Paging Frank Rich! GAO confirms - 2004 Election was Stolen
Lyn Davis Lear - 11.30.2005
I had a chance to talk to my hero, Frank Rich, a few months ago about election fraud and he claimed he didn't know much about it. Perhaps he has his plate full unraveling the administration's lies about Iraq, but with the midterm elections coming up someone has to take this issue on.
[...] I hope Frank and other journalists and bloggers of his caliber read this article by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman about the GAO report on the 2004 election. Paul Krugman and the NYTimes editorial board have been good on this issue in the past, but it has been a while since anyone has raised the subject.
The Government Accountability Office is the only government office we have left that is ethical, non-partisan and incorruptible. They investigate and tell it like it is. Thank God for them. This report is very serious and must get more attention. It has taken years for the mainstream press and Congress to finally understand what we in the blogisphere have known since 2000. This administration will distort and cheat about anything and everything to get its way. If this report got the attention it deserves and broke through the static of our 500-channel universe, it could be the coup de grace of the Bush White House.
Read More >>
GAO Report >>
30 November 2005
It's official: Diebold election bugware can't be trusted
Thomas C Greene - 30th November 2005
Diebold would rather lose all of its voting machine business in North Carolina than open its source code to state election officials as required by law, the Associated Press reports.
Due to irregularities in the 2004 election traced to touch screen terminals, North Carolina has taken the very reasonable precaution of requiring vendors of electronic voting gizmos to place all of the source code in escrow. Diebold has objected to the possibility of criminal sanctions if they fail to comply, and argued for an exemption before Wake County Superior Court Judge Narley Cashwell. The judge declined to issue an exemption, and Diebold has concluded that it has no choice but withdraw from the state.
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Thomas C Greene - 30th November 2005
Diebold would rather lose all of its voting machine business in North Carolina than open its source code to state election officials as required by law, the Associated Press reports.
Due to irregularities in the 2004 election traced to touch screen terminals, North Carolina has taken the very reasonable precaution of requiring vendors of electronic voting gizmos to place all of the source code in escrow. Diebold has objected to the possibility of criminal sanctions if they fail to comply, and argued for an exemption before Wake County Superior Court Judge Narley Cashwell. The judge declined to issue an exemption, and Diebold has concluded that it has no choice but withdraw from the state.
Read More >>
24 November 2005
Poll Shock
Off by 40 points, newspaper's predictions may be disturbingly accurate
Robert C. Koehler - November 24, 2005
One of the most wildly inaccurate pre-election polls in memory, which was off by over 40 points on some predictions, may prove to be deadly accurate as an indicator of the problems we face as a nation with our voting process — and democracy itself.
But you won’t learn this by reading the Columbus Dispatch, the newspaper that conducted the poll just prior to Ohio’s Nov. 8 election. The paper’s public affairs editor conceded to me that the poll results the Dispatch wrote about, wrongly indicating massive public support for several proposed constitutional amendments, were, in essence, the journalistic equivalent of the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.
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Off by 40 points, newspaper's predictions may be disturbingly accurate
Robert C. Koehler - November 24, 2005
One of the most wildly inaccurate pre-election polls in memory, which was off by over 40 points on some predictions, may prove to be deadly accurate as an indicator of the problems we face as a nation with our voting process — and democracy itself.
But you won’t learn this by reading the Columbus Dispatch, the newspaper that conducted the poll just prior to Ohio’s Nov. 8 election. The paper’s public affairs editor conceded to me that the poll results the Dispatch wrote about, wrongly indicating massive public support for several proposed constitutional amendments, were, in essence, the journalistic equivalent of the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.
Read More >>
13 November 2005
The Staggeringly Impossible Results of Ohio's '05 Election
Brad Friedman - 11.13.2005
Is this the Election that will finally break the camel's back?
With so much going on, few have noticed the extraordinary outcome of last Tuesday's election in Ohio where the crooked state that brung you -- by hook and by crook -- a second term for George W. Bush may have turned in results so staggeringly impossible, that perhaps even the Mainstream Corporate Media (if only in Ohio?!) will have no choice but to look into it.
As usual, the Free Press' heroic Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman are on the case. Their article on what happened on ballot issues 1 through 5 last week is A MUST READ for anybody who still gives the slightest damn about whatever democracy might be left in America.
I'll try to summarize here briefly. There were five initiatives on the ballot last week.
[...] Now, you tell us...What could possibly explain such unheard of differences between the Dispatch's poll and the final results?
