Thursday 3/31 Election Fraud, Reform, & Updates Thread

[MelissaB]

In order to organize and document I thought it would be a good idea to have a daily thread to place items related to reform, fraud, protests, and other items. 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 yesterday: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x350707

[MelissaB]

1. Scientific Analysis Suggests Presidential Vote Counts May Have Been Altere

Analysis - Vote Counts May Have Been Altered

Friday, 1 April 2005, 12:40 am
Press Release: uscountvotes.org

Scientific Analysis Suggests Presidential Vote Counts May Have Been Altered

Group of University Professors Urges Investigation of 2004 Election

http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/Exit_Polls_2004_Edison-Mitofsky.pdf
US Count Votes
March 31st , 2005
Officially, President Bush won November's election by 2.5%, yet exit polls showed Kerry winning by 3% <1> . According to a report to be released today by a group of university statisticians, the odds of a discrepancy this large between the national exit poll and election results happening by accident are close to 1 in a million.

In other words, by random chance alone, it could not have happened. But it did.

Two alternatives remain. Either something was wrong with the exit polling, or something was wrong with the vote count.

Exit polls have been used to verify the integrity of elections in the Ukraine, in Latin America, in Germany, and elsewhere. Yet in November 2004, the U.S. exit poll discrepancy was much more than normal exit poll error (and similar to that of the invalid Ukraine election.<2> )

More: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0504/S00001.htm

Thanks to althecat here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x351187

[MelissaB]

16. This is now linked on Michael Moore's website.

OTHER NEWS
If you thought the fight over the 2004 election was over then you might not want to read this.

http://michaelmoore.com/mustread/

[MelissaB]

2. Governed By A One Party Government?

Governed By A One Party Government?

--------------------------------------------------------------------Commentary by Donald A. Collins
March 31, 2005


On one issue after another, the Bush Administration ignores all advice and criticism, plunging onward with vast new spending plans and reckless foreign adventurism and general mis-governance. In short, it increasingly becomes apparent that the Bush White House seeks a one party government dominated by the Executive Branch.


Curious that its mantras are the words “Freedom” and “Fear”. But George Orwell explained that long ago. Hey, who needs a lousy Arctic National Wildlife Refuge anyhow, or clean air or potable water?



>>>snip

Perhaps the most comprehensive short piece on voting machine fraud appeared recently on Common Dreams, a March 10, 2005 story by columnist Thom Hartmann, entitled, “Teresa Heinz Kerry–Hacking the ‘Mother Machine?”



Speaking to a luncheon group in Seattle on March 7th, Mrs. Kerry is reported to have stated,

"Two brothers own 80 percent of the voting machines used in the US” and then added, “it is very easy to hack into the mother machines. Hartmann relates that the two brothers are Bob Urosevich, President of Diebold Election Systems and Todd Urosevich, VP for customer support of Chuck Hagel’s old company, now known as ES&S. These mother machines are “central tabulator” computers, which Howard Dean hacked into in a demonstration live on the “Topic A with Tina Brown” CNBC TV show late last year. He showed that he untraceably could have changed an election in 90 seconds. He said then that “In 1998 only 7 % of all US counties used electronic voting machines”....but noted that “in the next presidential election, roughly 1 in 3 will use one.” He went on to say that “critics have found all sorts of flaws with these machines”, then cited numerous flagrant examples of apparent misuse in the last election.



If these reports don’t pull your chain, then we can see the dismal scenario ahead. Even if all the vote fraud in future is not attributable to one party, the widespread anarchy of multiple cheating by those with control of local election machines becomes a frightening likelihood.


Much more here: http://www.washingtondispatch.com/article_10772.shtml

Collins, a DC free lance writer, often writes for the Dispatch on policy issues.

[MelissaB]

3. A Vote for Paper

A Vote for Paper

Thursday, March 31, 2005; Page A18


Thanks for the editorial supporting "voter- verified audit trails" for Maryland's electorate <"Up for the Count," March 22>.

The editorial cited Linda H. Lamone, the state elections administrator, as insisting that nearly all the machines did work last time. But according to the Montgomery County Election Board's December report, 12 percent of the voting machines had problems in the November election. An election in which 12 percent of voting machine results are questionable is unacceptable by any standard, including the Federal Election Commission.

