Mark Crispin Miller: I Wonder If Al Franken Still Is Dismissive of Election Fraud Now

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/18549

I Wonder If Al Franken Still Is Dismissive of Election Fraud Now
by Mark Crispin Miller | November 8, 2008



I'm trying very hard to keep from gloating inwardly about Al Franken's plight, since, from Election Day, 2004, he has always pointedly denied the evidence of fraud by the Republicans.

I was on his show on Air America just days after that election; and every time I noted yet another piece of evidence that it was stolen, he would reflexively dismiss it with some asinine banality or misconception. At one point, I mentioned a bizarre anomaly in Florida (one of many), where the number of votes for Bush exceeded the number of voters in that entire county.

"Oh, no," Franken said: "We looked into that," he said. "We talked to someone down there --a Democrat!" I asked him for some more specifics. Just then his producer texted him, and he read from his computer: "Oh, yeah, here it is. We talked to... the webmaster for the Secretary of State. And he said there was nothing to it."

That Secretary of State was Glenda Hood, whom Jeb Bush had appointed to replace Katherine Harris.

snip//

This all matters greatly now--and not just because of yesterday's report that the e-voting machines in Minnesota have turned out to be defective (or "defective"). Maybe Franken will now face the facts about election fraud more realistically.

What matters most about his long refusal to discuss the problem is that it appears to have been urged upon him by the Democratic Party, or those in it who were counseling him as he prepared to run for office. When asked by regular people, as he often was (on his book tour), exactly why he always pooh-poohed the whole subject, he would say, "The people I listen to have told me there's nothing to it," or words to that effect.

This raises the larger question as to how, or if, the Democrats will now endeavor to reform our voting system. The chances are that they won't do an honest job unless we force them to it.

MCM

[dennis4868]

1. I heard Franken...

being interviewed on a radio show last Thursday and he said that he still does not believe that there was election/voter fraud in 2004.

[fulllib]

2. Where's the fraud?

MN runs things pretty cleanly here, even the recount is strictly stipulated. Mistakes in counting by precincts which were adjusted this week do not count for "evidence of fraud by Republicans."

The only case where partisan shenanigans may have played a part is with Somali translators trying to influence voting, but Franken is accused of that as well as Coleman, so it's a wash.

But IMHO the count has just been counting right now.

[xultar]

3. ROFL...where is the fucking fraud? Tight race does not = fraud people.

[babylonsister]

5. MCM questioned 'defective' voting machines in MN. Accidentally

defective on purpose? :shrug:

[xultar]

6. defective = fraud. mmmmm K

[babylonsister]

7. Sometimes it does, whether you'd like to believe it or not.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=509071

http://www.stealingamericathemovie.org/

[xultar]

8. the key there is sometimes...and that this is somehow payback in fraud for his stand on

2004 is based on something that may have happened.

I think I'd wait first before lambasting the guy.

[xultar]

10. Check out post #9.... Paper ballots = no fraud right? At least that is what DU has been saying.

MN has paper ballots and are having a hand recount of paper ballots.

So.....

[FredStembottom]

4. What have I missed?

This Minnesotan hasn't heard any accusations of fraud (yet).

From what I know, Al is behind 236 votes. A hand recount of the actual paper ballots will occur. I wouldn't be surprised if a different outcome of that re-count throws suspicion on the counting machines... at that time....but where's the fraud on this particular Sunday morning?

[scarletwoman]

9. What "e-voting machines in Minnesota"? We have all paper ballots.

There's nothing nefarious going on with the Senate vote, it's just very close. Minnesota state law dictates an automatic all ballot hand recount when the vote margin between two candidates is less than .02%.

That means, starting on November 18 all the nearly 3 million PAPER ballots that were cast in this election will be examined and tallied by hand, with representatives from both candidates present throughout the process -- a process paid for by the state of Minnesota, btw.

As a Minnesotan, I'm really getting sick of all the election fraud conspiracy theorists whipping themselves into a froth over our Senate vote with literally NO factual information to back up their assertions.

Fact: State law mandates an automatic random audit of 20% of the vote in ALL elections IMMEDIATELY. This has already happened -- out approximately 60,000 ballots audited in over 80 precincts, a grand total of 4 ballots were found to have scanned erroneously, 2 Franken ballots and 2 Coleman ballots. In other words, a washout.

Fact: By law, there is no central tabulator for the optical scan machines. Each precinct downloads and totals each machine AT THE PRECINCT. The paper ballots are placed under seal AT THE PRECINCT, along with the tapes from the optical scan machines. These are then delivered by the duly sworn election official from each precinct to their respective County Court Houses, where they held under lock and key until all precincts have delivered their ballots. Then the duly sworn county election officer delivers them to the Secretary of State. The rules for handling our ballots are as strict as any chain-of-custody rules would be for a police investigation.

Fact: There's nothing fishy about the close vote between Franken and Coleman. Franken was down in almost all polls right up to election day. He simply was not a popular candidate. And the third party candidate, Dean Barkley, definitely siphoned off a lot of anti-Coleman votes.

Fact: Minnesota's all paper ballot system makes it as close to impossible to throw an election as any system could be. There is strict accountability every step of the way.

We'll get a true and fair result from the hand recount, it will just be time-consuming. MCM can take his gloating elsewhere.

sw

Edited to add: In case the significance of the automatic 20% random audit mandated by state law for EVERY election isn't clear, this law was instituted precisely so that discrepencies between hand-counted paper ballot totals and optical scan totals would be detected IMMEDIATELY on election day.

Since there is absolutely NO evidence of there being any "defective" machines at this point, how about we let the hand recount proceed and stop worrying about non-existent "problems".

[Phred42]

11. Well, yeah - Fraud. Try these

Most Minnesota Senate "Undervotes" Are From Obama Turf
http://www.truthout.org/110808C

Norm Coleman Caught Cheating?
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/37450

Somali translator on Coleman payroll reportedly pressured voters at polls.»
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/11/06/coleman-somali/

PS: Smirking chimp is the perfect place for Millers article!
:spray: