Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News MONDAY 10/10/05

[autorank]

I would very much like my vote to count whenI cast it for
Tim Kaine for Governor in Virginia. That's why I care about
election integrity. autorank

Never forget the pursuit of Truth.
Only the deluded & complicit accept election results on blind faith.

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News MONDAY 10/10/05

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.

If you can:

1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.

2. Post stories using the "Election Fraud and Reform News Sources" listed here:

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3. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU, providing a link to the original thread with thanks to the Original Poster, too.

4. Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.

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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=371233#371391



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[autorank]

1. BradBlog: Brad Rallies “The Pro-Democracy Movement” in America!

Has it come to this? We need our own pro-democracy movement. Brad, we’re on board!!!

H2]The Fight for American Democracy Continues...
Whether Those Who Hate America and Democracy Like it Or Not
http://bradblog.com/ or
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-friedman/the-fight-for-american-de_b_8580.html

{Blogged by Brad on the road...}

The fight for democracy in America -- even as we still scratch our head with continued wonder that a "pro-democracy" movement is actually necessary in the United States of America in 2005 -- continues to be a difficult one. But the fight is well worth it. Even as our victories tend to come in small, but continually accruing pieces.

We're not supposed to be talking about this issue at all, 11 months after November 2nd, 2004...and yet more and more are doing so every day. The Mainstream Corporate Media may not get it yet. But the ranks of great patriots who give a damn about their country continues to burgeon as the noise in favor of an accountable democracy increases every day due to the folks like the good readers of The BRAD BLOG who take their civic duty to heart.

Here are just a few of the latest positive signs in the continuing fight for a free, fair, verifiable and transparent democracy that many would prefer we simply didn't even discuss. We will continue to do so nonetheless. The burden is well worth carrying. The rewards for doing so are well worth the effort.

Debra LoGuercio, editor of Winters Express and columnist in Daily Republic and elsewhere, makes it a hat trick with her third column in as many weeks on our tenuous Electoral System. She was haunted by the siren sounded by our first article on the Diebold insider we dubbed DIEB-THROAT, who alerted us to the Dept. of Homeland Security website where a Cyber Alert was issued last year prior to the election about the vulnerability to hackers in Diebold's central tabulator software. That vulnerability has, by Diebold's own admission, never been addressed.

[autorank]

2. OH: Right Wing Justification for Opposing Ohio Clean Elections Initiative

Know your enemy. This is the view of those who oppose the Ohio clean election ballot initiative. It’s all due to outside liberals “in an other wise quiet and normal election year.” What’s quiet and normal about reacting to a stolen election 10 months earlier, to reacting to a state government riddled with corruption. Get a grip Gary. Read this. It’s telling.

Gary Cates: Stop outside special-interest groups from stealing our elections

http://www.middletownjournal.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2005/10/09/mj1009cates.html

Gary Cates: Stop outside special-interest groups from stealing our elections

Four weeks from Tuesday, voters will go to the polls to elect their local governing officials, school board members, and to vote on important local issues. In an otherwise quiet and normal election year, outside special-interest groups have placed four constitutional amendments — known as Issues 2, 3, 4 and 5 — on the ballot throughout Ohio.

These issues are four separate constitutional amendments that will appear on the Nov. 8 ballot. These issues attempt to rewrite Ohio’s constitution to loosen the standards on absentee voting; diminish the right of Ohioans to exercise free speech through supporting candidates and parties; adopt a chaotic method of redrawing Ohio’s legislative and congressional districts to be run by unelected bureaucrats; and remove the oversight of Ohio’s elections from a directly elected official who answers to the voters and gives it to activist judges appointing their political cronies.

The proposed amendments are backed exclusively by a coalition of Democrats and liberal special-interest groups deceptively calling themselves Reform Ohio Now. Contrary to the group’s claims, key supporters include the Rockefeller Foundation, Common Cause, Planned Parenthood, Sierra Club, Stonewall Democrats, AFL-CIO, Ohio Environmental Council, and dozens more of liberal special-interest groups outside of Ohio.

[autorank]

3. OH: Republicans Now Oppose Easy Absentee Balloting

Now Blackwell and the Republicans oppose absentee ballots as part of the state wide initiative. What’s up with that. Are they afraid there might be a real audit trail, you know with all that PAPER! This special election is a chance for Ohio to fire Blackwell and set it up to fire the rest of the Republican reign of terror.

Support shifts on absentee vote reform

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051009/NEWS09/510090313


By JIM PROVANCE
BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU

COLUMBUS - A proposed constitutional amendment that would open early voting by absentee ballot to any registered voter for any reason was originally the exception to the rule.


Even as the largely Republican opposition lined up to oppose other election-reform proposals on redistricting, campaign contributions, and election administration on the Nov. 8 ballot, it was divided on letting more voters use absentee ballots.

The House GOP inserted something similar into an election-reform bill the chamber overwhelmingly sent to the Senate in May. Republican heavyweights, Secretary of State Ken Blackwell and Attorney General Jim Petro, broke from the GOP pack to support this issue.

