Michael Collins: Collins: Obama’s "Lost" NYC Votes No Surprise

[babylonsister]

Collins: Obama’s "Lost" NYC Votes No Surprise
Thursday, 06 March 2008
by Michael Collins


"If you want to call it significant undercounting, I guess that's a euphemism for fraud."
- Michael Bloomberg, Mayor, New York City

"… a review by The New York Times of the unofficial results reported on primary night found about 80 election districts among the city’s 6,106 where Mr. Obama supposedly did not receive even one vote, including cases where he ran a respectable race in a nearby district." Sam Roberts, New York Times Feb. 16, 2008

The reports of voting problems in New York City should come as no surprise. Anyone who has examined the diminished state of urban elections administration and reporting in the modern political era knows that the urban centers have shoddy voting equipment, curious results rarely questioned or investigated, and lackluster administration.

In 2004, a stunning event occurred, one so stunning it was never reported by the mainstream media. According to the media consortium's national exit poll, Bush won the election through a huge increases in his "big city" votes (big cities are defined as 500,000 or greater population). (See Election 2004: The Urban Legend and Notes from the Underground: Why the 2004 Election Matters More than Ever).

Lets take a look at the questions about results in New York and the other "big cities" (500,000 people or greater) in the 2004 election and how those questions were apparent to the mainstream media but deliberately ignored. This will provide an obvious clue about what's behind the 80 election districts absent Obama votes and other urban election "irregularities" as they show up around the country in 2008.

Haven't You Heard, Bush Won 2004 in the Big Cities?

According to the final 2004 exit poll from the media consortium (AP, CNN, and the four major networks), there was a 66% increase in big city turnout compared to a 16% average nationwide. Bush made huge vote gains compared to the 2000 exit poll. He didn't win any big cities, but without these gains, he would have lost the election. His share of big city minority groups was similar to 2000. They showed a strong loyalty to the Democrats. But how about that 80% increase in turnout for big city white voters? Right away we know that there’s something wrong with the exit poll.

more...

http://atlanticfreepress.com/content/view/3524/81

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0803/S00053.htm

[Me.]

1. K & R

for Autorank

[autorank]

25. Check out this call for an investigation by NYC's Citizens Union

Full letter below
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=343592&mesg_id=344551


CITIZENS UNION CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION
INTO the REPORTING of
FEBRUARY 5th PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY INITIAL RESULTS
Good Government Group Expresses Concern Over Reported Discrepancies
in 80 Election Districts
Calls Upon Governor Spitzer to Seek Needed Answers
from Appropriate Government Authority
http://www.citizensunion.org/news_release/02_19_08.html


Citizens Union's executive director Dick Dadey released a copy of a letter he sent today to Governor Eliot Spitzer expressing concern over the reported irregularities in the reporting of initial, yet uncertified, results of the February 5th Presidential Primary and asking that an investigation be conducted with whatever appropriate state authority to understand what occurred and the reasons for any discrepancies.

In the letter which appears below, Dadey explains that what troubles Citizens Union is that the problem appears not to be an isolated incident in one or two election districts that could be attributable easily to simple human error, but points possibly to the existence of a widespread systemic problem.

FROM THE LETTER
"What most troubles us is that this problem appears not to be an isolated incident in one or two election districts that could be attributable easily to simple human error, but points possibly to the existence of a widespread systemic problem."

[rosetta627]

2. Lost Obama votes in NY and TX... so far

Oops, I mean "lost."

[yellerpup]

3. Keep asking who and how.

Kicking this.

Edited to change why to who. Maybe it's rhetorical, but we obviously know why.

[Independent_Liberal]

4. K&R!

[autorank]

5. My FAVORITE sister!

Thanks for posting this.

Not many give a damn about our biggest cities, treasures for the nation and the world in several cases.

But look what the media consortium got away with in the official 2004 exit poll in their estimate
of "big city" turnout comopared to the 2000 presidential election:


"Here’s how the media consortium explained their 66% increase in big city turnout. No comment. No correction. Not a word. They don’t care because they don’t have to. The big cities are treated like a political version of Roman Polanski's "Chinatown;" a place where we hide our deepest secrets knowing few will look and fewer will report their findings."

Actual turnout was only 17% based on a sample of 13 cities comprising 60% of the big city population for the supposedly elusive city specific totals Chart 1.

And the official announced totals can look pretty strange also:




This was an election that followed the 100's of thousands who protested the Republican Convention in NYC in August and the Zogby poll that found 50% of NYC residents believed that "our leaders" knew
about 911 in advance and did nothing:

"(Utica, NY) - On the eve of a Republican National Convention invoking 9/11 symbols, sound bytes and imagery, half (49.3%) of New York City residents … say that some of our leaders "knew in advance that attacks were planned on or around September 11, 2001, and that they consciously failed to act."
http://tinyurl.com/67n5r

Bronx 40% vote increase for Bush, sure. Queens positive loved Bush. Manhattan, 17% plus votes over 2000. Counter intuitive, to say the least.

