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 with this project.

Link to the thread from Thursday 1/13/05: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x281950

(I'm sorry to say I haven't had a lot of time to work on this thread lately. My husband and children have missed spending time with me. :) I think most people can understand this because of all the time many of us spend/spent here during this roller coaster ride. I'll start with some articles posted in the last couple of days. )

Four Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee asked the Department of Justice to begin a criminal investigation into Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell today, RAW STORY has learned. For the detailed story and background click here.

Among other matters, the referral is to request an investigation into voter intimidation, improper voter purging, perjury, possible misuse of Help America Vote Act funds, tampering with voting machines during Ohio’s recount and Blackwell’s misuse of the Great Seal of the United States in a campaign letter.

In the matter of misusing the Great Seal in violation of federal law, which was reported first by the Brad Blog earlier this week, the congressmen and women are seeking a special prosecutor.

Letter (six pages) at link: http://rawstory.rawprint.com/105/conyers_ashcroft_letter_114.php

Thanks to RawStory here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x284163

Just got word.

"Around noon, the house judiciary members are filing a criminal referral with doj requesting a special prosecutor to investigate blackwell and other matters."

Latest: http://rawstory.com

Direct link: http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=552

###

My quick take: Would Bush's justice Department would investigate their own campaign manager for a state that 'delivered' the clinching victory? Not likely.

Thanks to rawstory here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x283774

Conyers, Blackwell duel over voting report

By John Byrne | RAW STORY Editor

In response to an attack by Ohio Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell on the motivation of Rep. John Conyers’ (D-Mich.) investigation into Ohio voting irregularities, Conyers expressed his frustration in a brief email to RAW STORY Thursday evening.

“I’m amazed that the chief elections official of the state that faced the most irregularities and the first state wide electoral challenge in history wouldn’t even bother to try to set the record straight on a single irregularity,” Conyers wrote.

“There is no more significant issue facing congress than making sure our democracy works,” the congressman added. ” We saw unprecedented irregularities in Ohio last November, and I think while the Secretary of State may not think he owes any one congressperson an answer, he certainly owes the nation and the state of Ohio a response.”

Details of Conyers'-Blackwell sparring today (quotes & new letter) at http://rawstory.com

Thanks to rawstory here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x282720


(anybody have the direct link?)

Leaked "videotapes of previous meetings, including one involving Diebold Election Systems, that suggest a lack of rigor and failure to address properly security and certification compliance issues."


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:

Cindy Cohn
Legal Director
Electronic Frontier Foundation
cindy@eff.org

Matt Zimmerman
Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
mattz@eff.org




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

Texas Election System Examiners' Meetings Shrouded in Secrecy

Lawsuit Pushes for Public Access to Meetings Where E-voting Machines Are Evaluated

Austin, TX - On January 19, a Texas court is scheduled to determine whether to force the state's voting examiners to open their meetings to the public. The ACLU of Texas and a Texas voter filed a lawsuit last year, ACLU of Texas v. Geoffrey S. Connor, demanding that the public be admitted to meetings where the examiners decide which electronic voting machines to certify. While these groups waited for a response from the court, the examiners held yet another closed meeting on January 4 and 5.

"There's no technical reason for keeping these meetings closed to the public," said Dan Wallach, a Rice University computer science professor and outspoken critic of electronic voting systems. "By allowing outside experts in security, accessibility, and election procedure to attend the meetings, the voting system vendors will receive better feedback from the ultimate users of the machines. Likewise, if outside experts find problems, the state can demand the vendors address those problems before the machines are used in the field."

Recently, the Texas Safe Voting Coalition obtained videotapes of previous meetings, including one involving Diebold Election Systems, that suggest a lack of rigor and failure to address properly security and certification compliance issues. If the court grants a temporary injunction on the 19th, the voting examiners will have to admit the public to certification meetings.

"Closed meetings about these controversial voting machines create a troubling perception," said Jonathan Lebkowsky of the Texas Safe Voting Coalition. "How can a citizen trust a certification process that's hidden from view? This sort of thing is exactly why we have an Open Meetings Act."

If the injunction is granted, the Texas Secretary of State has promised that the state will host a "public forum" where officials will discuss for the first time the issues they considered in their private meeting earlier this month.

"Transparency in voting systems is one of the most important ways we ensure that our votes count," said Cindy Cohn, Legal Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which is serving as co-counsel in the case. "Transparency needs to start from when voting machines are chosen and end with the final vote tally, including any necessary recounts."

The voting examiners are responsible for studying electronic voting machines and other voting technologies and recommending to the Secretary of State which systems should be certified for use in Texas. In the past few years, the Secretary of State has routinely adopted the recommendations of the panel, yet he has rebuffed efforts by the public to observe the proceedings, claiming that the panel is not subject to Texas' Open Meetings Act.

Here's the original complaint.

More on e-voting issues.

http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2005_01.php#002212


Thanks to dzika here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x285456

http://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/naes/2004_03_mindset-bush-kerry-supporters_%2001-05_pr.pdf (see page 2)

Thanks to carolab here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x284842

http://www.itl.nist.gov/lab/specpubs/500-158.htm

This actually mentions a GAO investigation from 1975! Robert Boram of Shoup and Tod Rapp of Triad participated along with Kim Brace of EDS. There is an interesting article from the NYT, as well.

Thanks to Carolab here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x285285

DUers uncovered the dirt on Triad weeks before they got caught tampering with the machines. Now we've got a new suspicious player in another state to check out.

Automated Election Systems (formerly Ink Impressions) is based in NM and appears to be deeply in bed with Dem elected officials, though it's perfectly possible they're playing a double game. Or not.

Yesterday, Warren Stewart, who has been spearheading data collection and analysis for the New Mexico recount (and lawsuits), got some newly requested data on provisional vote breakouts. Along with that info, though came a whole new set of election data that does NOT coincide with the certified election results. No, it doesn't show Kerry winning, it just makes the curious number of undervotes and phantom votes even more curious.

Turns out that it was all provided by AES, which has been doing the data compilation for the state. We're working on finding out who they are and what they're up to. But we need the awesome powers of the DU research team to dig out the dirt on them.

Wanna play?

Here's their website: http://www.electionpeople.com/aes.aspx

It appears they are turnkey providers of everything election-related:

Election Law/Ordinance
Training & Education for:
Election Administration
Poll Officials
Technicians
Support Staff
Voting Equipment
AutoVote BallotPak Absentee Mailing & Tracking System
Prepackaged Election Supplies
Election Ballots:
Optical Scan
Pictorial
Color Coded
Security Features
Specialty Numbering
Bar Coding
Direct Access Imaging
Election Results Tabulation
Election Results Analysis
Election Night Results Reporting
Presort Mailing

There are no human beings listed on their website! A quick google search comes up with these names in relation to them: Terry Rainey, Don Anderson, Ernie Marquez.

Who are these people? Who runs this company? Who are they connected to? Who do they donate to? (at any level. Pay attention to county clerks and other election officials too.) What counties do they provide services to? Do they service elections outside New Mexico? Just how big are they? Is the company part of another company? You know the drill.

We may be on to something big again! DUers start your engines!

Joan Krawitz aka hedda_foil
Exec Director Help America Recount


Thanks to hedda_foil here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x283869

From Ohioans for Kerry Yahoo list:


My hometown "home boy" Ken Blackwell is running for Governor

He is asking for donations it would be a shame if he got a bunch of "empty envelopes." That would tie up a lot of time and help suppress his candidacy. I would feel awful about it. Now, PLEASE do not pass this address around the internet to pissed off people. I beg you, do not do that.

Ohioans For Ken Blackwell
ATTN: Ken Blackwell
829 Bethel Rd., Suite 316
Columbus, Ohio 43214


Thanks to JoMama49 here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x284769

(Shame on me for putting this here. :evilgrin: )

PAC for a Change
1/13/2005
On Tuesday, January 18th and Wednesday, January 19th, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice will appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a confirmation hearing for her appointment as Secretary of State.

Dr. Rice's confirmation hearing must not be a rubber stamp of President Bush's appointment. The Senate must take its "advice and consent" role seriously.

That's why, as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, I intend to stand up and ask Condoleezza Rice the tough questions that Americans deserve to have answered. Questions like:


Why did the United States go to war in Iraq based on misleading -- if not false and fraudulent -- evidence?

Why did we divert valuable resources and intelligence personnel to Iraq, taking them away from Afghanistan and the pursuit of Osama bin Laden?

Why did you mislead the American people into thinking there was a connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaida before September 11th?
We must hold Condoleezza Rice accountable for her misleading statements leading up to the Iraq war and beyond before we can even consider promoting her to Secretary of State.

So I ask you to join with me: Lend your voice to the chorus of millions of Americans across our great land who are demanding that Condoleezza Rice tell the truth about Iraq, weapons of mass destruction, the search for Osama bin Laden, the fight against Al Qaida, and the war on terrorism.

I urge you to sign my petition http://ga4.org/campaign/ricehearings , so I can take your voice with me to the committee room and the floor of the Senate in the pursuit of the truth from Condoleezza Rice.

Sincerely,




Thanks to OmmmSweetOmmm here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x285210

this thread has links back to previous thread and so on... in case you don't know what this is about. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x270006


Chili has given the go ahead for pics to start coming in, I do not know if they are going up at the test site http://shadowbox.i8.com/patriot.htm
or the permanent URL.

send all pics to nightedcolor@yahoo.com the first 8 responders get to be on the front page the rest will be going on the gallery pages.

We feel there will be extensive links through out the site to our friends who support us as well as directly pertinent info sites.

This is a work in progress, and we want your input, we need your critiques so don't hesitate to contact us. I believe Ive written everyone who has emailed or PM'd me because even if your idea has already been discussed or you feel its nitpicky or whatever, we really appreciate the fact that you care enough to give us you thoughts!

Please keep this thing kicked if it gets over a 125 responses Ill start a new one.

Please also those who volunteered to spread the word in regards to getting others to post their pics NOW IS THE TIME. Hopefully once the permanent site is launched we'll have enough pics already that our blogger/website owning friends will want to give us a blurb and link up. Many Thank Yous to the site owners who already volunteered linking!!

I love you all!


Thanks to frictionlessO here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x273456

The extraordinary step of members of Congress to request a special prosecutor and the multiple ongoing investigations mean that eventually, whatever the venue, Blackwell and others will be investigated for their actions in the 2004 election.

And how can you help see that justice is done? Get on the record yourselves. Contact the Republican leaders of House and the Senate and make your opinions known, in a polite and determined way!

I recommend that you write Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and Senator Bill Frist (R-TN) requesting that they assist in the effort to determine whether criminal wrongdoing took place.