But now, early voting and no-fault absentee ballots, some form of which is in place in nearly half the states in the country, suddenly are not as popular. The provision added to the House bill is in danger in the Senate. And Mr. Blackwell has changed his mind.

"It's easier to simply urge people to vote against all of them," said Herb Asher, Ohio State University political science professor and spokesman for Reform Ohio Now, the largely Democrat coalition pushing all four amendments.

Voters will be asked to amend the Ohio Constitution to allow any voter to cast an absentee ballot by mail or in person at the county board of elections up to 35 days before the election. No longer would a voter have to attest he can't make it to the polls on Election Day due to age, illness, infirmity, military duty, or out-of-town commitments.

"I'm really puzzled as to why they would oppose it at this point and time," said Rep. Edna Brown (D., Toledo), who twice introduced non-fault absentee ballot bills before the idea was amended into House Bill 3 earlier this year.

"Why all of a sudden are some people who were supporting it now saying they oppose it?" she asked. "Why are they having a change of heart?"

[autorank]

4. Kabul: Afgan Warlords Win Big in Elections.

Plus ca change, plus ca la meme chose!

Afghan warlords retain power despite democracy

http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=121838

Sunday October 09, 2005 (1418 PST)

KABUL: The warlords who have haunted the political landscape in Afghanistan since the fall of the Soviet-backed regime are set to cling to power once again, after provisional results of the first parliamentary election were declared yesterday.

In the all-important province of Kabul, which has 33 seats in parliament, with 65 per cent of votes counted the Hazara warlord Mohammed Mohaqiq emerged as a clear front-runner, with the former Northern Alliance official Younis Qanooni close behind, according to The Independent.

A rare bright spot was provided by Malalai Joya, a female candidate who made her name by denouncing the warlords, and won a seat on a big popular vote in one of the first provinces to declare. But her success was overshadowed by the candidate running fourth in Kabul and almost certain to claim a seat, the notorious warlord Abd al-Rab Al-Rasual Sayyaf, a former ally of Osama bin Laden and alleged war criminal.


<snip>

Among the major losers appeared to be former Taliban candidates. A handful of former Taliban, including the ex-foreign minister who warned the US about the 9/11 attacks, Mullah Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, stood as candidates, but most looked unlikely to win. Only Mullah Abdul Salam Rocketi looked set to be elected in Zabol province.

The final results are expected on 22 October.

[autorank]

5. Philippines: President Attacks Fraud Accusers, Declares War on Terror

How strange is this. Arroyo has her election fraud charges dismissed by her pals on the Supreme Court and in Congress, then she turns on her opponents with a vengeance and starts trashing them. She’s so outrageous the Cardinal speaks out and admonishes her. Then what does she do? She accuses our FBI of helping her opponent and then declares a “War on Terror” which means civil liberties are curtailed. We’ve spread Bushism to the Philippines. Finally somebody likes us, they really like us (imitation being the ultimate form of flattery).

Arroyo threatens liberties, foes say

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/10/09/news/phils.php

By Carlos H. Conde International Herald Tribune

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2005
MANILA When the Philippine Congress dismissed election-fraud charges against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, she called it a "grand display of political maturity" and promptly offered her adversaries "my hand in reconciliation for the national interest."

But a month after that "glorious day," as Arroyo called it, the president, who faced possible impeachment over allegations of cheating in the election last year, stands accused by opposition legislators, lawyers, Roman Catholic clerics and others of a political offensive that critics like Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. call the equivalent of undeclared martial law.

"It's a reality," said Pimentel, who was jailed under the autocratic rule of Ferdinand Marcos. "What is happening is the president is avoiding the use of the term 'martial law.' But she is exercising powers that can only be justified under a martial-law situation."

Arroyo has banned protest rallies, for instance, and prohibited government officials from testifying in congressional investigations. Citing the recent Bali bombings, she is urging passage of a strict antiterrorism law that a number of legislators and legal experts say leaves room for abuse on the part of the government.

The president and her close aides have vigorously defended these actions. "I have to put my foot down for the sake of the people, for the sake of enabling the government to work rather than be disabled by the politics of insult," Arroyo said in a recent speech.

She has been bolstered by a new disclosure that an FBI intelligence analyst has been charged in the United States with helping her opponents by funneling them classified information stolen from the bureau's database, information potentially damaging to Arroyo.

<snip>

Legislators, both for and against Arroyo, protested the order, calling it unconstitutional. Even the Roman Catholic Church, which did not support the calls for Arroyo's removal, has been disturbed. Cardinal Ricardo Vidal, archbishop of Cebu, said Arroyo's edict violated the Constitution.

<snip>

Speaking of the terrorist threat, she said Wednesday: "It is time to cut it down while it is trying to spread its tentacles in many countries."

Critics, however, call the bill too sweeping in its definition of terrorism. On Wednesday, an Arroyo ally in Congress said antigovernment protests could sow panic and, as such, could be considered terrorism. The comment prompted one legislator to withdraw support for the bill.

