Fabricating The Illusion Of Support For Brown To Enable Stealing MAs Election?

[KittyWampus]

Frankly, it's bizarre the way all of the sudden reports came in about how Democrats were in a panic over Coakley.

Polls don't show Brown winning.

I personally don't think Obama would be stumping in MA if the White House numbers didn't show her winning. That's my inner cynic speaking, but I highly doubt they'd risk the bad PR.

That said, MA has Diebold Op-Scan machines that tabulate paper ballots.

I know some DU'ers enjoy the narrative that Democrats suck and deserve to lose. But we've seen before what it takes to steal elections:

Bogus stories about "too close to call"
Electronic Voting/Tabulating equipment
Lazy/Complicit Media
Disorganized Democrats

Here is some quick info I googled:

Essex (Marblehead) May 2004 Ballots were miscounted. In one race the machine count was 1,834 to 1,836 but hand recount showed actual tally of 1,831 to 1,830 and election results were overturned.
Diebold

Worcester(Uxbridge) April 2004 Voting machines skipped over more than 170 ballots affecting the outcome of at least one election.

Candidates in other races did not request a recount in time and those races could not legally be recounted.

[hack89]

1. So the Republics have secretly controlled Massachusetts elections

but used that power to marginalize themselves? Or is this a larger, global Illuminati type conspiracy?

[KittyWampus]

2. wtf? Maybe you are unfamiliar with potential for malfeasance when using electronic equipment

to count votes?

Oh, and it only works if the election looks "too close to call".

Hence, races where Dems are far ahead aren't targets.

[hack89]

6. I am aware of the potential. The question is who?

is this some nameless group? Or are we talking specifically about Mass Republicans? If so, how did they get this power considering how relatively powerless they are? Why can't the Democrats stop them since they dominate political power in the state?

So who is manipulating this election and why can't they be stop by the State of Massachusetts?

[no_hypocrisy]

3. I find it hard to believe that the same voters who re-elected EMK less than six years ago

would suddenly "go republican". It's Boston! And Massachusetts. John Kerry. Etc.

[CTyankee]

4. I disagree re Obama's trip. I think the WH is worried and that's why he's going.

If he didn't go and she loses it would not be good. I see your point, and I'd like to agree with you, but my own inner cynic says he wouldn't drop all the stuff he's got going on just to make it look like he's backing the winner. He wasn't planning on going til yesterday. That tells me that his political people have been reading some tea leaves that we may not even know about and they think it is serious...

[laughingliberal]

13. I think that's true

I know earlier in the week when Gibbs was being questioned on whether the President would be going he was quite dismissive of the idea and his attitude bordered on disdain for the question. Now, the President is heading there. I think they are worried. I'm worried. We do need to keep this seat.

[elehhhhna]

5. Poll fraud must precede vote fraud.

[laughingliberal]

7. "I know some DU'ers enjoy the narrative that Democrats suck and deserve to lose."

And some posters can't write a post laying out their position without a preemptive snark at people who have been trying to push the administration in a more progressive direction. It's not helpful. We all suspect there are trolls on both sides of the debates but I believe there are a lot of committed Democrats here who just want to see the party stick with traditional Democratic and progressive values. After all, it was Obama who said, "Make me do it." Yet, those who are trying to hold the administration accountable and stand up for the issues in which we believe are bashed, endlessly, for it. If he said, "Make me do it," and we are trying to make him do it and others are bashing us for trying to make him do it, who is doing what the President asked?

That said, yes, I do think there is a push to create a sense of inevitability and suppress the Democratic vote as well as set up conditions to steal the election.

[hack89]

8. But who is doing the pushing?

Democrat dominate politically in Massachusetts - if anyone could manipulate elections there it would be them.

[KittyWampus]

9. snark? SNARK? It's a fact. An empirical fact.

[laughingliberal]

10. It is an empirical fact there is plenty of snarking on both sides

and probably not persuasive with those who disagree to put those preemptive swipes in every post. I thought it was a good post if not for that. When I read a nice, well reasoned post by someone with a different perspective it, sometimes, tweaks my perspective. But, it never works if this sort of swipe at those who disagree is in there. There has been so much of that here it has had me considering it may be part of a voter suppression effort to keep liberals away from the polls in November. I did call and tell the White House that regarding the insulting of the left by the CofS-that if they were trying to suppress the liberal vote it was working quite well but if they were not a little less nastiness would be in order.

[dragonlady]

11. A proposal to overcome voting machine tampering

Get volunteers to the polls at closing time to record the vote totals for the precinct. Try to get to every precinct in the district for as many reporting districts as possible so you have an accurate count for at least some of them. Then when the results are announced, compare them with the counts from the volunteers. If they don't match, it's definitely time to request a recount, which is the good thing about optical scan paper ballots. This plan is a defensive measure in case hackers get into the central tabulating system (which aggregates the vote totals from the precincts). If they can fiddle with the total that is announced to the media, we need some evidence that the actual votes were different. Of course, the other side will cry that the Democrats made up fake vote totals to try to steal the election, but this data-gathering effort is meant to give the Democrats some inspiration to request the recount that may change the apparent outcome.

This plan assumes that the election officials in the precinct will give citizans the results from the tape inside that machine. That's the case where I live, and it seems like only good practice for any jurisdiction to achieve transparency in elections.

[Unvanguard]

12. Actually, some polls do show Brown winning, and Coakley's earlier high margins have disappeared.

And MA is a state where the Democrats control the governorship and both houses of the legislature. It's not likely the Republicans would be able to steal a state-wide election there even if they tried.