Contact Congressman J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL)
http://www.house.gov/hastert/write1.shtml

D.C. Office
235 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-2976
Fax: 202-225-0697

Batavia District Office
27 North River Street
Batavia, IL 60510
Phone: 630-406-1114
Fax: 630-406-1808

Dixon Regional Office
119 W. First Street
Dixon, IL 61021
Phone: 815-288-0680
Fax: 815-288-0743
Office Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, 9 AM – 4 PM

Geneseo Regional Office
137 South State Street, Suite 336
Geneseo, IL 61254
Phone: 309-944-3558
Office Hours: Thursday, 9 AM – 3 PM


Contact Senator Bill Frist, MD (R-TN)
http://frist.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=AboutSenatorFrist.ContactForm

Washington, D.C.
Office of Senator Bill Frist
461 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3344
202-228-1264 (fax)

Nashville
Office of Senator Bill Frist
28 White Bridge Road
Suite 211
Nashville, TN 37205
615-352-9411
615-352-9985 (fax)

Thanks to FreepFryer here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x284186

Petition here: http://www.fairnessdoctrine.com/

Renew the Fairness Doctrine

We Need Balanced Media Coverage
For many years, television and radio stations were required to give equal time to opposing sides of public or political issues to ensure the American public heard all sides of a debate. It was a requirement made by the Federal Communications Commission that came to be known as The Fairness Doctrine.

In 1986, a federal court ruled that the Fairness Doctrine did not have the force of law and could be overturned without congressional approval. Congress passed a bill to make the doctrine law but the bill was vetoed by President Reagan in 1987 and the Fairness Doctrine was abolished.

Since then, the country has experienced a proliferation of highly partisan news outlets that disseminate unbalanced news coverage. Democracy is built on the idea that the views, beliefs, and values of an informed citizenry provide the best basis for political decision-making.

And American listeners and viewers agree. A recent poll of likely voters shows overwhelming support across the political and demographic spectrum for restoring rules requiring fairness and balance on the public airwaves.

Please join us in signing the following petition calling for the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine:


Thanks to housewolf here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x286168

Received via email:

NM SECRETARY OF STATE GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO COUNTIES TO CLEAR VOTING
MACHINES; COBB SAYS NM OFFICIALS ARE OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE

2004 Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb today accused
New Mexico election officials of "deliberately obstructing justice" by
giving counties the green light to clear electronic voting machines while a
demand for a recount of New Mexico's controversial presidential vote is
still pending.

New Mexico had the nation's highest percentage of under-votes
for the presidential race. In addition, there are still many unanswered
questions about provisional ballots, missing votes and the integrity of
voting machines which don't produce a paper trail.

"The conduct of New Mexico's Governor and Secretary of State has
gone from bad to worse. They have gone from showing a complete disregard
for New Mexico law and for the integrity of the democratic process to
deliberately obstructing justice. Clearing the electronic voting machines
while a recount demand is pending will destroy critical evidence about what
happened on Election Day. This is outrageous and makes you wonder what they
are trying to hide," said Cobb.

The recount request by Cobb and Libertarian Party presidential
candidate Michael Badnarik is now the subject of a lawsuit pending in the
New Mexico Court of Appeals.

In a letter faxed today to the New Mexico Attorney General's
office, an attorney representing the two presidential candidates objected to
the voting machines being cleared and suggested that the Secretary of State
was "shirking her responsibility to insure uniform application of the
election laws" by allowing county clerks to decide on their own whether or
not to clear the voting machines.

"Although, generally, voting machines can be cleared 30 days
after the official certification of the vote, New Mexico law is clear that
this can't happen when a recount has been initiated. With an appeal pending
in the New Mexico court system, any adjustment to the machines at this time
is clearly inappropriate and contrary to state law," said Lowell Finley, one
of the attorneys representing the candidates.

Voting rights attorneys will file a request for a temporary
restraining order tomorrow against the State Canvassing Board and county
clerks seeking to prevent them from clearing voting machines.

The State Canvassing Board, consisting of the New Mexico's
Governor, Secretary of State and Chief Justice, met tonight and formally
rejected a proposal from Cobb and Badnarik for a partial recount of the
presidential vote, which would have expedited the process, saved time and
avoided any costs to taxpayers. Previously, the Secretary of State had
unilaterally rejected this proposal though she lacked the authority to do
so.

"New Mexico's Governor and Secretary of State are doing such a
poor job of following state law that they're starting to make Ohio's Kenneth
Blackwell look good by comparison," said Cobb-LaMarche Media Director Blair
Bobier.

Link: http://www.votecobb.org/press/2005/jan/pr2005-01-14.php

Thanks to WilliamPitt here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x283211

I can help this weekend, but this thread desperately needs your touch and wealth of information! :)

This has been out for a while but people probably haven't seen it.



http://www.solarbus.org/stealyourelection/voter-suppression-flyers.html

Collection of illegal voter suppression flyers sent out by the Republican Party

October 28, 2004
All across the country, the Republicans are sending out flyers with false information on them, to either discourage people from voting, or to send them to the wrong voting precinct. Because they are all so similar, this could only be a coordinated effort.

I'm not going to comment on why this is wrong. It's just plain to see, and it's ILLEGAL. In most cases it is a felony to do anything like this.

I would like you to take a look for yourself, with your own eyes.

Here are three images of actual flyers that have been sent.

This is an outrage. We must not let this go without an investigation. It's obvious where these are coming from. The persons and organizations must be brought to justice. This will only happen if everyone becomes aware and demands an investigation. Please pass this on to everyone you know and don't let this story fade away. Write to your representatives and demand an investigation, especially if you live in the states where these examples are being sent out.

This one was sent out Democrats in Ohio and it tells people that if you were registered by the NAACP, or the Democratic party, that you are ineligible to vote in the election:

Go to the site for the orginal letters.


Thanks to garybeck here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x285245

A Collection of Information Essential to Those Entrusted with Making Decisions about Election Systems in the United States

One quote suffices:

"Many of the officials responsible for making election system decisions don't have time to do the extensive, time-consuming research required to learn the enormous variety of information that has become available about voting systems. Those in one state may not be aware of the problems election officials in other states are encountering with the equipment they are using."

http://www.votersunite.org/takeaction/mythbreakers.pdf

If you do nothing but send this with a personal letter to each of your representatives in the 109th US Congress and arrange to discuss it with your State representatives and Board of Election officials you will be doing much good.

Peace.

"When Did Bush Know?"


Thanks to understandinglife here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x284514

The Eureka Times-Standard published an opinion piece today on supporting the No Confidence Resolution (http://guvwurld.blogspot.com/2004/11/no-confidence-resolution.html). Such pieces normally appear on the paper's website, and the editor assured me this would too. But since it is only available in print thus far I invite you to read it in the GuvWurld blog:

http://guvwurld.blogspot.com/2005/01/building-confidence-through-election.html

Ensuring every vote counts is a service to society. It is also a very tall order. Many thousands of "glitches" and "irregularities" arose in our last two presidential elections. How many times will this repeat before they are considered regularities?

Many aspects of our current electoral system ensure a shroud of uncertainty will taint future elections. Consider whether private corporations should own voting machines. The purpose of a corporation is to make money for shareholders. This motive has caused more than a few corporations to behave unethically. By keeping the source code of voting machines a secret, and also by denying a voter-verified permanent paper record of one's vote, the motive to manipulate an election is accompanied by the means.

Motive and means are usually joined by opportunity. Consider whether it is appropriate for votes to be tallied in seclusion, with the media and other observers explicitly barred from the room. This happened in Ohio. Opportunity also exists simply by virtue of the machines in use, regarded unequivocally by computer scientists as highly susceptible to tampering.

It is not my intention to argue that fraud was or was not committed in the most recent election. Many have tried due to the large number of statistical anomalies including lost data, negative vote totals, tallies equaling more votes than there are registered voters, and persistent automatic vote swapping from a voter's chosen candidate to an opponent. Apparently, the numbers alone just don't cut it. Many prominent people with much to gain by challenging the legitimacy of the outcome have instead shied away for lack of hard evidence. Is it irony, then, that in many places there is also no hard evidence to demonstrate how voters voted?

Read the rest here: http://www.times-standard.com/Stories/0,1413,127~2906~2655408,00.html


Thanks to GuvWurld here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x285243

http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/hava/index.html

Dear Ohio Voter:

What is more fundamental to American democracy than the right to vote? The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) will modernize Ohio’s voting system, ensure all voters can participate in the election process, and make sure our election equipment is accurate, fair and easy to use.

We have developed a plan to modernize our system that has been published in the Federal Register and is linked to this Web site.

I invite you to learn more about HAVA by following some of the links on this page. Then, I invite you to share your thoughts with me about how we can make Ohio the leading state in the nation in creating a modern, efficient and effective voting system.

Your voice counts when you vote. It also counts in this process as we go about meeting the requirements of HAVA. Please contact me at hava@sos.state.oh.us, or write to me here at the Ohio Secretary of State’s office, at:Ohio Secretary of StateElection Reform Division180 E. Broad Street - 15th FloorColumbus, Ohio 43215

Together, let’s modernize Ohio’s election system and make it a model for the rest of the nation.

Best regards,
J. KENNETH BLACKWELL
Ohio Secretary of State


Let's all fill up his inbox with ideas. I will stat the list:

1) Remove yourself from office, so we can have fair electons in Ohio.

2)


Thanks to KerryOn here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x285032

For those of you who can read *.pdf documents and have photo quality printers, this is a superb flyer for printing out and distributing.

THIS IS A FABULOUS FLYER! I'D LIKE TO TAKE OUT A NEWSPAPER AD AND WOULDN'T IT BE WONDERFUL ON TV!

http://www.black-thursday.com/thursdayflyer.pdf

Thanks to JoMama49 here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x284838


(I wish I knew how to copy this here. :( )

Saturday, January 15, 2005


Last week, Congress went through the routine motion of certifying the electoral vote that officially gave President George Bush a second term.
Only it wasn't routine.

In an unusual move, the House and Senate were forced to meet separately to consider charges of voter fraud in Ohio.

It was only the second time since 1877 that there was such a challenge to the Electoral College vote for president.

In a report to Congress released earlier last week, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee claimed serious election irregularities and "significant disenfranchisement" of voters in Ohio.

U.S. Rep. John Conyers of Michigan said Congress should investigate the problems in Ohio further.

More here: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/dailycourier/editorial/s_292880.html

January 14, 2005

Did Bush Steal the White House Again?

by Lance Selfa
www.dissidentvoice.org
First Published in Socialist Worker


But after a few minutes of speechmaking on the importance of electoral reform, the Congress went ahead and dismissed the complaints about Ohio, certifying Bush as the victor in that state, and therefore the next president.

...

As Salon’s Tim Grieve described the spectacle, “There was no sense of history being made, no sense that anything was really happening at all.” In the end, the Democrats’ performance in 2004 was only slightly improved over their dive in 2000.

...

If there was anything notable about the election and the dirty tricks involved in it, it was how similar Election 2004 was to every other election organized in the U.S. Alone among major industrial democracies, the U.S. leaves election administration in the hands of corrupt and partisan local officials -- and vote-counting to the private manufacturers of voting machines. And the Electoral College -- a relic of the pre-Civil War era --c hooses the most important office in the country, not a nationwide popular vote.

...

The dirty secret of American “democracy” is that neither major political party wants elections to be truly democratic and free. Instead, they want a system that predictably produces victories for their corporate money-soaked candidates.


more
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Jan05/Selfa0114.htm

by Margaret Kimberly

published by The Black Commentator

Banana Republican America

“It's not even Election Day yet, and the Kerry-Edwards campaign is already down by almost a million votes.” – Greg Palast, November 1, 2004

On January 6, 2005 the United States Congress certified the results of the election that took place last November 2nd and declared that George W. Bush had been duly elected president. They certified a lot more than an election outcome. It is now official. This nation has become the world’s most powerful banana republic. Perhaps the Bush family will have presidents for life, just like the Duvaliers in Haiti.

America is governed by one party rule, the press does not dare provoke that one party, the opposition party is afraid to oppose, the wealthy are getting wealthier by using the national treasury as their private piggy bank, civil liberties are under assault, workers think themselves lucky to earn starvation wages at Wal-Mart, and the man nominated to become the chief law enforcement official in the land has put in writing that torture is not such a bad thing after all.

Of course a defining issue for any banana republic is a non-existent or corrupt electoral system. For the second presidential election in a row thousands of Americans were denied their right to vote or voted without the certainty of knowing that their ballots would be counted.

More here: http://progressivetrail.org/articles/050114Kimberly.shtml

article | Posted January 13, 2005

Turning Up the Heat on Bush
by Robert L. Borosage

For a nanosecond after November's election defeat, the Democratic unity forged by the radical provocations of George W. Bush seemed intact. From the corporate-funded Democratic Leadership Council to Howard Dean's new Democracy for America, Democrats drew similar conclusions from the election about what needed to be done: Challenge the right in the so-called red states and develop a compelling narrative that speaks to working people--don't simply offer a critique of Bush and a passel of "plans." Champion values, not simply policy proposals. Don't compromise with Bush's reactionary agenda. Expose Republican corruption, while pushing electoral reform. Stand firm on long-held social values, from women's rights to gay rights. Confront Bush's disastrous priorities at home and follies abroad.

But this brief interlude of common sense and purpose quickly descended into rancor and division. Peter Beinart of The New Republic and Al From of the DLC rolled out the tumbrels once more, calling on Democrats to purge liberalism of the taint of MoveOn.org, Michael Moore and the antiwar movement. Apparently anyone who worries about the suppression of civil liberties at home, doubts that the reign of drug lords in Afghanistan represents the dawning of democracy, prematurely opposed the debacle in Iraq or isn't prepared to turn the fight against Al Qaeda terrorists into the organizing principle of American politics is to be read out of their Democratic Party. Then, normally staunch Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi floated for chair of the party former Congressman Tim Roemer, a New Democrat distinguished mostly for his opposition to women's right to choose, his vote to repeal the estate tax and his ignorance of grassroots politics. Consolidating its corporate backing, the DLC solemnly warned against "economic populism" or "turning up the volume on anti-business and class welfare schemes"--despite the corporate feeding frenzy that is about to take place in Washington and Bush's slavish catering to the "haves and have-mores," whom he calls "my base."

But this brief interlude of common sense and purpose quickly descended into rancor and division. Peter Beinart of The New Republic and Al From of the DLC rolled out the tumbrels once more, calling on Democrats to purge liberalism of the taint of MoveOn.org, Michael Moore and the antiwar movement. Apparently anyone who worries about the suppression of civil liberties at home, doubts that the reign of drug lords in Afghanistan represents the dawning of democracy, prematurely opposed the debacle in Iraq or isn't prepared to turn the fight against Al Qaeda terrorists into the organizing principle of American politics is to be read out of their Democratic Party. Then, normally staunch Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi floated for chair of the party former Congressman Tim Roemer, a New Democrat distinguished mostly for his opposition to women's right to choose, his vote to repeal the estate tax and his ignorance of grassroots politics. Consolidating its corporate backing, the DLC solemnly warned against "economic populism" or "turning up the volume on anti-business and class welfare schemes"--despite the corporate feeding frenzy that is about to take place in Washington and Bush's slavish catering to the "haves and have-mores," whom he calls "my base."


ADVERTISEMENT After a year in which progressives drove the debate, roused and registered the voters, raised the dough and knocked on the doors, the corporate wing of the Democratic Party is trying to reassert control. Its assault on MoveOn.org and the Dean campaign--the center of new energy in the party--is reminiscent of 1973, when corporate lobbyist Bob Strauss became head of the party and tossed out the McGovern mailing list, insuring that the party would remain dependent on big-donor funding.

This time, however, the entrenched interests aren't likely to succeed, no matter who becomes party chair. That's because progressives have begun building an independent infrastructure to generate ideas, drive campaigns, persuade citizens, nurture movement progressives and challenge the right. It includes a range of new groups such as MoveOn.org, Wellstone Action, Progressive Majority, the Center for American Progress, Air America, Working America and America Coming Together, along with established groups that have displayed new reach and sophistication such as ACORN, the NAACP, the Campaign for America's Future (which I help direct) and the League of Conservation Voters. These groups--and their state and local allies--came out of this election emboldened, not discouraged. Just as the infrastructure that the right built drove the Republican resurgence, these groups and their activists--not the party regulars or the corporate retainers--will stir the Democratic drink.

More here: http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi=20050131&s=borosage

Posted on Fri Jan 14th, 2005 at 10:48:12 AM EST

U.S. Election: Ohio Lost?

By Benjamin Melanco
On January 7 on TomPaine.com and reprinted January 10 on guerilla news network, Russ Baker reported that fraud did not change "the outcome of the most important presidential election in recent times." Baker's expansive definition of fraud includes even voter suppression. He wrote:



Baker then runs through a handful of claims, but he does not draw these claims from the report cited above (available in .pdf format). Instead, he takes the claims from laywers suing to overturn the election, writing that the report takes much from the lawsuits.

Baker finds only one claim to be true, the misallocation of voting machines, and states that this was "probably not" intentional. He thus concludes in "Election 2004: Lost or Stolen" that it was lost.

As he wrote about those ambitious lawyers he hung out with, Baker has good intentions but he is wrong.


Since roughly election night I have an article started and planned about the lack of authentic coverage to turn to and the failure of nearly anyone to step up and be an "old-style investigative reporter," as Russ Baker calls himself. The great journalist Greg Palast didn't crunch the numbers when he wrote that Ohio went to Kerry. The reported more than 92,000 uncounted "spoiled" ballots, mostly in minority and working class areas and mostly for Kerry, would not have been enough to put Kerry in office. A full hand recount that includes these ballots might have an outside chance of putting Kerry in office. It's the addition of voter suppression, especially through hours-long lines to vote, that makes it virtually certain that a free and fair election would have let Ohio voters choose Kerry. This is true without any local tabulation fraud, larger scale electronic fraud, or the good old U.S. standby of stuffed or lost ballot boxes.


continued
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/1/14/104812/566

Inundate the MSM and Congress with letters demanding PAPER BALLOTS.
Since HAVA allowed for provisionals it should be no great stretch to covert to 100% paper. This is an issue the public will "GET" (and rid us of the corruption between election officials and these Voting machine companies). I've enclosed these links because they are succinct and straightforward but I'm sure DUers probably have others.
The issue needs to be made as simple and bite-sized as possible so even the politicians "get it". Keep up the great work!


http://www.techcentralstation.com/110502A.html

http://www.wheresthepaper.org/

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/inland/la-me-ballots25oct25,0,6519333.story?coll=la-editions-inland-news

Thank you!

(From News Paper Network of Central Ohio)



Lawyer tries again to question Blackwell about 2004 election

COLUMBUS -- An attorney behind a presidential election challenge dismissed earlier this week asked a different judge on Friday to make Ohio's top election official answer questions about the Nov. 2 vote.

Attorney Cliff Arnebeck asked a federal judge to allow a group he represents, the Massachussetts-based Alliance for Democracy, to join a complaint filed against Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell on Election Day.

Federal judges ordered election officials in Franklin and Knox counties to do everything possible to help voters in long lines on Election Day after the Ohio Democratic Party filed the complaint. In December, Democrats asked U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley to dismiss the case.

The filing Friday asks Marbley to allow Arnebeck to take Blackwell's deposition on an emergency basis.

"The aim of this is to get to the truth as fast as possible and have anyone held accountable who committed any illegal acts or fraud," Arnebeck said.

In court filings, Arnebeck alleges that Blackwell helped execute a plan to create long lines in Democratic precincts and other voting irregularities to help President Bush win.

Many of the allegations in Friday's filing are similar to those in a challenge brought by voters seeking to overturn President Bush's victory. The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed that challenge after the 37 voters, who were represented by Arnebeck, asked to drop the case.

-- From staff and wire reports


Link: http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/news/stories/20050115/localnews/1872510.html

Bush is not going to finish his Second Term, if Arnebeck has a say in it. Go Cliff!

Think I'll write him an email, thanking him.

January 14, 2005

Give $120 on Inauguration Day to Organizations Protecting American Rights — in President George W. Bush's Name

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


A new web site launches ( www.120for120.org ) to encourage Americans unhappy with the current Administration on Inauguration Day to support causes they believe in – from veteran’s rights to a woman’s right to choose to progressive religious activism

Somerset, NJ (PRWEB) January 14, 2005 -- 120for120.org is a new web site launched by two friends who want to send a message to President George W. Bush on Inauguration Day. They plan on sending a $120 donation to an organization that champions a cause threatened under a second Bush administration – and they want everyone unhappy about a second Bush term to do the same.

The site was founded by two friends and bloggers, Janet Feeney and Debbie Ronca, who were active supporters of John F. Kerry and wanted to channel their disappointment after Election Day into constructive and practical activism.

“Our goal was not to sit around and sulk on Inauguration Day, but instead do something proactive to defend our vision of America,” said site co-founder Janet Feeney. “We felt the best way to accomplish that goal would be to make a significant contribution to a group that represents our values and our freedoms – what we love most about our great country, whether it's supporting reproductive freedom, civil rights, veterans/soldiers services, progressive religious activism, environmental protection or something else we believe is at risk. With a Republican-controlled Congress, these groups are the only way to make our voices heard.”

“We're encouraging our readers to make their donation in George W. Bush's name,” said site co-founder Debbie Ronca. “Many organizations will send him an acknowledgment of the gift. What better way to let President Bush know that his mandate must include the views of the 55 million-plus Americans who did not vote for him?”

In addition to donating $120 for 1/20, the site is asking participants to commit to 120 minutes of activism in 2005. 120for120.org will provide 3 to 5 ideas for activism each month. Readers can join a mailing list to be automatically notified each month of proposed activities.

Readers are encouraged to share their stories – who did they donate to, what activities did they complete and why. All readers sending in stories are automatically registered to win prizes donated by Love Your Mama (http://www.loveyourmama.com/ ), Jen Lew Designs (http://www.jenlewdesigns.com/ ), and Washington Interns Gone Bad (http://www.washingtoninternsgonebad.com/ ).

Website: http://www.120for120.org


http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/1/emw197379.htm

Posted on Sat, Jan. 15, 2005

Anti-Bush Bracelets Say, 'Count Me Blue'

ELIZABETH LeSURE
Associated Press


NEW YORK - After spending 10 days in London with friends who were outspoken about their disdain for President Bush's policies, Berns Rothchild came home wishing she had a way to show the world she didn't vote for him.

"I sort of felt ashamed, and didn't really want to be associated with being an American," said Rothchild, who lives in New York City and voted for John Kerry.

...

Rothchild, 35, is selling blue bracelets that say "COUNT ME BLUE," while Laura Adams, of Fairway, Kan., offers blue bracelets that say "HOPE." The McKnight family, of Moscow, Idaho, is even more direct; their black bracelets proclaim: "I DID NOT VOTE 4 BUSH."