According to a Diebold Inc. memo dated Feb. 16, Maryland and Diebold sent voting machines to locations in Texas and Ohio for testing because investigations in Maryland failed to determine the cause of the problems.

At the January meeting of the state Board of Elections, Ms. Lamone said her staff is analyzing Montgomery County voting units with performance issues. Once that is done, they will turn their attention to other counties, starting with Baltimore County. TrueVoteMD, a nonpartisan group of citizens concerned about the integrity of Maryland's elections, was able to monitor only 6 percent of Maryland's precincts in November. In those few precincts, voters reported more than 200 problems with the touch-screen voting machines.

If legislators care about democracy in Maryland, they will approve legislation (House Bill 107 and Senate Bill 9) that mandates a voter-verified paper audit trail.

CAROL M. WASER

Silver Spring

The writer is a volunteer with TrueVoteMD.

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14388-2005Mar30.html

[MelissaB]

4. Voting glitches found in 6 recent elections

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY

Voting glitches found in 6 recent elections

A computer error failed to count votes during the March 8 special election, calling into question five other local elections -- and the future of the county's elections supervisor.

Electronic voting machines tossed out hundreds of ballots during this month's special election on slot machines -- and elections workers have traced the same computer error to five other municipal elections in the past 12 months.

Raising the red flag: An alarmingly high number of so-called ''undervotes'' in the March 8 election -- which only had one item on the ballot.

>>>snip

ASSIGNING BLAME

Kaplan called it human error. Two election supervisors have been reassigned. She also blamed Elections System & Software, which makes the iVotronic. Kaplan said a project manager with ES&S failed to detect the coding problem.

In a statement, ES&S wrote: ``Ultimate responsibility for all aspects of an election lies with the county . . . Under no circumstances would we ever have recommended this change to this particular default setting. In fact, we train election workers against it.''


More: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/11271837.htm

[MelissaB]

5. Voting machine advice irks county

Voting machine advice irks county

Officials: Touting a particular maker is wrong

By Bill Cotterell

DEMOCRAT POLITICAL EDITOR


Secretary of State Glenda Hood's elections office has advised Leon County to provide handicapped voters a touch-screen-voting system made by a company whose president caused a stir in last year's campaign by promising to help deliver Ohio to President Bush.

Leon County Elections Supervisor Ion Sancho objected Tuesday to a brief letter sent to county officers by Paul Craft, head of voting-systems certification for the Division of Elections in Hood's department, touting a Diebold system. State law requires counties to have handicapped-accessible equipment in every voting precinct by July 1.

>>>snip

Diebold's chief executive, Walden O'Dell, was harshly attacked by Democrats and other Bush critics last year because of a 2003 fund-raising letter he sent for a Bush-Cheney '04 event. O'Dell wrote that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes for the president next year."

Ohio turned out to be the tipping point on Nov. 2. O'Dell explained during the campaign that he only meant that he would support Bush personally - adding that Diebold's election-systems division is located in Texas and is run by a Democrat.

More: http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/11262592.htm

[MelissaB]

6. Reporter, editor say 'Jeff Gannon' plagiarized article

EXCLUSIVE
Reporter, editor say 'Jeff Gannon' plagiarized article
By John Byrne | RAW STORY EDITOR

A Massachusetts newspaper reporter and her then-editor have accused former White House correspondent 'Jeff Gannon' of plagiarizing an article at which the reporter was the only media witness, RAW STORY has learned.

The alleged plagiarism was discovered by blogger Ron Brynaert, who has tracked other plagiarism by Gannon and various Talon News correspondents at his blog, WhyAreWeBackInIraq.

An Jun. 17, 2003 article published by Jim Guckert, who wrote under the pen name Jeff Gannon, contains numerous identical quotes and turns of phrase to an written by Melissa Beecher for the Waltham Daily News Tribune five days earlier. A comparison of the two articles compiled by Brynaert follows.

In the article about a Massachusetts couple who refused to let their home-schooled children take a standardized test, Guckert used quotes identical to Beecher's article without attribution. Beecher was the only reporter in attendance at the couple's home the day the Department of Social Services came to collect the children.

