Pennsylvania Election Analysis

[mod mom]

Press ReleaseSource: Pennsylvania Voters Coalition

The Pennsylvania Voters Coalition Releases Election Day 2004 Analysis
Monday March 14, 1:23 pm ET
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050314/phm046_2.html
HARRISBURG, Pa., March 14 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Voters
Coalition (PVC) has released its Election Day 2004 Analysis which can be
found on the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania website at
http://pa.lwv.org/. The report is based on thousands of reports from
voters throughout the state to telephone help-lines. Despite national
and state efforts under the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) much
more needs to be done to protect Pennsylvanians' right to vote. The
report evaluates how the election system performed in several critical
areas, identifies problems and makes recommendations for corrective
actions.

     -- First-time voters had to wait until they were at their polling
places
        to learn that they were not on the registration rolls, since there
        was no easy way to verify whether the registration was complete.
        This problem is compounded by Pennsylvania's failure to get the
        Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors (SURE) system into operation.
        This system would allow voters to verify that their registration was
        complete and accurate, and to get this information on-line, not in-
        line!   
-- Fraudulent activities occurred in which voter registration forms were
        withheld, and letters were received by citizens telling them that
        their polling places had been moved or that Democrats would vote on
        one day and Republicans on the next.   
-- Instances in which applicants failed to check boxes affirming their
        age and citizenship and/or the party preference box kept voter
        registration forms from being processed. Other voters claimed they
        had been inappropriately purged from voter rolls.   
-- Asian-American voters faced difficulties in registering to vote due
        to language barriers and a lack of translated voter registration
        forms.   
-- Pennsylvania's absentee ballot process is confusing and burdensome to
        voters.  Worse yet, the confusion and disputes over who would be on
        the ballot delayed many counties from mailing out absentee ballots.
        Many voters did not receive their absentee ballots in time to
vote on
        Election Day.   
-- People who became incapacitated or hospitalized over the weekend
        prior to Election Day were unable to vote.   
-- Some election officials seemed unfamiliar with new provisional ballot
        and voter ID requirements and had not even read the information
        packet. There were reports of voters being asked to present an ID
        although they had voted in the same place for years, and poll
workers
        not offering provisional ballots when appropriate.  Some polling
        places ran out of provisional ballots while others had none.   
-- Most counties did not complete counting provisional ballots within
        the required three days. Some voters were unable to find out for
        weeks if their votes had been counted.   
-- Long lines at polling places were a problem, and many citizens became
        discouraged and left without voting. Some polls were
understaffed.   
-- There were many reports of voting equipment being out of order and
        some polling places had no functioning voting machine when the polls
        opened.   
-- Too many polling places are inaccessible for people with physical
        disabilities.  Some locations specified as accessible were not.
        Pennsylvania is out of compliance with a 20-year-old federal law
        requiring polling place accessibility.   
-- Some precincts had no phones while others that did could not get
        through to the election bureaus.

Summary: In accordance with HAVA most counties in Pennsylvania will be
upgrading or replacing their voting equipment this year. Many issues
with the current system can be traced to inadequate staffing and
training of poll workers, lack of voter information and education, and
poor administration at the state and county level. Immediate corrective
action is needed or these problems will only be compounded with new
voting systems. Other problems can only be solved by legislative or
regulatory changes.

Equal access of every citizen to the right to vote is fundamental to our
democratic system. A flawed election system is discriminatory, creates
lack of confidence in our electoral and governing systems, and
discourages voter participation. The Pennsylvania Voters Coalition is
committed to working with the Governor, the State Legislature, the
Pennsylvania Department of State, and local election officials to ensure
that Pennsylvania elections are a model worthy of the state that is the
cradle of American democracy.

Coalition groups who endorse this report include: ACORN, Advancement
Project, Campus Compact, Common Cause, Disabilities Law Project, League
of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Council of the Blind,
Pennsylvania Protection & Advocacy, Inc., People for the American Way,
Project Vote, and United Cerebral Palsy of Pennsylvania.



Source: Pennsylvania Voters Coalition

[Botany]

1. Once again ......

.... It seems as if all the problems tended to favor *.

[lynne]

2. I'm confused -

- didn't Kerry take PA? Then, how did PA's problems favor * ?

[mod mom]

3. Kerry did win PA, but with interference by the *eys. The margin would

have been larger for Kerry. This is just one piece of a giant puzzle of election fraud. It wasn't just Ohio or Florida. At first Ohio and FL were the states that were examined, but as time goes on the number of states with overwhelming one sided (favoring one party over the other) election irregularities are brought to the surface. KERRY WON AND WON BIG!

[Chi]

4. Some of my favorite parts....

Neocons need new songs, these are getting predictable.
It's like Florida's bad habits spread to half of the states.

Thnx for posting this mod mom!

http://pa.lwv.org/lwv/electionday2004.pdf
========================C&P================================

2. PROBLEM: In Allegheny County, many university students were asked to sign petitions for
various social issues. It was later found that those students’ voter registration information was
fraudulently changed as a consequence of signing those petitions. It also appears that some
people who registered through registration drives may not have had their registration form
submitted because they had registered with the "wrong party."


1. PROBLEM: Long lines were a problem, especially in urban areas. In some cases, people
waited three or four hours to vote. There is no way of knowing how many people got
discouraged and left without voting. Some polling places were understaffed. In contrast, some
voters reported that there were no lines at all at their polling place.


1. PROBLEM: There were verified reports of voters getting letters, on official-looking
letterhead, claiming that because of expected large turnout Republicans should vote on
November 2 and Democrats on November 3. In another case, elderly and disabled voters were
contacted and told that due to heavy turnout they would be permitted to vote on Wednesday,
instead of Tuesday. Voters also received letters saying their polling place had been moved,
sometimes to very distant locations, when it had not. There was a report of a constable
electioneering in the voting area.


2. PROBLEM: At some polling places, people with clipboards were asking voters what party
they were voting for.

[anaxarchos]

9. Speaking as a Floridian...

..."Florida's bad habits" have become our most important export... even more important than orange juice.

[emlev]

5. kick--thanks for posting n/t

[Melissa G]

6. kick for modmom! kick those dirty tricks into the public view!

[Marnieworld]

7. I live in PA and I really believe there was fraud here

I canvassed and campaign around the Lehigh Valley on election day and let me tell you PA was for Kerry in A BIG WAY that day. Everywhere there were signs for Kerry and often crowds of people at traffic lights with signs for Kerry waving to honking cars. Every door I knocked on was a democrat who either wasn't home or had already voted (early in the day too.) Lines waiting to vote but more from turnout than supression. It really seemed like a glorious day where Kerry would win the state in a landslide (which was predicted by the way.)

Then, watching the coverage that night I was amazed. It seemed that Kerry was clearly leading by a considerable margin yet they still wouldn't call it for him. AS the night went on the margin got smaller and smaller and it became a nailbiter. Kerry won the state but the results did not reflect the reality that I saw around me that day.

The manipulation of votes in computerized areas and the obvious tampering of exit poll results later in the evening point to fraud in this state along the same lines of FL and OH. Because Kerry won here it hasn't had the scrutiny but it doesn't mean it didn't happen.

[berniew1]

8. There was fraud & manipulation in Penn. One of worst states. See:

http://www.flcv.com/pennsum.html

Just in Mercer county there were at least 4000 minority voters who weren't allowed to vote(eligible voters) due to switching and malfunctioning machines with not enough backup paper ballots. And the undervote in one precinct of those who did vote was over 75%. Their votes weren't recorded. And this in a precinct that votes 90% Dem.

But lots of problems in lots of places.