"It's kind of like saying, 'This is my tribe,'" said Adams, 43, a Kerry supporter, who was inspired by her 14-year-old stepson's yellow Lance Armstrong band.


more
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/breaking_news/10649029.htm

By Kurt Moore, kdmoore@nncogannett.com
The Marion Star


MARION -- If anyone other than George W. Bush is remembered as the face of the 2004 presidential election, it will be Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell.

Blackwell's name was bantered about as much as Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris in the 2000 presidential election, when election irregularities in the southern state became the focus of the nation. This year all eyes were on Ohio as the battleground state, and Blackwell as its election steward.

On Friday evening Blackwell told a group of college Republicans and supporters that he was never worried, that he had faith Ohio's electoral system would pass the test.

"Ohio conducted an election successfully and it did so in a manner we can always be proud of," he said.

Blackwell, who is considered a likely candidate for governor in 2006, shared his faith in Ohio's system with about 50 people Friday at Ohio State University at Marion. He also spoke about his plans for the future of Ohio, which he said is in an "economic death spiral" and must reduce government spending.


More here: http://www.marionstar.com/news/stories/20050115/localnews/1873241.html

NORTH CANTON, Ohio (AP) - Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell's decision to bypass touch-screen voting machines in favor of optical scanners will force Diebold Incorporated to revise its earnings forecast.

Michael Jacobsen, spokesman for the North Canton-based company, says 2005 earnings projections were based on the expected revenues from Ohio.

He says the decision means less revenue for Diebold, but it's too early to tell how much.

Company shares fell a dollar and a quarter -- or two-point-two percent -- to close at 55-78 on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday.

Blackwell has instructed county election board to switch to optical scanning machines with paper ballots instead of touch-screen devices.

More here: http://www.newswatch50.com/business/wire/story.aspx?content_id=5F57CAD8-6C3E-4798-A468-5FC789027E12

Optical scanners are more auditable than touch screens and also cheaper- BUT! they are still more expensive than hand ballots.

Also Monday is Martin Luther King's Birthday; here's how I'm framing the issue in my mailing:
"You can't win against a political structure where you don't have the votes. But you can win against an economic power structure when you have the power to make the difference between a merchant's profit and loss."--Rev. Martin Luther King

Here is how you can honor his birthday on your three day weekend.

1) Write your representatives about your concern about the election and DEMAND 100% paper ballots. Cheap and efficient. No more E-voting Machines!

You can refer them to these article:

http://www.techcentralstation.com/110502A.html

http://www.wheresthepaper.org /

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/inland/la-me-ballots2...

2) Spread this poster far and wide and do the same if possible. By 2006 we must free and fair elections.

http://www.black-thursday.com/thursdayflyer.pdf

Ohio Counties Looking to Paper Ballots
By ELIZABETH DeFOREST
The Associated Press


COLUMBUS, Ohio - County election officials plan to ask Ohio's secretary of state to reconsider requiring the statewide use of paper ballots.

Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, the state's top election official, on Wednesday ordered Ohio's 88 counties to use optical scan machines, which read the marks voters make on paper ballots.

If the cash-strapped counties do not purchase the machines from two state-approved companies, they forfeit their share of the $106 million in federal Help America Vote Act funds allotted to purchase voting machines and would have to pay for the conversion themselves.

Michael Sciortino, president of the Ohio Association of Elected Officials, said Thursday the association plans to ask Blackwell to reconsider his decision.

More here: http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/1-01142005-432569.html

January 14, 2005

George Bush the Actor: Understanding the disconnect between what we see and what we get

For years now, I've been waiting for George Bush to hesitate, to show some shame or remorse.

"We have brought freedom and democracy to Afghanistan and Iraq," says George. I keep waiting for him to break down and cry at the tragic untruth of this statement -- or even to laugh at this joke -- but he never does. Could he be a male Stepford Wife?

Half the nation hates George Bush -- yet on TV, he is perky, actually perky. He's like a political version of June Cleaver! How can a man bomb 10,000 civilians one day and glad-hand church ladies the next? How does he do it?

He's an actor.



How does Bush keep up this charade? How does he live with himself? Easy. He is an actor. Leonardo DiCaprio, in real life, is NOT Howard Hughes. He hangs up that persona when he walks off the set. It's the same with George Bush.

When we watch Bush glad-handing women and children on TV -- and Karl Rove makes sure that we see this benign image 24/7 (You can't even turn on the TV and not see Big Brother George) -- and then wonder at the terrible disconnect between what we see and what we get, please remember that our George is an actor.

Like when O.J. Simpson was the kindly spokesperson for Hertz rent-a-car, Bush is now the kindly spokesperson for America. And, like Simpson, Americans have found Bush "not guilty" of what he does off-camera.

With George Bush, reality doesn't matter. It's all an act.

PS: Sometimes I think that having to watch Bush on TV 24/7 is Karl Rove's way of torturing American dissidents. And his diabolical plan is working too! You want me to confess to supporting the Bill of Rights or being fond of the Sixth Commandment? I'll talk! "Ask me anything! I'll name names! Only, please! No more George Bush!"


Availabke at:
http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/
and
http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2005%20Opinion%20Editorials/January/14o/George%20Bush%20the%20Actor%20Understanding%20the%20disconnect%20between%20what%20we%20see%20and%20what%20we%20get%20By%20Jane%20Stillwater.htm

Not Back to the Basics Just Yet
WTAP News
Jennifer Tomazic

Election officials in the Buckeye State are not so happy to go back to the basics. They wan to be able to choose their own voting systems for their own counties.

Officials say they plan to lobby the secretary of state to reconsider a directive establishing statewide use of paper ballots.

Kenneth Blackwell says optical scan is the only affordable option with the federal money allotted for the required conversion from punch cards.

Most of Ohio's 88 counties still use punch cards.

An official with the Ohio Association of Elected Officials says the general reaction from counties has been frustration.


Link: http://www.wtap.com/news/headlines/1350551.html

Saturday, January 15, 2005; Page C01

Inaugural Bash

On J-20, Assorted Protesters Will Be Rising Up -- and Then Partying Down

By Joel Achenbach
Washington Post Staff Writer


They call it J-20, sort of like a military code name. They also call it a coronation. A charade. The Inaugural Charade.

They're very angry at the PIC (the Presidential Inaugural Committee), they're very angry at President Bush ("Kerry Won" says a bumper sticker handed out at a protest) and most of all, they're very exhilarated. It's not just a protest, it's the Counter-Inaugural! This is going to be huge! A paradox of protest is that it tends to put some folks in an excellent mood.


Some of the Turn Your Back on Bush demonstrators work on their move, from left: Mike McGuire, Sarah Kauffman,
Katherine Ebersole, Donna Issaac, Emilie Karrick, Rebekah Abernathy and Jet Heiko.

On Jan. 6, as a joint session of the House and Senate counted the electoral votes, he and a small crowd of protesters gathered in an open space next to the Russell building, denouncing the Republicans for allegedly suppressing votes in Ohio. Most of these people could produce a dissertation on Ohio electoral high jinks. They know which precincts had anomalous voting totals for Bush. They wonder why Ukraine gets a do-over but not the United States.

One woman said we need to burn all the social studies textbooks in elementary school because they're all a lie now, there is no such thing as a free election. Another said: "If you're a black in Ohio, you did not have the right to vote. Period." They're astonished -- slackjawed -- that the news media didn't give the Ohio voting irregularities more coverage.

"The election would not stand if the media covered the issue," said Karyn Anderson of Baltimore.


more
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10824-2005Jan14.html

Election board must decide on new system Published: Friday, January 14, 2005 07:32 AM



By JOHN BOYCE
News Staff Reporter

MOUNT VERNON — Knox County Board of Elections officials were not prepared to make any official statement regarding a county position on Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell’s directive to use one of two optical scanning systems for future elections.

According to Rita Yarman, deputy director, Knox County Board of Elections, Blackwell’s directive, sent via e-mail, didn’t arrive in the office until after close of business Wednesday. Consequently, office staff and BOE members have not had time to study and digest the details of the directive. In fact, as of 3 p.m., Thursday, Yarman was still attempting to contact some board members about the directive.

“Some of us will be attending an Ohio Association of Election Officials conference in Columbus from Jan. 25 to 28,” Yarman said. “At that time the two designated vendors of the optical scanning systems — Diebold Elections Systems and Election Systems and Software — will be making their presentations and lobbying for business. We’ve already started receiving telephone calls and e-mails today from the vendors.”

Following the conference, the county’s board members will have a meeting to decide which system Knox County will utilize. The Secretary of State’s office must be notified in writing of that decision by Feb. 9.


Link: http://www.mountvernonnews.com/local/011405/election.html

Shifting gears again

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

After the 2000 debacle in Florida, Ohio voters were told that the punch card ballots used in most Ohio counties were bad, bad, bad. And in 2002, after Congress passed the Help America Vote Act, we were all told that electronic voting machines were good.

Vroom, vroom, went Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, as he pushed local election boards to choose new systems that would comply with the federal law. But the General Assembly ordered him to hit the brakes, saying that without a verified paper trail the electronic voting systems weren't secure enough.

Suddenly, with the 2004 presidential election looming large, and the eyes of the nation upon Ohio, the old tried and true punch cards suddenly were deemed not so bad after all.

Now that the last challenge to the Ohio presidential election has been extinguished, Blackwell is shifting gears yet again. His latest edict: All counties that don't already have compliant elections systems will get "precinct count optical scan'' systems.

More: http://www.cincypost.com/2005/01/14/edita011405.html

Needed: Voting officials not beholden to parties

THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Last updated: January 14th, 2005 02:40 AM


Just how fair do we want the state’s chief elections officer to be?
That might seem an odd question, but Washington’s Republican secretary of state, Sam Reed, has been getting considerable grief over the even-handed and apolitical way he has handled Washington’s bitterly disputed governor’s race between Christine Gregoire and Dino Rossi. In essence, Reed has been attacked for being too fair.

Some Democrats were irate at one point, for example, when Reed refused to order all of the state’s counties to recanvass their rejected ballots. Then Republicans were incensed when, a week later, he favored canvassing hundreds of probable Gregoire votes that had wrongly been excluded in King County.

In both cases, the state Supreme Court unanimously came down on the side Reed was arguing. That would suggest he has been far more scrupulous about election law than most of his critics.

The anger now is coming from Reed’s own party – chiefly because he refused to play a more partisan role in several disputes and wound up certifying Gregoire as governor-elect. He’s been getting a cold reception in Olympia this week from fellow Republicans, and a foolish recall petition was filed against him Wednesday.