More: http://rawstory.com/exclusives/byrne/gannon_accused_of_plagiarism_331.htm

[Wilms]

7. (UT) Voters sample new election machines

DU Poster Interviewed

Voters sample new election machines

Amie Rose

March 31, 2005

About 700 voters stood in line -- some for an hour or more -- Wednesday to test drive voting machines from two companies that are competing for a state contract to replace all punch-card voting machines.

Diebold and Election Systems & Software each had two types of machines at the mock election at South Towne Mall in Sandy -- optical scan machines and direct-recording
electronic machines. To vote using an optical scan machine, voters fill in the bubbles next to their candidate and then insert it into the machine to be counted. To vote using an electronic machine, voters use a touch screen, similar to an ATM.

-snip-

Clarity Sanderson, from the Utah Democratic Progressive Caucus, stood outside the mock election at the mall handing out fliers explaining problems with electronic voting machines. She also had a flier about a voting system developed in California with open source code that reads back votes.

"There is another alternative for people concerned about the machines," she said.

-snip/more-

http://www.harktheherald.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=51464&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0


DU Discussion by Helderhied:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x351253

[Wilms]

8. (FL) Voting glitches found in 6 recent elections

Voting glitches found in 6 recent elections

A computer error failed to count votes during the March 8 special election, calling into question five other local elections and the future of the county's elections supervisor.

BY TERE FIGUERAS NEGRETE AND NOAKI SCHWARTZ

March 31, 2005

Electronic voting machines tossed out hundreds of ballots during this month's special election on slot machines and elections workers have traced the same computer error to five other municipal elections in the past 12 months.

Raising the red flag: An alarmingly high number of so-called ''undervotes'' in the March 8 election which only had one item on the ballot.

-snip-

The reports of uncounted votes also bring renewed criticism from those who have been wary of the paper-free electronic voting machines an unsettling development for a county that had poured substantial resources into escaping the chad-filled ghost of the 2000 presidential election.

-snip-

Kaplan called it human error. Two election supervisors have been reassigned. She also blamed Elections System & Software, which makes the iVotronic. Kaplan said a project manager with ES&S failed to detect the coding problem.

-snip/more-

http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=5096

[Wilms]

9. (FL) Man Gets 90 Days For Attacking Girlfriend Over Support Of Kerry

Man Gets 90 Days For Attacking Girlfriend Over Support Of Kerry

AP

March 31, 2005

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- An 18-year-old man has been sentenced to 90 days in jail for attacking his girlfriend for supporting Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry last fall.

Steven Soper pleaded guilty Wednesday to false imprisonment, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, battery and resisting arrest without violence.

Prosecutors said Soper pointed a knife at Stacey Silveira, 18, and threatened to kill her. The couple had been dating for two years.

-snip-

Salnick said Soper had wanted to join the Army.

-snip/more-

http://www.news4jax.com/news/4333519/detail.html

[Wilms]

10. (CA) McPherson is sworn in as secretary of state

McPherson is sworn in as secretary of state
Republican takes the reins of office shaken by scandal.

By Jim Sanders -- Bee Capitol Bureau

March 31, 2005

-snip-

Privately, some Democrats had reservations about voting for a Republican.

They ultimately decided that they were unlikely to get a more moderate GOP nominee and that a permanent secretary of state is needed immediately to help right the troubled agency.

-snip-

At Núñez's urging, no Assembly Democrats opposed McPherson in Wednesday's floor vote. But four Democrats abstained: Mervyn Dymally of Compton, Lori Saldaña of San Diego, Jackie Goldberg of Los Angeles and Paul Koretz of West Hollywood.

-snip-

Dymally, who earlier had cast the lone vote against McPherson in the Assembly Rules Committee, said he was outraged that the nominee's 17-member transition team included only one African American and one Latino.

"I think a guy who's so moderate and who is exalted to sainthood should have a little more sensitivity," Dymally said.