Now, we'll tell you...This was the year that Ohio, under the encouragement and mandates of Blackwell, rolled out new Electronic Touch-Screen Voting Machines in 44 of its 88 counties...41 of them employeeing the same Diebold Touch-Screen Machines that California's Republican Sec. of State decertified in this state when 20% of them failed this summer in the largest test of its kind ever held.
Read More >>
Brad Friedman - 11.13.2005
Is this the Election that will finally break the camel's back?
With so much going on, few have noticed the extraordinary outcome of last Tuesday's election in Ohio where the crooked state that brung you -- by hook and by crook -- a second term for George W. Bush may have turned in results so staggeringly impossible, that perhaps even the Mainstream Corporate Media (if only in Ohio?!) will have no choice but to look into it.
As usual, the Free Press' heroic Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman are on the case. Their article on what happened on ballot issues 1 through 5 last week is A MUST READ for anybody who still gives the slightest damn about whatever democracy might be left in America.
I'll try to summarize here briefly. There were five initiatives on the ballot last week.
[...] Now, you tell us...What could possibly explain such unheard of differences between the Dispatch's poll and the final results?
Now, we'll tell you...This was the year that Ohio, under the encouragement and mandates of Blackwell, rolled out new Electronic Touch-Screen Voting Machines in 44 of its 88 counties...41 of them employeeing the same Diebold Touch-Screen Machines that California's Republican Sec. of State decertified in this state when 20% of them failed this summer in the largest test of its kind ever held.
Read More >>
10 November 2005
Computer Glitch Delays Norwalk Election Results
November 10, 2005
NORWALK, Conn. -- A computer glitch delayed results in the Norwalk mayor's race until Wednesday morning.
City election officials decided around 10 p.m. on Tuesday that they had to recount more than 600 absentee ballots by hand because the optical scan machine had not counted them properly.
Andy Garfunkel, the town clerk, said the machine mistakenly combined ballots from two polling districts. State law requires that absentee ballots be reported for each precinct. Workers counted ballots until 2 a.m. Wednesday and returned later in the morning to finish. In the end, Republican Richard Moccia defeated incumbent Democratic Mayor Alex Knopp 8,259 to 8,083.
A state police officer escorted the election monitor to the Bridgeport state police barracks, where the ballots were due to the state by 4 p.m., Garfunkel said.
Despite the glitch, Garfunkel said he thinks the optical scan machines work well. The state could soon buy more of the machines as it replaces the old lever voting machines.
"It works for us if you get the kinks out," he said. "You have to refine the system."
Read More >>
November 10, 2005
NORWALK, Conn. -- A computer glitch delayed results in the Norwalk mayor's race until Wednesday morning.
City election officials decided around 10 p.m. on Tuesday that they had to recount more than 600 absentee ballots by hand because the optical scan machine had not counted them properly.
Andy Garfunkel, the town clerk, said the machine mistakenly combined ballots from two polling districts. State law requires that absentee ballots be reported for each precinct. Workers counted ballots until 2 a.m. Wednesday and returned later in the morning to finish. In the end, Republican Richard Moccia defeated incumbent Democratic Mayor Alex Knopp 8,259 to 8,083.
A state police officer escorted the election monitor to the Bridgeport state police barracks, where the ballots were due to the state by 4 p.m., Garfunkel said.
Despite the glitch, Garfunkel said he thinks the optical scan machines work well. The state could soon buy more of the machines as it replaces the old lever voting machines.
"It works for us if you get the kinks out," he said. "You have to refine the system."
Read More >>
09 November 2005
Groups to Congress: Undo Part of Voter Law
Jeffrey McMurray, AP - Nov 9, 2005
Civil rights activists argued Wednesday that a 2-year-old Supreme Court decision largely wiped out 40 years of progress minorities have made under the Voting Rights Act.
Officials with the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People were among those who asked a House panel to renew a key portion of the law but include a provision that would essentially undo a verdict pertaining to Georgia redistricting.
"It clearly shows the schizophrenic, dichotomized mind-set this nation clearly has in terms of extending voting rights and then taking them back," Rep. David Scott D-Ga., said of the Georgia v. Ashcroft decision.
At issue before the House Judiciary Committee's panel on the Constitution is a section of the Voting Rights Act that expires in 2007. It requires states with a history of racial discrimination to get federal government approval before changing their voting laws. Redistricting cases spark the most legal challenges, particularly when minorities can prove that a new map gives them less of a chance at electing candidates they prefer.
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Jeffrey McMurray, AP - Nov 9, 2005
Civil rights activists argued Wednesday that a 2-year-old Supreme Court decision largely wiped out 40 years of progress minorities have made under the Voting Rights Act.