:hi: & :hug:

[Kurovski]

6. K&R.

Oh, Obama voters are just forgetful is all. They just forgot to vote. Now stop worrying your pretty little head about this. Go make a nice snack and watch some TEEVEE.

[KoKo]

7. I wonder how many other votes have been lost in these "Primaries" done with

faulty voting machines and caucuses that had intimidation.

This election is the last straw in exposing the rank voting system where honest voters go out and cast a vote never knowing if it hasn't been manipulated, stolen or not even counted. :-(

[seemslikeadream]

8. ....

[truedelphi]

15. Your photo is makingmy personal Hall of Shame n/t

[msedano]

9. No surprise?

No surprise that big city votes disappear.
No surprise that 4000 GIs die for lies.
No surprise that no WMD were found and no one gives a damn.
No surprise that McCain actually stands a chance of being elected.
No surprise that millions aren't marching in the streets to condemn McCain's promise of one hundred more years in Iraq.
No surprise that we're not surprised.

Knock knock.
Who's there?
No surprise.
No surprise, who?
No surprise no one because we've plumb run out of hope in this country.

Anyone know where I can beg, borrow, or buy some hope?

recommended.

[autorank]

10. Bookmarked...

...no surprise msedano wrote this...

I'm 100% behind the May Day spirit of a couple years ago. Now that truly was no surprise, except
to the stooges who run things.

There's so much to do in addition to getting rid of the elected officials. We need an entirely new judiciary as well. I think that meaningful change is in order, probably too late to save us, and that
it will be motivated by anger.

[MissWaverly]

11. thank you for posting this

finally people are waking up, there was no big win in 2004, and if we don't wake up,
we will have another unelection on our hands.

Thanks for the article, keep telling it like it is.

:-)

[autorank]

14. Thank you. Lots of people are waking up. The Soma is losing strength.

The "rulers" just don't understand that the 18% approval rating means - a true poll result plus a fed up public. They'll continue to fiddle around and do as they wish with the system they've put in place. The only problem for them is the only problem that can do them in - the vast majority of people know so much of what passes as government is rigged for the "in crowd," the cash and carry folks who think that they can buy anything. Time for truth.

[MissWaverly]

17. yes, time for a stroll down Memory Lane

repeat of polling data on George Bush

http://www.pollingreport.com/BushJob1.htm

this is an interesting link
2/04 Bush is polling at 47% approval rate
10/18/04, Bush is polling at 47% with likely voters
11/3/04, Bush is polling at 51%
1/3/05, Bush is polling at 49%

[autorank]

22. "Some say"...

It was that bin Laden tape, just enough to get him over the top.

Or "some say" it was this...

http://www.exitpollz.org/cnn2004epolls/Pres_epolls/US/P/00/epolls.0.html#vote_estimate

[MissWaverly]

23. Yes, I say that too, we were mugged in 2000 and 2004

Our vote was stolen from us, it was the same in Maryland, Kerry won Maryland with
1,334,493 which was a lead of only 309,790, Bush had 1,024,703


Now I am not going to argue about you don't know who voted for who, what I am going to
argue is that when you take the totals for Kerry away from the total amount of
Republicans and Democrats that voted that day, you then come up with
740,028 so where did Bush get 1,024,703 votes, in order to get that number Bush
would have to have gotten the almost all of the independent vote which I don't
believe happened, they were not an enthusiastic bunch only 68% of the independents
voted in 2004 which equaled 299,529 and the Republicans only pulled 81% of their
voters on that day.

[bleever]

12. Dude, where's my franchise?

K&R!

Thanks for posting it, sis. :hi:

That Michael Collins is turning into a national treasure.

[autorank]

13. Got you covered...one we can both run and be proud of

:toast:

[truedelphi]

16. All the facts and just the facts

Precincts in Texas where no one voted for Presidential candidates.

New York and its strange results.

It's no longer election season - it is mute your mind by letting the Media call the results.

[Wilms]

18. I guess Mike knew better than to post this in ER where the OP would be shred.

But go ahead, Mike. Get the Torch and Pitchforks out over UNOFFICIAL results.

Care to list the OFFICIAL results? Care to explain how the vote reporting is conducted in NY?? I'm sure you researched it well as would any good journalist.

Tell us how happy you'll be when the lever machines are replaced with computerized vote counting, you tool.



K&R because all should know the country's damaged voting system is not healed by shabby reporting.

[AtomicKitten]

19. That Michael Collins fellow is one brilliant investigative journalist. ;)

:loveya:

Thanks for posting this! K&R :hi:

[autorank]

21. Welcome. Fixing all this is so easy. It just requires a front end system that

eliminates questions right out of the gate. Once the election is finished, it becomes a maze or a slow walk through a court system that really doesn't want to decide or even appear to decide elections. The quote from the Observer editorial about sums it up. Events like this create doubts which need to be resolved by a body independent of those who ran the election. That didn't happen so instead we get an after the fact report that 55 voting districts were impacted and votes were restored. What about the other 25 (there were 80 total districts impacted)?

I think Bloomberg's reaction about sums it up.

[EndElectoral]

20. One way to win the Big States.

[autorank]

24. Citizens Union Call for Investigation of NY Primary Zero Count Precincts

For Immediate Release
February 19, 2008
Media Contact: Sara Stuart
212.227.0342, ext. 16
917.566.1462

CITIZENS UNION CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION
INTO the REPORTING of
FEBRUARY 5th PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY INITIAL RESULTS
Good Government Group Expresses Concern Over Reported Discrepancies
in 80 Election Districts
Calls Upon Governor Spitzer to Seek Needed Answers
from Appropriate Government Authority
http://www.citizensunion.org/news_release/02_19_08.html

Citizens Union's executive director Dick Dadey released a copy of a letter he sent today to Governor Eliot Spitzer expressing concern over the reported irregularities in the reporting of initial, yet uncertified, results of the February 5th Presidential Primary and asking that an investigation be conducted with whatever appropriate state authority to understand what occurred and the reasons for any discrepancies.

In the letter which appears below, Dadey explains that what troubles Citizens Union is that the problem appears not to be an isolated incident in one or two election districts that could be attributable easily to simple human error, but points possibly to the existence of a widespread systemic problem.

Dadey further wrote, "New Yorkers must have confidence in the integrity of our election system and that when they vote, their vote counts. This problem of underreporting in initial but uncertified vote tallies brings to the forefront many questions not only about how votes are counted, but also how our elections are administered."

February 19, 2008

The Honorable Eliot Spitzer
Governor, State of New York
The Capitol
Albany, NY 12224

Dear Governor Spitzer:

I write to express the very serious concern of Citizens Union for the reported irregularities in the tabulation and reporting of the initial election results for the Democratic presidential primary on February 5th, and urge you to ask whatever appropriate state authority or the Attorney General, if necessary, to undertake an investigation into what occurred and the reasons for any discrepancies, and explore what remedies are needed to prevent future occurrences of this kind.

As has been reported in several news publications, it appears that in as many as eighty election districts in the City of New York, presidential candidate Barack Obama received no votes. Reports also show that this problem was not isolated to his candidacy, but also affected Hillary Clinton's as well, though to a far lesser extent. The fact that two major presidential candidates would not gain even one vote out of several hundred cast in certain election districts strains credulity, particularly in districts like the one in Harlem where one would think Obama would have demonstrated a respectable, if not strong, showing.

What most troubles us is that this problem appears not to be an isolated incident in one or two election districts that could be attributable easily to simple human error, but points possibly to the existence of a widespread systemic problem.

New Yorkers must have confidence in the integrity of our election system and that when they vote, their vote counts. This problem of underreporting in initial but uncertified vote tallies brings to the forefront many questions not only about how votes are counted, but also how our elections are administered.

No one knows the extent of the problem or what caused it, but the citizens of New York deserve to know. New Yorkers need to be assured that elections are conducted in the most impartial non-partisan manner possible and that great care is taken to report election night results to the media that are as accurate as possible, even if they will not be certified until several weeks later by the board of elections. The bottom line is that those early results were inaccurately tabulated by poll workers of the city board and reported to the media. Given the historical significance of this election, the hometown advantage of Clinton, and the national spotlight being shown on New York State, it was imperative that our city results were correct, which may ultimately appear not be the case. While the certified results will not change which candidate received the most votes, it is possible that these results might alter the delegate allocation indicated by the election night count. Even if the delegate count does not change, the certified electoral margin could be significantly different from the all-important reporting of the margin the night of the election, which would undermine the integrity of the vote and the confidence we need to have in our system of election administration.

I ask you to work with the appropriate state authorities and Attorney General Cuomo to find out what happened on the night of February 5th, report back to the citizens of New York and take whatever steps are necessary to reform the administration of our elections so that public confidence is restored.

Sincerely,

Dick Dadey
Executive Director

cc: Attorney General Andrew Cuomo

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

Citizens Union of the City of New York, a nonpartisan force for good government for more than 100 years, works to inform and engage New Yorkers, to ensure local and state government values its citizens, addresses critical issues, and operates in a fair, open, and fiscally sound manner.