-snip/more-

http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/12649472p-13502923c.html

[Wilms]

11. C-SPAN Daily Alert: Programming Information for Thur. 3/31 - Fri. 4/1

Programming Information for Thur. 3/31 - Fri. 4/1, 2005



C-SPAN Highlights

Tonight
. Pres. Bush Remarks on Cmsn. on Intelligence Capabilities Report on WMDs (8pm)
. White House Briefing with Homeland Security Adviser Fran Townsend (8:45pm)
. Panel on Regulation of Bloggers and the Internet (9:15pm)
. Check http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/schedule.csp for Schedule Updates

Tomorrow
. U.S. House: In Recess until Tuesday, April 5th
. Pres. Bush Remarks on America's Youth (10:50am) - LIVE
. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Remarks at Int'l Law Conference (4:30pm) - LIVE




C-SPAN 2 Highlights

Tonight
. Re-Air of Digital Future Series: "The Experience of Reading" (6:30pm)
. Re-Air of Digital Future Series: "Copyright Issues" (8pm)
. Interview with a U.S. Soldier Wounded in Iraq (9:30pm)
. Human Rights Watch Remarks on Crimes in Darfur (10:05pm)

Tomorrow
. U.S. Senate: In Recess until Monday, April 4th
. Re-Air of Digital Future Series: "Publishing Online" (6:30pm)
. Re-Air of Digital Future Series: "Internet Zero" (8pm)
. Interview with a U.S. Soldier Wounded in Iraq (9:30pm)





C-SPAN 3 Highlights

Tonight
. Lecture on Dilemmas of Bioethics (6:10pm)
. Photojournalists on Photographing the White House (8pm)

Tomorrow
. LIVE Programming TBA

C-SPAN Radio Highlights

Tonight
. Howard Univ. Town Hall Meeting w/ RNC Chair Ken Mehlman (7pm) - LIVE

Tomorrow
. Pres. Bush and Laura Bush on Helping America's Youth (10:50am) - LIVE
. Justice Ginsburg & Sec. of State Rice at Intl. Law Forum (4:30pm) - LIVE


Washington Journal Highlights

. Newspaper Articles, Viewer Phone Calls & Hotline
. James Carafano, Heritage Foundation, Senior Fellow, on Iraq Reconstruction
. Patricia Wald, Cmsn. on Intelligence Capabilities, Member
. Check www.c-span.org for Schedule Updates




BookTV Highlights

.In Depth with Robert Kaplan - LIVE Sun. 12pm




C-SPAN Special Promotions

. The C-SPAN School Bus - on tour now. See the list of cities. - http://www.c-span.org/classroom/schoolbus/busschedule.asp



C-SPAN Capitol Spotlight

. A critical report on U.S. intelligence mistakes in assessing Iraq's pre-war weapons of mass destruction capability is unlikely to trigger major changes in existing law... - Full Story at http://www.c-span.org/capitolspotlight/index.asp

. Which Illinois Representative attended Georgetown University on a basketball scholarship? - Answer at http://www.c-span.org/capitolspotlight/index.asp


C-SPAN. Created by Cable. Offered as a Public Service.

For the very latest programming information, please visit our Schedule Page at http://newsletter.c-span.org/cgi-bin1/DM/y/enXI0K6uJz0CKr0GRuB0AC


Copyright 2005, National Cable Satellite Corporation

[Wilms]

12. (ID & GA) Hot debate over photo IDs for voters

Hot debate over photo IDs for voters
Measures blasted as 'updated form of Jim Crow'The Associated Press

The Associated Press
March 30, 2005

INDIANAPOLIS - Legislation that would require voters to show photo identification before casting ballots has touched off fierce debate in three states, with opponents complaining the measures represent a return to the days of poll taxes and Jim Crow.

Lawmakers in Georgia and Indiana walked off the job to protest the proposals, which they say would deprive the poor, the elderly and minorities of the right to vote. Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, has already vetoed a similar measure and has vowed to do so again.

-snip-

Nineteen states require voters to show identification, but only five of those request photo ID, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Those states — Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina and South Dakota — allow voters without a photo ID to present other forms of identification, such as a utility bill, or sign an affidavit of identity.

Critics say the measures in Indiana, Georgia and Wisconsin do not provide good alternatives for those without photo IDs.

-snip/more-

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7337972

Thanks to WLKjr for posting
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3397229

[Wilms]

13. BradBlog: GOPUSA Runs CNS Story on GOP Front Group ACVR

Revealing More About Phony 'Voting Rights' Org, GOPUSA Runs CNS Story on GOP Front Group ACVR!