Officials with the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People were among those who asked a House panel to renew a key portion of the law but include a provision that would essentially undo a verdict pertaining to Georgia redistricting.
"It clearly shows the schizophrenic, dichotomized mind-set this nation clearly has in terms of extending voting rights and then taking them back," Rep. David Scott D-Ga., said of the Georgia v. Ashcroft decision.
At issue before the House Judiciary Committee's panel on the Constitution is a section of the Voting Rights Act that expires in 2007. It requires states with a history of racial discrimination to get federal government approval before changing their voting laws. Redistricting cases spark the most legal challenges, particularly when minorities can prove that a new map gives them less of a chance at electing candidates they prefer.
Read More >>
08 November 2005
Schwarzenegger Hits Snag at Polling Place
LA Times - 11/08/05
SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger showed up to his Brentwood neighborhood polling station today to cast his ballot in the special election — and was told he had already voted.
Elections officials said a Los Angeles County poll worker had entered Schwarzenegger's name into an electronic voting touch screen station in Pasadena on Oct. 25. The worker, who was not identified, was testing the voting machine in preparation for early voting that began the next day.
Schwarzenegger's aides were informed of the problem when they arrived this morning to survey the governor's polling station. The poll worker told the governor's staff he would have to use a "provisional" ballot that allows elections workers to verify if two votes were made by the same person. McCormack said the poll worker did the correct thing.
Thegovernor [illegally installed fascist pig], however, was allowed to use a regular ballot.
[...] Kim Alexander, president of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation, said the problem highlights the need for better verification of electronic voting.
"If the governor is going to have a mix-up on his ballot," she said, "it will make other voters wonder what is going to happen with their ballots."
Read More >>
LA Times - 11/08/05
SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger showed up to his Brentwood neighborhood polling station today to cast his ballot in the special election — and was told he had already voted.
Elections officials said a Los Angeles County poll worker had entered Schwarzenegger's name into an electronic voting touch screen station in Pasadena on Oct. 25. The worker, who was not identified, was testing the voting machine in preparation for early voting that began the next day.
Schwarzenegger's aides were informed of the problem when they arrived this morning to survey the governor's polling station. The poll worker told the governor's staff he would have to use a "provisional" ballot that allows elections workers to verify if two votes were made by the same person. McCormack said the poll worker did the correct thing.
The
[...] Kim Alexander, president of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation, said the problem highlights the need for better verification of electronic voting.
"If the governor is going to have a mix-up on his ballot," she said, "it will make other voters wonder what is going to happen with their ballots."
Read More >>
Voters report problems with voting machines in Roanoke Co.
November 8, 2005
Election day voting is going on across the Old Dominion, but everything has not gone smoothly in Roanoke County.
News 7 has received calls from several voters in at least four different precincts who say their votes for Tim Kaine were not recorded or took several attempts to go through.
They contend the electronic touch screens repeatedly indicated they were voting for Republican candidate Jerry Kilgore instead of registering their intended vote for his Democratic opponent Tim Kaine.
Read More >>
November 8, 2005
Election day voting is going on across the Old Dominion, but everything has not gone smoothly in Roanoke County.
News 7 has received calls from several voters in at least four different precincts who say their votes for Tim Kaine were not recorded or took several attempts to go through.
They contend the electronic touch screens repeatedly indicated they were voting for Republican candidate Jerry Kilgore instead of registering their intended vote for his Democratic opponent Tim Kaine.
Read More >>
Finkbeiner leads early; Ohio voters reject election changes
in Issues 2, 3, 4, 5
The Toledo Blade - 11/08/05
[...] Voters turned back four ballot proposals today to change Ohio election law, while a once-rejected high-tech research financing was comfortably ahead.
[...] The long statewide ballot issues confused some voters today in an off-year election with light turnout and few glitches from the use of new voting machines in about half of Ohio’s 88 counties.
“I didn’t understand a lot of them,” said Cleveland voter Theo Bell, who skipped over the state questions. “I didn’t want to put something down, not understand and vote for the wrong thing.”
[...] The election proposals — all constitutional amendments — would have opened absentee balloting to all voters, lowered the limit on individual campaign contributions, put a board in charge of drawing congressional and legislative districts instead of elected officials and switched election supervision from the secretary of state to another board.
[...] This election was the first full Lucas County ballot to use the Diebold touch-screen machines, which are controversial because of the technology and because the company’s chairman and CEO, Walden O’Dell, was a top fund-raiser for President Bush in Ohio.
“I think you have a little apprehension. You walk in, and you see a machine is down,” Mr. Seibert said. “If something malfunctions, are the votes still counted?”