More: http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/story/4451239p-4198402c.html

By: John Arthur Hutchison
Staff Writer

Lake County to challenge precinct count optical scan system decision
Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell's decision to make counties choose precinct count optical scans (PCOS) voting systems has drawn fiery criticism from officials in Lake, Ashtabula and Cuyahoga counties.
Counties will have to select a PCOS by Feb. 9, or Blackwell will choose it for them.
Lake County uses electronic voting equipment, and county leaders plan to challenge Blackwell's decision.
Blackwell said the PCOS voting system is the most cost-effective way in Ohio to provide voter verified paper audit trails, as required by Ohio Substitute House Bill 262 passed in 2004, and to ensure compliance with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).
In a memorandum to the 88 county elections boards, Blackwell said existing federal funding from HAVA and supplemental funding from the Ohio General Assembly under HB 262 would not be sufficient to cover the cost of purchasing recording electronic voting machines with a voter-verified paper audit trail.
With PCOS, the actual paper ballot is available for auditing and recount purposes, said Carlo Loparo, Blackwell's spokesman, adding that no current voting machine vendors have the capability for the paper trail audits.
Ballots would be counted at the precincts, with the data then taken to the election board offices.
Since 1999, Lake County voters have used electronic voting machines, which don't provide the paper trails.
Lake County Elections Board Director Janet F. Clair said the county's vendor, Oakland, Calif.-based Sequoia Voting Systems, is working on a prototype upgrade to provide the paper trails.
HB 262 also contains legislation that allows Lake County to be reimbursed for future expenses to retrofit electronic voter machines, Clair said.
"My point is we have existing equipment that works, and we choose not to replace it," Clair said.
"We would be able to upgrade our existing equipment with federal funds."
Clair said she has concerns with optical-scan systems, such as the privacy of disabled or blind voters and interpreting voter intent.
She said that is not an issue with the voting machines Lake County uses.
"Our system was chosen after 10 years' research," Clair said. "Certainly, the voters have a good sense of comfort with it, the lines at the polls were relatively short, and we were the first county in the state of Ohio to report election results."
Blackwell's decision has prompted Lake County commissioners and election officials to consider legal action or a legislative solution to keep the county's current system in place.
The Lake County Elections Board will meet Wednesday. Prosecutor Charles E. Coulson and commissioners were invited to attend, Clair said.
"There are two avenues we're looking at," Clair said. "One is legislatively to become grandfathered. If not legislatively, legally we need to look at our options."
In 1999, the county spent $3 million to purchase the machines. Of that total, $1.2 million was paid in cash and $1.8 million in bonds were issued, said Michelle Bowens, the county's budget director. Four payments of $200,000 or $800,000 are left to pay.
"It's ludicrous," Lake County Commissioner Daniel P. Troy said of Blackwell's decision. "We have no problems at all with our machines."
Commissioner Robert E. Aufuldish said there have been hundreds of thousands of voters who cast ballots in Lake County with few complaints.
Commissioner Raymond E. Sines said the county did the right thing when the decision was made years ago to select the electronic voting machines.
Loparo said changing to an optical-scan system would come at no cost to counties because there is $106 million available from the state and through HAVA.
Geauga County uses a centralized optical scan system, meaning it would have to upgrade to a precinct-capable version, said Suzanne Haslett, Geauga County deputy elections board director.
Gary Coberly, Geauga County Elections Board chairman, said he has confidence in an optical-scan system.
Cuyahoga and Ashtabula counties use punchcard ballots and had planned to eventually switch to electronic voting machines.
"It's awful," said Art Vensel, Ashtabula County Elections Board deputy director. "We've already done a lot of the planning for electronic equipment."
Vensel said the Feb. 9 deadline gives his county insufficient notice to make a decision.
Blackwell's decision came as a shock to Cuyahoga County Elections Board Director Michael Vu. He was expecting to go with electronic voting machines.
"The time frame - this was almost two years in the making, and now we're having to make a decision two to three weeks away," he said. "It seems this whole process has been plagued."



©The News-Herald 2005

Link: http://www.news-herald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13748464&BRD=1698&PAG=461&dept_id=21849&rfi=6

Census data shows Republicans with net gain of 12 electoral votes by 2010

Possible Changes in the U.S. House: Apportionment in 2010--Population Trends for the 2000s and the 2004 Estimates


Projections of the population for the 2010 Census, based upon the latest state-level estimates from the Census Bureau for 2004, indicate which states are likely to gain or lose seats in the U.S. House. Gainers: Texas, up 3 to 35 seats and Florida, up 3 to 28; as well as California, up 1 to 54; Nevada, up 1 to 4; Utah, up 1 to 4; Arizona, up 1 to 9; and Georgia, up 1 to 14. Losers: New York, down 2 to 27 and Ohio, down 2 to 16; as well as: Massachusetts, down 1 to 9; Pennsylvania, down 1 to 18; Michigan, down 1 to 14; Illinois, down 1 to 18; Minnesota, down 1 to 7; Iowa, down 1 to 4; Missouri, down 1 to 8.

(PRWEB) January 15, 2005 -- Each year, during the December holiday season, the Bureau of the Census releases its annual estimates of population in the states. While these numbers provide a snapshot view of where the growth in the nation is taking place, for political observers, these numbers allow another quick review of potential shifts in seats in the U.S. House following the next census.

...

Electoral College Effect:
From an Electoral College standpoint, the top ten states following 2010 (CA, TX, FL, NY, IL, PA, OH, MI, GA and NC) would total 257 electoral votes, an increase of 1. The split on these 10 states in 2004 was 5 for Bush and 5 for Kerry. The overall break for these 10 states in 2004 was 145 votes for Kerry and 111 for Bush. Based upon the 2010 projections, the break would be 141 for Kerry and 116 for Bush. Overall, given a 2004 Electoral Vote of 286 Bush to 252 Kerry , the vote count based upon these 2010 projections would have been 292 Bush, 246 Kerry, a gain of 6 for the Republican ticket.


Resource Appendix:
Color Maps can be found at the following links:

http://www.polidata.org/maps/apmaps.htm

(all in PDF format)
1-Map, Population Growth, % Change, 2000 to 2010
2-Map, States Gaining/Losing Seats based upon 2010 Projections
3-Map, States just Above or just Below the Cutoff
4-Map, Number of Members by Sta


Press Release:
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/1/emw197340.htm

George Bush the Actor: Understanding the disconnect between what we see and what we get

By Jane Stillwater

Al-Jazeerah, January 14, 2005

snip>>>

Example four: Bush gets in front of the cameras and plays the role of President like he is the star of West Wing or something but, in actuality, unimpeachable documentation in New Mexico, Florida, Ohio, etc. shows that Bush only "won" the 2004 election by use of massive vote fraud. Plus accurate exit polls clearly indicate that Kerry won.

How does Bush keep up this charade? How does he live with himself? Easy. He is an actor. Leonardo DiCaprio, in real life, is NOT Howard Hughes. He hangs up that persona when he walks off the set. It's the same with George Bush.

When we watch Bush glad-handing women and children on TV -- and Karl Rove makes sure that we see this benign image 24/7 (You can't even turn on the TV and not see Big Brother George) -- and then wonder at the terrible disconnect between what we see and what we get, please remember that our George is an actor.

Like when O.J. Simpson was the kindly spokesperson for Hertz rent-a-car, Bush is now the kindly spokesperson for America. And, like Simpson, Americans have found Bush "not guilty" of what he does off-camera.

With George Bush, reality doesn't matter. It's all an act.

PS: Sometimes I think that having to watch Bush on TV 24/7 is Karl Rove's way of torturing American dissidents. And his diabolical plan is working too! You want me to confess to supporting the Bill of Rights or being fond of the Sixth Commandment? I'll talk! "Ask me anything! I'll name names! Only, please! No more George Bush!"

Link: http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2005%20Opinion%20Editorials/January/14o/George%20Bush%20the%20Actor%20Understanding%20the%20disconnect%20between%20what%20we%20see%20and%20what%20we%20get%20By%20Jane%20Stillwater.htm

(I just thought this one was "interesting".)

15 January 2005

Bush, the Christian soldier

RICHARD HOPWOODRICHARD HOPWOOD


"YOU may not have voted for me, but I intend to serve as your President."

The opening words of George W Bush's 2001 inaugural address might well stand as the theme for his second inauguration four years later. Indeed, when America's 43rd President addresses the nation on Thursday, he could do worse than repeat wholesale much of the text of his 2001 speech.

Then, in the wake of a deeply divisive election, which ended up with a closer analysis of the famous "hanging chads" of Florida than would have been good for the health of any democracy, the victorious Bush set himself the task, in his first speech as President, of healing the nation's wounds. There followed a call for unity which remains one of the best addresses ever delivered by a man whose fumblings for the right word have become the stuff of legend.

...

"While many of our citizens prosper, others doubt the promise – even the justice – of our own country," said Bush.

At a distance of four years later, after the horrors of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay and following an American-led war which has polarised not just America, but the world, Bush's words sound more like a prophecy than a calming of troubled waters.

Contrary to the impression he gave in 2001, Bush has brought not peace, but a sword. The war in Iraq and its aftermath have divided opinion in America and brought US foreign policy into greater opprobrium, in the eyes of the world, than at any time since Vietnam.

...

As John F Kennedy said, in perhaps the most famous of all inaugural speeches, America must be willing to "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty".

Half-a-century later, that message is little different to the one flowing, a little less smoothly, from the mouth of President Bush and it is also, crucially, the message that Americans want to hear. The optimism, however, is long gone.


http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=105&ArticleID=920931

79th LEGISLATURE

Under the Dome
Election challenge dropped; one remains.

Saturday, January 15, 2005
GOP candidate drops challenge


Republican Eric Opiela on Friday dropped his challenge of his November election loss to Rep. Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles, D-Alice.

Toureilles was sworn in on Tuesday.

Opiele's withdrawal leaves the disputed election between Rep. Hubert Vo, D-Houston, and former GOP Rep. Talmadge Heflin as the only election that is being formally challenged in the House. A committee will review evidence from that election and then report to the full House, which can vote to seat either candidate or call for a new election.

Opiela continued to allege Friday that he discovered more than 1,900 examples of voter fraud but said he dropped the challenge because of political pressure and concerns that the case was headed for costly litigation.

And other Republicans continued to talk the talk, even if they're not willing to walk the walk.

"We are not backing away from the fight to repeal the legacy of election fraud that lingers from a century of Democrat rule in Texas," party chairwoman Tina Benkiser said.


More: http://www.statesman.com/news/content/shared/tx/legislature/stories/01/15UnderTheDome_rs.html

1/15/2005

Northeast: Move To Florida And Make Our Day

By FROMA HARROP


Liberal Massachusetts was the only state to lose population in 2004. Republican partisans greet this news as a harbinger of blue-state decline.

While they are at it, they note the following: If current trends continue, Florida will have more people than New York in five years. And in three years, North Carolina will pass New Jersey in population.

...

According to the theory, these newcomers should have swelled the Republican majority. But the theory proved wrong. Once reliably Republican, New Hampshire actually gets bluer with every passing year.

...

So let the political junkies fight over the meaning of it all. To most people in Massachusetts, a falling population is a thing of beauty. Sunny and warm in Florida? Shout it from the rooftops.


http://www.theday.com/eng/web/news/re.aspx?re=1FA33203-7E79-4FC2-AF43-C0B6FC429C2B

Ireland Swearing In Today

By JOSELYN KING


The first woman ever elected to a statewide executive post in West Virginia will be sworn into office today during a private ceremony.

Charleston businesswoman Betty Ireland is the state's first female secretary of state, and the first woman elected to executive office in the history of West Virginia.
Still, she said, it was "harder being a Republican" than a woman and being elected in West Virginia.

>>>snip

Ireland already has made the decision to kick up investigations into voter fraud in the state. West Virginia's new electronic voter registration system will be a tool in doing this, she added.