Meanwhile, RNC operatives and snake-oil men behind the plan to scam America continue to expose themselves...and we're happy to lend a hand.

Blogged by Brad on 3/31/2005

In an apparent attempt to shore up the discredited American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR) (see BRAD BLOG's Special Coverage on ACVR for more info) -- the phony "Voting Rights...

In an apparent attempt to shore up the discredited American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR) (see BRAD BLOG's Special Coverage on ACVR for more info) -- the phony "Voting Rights" group set up by Bush/Cheney/RNC operatives to provide a smoke-screen from what really went wrong in the 2004 general election -- GOPUSA, the phony "news" service created by Republican operative and shadowy money-meister, Bobby Eberle, most famous for creating the phony Talon News group, headlined by professional hooker cum phony journalist James Guckert (better known for his phony White House Correspondent name Jeff Gannon) is re-running the story published yesterday by their sister-phony-"news" group, Cybercast News Service (CNS) on the phony ACVR operation.

Got all that?

-snip/more-

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001298.htm

Discussion:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x351421

[Wilms]

14. Verified Voting Legislation Sweeping the States

Verified Voting Legislation Sweeping the States
VerifiedVoting.org Lobbies for Voter-Verified Paper Ballots

infoZine Staff

March 31, 2005

San Francisco, CA - infoZine - Noting the landslide toward requirements for voter-verified paper ballots (VVPBs) in states across the country, VerifiedVoting.org today announced a renewed effort to lobby state legislators to pass bills guaranteeing reliable, secure, and publicly verifiable election systems.

"A mandate for voter-verified paper ballots is sweeping the country," said VerifiedVoting.org Executive Director Will Doherty. "Election administrators, policymakers, and the public recognize the need to prevent the malfunctions, errors, and failures of paperless e-voting machines that occurred repeatedly across the country during November 2004 and prior election cycles."

-snip/more-

http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/6794/

[Wilms]

15. (FL) Miami-Dade elections supervisor quits amid pressure over voting snafu

Miami-Dade elections supervisor quits amid pressure over voting snafus

Miami Herald 31 March 2005

Miami-Dade Elections Department Supervisor Constance Kaplan resigned Thursday after County Manager George Burgess raised public questions about voting problems in six recent local elections.

This week Burgess launched an independent audit of her department and a review of five other local elections, after a faulty computer program did not count hundreds of votes in the March 8 special slots referendum. While Kaplan said the votes would not have changed the referendum's outcome, the parimutuel industry sent a letter to Burgess Thursday calling for a new election.

-snip-

Kaplan's downfall was quick. A veteran Chicago elections official who had overseen the process in countries around the globe, she was considered the only person who could save the disaster-prone Miami-Dade elections process when she ascended to the job in June 2003. Less than two years later, the one-time savior leaves with a tattered reputation.

Burgess described the decision as mutual but acknowledged that he felt there were improvements that could be made to the department. Kaplan's resignation is effective immediately and her chief deputy supervisor of elections Lester Sola has been named director, pending commission approval.

-snip/more-

http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=5102

[Wilms]

17. (VA) Bedford County to vote in a new way

Bedford County to vote in a new way

Victor Reklaitis

The News and Advance

March 31, 2005

Voters throughout Bedford County will use touch screen machines in this year’s November elections, after using lever machines for the last time in the upcoming June primaries.

-snip-

The federal government will reimburse Bedford County for the cost of the machines. It also has allotted the county an additional $52,000 (not $200,000, as reported Tuesday) that can be spent on training sessions for poll workers, informational mailings for voters and similar items.

The 112 machines, produced by Sequoia Voting Systems, will come from Atlantic Election Services Inc. Sequoia’s Edge equipment was unanimously recommended by a committee that reviewed a range of machines.

-snip-

“It’s just a very conservative protest vote on having to spend $400,000 of the government’s money,” Wheeler said Wednesday. “(HAVA) was another government boondoggle, in my opinion.”

-snip/more-

http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=LNA/MGArticle/LNA_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031781881977&path=

[Wilms]

18. I wish.

But stay tuned.