In a world increasingly digital, voters and poll workers yesterday gave mixed reviews of the Diebold machines that allow voters to use touch screens instead of paper ballots or levers behind curtains.
A ballot prints inside the machine, like an ATM. But voters don’t get a receipt, like they do at the ATM. Some said it was easier.
[...] But some early voters received the wrong ballots for where they lived, causing improper votes to be cast. Issue 33, a proposed 1.9-mill levy for Waterville Township police, was wrongly placed on the ballot for some voters in Waterville and Whitehouse. Elections officials caught the error by late morning.
Other morning voters were given paper ballots or left without voting because the machines were not set up in time.
Ken Jerome, 67, showed up late morning at St. Petri Lutheran Church, 3120 South Byrne Rd., to find most of the machines not working, he said. After waiting about 25 minutes, he left without casting his ballot.
“It’s discouraging to attempt to go vote and be walking into a mess,” he said.
Jill Kelly, director of the Lucas County Board of Elections, said workers in those situations used provisional ballots. Others of the 2,000 poll workers were talked through problems.
Wood County elections director Terry Burton said similar problems in his county were because of human error.
At the Girl Scout Council, Carty Finkbeiner supporters and Mayor Jack Ford supporters handed out literature. The Finkbeiner camp accused the Ford camp of improperly campaigning inside the polling place, a charge that appeared unproven but was voiced loudly.
Some high school and college students campaigned on behalf of four ballot initiatives to change how state elections are managed and legislative districts drawn.
The Old West End site is an urban mixing point of political opinion. But from 6:30 a.m. to about 10:30 a.m., few voters could cast touch-screen ballots because machines were not set up.
Eddie Small, the precinct’s presiding judge, said he knew turnout was higher this year because his legs were tired.
“We had to use paper ballots for awhile. We processed close to 100,” he said. “We figured it out ourselves. By 10:30, it kind of kicked-in.”
At Beverly, poll worker Bob Gorny looked over to the broken machine. “Right there, that one’s been out all day. They’ve been sending a mechanic all day,” he said with a note of sarcasm.
Read More >>
in Issues 2, 3, 4, 5
The Toledo Blade - 11/08/05
[...] Voters turned back four ballot proposals today to change Ohio election law, while a once-rejected high-tech research financing was comfortably ahead.
[...] The long statewide ballot issues confused some voters today in an off-year election with light turnout and few glitches from the use of new voting machines in about half of Ohio’s 88 counties.
“I didn’t understand a lot of them,” said Cleveland voter Theo Bell, who skipped over the state questions. “I didn’t want to put something down, not understand and vote for the wrong thing.”
[...] The election proposals — all constitutional amendments — would have opened absentee balloting to all voters, lowered the limit on individual campaign contributions, put a board in charge of drawing congressional and legislative districts instead of elected officials and switched election supervision from the secretary of state to another board.
[...] This election was the first full Lucas County ballot to use the Diebold touch-screen machines, which are controversial because of the technology and because the company’s chairman and CEO, Walden O’Dell, was a top fund-raiser for President Bush in Ohio.
“I think you have a little apprehension. You walk in, and you see a machine is down,” Mr. Seibert said. “If something malfunctions, are the votes still counted?”
In a world increasingly digital, voters and poll workers yesterday gave mixed reviews of the Diebold machines that allow voters to use touch screens instead of paper ballots or levers behind curtains.
A ballot prints inside the machine, like an ATM. But voters don’t get a receipt, like they do at the ATM. Some said it was easier.
[...] But some early voters received the wrong ballots for where they lived, causing improper votes to be cast. Issue 33, a proposed 1.9-mill levy for Waterville Township police, was wrongly placed on the ballot for some voters in Waterville and Whitehouse. Elections officials caught the error by late morning.
Other morning voters were given paper ballots or left without voting because the machines were not set up in time.
Ken Jerome, 67, showed up late morning at St. Petri Lutheran Church, 3120 South Byrne Rd., to find most of the machines not working, he said. After waiting about 25 minutes, he left without casting his ballot.
“It’s discouraging to attempt to go vote and be walking into a mess,” he said.
Jill Kelly, director of the Lucas County Board of Elections, said workers in those situations used provisional ballots. Others of the 2,000 poll workers were talked through problems.
Wood County elections director Terry Burton said similar problems in his county were because of human error.
At the Girl Scout Council, Carty Finkbeiner supporters and Mayor Jack Ford supporters handed out literature. The Finkbeiner camp accused the Ford camp of improperly campaigning inside the polling place, a charge that appeared unproven but was voiced loudly.