[Wilms]

6. CA: Bill: Paper trail required for e-voting

Article Last Updated: 10/09/2005 02:32:32 AM

Bill: Paper trail required for e-voting

Governor passes new legislation ensuring accuracy of electronic voting machines

By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER

snip

As the first state to require paper trails for e-voting, California now becomes the largest state in the nation to use those paper trails as the ultimate arbiters of political races, a move expected to sway other states.

snip

"There's nothing that say the paper trail has to be this funky, thermal, toilet-paper thing," she said. "One of the choices that the vendors have is to make a paper trail that will be easier for the elections officials to use."

snip

"Grassroots had such a big role to play," Bowen said. "I just really love to see that happen. That's how democracy's supposed to work."

http://www.insidebayarea.com/timesstar/news/ci_3101269

[Wilms]

7. Robert C. Koehler: Ballot And Soul

Robert C. Koehler: Ballot And Soul

Monday, 10 October 2005, 12:56 pm

Opinion

If I want to generate a little fear-based insomnia, all I have to do is remind myself just before bedtime that the 2006 elections are barely a year away. Suddenly I'm awash in cold sweat and my heart starts pounding like a steam piston.

snip

We've been complacent about our democracy for the past 40 years. Since then, a lethargy - a "sophisticated despair," as some have described it - has set in. Voter turnout has steadily plummeted. Until last year, barely half the registered voters bothered to show up to choose a president, and little of consequence was at stake in any case. The contests between superficially distinguishable candidates seemed to hinge on gaffes and tie color, not issues. Our democracy was dying of indifference.

snip/more

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0510/S00107.htm

Discussion:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x396572

[Wilms]

8. Ask C-Span to Cover the Freeman/Mitofsky Debate

Ask C-Span to Cover the Freeman/Mitofsky Debate

So we can all watch this amazing event on TV!

Suggest Events: Submit a public event that you think C-SPAN should cover
[email protected]

C-SPAN TELEPHONE NUMBERS
Main Number: [phone]


------------------
Was the 2004 Presidential Election Stolen? Two Experts Face off in Lively Discussion

Friday, October 14, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
University of Pennsylvania Terrace Room, Logan Hall,
249 South 36th Street
Philadelphia

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=54651

Contact: Dava Guerin, 215-914-2040, 215-262-0740 (cellular)

Thanks to garybeck:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x396560

[Algorem]

9. Ohio Issue 5: What if it passes? Would panel replace secretary of state?

Monday, October 10, 2005
Reginald Fields
Plain Dealer Bureau

Columbus- Issue 5, which would shift oversight of state elections to a nine-member commission, is shaping up as a far more provocative question for voters: Does Ohio need a secretary of state?

"If this initiative passes, I don't know why you'd need a secretary of state," said State Rep. Kevin DeWine, a suburban Dayton Republican, who is against Issue 5. "I don't know why we wouldn't just eliminate the office completely and transfer all of the business filing stuff to the Department of Commerce."

"We have no intention of abolishing the secretary of state's office," said Herb Asher, an Ohio State University professor and principal leader of Reform Ohio Now, the group pushing the proposal. "But I think it will be up to the legislature to decide whether there is still a need for a secretary of state."

Carlo LoParo, spokesman for Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, a Republican, said it would be politically awkward to downsize...

http://www.cleveland.com/reform/ -The Plain Dealer examines Reform Ohio Now, a series of election reform proposals on the Nov. 8 ballot, in a special series.

[Wilms]

10. Touchscreen Voting Increases Election Costs in Florida

Touchscreen Voting Increases Election Costs in Florida

Report on a Survey of Changes in Total Annual Expenditures
for Florida Counties Before and After Purchase of Touch Screens:
A Comparison of Total Annual Expenditures for Touch Screens and Optical Scanners.

By Dr. Rosemarie Myerson and Richard Myerson

In February of 2005, Dr. Rosemarie Myerson completed a study of annual expenditures of the election departments of two Florida counties. The data showed the cost of using touch screen voting machines in Sarasota county was higher than the county’s previous cost when using punch cards and higher than the cost of using optical scanners in a neighboring county. This enlightening study made people aware that not only are touch screens more expensive to acquire, they are also more expensive to operate year after year.

snip/more

http://www.votersunite.org/info/costcomparisonextended.asp

Thanks to JohnGideon for posting:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x396623

[PeterPan]

11. Feeney's "End of Democracy Act of 2005" must be defeated

This bill cynically links repressive Voter ID provisions to meaningless voter verified paper record language.

Please sign and circulate the action alert against 3910 and in support of Rush Holt's HR 550.
http://www.congressweb.com/cweb4/index.cfm?orgcode=VTUSA&hotissue=1

[Wilms]

12. Opinion: Investigate Diebold

10/09/2005 10:45:48 PM

Investigate Diebold

William Alder's comments (“Machines are corruptible,” Forum, Oct. 2) are a welcome reminder of how negligent the news media have been in pointing to problems with the Diebold voting systems.

When one visits the Internet some surprising information comes to light. The voting machines and the vote count programs are a family enterprise of the Urosevich brothers who are reported to have strong ties to the Republican Party.

Their systems malfunctioned to such an extent at the 2004 California primary that the state sued the company and a settlement for $2.6 million was reached.

snip/more

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_3102280