs to make a mortgage payment

Trolling the internet for more donations.

I remember we were all waiting for her tax forms for BBV to become available after the end of 2004 and 2005. I wonder if anyone found them.

[L. Coyote]

67. Not to mention almost all Internet activists. But, hey, it's okay by me IF

they do good work and contribute to progress in some way.

YES, the e-mail included an appeal for money, which I cropped, of course.

I'm sure some activists working on their own rely on contributions, as do many organizations. It is a great way to make a living, if you are capable of organizing it. More activists should do it. It is also froth with hazard. If you are dependent on the project, personal needs may be paramount in decisions, and doing something/anything for attention may be required as the rent check comes due!! An established organization may not have the same pitfalls.

[Turn CO Blue]

49. I just posted about this debunking on another thread...

so thanks. It's like playing a whack-a-mole with BBV emails...

[Stephanie]

66. Could you make a post with the correct info and alert this to the mods please?

This thread is on the front page now. BBBeV strikes again.

[KaryninMiami]

50. Has anyone seen any coverage of this on the MSM or in any mainstream newspapers ?

I just came home from work and am catching up now on what I missed- anyone notice if this story made it to any of the news programs?

[JohnnyCougar]

52. It's a non-story, and it's been debunked.

[Up2Late]

54. Welcome to my world Indiana.

What? Did they just get paperless e-voting there or something?

Btw, I'm live in Georgia where we haven't had a fair election since 2000, if then.

[DirtyDawg]

55. Whatayabet that ChoicePoint is involved?

ChoicePoint is the error-prone, right-wing, data-gatherer that did the number on all those, supposed, felons in Florida in 2000 that kept the vote close enough so that geedubya and his handlers could slip in and steal the damn thing.

If I had registered and showed up to vote tomorrow only to find out that the powers that be had rigged the thing - does Evan Byah's people run that thing? - some of those voting machines, along with the people working those polling places would be getting thrown out the window. Until there's a price paid for stealing elections, it'll just go on and on. Of course taking it out on some member of the First Methodist Ladies Circle working the polls would be a bit sick - then again, they should have insisted the the game not be rigged before they hired on.

[santamargarita]

58. You bet! Along with every other form of Right-Wing-Asshole!

K&R

[Kurovski]

57. K&R. (nt)

[liberal N proud]

59. Sounds like those two counties could use some voter protection

[mcollier]

61. Guess we'll find out today

Thanks for analyzing this story for verification. I am very concerned about the Photo Id ruling though...

[madrchsod]

63. i just wake up and read that her name.....

we should have a program that automatically deletes her name....

[Joe Chi Minh]

64. You have a seriously criminal society. And I don't mean the prison population. Worse,

it is institutionalised, far and wide, as if bred in the bone.

[Phred42]

65. How else can Rove assure that Clinton wins?

and hope they can to it to HER in November

[L. Coyote]

69. Oldest trick in history. Psychology 100 tricked you again.

Rove and the Rs want to run against Obama.
That's why they say they want to run against Hillary.

The Rs were defeated by Clinton because he ran in the center lane and Perot ran in the right lane.

What the Rs want is a candidate they can paint as a radical leftist. Do'H!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Phred42]

71. Wow - that's really convoluted triangulation - worthy of FOX

Right - that's why Bill & Hillery had praised and sided with McCain at every opportunity and Hillary made her Faustian deals with Mellon-Scrape and Murdick and why Hillery continues to say that FOX give her better coverage than any of the others.......
Pretty twisted logic there L.C.

[Lugnut]

68. K&R n/t

[beyurslf]

70. Just looking at Porter county with 113% purge rate.....

The population of the county is just over 160K with 23% under 18.
<http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/18/18127.html>

Sounds like they had a lot of bad names on the list or they purged everyone on the list. I suppose we will see today if people get to vote in that county. Maybe they hadn't cleaned the list in decades.....

[countryjake]

72. kick