Some high school and college students campaigned on behalf of four ballot initiatives to change how state elections are managed and legislative districts drawn.
The Old West End site is an urban mixing point of political opinion. But from 6:30 a.m. to about 10:30 a.m., few voters could cast touch-screen ballots because machines were not set up.
Eddie Small, the precinct’s presiding judge, said he knew turnout was higher this year because his legs were tired.
“We had to use paper ballots for awhile. We processed close to 100,” he said. “We figured it out ourselves. By 10:30, it kind of kicked-in.”
At Beverly, poll worker Bob Gorny looked over to the broken machine. “Right there, that one’s been out all day. They’ve been sending a mechanic all day,” he said with a note of sarcasm.
Read More >>
03 November 2005
Mainstream Media to American Democracy: Drop Dead!
Brad Friedman - 11.03.05
It's been a full two weeks now since the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) came out with their 107-page report [PDF] confirming what so many of us have been trying to ring the bell about for so long: The Electronic Voting Machines which are proliferating counties and states across America even as I type, are not secure, not accountable, not recountable, not transparent, not accurate and not adequately monitored or certified by anybody.
To quote from the alarming landmark report:
[C]oncerns about electronic voting machines have been realized and have caused problems with recent elections, resulting in the loss and miscount of votes.
The Mainstream Corporate Media couldn't care less.
The report was requested by several high-ranking members of the U.S. House of Representatives. It culminated a year-long investigation into the secret Voting Machines and Software now being deployed to the tune of millions of tax-payer dollars to privatize our American Democracy.
The release of the report was accompanied by a bi-partisan News Release which lauded its findings.
That's right. Six high-ranking U.S. Congressmen (3 Dems and 3 Reps) issued the incredibly rare joint News Release together. Two of those Congressmen were Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), chairman and ranking minority member, respectively, of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee respectively. You do understand how rare it is that those two can agree on anything much less issue a joint press release, right?!
And yet, none of the above has been carried by even one wire service or one major American Newspaper. Not one.
Read More >>
Brad Friedman - 11.03.05
It's been a full two weeks now since the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) came out with their 107-page report [PDF] confirming what so many of us have been trying to ring the bell about for so long: The Electronic Voting Machines which are proliferating counties and states across America even as I type, are not secure, not accountable, not recountable, not transparent, not accurate and not adequately monitored or certified by anybody.
To quote from the alarming landmark report:
[C]oncerns about electronic voting machines have been realized and have caused problems with recent elections, resulting in the loss and miscount of votes.
The Mainstream Corporate Media couldn't care less.
The report was requested by several high-ranking members of the U.S. House of Representatives. It culminated a year-long investigation into the secret Voting Machines and Software now being deployed to the tune of millions of tax-payer dollars to privatize our American Democracy.
The release of the report was accompanied by a bi-partisan News Release which lauded its findings.
That's right. Six high-ranking U.S. Congressmen (3 Dems and 3 Reps) issued the incredibly rare joint News Release together. Two of those Congressmen were Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), chairman and ranking minority member, respectively, of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee respectively. You do understand how rare it is that those two can agree on anything much less issue a joint press release, right?!
And yet, none of the above has been carried by even one wire service or one major American Newspaper. Not one.
Read More >>
02 November 2005
GAO report upholds Ohio vote fraud claims
Joe Baker, Sr Editor - Nov 2-8 issue
As if the indictment of Lewis “Scooter” Libby wasn’t enough to give the White House some heavy concerns, a report from the Government Accounting Office takes a big bite out of the Bush clique’s pretense of legitimacy.
This powerful and probing report takes a hard look at the election of 2004 and supports the contention that the election was stolen. The report has received almost no coverage in the national media.
The GAO is the government’s lead investigative agency, and is known for rock-solid integrity and its penetrating and thorough analysis. The agency’s agreement with what have been brushed aside as “conspiracy theories” adds even more weight to the conclusion that the Bush regime has no business in the White House whatever.
Read More >>
Joe Baker, Sr Editor - Nov 2-8 issue
As if the indictment of Lewis “Scooter” Libby wasn’t enough to give the White House some heavy concerns, a report from the Government Accounting Office takes a big bite out of the Bush clique’s pretense of legitimacy.
This powerful and probing report takes a hard look at the election of 2004 and supports the contention that the election was stolen. The report has received almost no coverage in the national media.
The GAO is the government’s lead investigative agency, and is known for rock-solid integrity and its penetrating and thorough analysis. The agency’s agreement with what have been brushed aside as “conspiracy theories” adds even more weight to the conclusion that the Bush regime has no business in the White House whatever.
Read More >>
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