Ireland said her office will test the voter system through other file banks in the state, such as the one used by the State Department of Motor Vehicles, to make certain the names do belong to people currently living in West Virginia.

"We should be able to weed out the dead people, and those who vote three times," she quipped. "When I campaigned for office, I heard about voter irregularities occurring all over the state. I don't believe it's a matter of someone doing this with malice or intent. Sometimes it's just about carelessness. We're not interested in putting people in jail or fining them. We want complete reports, and we want to educate them so they do it right."

Hannity and Sore Loser Republican Rossi
Dino Rossi the Republican candidate in the Washington election for Governor is contesting the outcome of the race in court claiming voter fraud by the Democrats. Rossi's allegations were miniscule in comparison to the massive evidence found in Ohio and Florida in 2000 but Hannity was shocked and outraged. "Unbelievable!", he bellowed.Yes Hannity, your hypocrisy is most definitely unbelievable.
1/14/05

Hannity was horrified by the discovery that 24 dead people had voted; up to 200 more votes were counted than people registered;and a small number of provisional ballots were thrown into the regular voting machines without chaecking them adequately.Well at least the provisional ballots were counted in Washington unlike Ohio and Florida.

Rossi claimed that it's all about a simple premise that every vote should have a voter.Good logic that obviously alluded the Republicans when confronted with problems in Ohio that were far worse.

Pat Halpin, in for Colmes, reminded Rossi that a Republican certified the recount that gave the Democratic challenger a victory over Rossi.Halpin also mentioned a Republican campaign to recall the Republican Secretary of State who certified the election. Of course, Rossi knew absolutely nothing about that.

Let's compare the handling of this story to Hannity's reporting of the Ohio voter fraud.Every time Ohio was discussed there were cut throat FNC contributors on board to discredit and dismiss the allegations and the messengers like Jesse Jackson. Democrats were called sore losers and cry babies, especially Barbara Boxer who was ridiculed for standing up about Ohio.Hannity raved that there was no vote suppression and liberals were playing the race card.

comment:Well this shouldn't surprise anyone. How many times have we said that if tables were turned, Republicans would have a fit.Getting over it and moving forward are concepts for Democrats who let their elections be stolen.Many Republicans, however,don't care about how they look to others(except before an election)and they totally don't care about honor or uniting the country. Republicans care about winning and consider Democrat's concerns over honor and the collective good of the country a weakness to be exploited.

Link: http://www.newshounds.us/2005/01/14/hannity_and_sore_loser_republican_rossi.php

U.S. voter turnout jumps, with Hawaii last

The national presidential election turnout was 60.7 percent last year, up by 6.4 percentage points over 2000, the biggest election-to-election increase since 1952, according to the report by the Center for the Study of the American Electorate. The center attributed the increase to deep divisions over the war in Iraq and intense voter registration drives.

The national center's calculations put Hawaii last among the states with a 48.9 percent turnout of eligible voters, everyone over 18. But state election figures showed a 67 percent turnout based on the number of registered voters.



"In certain respects the 2004 election was all about motivation and mobilization. The substantial increase in turnout was due largely to the deep emotions surrounding the presidency of George W. Bush."




Committee for the Study of the American Electorate
www.gspm.org/csae

link
http://starbulletin.com/2005/01/15/news/story3.html

Friday, January 14, 2005
TX: Opiela Withdraws Election Challenge
by Vince_L


AUSTIN--Eric Opeila (R-Karnes City), a former Republican House candidate in HD 35, has withdrawn his election challenge for the seat won by Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles (D-Alice) in November.

Though Gonzalez Toureilles was sworn in Tuesday, she wasn't allowed to vote on House issues unil the challenge was settled.

Opeila alleged voter fraud in the election, which he lost by 853 votes.

A special House committee had been considering evidence and was preparing to report its findings in two election challenges to the full body in early February. Last week, Jack Stick (R-Austin) withdrew his challenge of a seat won by Mark Strama (R-Austin). The House now has only one election challenge to consider, that brought by Republican Rep. Talmadge Heflin (R-Houston), a veteran lawmaker who lost his Houston seat to Democrat Hubert Vo by 33 votes.


Link: http://www.polstate.com/archives/006534.html

Friday, January 14, 2005

GOP seeks criminal records

By David Postman
Seattle Times chief political reporter


OLYMPIA — Republicans want a copy of the state's criminal-records database to compare it with the names of the nearly 3 million people who voted in the governor's race, as party attorneys search for felons who cast illegal ballots.

Yesterday, attorneys for Dino Rossi and the Republican Party asked the State Patrol for an electronic copy of that database, the Washington State Identification System. The list contains more than 1.2 million records. Republicans are hoping to do a quicker and less expensive search than what is available to the general public.

The records include names, birth dates, charges and outcomes of the cases, including felonies and some misdemeanors. Republicans are looking for felons because felons are not allowed to vote unless their voting rights have been restored.

The move is part of Rossi's legal challenge to the election of Democrat Christine Gregoire, who was sworn in as governor Wednesday. Rossi, who lost the final recount by 129 votes, filed suit last week in Chelan County Superior Court asking that the election be thrown out and a new one held.


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002150778_recount14m.html

2005-01-14

Fast resolution to election suit fading quickly - New judge assigned to case

Journal News Services


On her first day as Washington state governor, Christine Gregoire signed autographs for her admirers and walked past demonstrators demanding a new election.

...

Rossi has filed an election challenge in Chelan County Superior Court, and a hearing is scheduled for next Thursday. Republicans say the election results were tainted by a host of documented problems, from felons voting to a mismatch between ballots cast and voter names recorded. They're asking for a revote.

Democrats argue the election results were valid, and say there's no legal basis for a revote.

Hope for a speedy resolution to the uncertainty seems to be fading fast.

...

On Wednesday, Judge T.W. ``Chip'' Small -- one of three Chelan County Superior Court judges -- was removed from the case at the request of Franklin County. The county didn't give a reason for the request. All 39 counties are being sued in Rossi's election challenge, along with Secretary of State Sam Reed, House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, and Lt. Gov. Brad Owen.

...

``There is no question in my mind that the hand recount gave us the best count that has ever been done, with a Republican and a Democrat watching every vote,'' Gregoire told reporters.


http://www.kingcountyjournal.com/sited/story/html/183249

Jan. 15

Ohio voters whiplashed by Blackwell's changes

Before the 2000 election, most counties were using punch-card ballots with little controversy. Voters had good reason to believe that experts believed in that system.

Then the 2000 election dramatized its flaws, and Congress pushed states toward other machines. Most Ohio counties selected high-tech, ATM-type systems, sometimes referred to as touch-screens. At that point, voters had reason to believe that the people who had studied these matters had concluded that high tech was the best bet.

Then, just before the 2004 election, the Legislature suddenly insisted that the touch-screen systems could not be used unless they had a "paper trail." That is, they must offer voters physical evidence that their votes had been registered correctly, and they must allow for a recount in a way than just consulting the computer again.

Now along comes Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell suddenly deciding in favor of none of the above. He wants the state to use the optical scan system — in which voters fill in blanks on paper ballots — along with a a computer at the polling place to count the ballots.

...

If, before dropping his bomb, Secretary Blackwell had taken the time to explain how circumstances have pushed Ohio toward the optical scan — and toward a quick decision now — he could have made good arguments.

...

Still Secretary Blackwell has some explaining to do, some feathers to unruffle and questions to answer about changing signals. The process has been so confused, it's hard to have confidence in it.


http://www.daytondailynews.com/opinion/content/opinion/daily/0114scan.html

Saturday, Jan 15, 2005,Page 9

Elections don't equal legitimacy

By Ralf Dahrendorf


Legitimacy is a delicate, yet utterly important feature of stable democratic politics. It is also complicated. Was George W. Bush the legitimately elected president of the US in his first term, having gained office only after the US Supreme Court ordered an end to the Florida recount and with Bush having secured only a minority of the votes nationwide? Are the presidents of some former Soviet republics who seem to command 90 percent of the popular vote legitimately elected? Will the planned elections in Iraq be regarded as legitimate internally as well as externally?

`But while free elections are a necessary condition of legitimacy, they are far from being sufficient to assure it.'

It is vital to remember that elections alone do not guarantee legitimacy, even if they are seen to be free and fair. Americans find it hard to understand this, as do others in the lucky democracies of the Anglo-Saxon world. For them, legitimacy simply means that voting and counting votes happens according to undisputed rules. What is legal, they think, is also legitimate.

...

So legitimacy is more than legality. It rests on what the people concerned believe to be real. At the very least, there has to be an absence of violent opposition, including the threat of secession.

...

Without legitimacy, there can be no stability in any political system, and without elections -- that is, an explicit expression of popular consent to the holders of power -- there can be no legitimacy. But while free elections are a necessary condition of legitimacy, they are far from being sufficient to assure it. Constitutional arrangements must guarantee all entrenched groups a place in the countries' political institutions. It is equally imperative to establish the rule of law, exercised by an independent and respected judiciary.


http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit/archives/2005/01/15/2003219508

Saturday, January 15, 2005

NM Recount Backers File Suit; Group Wants Nov. Vote Records Saved

By Deborah Baker
The Associated Press


SANTA FE— Advocates of a recount in the presidential race went to court Friday to try to block county clerks from erasing general election data from voting machines.

...

He said a request for a temporary restraining order was filed Friday in state District Court in Bernalillo County.

...

"We're now faced with multiple counties threatening to clear their machines over the course of the next four or five days, and that's what's necessitated our going to court," Finley said.

...

David Garcia, another lawyer for the Greens and Libertarians, told the Canvassing Board there were irregularities— particularly with push-button voting machines— that warrant a recount. He urged the board to consider the 10 percent compromise.


http://www.abqjournal.com/elex/289532elex01-15-05.htm

Posted on Sat, Jan. 15, 2005

First lady defends $40 million inauguration

By Julie Mason
HOUSTON CHRONICLE


WASHINGTON - First lady Laura Bush on Friday defended next week's extravagant, $40 million presidential inauguration, saying even in times of war and devastation, the nation's symbols and ceremonies should be honored.


Taxpayers will pick up the costs for items such as construction of viewing stands, cleanup, and security, estimated about $18 million.

..

She said her husband's first term went by quickly, and even with four more years to go, they are thinking about the future.

The 2001 inauguration came together quickly, following on the heels of the recount saga in Florida that left the outcome up in the air until just over a month before the swearing-in. This time, she said she hopes to savor the experience.

..

"I hope that both of us will be able to pay more attention. It's such a whirlwind," she said. "We weren't observing it, if you know what I mean. We were just in the midst of it last time, and I hope we have a little bit of a chance to stand back and observe it and be able to remember it."



(I hope she remembers it too... but not in a good way)

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/politics/10653367.htm?1c

"King" Bush spends $50 million on coronation

It is going to be the most expensive, most security-obsessed event in the history of Washington DC. An army of 10,000 police, secret service officers and FBI agents will patrol the capital for four days of massive celebrations that some critics have derided as reminiscent of the lavish shindigs thrown by Louis XIV, France's extravagant Sun King.

..

Many observers say it is all too much. 'We have elected a President who seems to have quite a monarchical role. It is a bit of a coronation,' said Larry Haas, a former official in Bill Clinton's White House.

Certainly, Bush's inauguration will be an orgy of gladhanding and partying by the Republican faithful from all over the country. One Washington hotel, the Mandarin Oriental, is offering visitors four nights in its Presidential Suite for $200,000. The price tag includes a 24-hour butler, a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce or Humvee, daily champagne and caviar and a flight to the hotel in a private jet.


..

All the partying is being condemned by many commentators as in poor taste for a nation fighting a bloody war.

Carroll Wilson, editor of the Texas newspaper the Times Record, has called the cost obscene and 'a horrendous waste'. 'There's something inherently embarrassing about spending $50m on a party that will start and end in the blink of a very red eye,' he added.

..

The big donors are split into 'underwriters', who stumped up $250,000 each, and 'sponsors', who merely shelled out $100,000. Both gain access to a variety of events that will be attended by Bush. The donors are a familiar roster of Republican supporters and big business. They include firms in the President's former business, oil, such as Exxon Mobil and ChevronTexaco, former Enron president Richard Kinder and Texas oil baron Boone Pickens, who also gave $500,000 to the anti-John Kerry campaign of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.



http://www.theexperiment.org/articles.php?news_id=2108

SO, SO MANY THINGS TO SET STRAIGHT

Editor-In-Chief Tom Bico Straightens Out The Vote Counting Battle, The Real Central Issue of the Campaign, and Sets Straight Which Candidates Ran Good Or Bad Campaigns


NOVEMBER 15, 2004 – My, my, my. Look at the non-Moderate Independent media at work.

People who believe our elections should have integrity are ‘conspiracy theorists.’ George W. Bush’s winning margin is historically large, the first actual majority in ages. John Kerry – and his horrible, borderline psychotic wife – ran a horrible campaign. George Bush ran a smart campaign and won thanks to the ‘values vote.’

This is the world of the non-M/I media, and this is the filter America gets its information through. And with all of the above, we are just talking about the mainstream non-Moderate Independent media. For Fox, Limbaugh, Hannity, etc. it is even better.

People who believe our elections should have integrity are ‘lefties,’ ‘liberals,’ or part of a ‘radical fringe.’ George W. Bush’s victory was a massive ‘mandate.’ And John Kerry – and his horrible, over-the-borderline psychotic wife – not only ran a terrible campaign, but were terrible candidates (even if she wasn't actually one,) and terrible people. Bush ran a brilliant campaign and won thanks to the fact that America is an evangelical Christian dominated nation.

This is the world of the Fox/Limbaughians.

All of this ‘perspective’ and coverage simply shows once again that the entire non-M/I media is nothing but a battle of right-wing and right-winger. So, for the sake of having somebody deal with all of these issues from a place called reality and a perspective called American, let me take a moment to set a few things straight.

People who believe our elections should have integrity, that people should actually both get to vote and have their votes accurately counted, are not of any particular party, they are of all parties. Those who pretend people battling over the election’s results are just sore losers trying to come up with conspiracy theories obviously have missed the last four years.


more
http://www.moderateindependent.com/v2i21bico.htm

In June 2004, Stephanie Harris felt good about casting her ballot in New Jersey's primary election on a new Sequoia Voting Systems touchscreen voting machine, a replacement for her county's rickety half-century-old lever models. Until it came time to vote, that is. After designating her choices with a few taps on the large single-screen ballot, she thought she had completed the process by pushing the Cast Ballot button. A poll worker informed her that her vote hadn't been tallied; the audible tone intended to inform officials that the transaction was registered had never sounded. Harris pushed the button several more times. No tone. Then the poll worker volunteered that he thought her vote had been registered after all.

"At this point I have no idea whether my vote was counted at all, or whether it was counted one, two, three or four times," says Harris, an organic farmer in a rural corner of Mercer County. Her first experience with e-voting left her, she admits, "extremely nervous about the election in November."

She's not alone. Even in one of the most contentious presidential campaigns ever, the debate over electronic voting technology has stood out above the din. This month, electronic voting machines will be tested on a grand scale--in perhaps the highest-profile technological field test in history. Four companies, Diebold, Sequoia Voting Systems, Hart InterCivic and ES&S, are supplying the large majority of the machines for this month's elections. Proponents of the new technology insist these ATM-like devices will save us from the debilitating ambiguity and sloppiness of old tallying methods that complicated the 2000 deadlock in Florida. But critics fear that this generation of machines may create far more problems than it solves, such as systemwide breakdowns, lost votes--even the potential for widespread tampering.

With the help of nearly $3.3 billion in federal funds allocated by Congress as part of the Help America Vote Act of 2002, states and counties have doubled the number of all-electronic voting machines at the polls since the 2000 presidential election. This November, e-voting technology will be found in 33 states and is expected to be used by more than 1 in 4 voters nationwide.


more
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/research/1303046.html

Published on Sunday, November 14, 2004 by the Toronto Star

Web Abuzz With Vote-Rigging Tales

by Antonia Zerbisias


John Kerry may have conceded the White House to George W. Bush, but millions of Americans have not.

My inbox is engorged with some of their emails claiming that the election was hijacked. There are appeals to "bombard" the Ohio secretary of state over the provisional ballots, pleas for "emergency funds" to force state recounts plus entreaties for "first-hand'' anecdotes for a book on election irregularities.

But you wouldn't know anything was out of the ordinary from most of the mainstream media (MSM).

Since Nov. 2, they've produced plenty of post-vote pontification over "moral values," predictions on future White House appointments and premature speculation on who will run against whom in 2008.

Meanwhile, there's practically nothing on the issue consuming my bandwidth and clogging my computer.

The Nation's David Corn feels my pain.

"The election's been stolen! Fraud! John Kerry won!" he writes in the latest issue. "In the (post-election) days, these charges flew over the Internet. The basic claim was that the early exit polls — which showed Kerry ahead of George W. Bush — were right; the vote tallies were rigged. Could this be? Or have ballot booths with electronic voting machines become the new Grassy Knoll for conspiracy theorists?"


more
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1114-22.htm

November 17, 2004

Media accused of ignoring election irregularities

By Mark Jurkowitz, Globe Staff


Two weeks after Election Day, explosive allegations about a media coverup are percolating.

There's the widely circulated e-mail about a CBS producer who complained that a news industry "lock-down" has prevented journalists from investigating voting problems that cropped up on Nov 2. There's the rumor that MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, who has devoted serious air time to discussing Election Day irregularities, was fired for broaching the topic. There's the assertion by Bev Harris, executive director of Black Box Voting Inc., that she had received calls from network employees saying they had been told to lay off the sensitive subject of voting fraud.

In the days after Nov. 2, the Internet was abuzz with charges from partisans that voting irregularities might have cost John F. Kerry the White House.

With some media outlets moving swiftly to debunk the notion that the election had been stolen by the Republicans, the press itself has come under scrutiny, accused of everything from a conspiracy of silence to a collective passivity about pursuing voting irregularities.

"The mainstream media is not treating this as an important story overall," said Steve Rendall, senior analyst at the liberal media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. "The mainstream media has largely treated the story as some crazy Internet story." At the same time, Rendall acknowledged: "There has been excess in the way stuff has flown around the Internet and e-mail lists."


more
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/articles/2004/11/17/media_accused_of_ignoring_election_irregularities/

January 12, 2005

Deals to Cooperate Against DeLay Reached in Texas Political Case

By Scott Gold, Times Staff Writer


HOUSTON — Prosecutors investigating whether corporations illegally financed the Republican Party's rise to dominance in the Texas Capitol are negotiating agreements with several companies accused of making improper political donations, and analysts say the discussions could help elicit important leads in the probe.

According to documents filed in Travis County District Court, two companies accused of making illegal political contributions have "flipped" for prosecutors in the last month, signing deals requiring them to cooperate in exchange for dismissal of their cases.
..

Sources close to the investigation said this week that similar deals were being negotiated with some of the remaining six companies indicted late last year. The six companies are the Williams Companies Inc., Bacardi USA, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care, Questerra Corp. and Westar Energy Inc.
..

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said information gleaned from the companies could be used as leverage to pressure remaining defendants and, potentially, to target more powerful members of the Republican Party in Texas and in Washington.
..

Late last year, three of DeLay's aides were indicted and charged with money laundering and unlawfully accepting and soliciting corporate contributions.

At the time, some campaign finance reformers argued that the indictments pointed to what they believed was, in effect, a conspiracy to cement Republican control of Congress. In 2003, the Republican-controlled Legislature, at DeLay's behest, drew new maps of congressional districts. In last fall's election, Republicans gained six seats in the Texas congressional delegation. Without its success in Texas, the GOP would have lost seats in Congress.


more
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-delay12jan12,1,5094815.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true

January 15, 2005

Boxer takes a stand

Kudos to Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Jones for taking a stand against the "good ole boys" ... regarding the certification of Ohio's electoral votes. If people suspect there was voter fraud, then why should anyone contest to it being investigated? When did we do away with the founding fathers' wisdom regarding checks and balances? And when did the name calling start, ie ... sore losers, when someone disagreed?

Again, I am thankful for the people who are willing to stand up to the unconscious, mindless attacks that are leveled when a difference of opinion and idea is challenged.

The pendulum will swing back to the other side, it always does and, hey, maybe after "The Rapture" all those good people will be taken up and we evil doers can begin to enjoy ourselves again.

Janet Vega

Nevada City


http://www.theunion.com/article/20050115/OPINION/101150132

A response to "Did Networks Fake Exit Polls?"

by John Ervin

My response to "all the voting activists," and even myself as one of them, those of us who are not few and raising an uproar about the discrepancy between exit polls and final tallies --one wide enough to drive a Humvee through AND something that has, historically, always been a prime indicator of a rigged election-- is quite simple yet apparently novel: what about not relying on either figure --since clearly BOTH may be bogus--but rather focusing on the GAP itself?

People seem to miss that, sort of like the hole in the donut. Years ago, they used to discard such holes, till some genius pointed out they are part of the "whole," and no less a worthy and marketable item.

This is not surreal, it's the point: it's not the tally that should be trusted. We can't. It's not the exit polls that should be given any credence. We can't. (Lynn Landes, Collier brothers, Victoria Collier, and many others have been singing this hymn for some time, to a largely uncomprehending world of the nevertheless vincibly ignorant. Listen to MP3 of Victoria Collier)

The REAL indicator is the GAP itself. The donut hole of voting fraud. That may seem painfully obvious, but all the dialogue seems to ignore it. Let me frame the issue clearly: if you have a huge disparity, a mammoth gap, between exit polls and final vote tallies, it's really irrelevant to the proving of fraud which of them is the more accurate indicator. Maybe BOTH are hugely inaccurate. I personally think Democrats may have won by over 10 million. We no longer even have any true ways of knowing that, so privatized and preposterously clandestine is our voting process. But those figures are completely irrelevant to making our case of fraud! (I think maybe fraud activists instinctively do not want to go there, because if it's proved that BOTH exit polls and results are inaccurate, how ever do you make a case for fraud, not having any trustworthy primary evidence, from either source?). The only indicator we need is the huge disparity in MANY states, between exit polls and results. Perhaps the CIA backed exit polling (and I've posted elsewhere mountains of history and evidence to support this conclusion) was trying to create bogus exit polls that would match the tallies. I think they probably wanted to do so, and tried to do so. Unfortunately for the Power That Be, we activists gave them such fits with our "get out the vote" and other activities, that the cartel was caught, as in 2000, with its pants down: a total inability of their systems to rig BOTH exit polls and results in tandem and without a trace. The involvement of CIA agent (who was ALSO an FBI agent) Charles Kane this time 'round in Florida, as in 2000, shows clearly that affiliates in the intelligence communities Focked with the Tallahassee central tabulators on the eve of the vote. This would explain all the strange results in scannable Florida voting. I feel strongly this is what they did, and think that even with all their vacuuming operations, to disappear evidence, it is still provable.

But I don't even see why we need it. Zogby stated as much, immediately after the "election." The truth of fraud that needs to be constantly repeated and framed and put up in lights for years to come, as part of our Voting "Long March" to regain credible elections, is that the disparities themselves indicate fraud. We need nothing more than that. If they say they can "prove" the final results were accurate, ask them: "But what about the gap?" If others say, no, the exit polls were accurate to the best of our knowledge, but the late voting changed them, ask them, "Why then, in all other countries save only our own little blazing beacon of democracy, is there never a gap of this size without one OR the other being bogus?"

(If not both, of course.)


It's NEITHER the results NOR the exit polls that matter, only the gap. It seems THAT can stand up in a court of law, if the proper foundation is laid, historically: that these gaps, XXXXXL size, NEVER happen but in the presence of fraud. Peace: JE

PS And this ignores the duplicity of NEP, VoterNewsService, which was replaced by NEP, and Warren Mitofsky, who takes credit for inventing the exit polls. We are supposed to be the prime exporters of these election instruments to other countries, yet can't come up with an even remotely believable simulacrum of results, when other countries can do it with our "hand me downs" (read: Trojan Horses in Waiting) ???

Ahhh, but they don't quite have, yet, the Monolith-O-Media we have, to completely suffocate not only the Truth, but all manner of collateral damage, disappearances, rumor, and everything else --including, no doubt, extra-terrestrial invasions. --je

--- In FL_Election_Action@yahoogroups.com, Cameron McLaughlin wrote:
> http://rense.com/general61/exit.htm (This will take you to the original article, on which the above commentary is a riff, and was written by the eminent voting fraud investigator, Lynn Landes, also available at her website: www.ecotalk.org )
>

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Democrat/message/22444

Saturday, January 15, 2005

Lies, Damn Lies, and a Gaggle of Republican Appointees Lie Between America and the Truth; U.S. Needs a Special Prosecutor -- Now

By ADVOCATE STAFF


On December 15th, MSNBC reported that J. Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio's Republican Secretary of State, had sent a letter to the Ranking Minority Member of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, John T. Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), telling Conyers, in the paraphrase of MSNBC, "that he couldn’t be cooperative with the Government Accountability Office and members of Congress at the same time."

At the time, MSNBC called this claim "baroque."

There may also be another "b"-word which could have been applied.

According to a November 23rd, 2004 Government Accountability Office document entitled "Statement of the Comptroller General on Election-Related Matters" -- a document released to the public a full three weeks before Blackwell's December 14th letter to Conyers --

...many of the issues relating to the recent election are primarily the responsibility of state and local jurisdictions, since they involve the implementation of state law and regulation. As a result, general questions concerning these issues, as well as specific allegations of voting irregularities, should be addressed to state and local officials, such as the Secretary of State or the State Attorney General.

The GAO suggests only three other entities, besides "state...officials, such as the Secretary of State..." for the investigation of election irregularities: The Civil Rights Division, Voting Section, of the Department of Justice; The Criminal Division, Public Integrity Section, of the Department of Justice; and The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC).




Read it all
http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/01/news-election-2004-lies-damn-lies-and.html

DU Thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=286184#286239

01/15/2005

Recount advocates file new lawsuit over voting machines

One goal of a lawsuit filed
Friday is to prevent county
clerks from erasing general
election data from voting
machines.


ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - Advocates of a recount in the presidential race are shifting gears after being turned down by the state canvassing board.

A new lawsuit was filed Friday in state district court on behalf of voters who are seeking election reforms.

Another goal of the lawsuit is to block county clerks from erasing general election data from voting machines.

The plaintiffs want to use the information on the machines to substantiate their claims that certain voting machines used in the general election malfunctioned and produced inaccurate results.

The lawsuit also asks the court to force Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron to adopt regulations to make the counting of provisional, emergency and absentee ballots uniform throughout the state.




http://www.kobtv.com/index.cfm?viewer=storyviewer&id=16362&cat=NMTOPSTORIES

-snip-

But the small, everyday injustices of a population must flow somewhere; indeed, they gather into great rivers that flow through capitols and pentagons, where the selfish energies combine and become the bombs and machine-gun roar and rattle of our bloody agents in the world. Our vote every four years is a weak ceremony of little importance compared to how we live our personal lives, which empowers either good or evil in the world.

-more-

<http://democracyweek.org/velvetrevolution.html>

electionline Weekly - January 13, 2005
electionline.org

I. In Focus This Week

For Election Officials, New Year Brings Old Worries
By Elizabeth Schneider

-snip-

At a meeting of the Joint Elections Officials Liaison Committee, voting chiefs from around the country expressed the same worries over funding, voter registration, impending deadlines, voter verified paper trails, and voting technology systems and standards as Congress convened for its 109th session. According to some election officials, states hoping for legislation to remedy existing election administration problems will be sorely disappointed.

-snip-

Ken Jones, deputy staff director and chief counsel for the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, told election officials that while paper-trail legislation is pending debate, he agreed with Williams stating, “these decisions should be decided at the state level.”

-snip-

Paul Vinovich, majority staff director of the House Administration Committee, told officials that there is the possibility for legislation this year from lawmakers who want to move toward federally controlled elections, and take “your jobs away from you.”

-snip/more-

<http://www.electionline.org/index.jsp?page=Newsletter%20Jan%2013%202005>

Sunday, January 16, 2005; Page C01

Inauguration Expense Draws Wrath, but Not From Charities

By Carol Morello
Washington Post Staff Writer


Donald Smith of the U.S. Capitol Police takes a guard position above construction preparations for the
presidential inauguration, which has a reported price tag of $35 million to $40 million


A peace activist who thinks the money lavished on inaugural balls would be better spent on body armor for troops in Iraq plans to attend the parade and turn his back to protest.

A grandmother of four sent the White House a tongue-in-cheek invitation to hold the inauguration at her house under rented tents, proposing to free up millions of dollars to feed and house the poor.

A white-collar Republican who voted for President Bush tried to organize an e-mail campaign expressing disdain at the waste of a party for "fat cats."

"I was just outraged when I was made aware of the amount of money being spent on a party," said Sandra Mikovich-Pogorelc, a manager for a pharmaceutical company near San Diego who e-mailed her disgust to the White House.

"The money could be used for other things. I don't resent anyone who goes. I just feel it's such a waste."


continued
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12487-2005Jan15.html

Web Posted: 01/16/2005 12:00 AM CST

Comment: Electoral system silences many voters

by Weston Elkins


We are constantly reminded that our vote is our voice during the election season, but when it's all over, rarely do we feel the need to make sure our voice was heard.

Most states have a winner-takes-all system of casting electoral votes. If a candidate wins the popular vote in a state, even if by just 1 percent or 2 percent, the candidate will win all the electoral votes. Essentially, this ignores the votes cast against the winner of a particular state.
...

This situation effectively silences Democrats and Republicans alike. If I live in a state that is solidly held by one party, I have little encouragement to take the time to vote because I know my vote might not have the slightest impact.

With the potential for another recount situation still looming at every election, it is our duty to protect our democratic institutions by creating a flexible and more modern voting system.
...

We already know there is a problem, but we cannot wait for another election in the hope that we will avoid conflict in the Electoral College. We have no choice but to encourage movements in our state legislatures to cast electoral votes proportionately based on the popular will of the American people.
...

(Weston Elkins is a freshman political science major at St. Mary's University. Adjunct Professor Jonathan Michelon contributed to this comment.)


more
http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/stories/MYSA011605.elkinscomment.5bbf1c4.html

Published January 16, 2005

Inaugural protests run the gamut

By PHILIP GAILEY, Times Editor of Editorials


President Bush won't be sworn in to a second term until Thursday, but his inauguration already has spawned controversy (critics say it is too extravagant at a time of war) and sideshows (an atheist and religious conservatives are fighting over the event's religious trappings) that in some ways tell us more about the state of the nation than the president's State of the Union address.

The protests being organized around the Bush inauguration range from healthy expressions of dissent to utter silliness. Some of them could have been scripted by Michael Moore, the radical filmmaker of Fahrenheit 9/11 fame, or infamy.
...

Meanwhile, anti-Bush protesters, in the best tradition of political dissent, are planning a host of activities to show their disapproval of the president. Some groups are urging Americans not to buy anything on inauguration day - nothing, not even an order of freedom fries. Those who want to do even more are being told to cancel their cable and phone services.

In New Orleans, protesters are planning to hold a traditional jazz funeral to mourn the death of democracy, and in Washington, others will line the inaugural parade route and turn their backs as the president's motorcade goes by. About the only thing missing is staging a mock vote recount in Ohio and declaring John Kerry the winner.


http://www.sptimes.com/2005/01/16/Columns/Inaugural_protests_ru.shtml

16.01.2005

Jack Newfield and George Bush

By Thomas Hauser


The second inauguration of George W. Bush seems like a good time to remember Jack Newfield, who died of cancer last month.

Jack hated hypocrisy and injustice. The three public arenas of his life were journalism, politics, and boxing. Obviously, there's an abundance of the vices that he abhorred in each. But Jack fought the good fight, and the people he worked with and wrote about were well-represented at his funeral service.

Looking around the chapel, I couldn't help but think that many of the mourners seemed considerably older than they had just a week earlier. I thought about how Jack, the columnist, might have covered his own funeral. And my mind turned to our last conversation.

It was on the telephone not long after the November presidential election. "I'm weak; you talk," Jack instructed.

So I did. And the gist of what I said follows.

For many Americans, myself included, the reelection of George Bush feels like 9/11 all over again. It's like a death in the family. Our rulers have retained power by distorting the truth and twisting reality into a grotesque fantasy.

Contrary to some, we don't find George Bush charming as a person. We think he's a smug arrogant little man and we dislike him intensely. But our feelings go far beyond the personal. We're appalled and devastated by how he and his administration are changing our country.


read more...
http://www.secondsout.com/USA/news.cfm?ccs=229&cs=15365

By Sarah Karush / Associated Press

Saturday, January 15, 2005

DETROIT -- Former Michigan Democratic chairman Melvin "Butch" Hollowell won a legal victory Friday over the solicitation charge that has sidelined him from state politics.

-snip-

The incident came just weeks after Hollowell left his Democratic Party post to serve as an unpaid adviser to John Kerry's national legal team. Afterward, he resigned from the Kerry campaign, the Michigan Civil Rights Commission and the Butzel Long law firm in Detroit.

-snip-

Hollowell lawyer Cornelius Pitts hinted at sinister motivations behind the deputies' actions.

"There remain serious questions about how and why this case was initiated," he said. He declined to elaborate.

-snip/more-

<http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0501/15/metro-60462.h... >