Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News WEDNESDAY 12/28/05

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"The right of voting for representatives is the primary right
by which all others are protected. To take away this right is to
reduce a man to slavery."
- Thomas Paine

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

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News WEDNESDAY 12/28/05

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

Please post E 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:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x371233

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



All previous daily threads are available here:
http://www.independentmediasource.com/DU_archives/du_2004erd_el_ref_fr_thr_calenders.htm

Please

"Recommend"

for the Greatest Page (it's the link just below).

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1. IRAQ: Massive protests on claimed election fraud!!

The Iraqi election process is turning into a total mess. There is supposedly a neutral election commission looking at this. Will there be enough trust to see the process through to an acceptable solution?

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/522865ea-7746-11da-a7d1-0000779e2340.html

Sunni lead mass Iraq poll protests

By Steve Negus, Iraq Correspondent, and Jan Cienski in Warsaw
Published: December 28 2005 02:00 | Last updated: December 28 2005 02:00

Thousands of Iraqis rallied in Baghdad yesterday, rejecting results in the December 15 parliamentary elections, while politicians started power-sharing talks between Shia, Kurdish and Sunni Arab leaders that may lead to a way out of the crisis.

In the Iraqi capital, an estimated 5,000-10,000 demonstrators representing Sunni Arab and secular groups claimed the massive lead taken by the Shia Islamists in the election stemmed from fraud and voter intimidation.

Marchers demanded elections be re-run, but also called for the formation of a national unity government - a move leaders of the Shia-led United Iraqi Alliance as well as Kurdish figures have already said is likely.

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2. IRAQ: Government intervenes to take gas prices off table just before elec

Well, what a surprise. The Iraqi government raised gas prices by a factor of eight but did it in a way to avoid an impact on the election of certain parties. Didn’t work. The Shiite religious factions won anyway. Just like here, elections get manipulated in many ways.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/27/AR2005122700929.html

At Gas Stations in Iraq, Price Hike Fuels Outrage

By Jonathan Finer and Naseer Nouri
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, December 28, 2005; Page A15

The price increase brought the cost of a gallon of gasoline to the equivalent of about 40 cents from less than 5 cents. It is meant to be the first in series of jumps over the next year designed to raise the price of fuel to the average in Persian Gulf states, which a U.S. official said Tuesday was about 93 cents per gallon.

The International Monetary Fund required Iraq to phase out its hefty fuel subsidies as a precondition for forgiving up to 80 percent of its $120 billion foreign debt.

Enacted days after the country's Dec. 15 election, it has spawned large, mostly peaceful protests against the government in several cities. The timing of the decision spared politicians from voters' wrath, and now gas station operators say they have become the targets instead.

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3. IRAQ: Broad condemnation of election fraud in Iraq

.
BBC does a nice summary of the election problems in Iraq. :sarcasm:Why can’t the * administration handle a fair election?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4562178.stm

Iraqis condemn 'election fraud'
Demonstrators in Baghdad

Protests have been gaining momentum over several days

Thousands of Iraqis have staged a protest in Baghdad about results from the recent parliamentary elections, which they say were tainted by fraud.

Demonstrators chanted slogans alleging the polls were rigged in favour of the governing Shia religious bloc.


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"We're protesting to reject the elections fraud," said one protester quoted by Associated Press.. "We want to ask the government and the elections commission: 'Where did our votes go? Who stole them?'."

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4. FL, CA, etc.: The HAVA deadline side show.

HAVA is a contrivance designed to promote Republican voting systems vendors. Now that it’s succeeded in getting touch screens and centralized registration databases in place, it’s a lock for the Republicans. What we’re seeing is the final days of freedom in this country. The side show of deadlines, etc. is truly irrelevant. It’s the same old sad story we’ve experienced for centuries here. Now it’s mechanized.

http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=2707

E-voting Challenges Arise as Compliance Deadline Nears

by Brendan Coyne (bio)

Dec 27 - Amid questions about the reliability and security of electronic voting machines, elections officials in two states are taking strong measures against two of the nation’s largest e-voting machine manufacturers.

Two weeks ago, elections commissioners in Florida’s Leon and Volusia counties voted to dump Diebold Electronics Systems due to security weaknesses in the company’s machines. In tests, elections officials and a computer-security expert determined that the machines could be easily hacked, opening the way for electoral manipulations, the Miami Herald reported.

Last week, California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson warned Election Systems & Software that the state will decertify the company’s machines if it does not take immediate measures to correct certification and vote-counting problems found during a special election last November. That letter, which was obtained by the Associated Press, came as McPherson also placed Diebold’s certification in limbo, stating that federal officials would test the company’s memory cards, the Sacramento Bee reported.

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5. Nation: Great “Wired” article – worth a look.

”Wired” has done a great job covering voting machine problems and potential fraud. They also have an archive on the issue which is worth reviewing. Here’s the problem they’ve identified – the hacks by Hursti have generalized into a concern across the board about machine security. Well it’s about time…and these concerns are centering on tabulators. How many elections are counted by Diebold. Quite a few-30-50%. Just ask yourself, do you vote on an optical scanned ballot? It may be Diebold counting your vote.

http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,69893,00.html?tw=wn_1techhead

Diebold Hack Hints at Wider Flaws

By Kim Zetter Kim Zetter | Also by this reporter
2005-12-21 08:35:00.0

Election officials spooked by tampering in a test last week of Diebold optical-scan voting machines should be equally wary of optical-scan equipment produced by other manufacturers, according to a computer scientist who conducted the test.

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Optical-scan machines have become the preferred choice of many election officials due to the controversy over touch-screen voting machines, many of which do not produce a paper trail. Optical-scan machines use a paper ballot on which voters mark selections with a pen before officials scan them into a machine. The paper serves as a backup if the machine fails or officials need to recount votes.

The hack Thompson and Hursti performed involves a memory card that's inserted in the Diebold machines to record votes as officials scan ballots. According to Thompson, data on the cards isn't encrypted or secured with passwords. Anyone with programming skills and access to the cards -- such as a county elections technical administrator, a savvy poll worker or a voting company employee -- can alter the data using a laptop and card reader.

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6. Essential Reading: Bibliography on stolen election 2004 by Michael Keefer

This is first rate work and quite impressive considering the depth and the prompt delivery right after the election. A keeper.


http://www.yuricareport.com/2004%20Election%20Fraud/MichaelKeefersReferenceList.html

Integrity—or the lack of integrity—of the recent U.S. presidential election:
Evidence of Fraud in the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election: A Reader

by Michael Keefer

5 December 2004
www.globalresearch.ca
The URL of this article is: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/KEE412A.html

This Reading List, a substantially expanded version of previous lists published on 11 and 15 November, has been prepared with the aim of making a wide range of readings on the subject of the integrity—or the lack of integrity—of the recent U.S. presidential election readily available. It is being published as a companion-piece to my article “The Stolen U.S. Presidential Election: A Comparative Analysis.”

I have sought to facilitate analytical use of the materials in this revised and expanded list by dividing them into five subject-sections:

1. The Openness of New Voting Technologies to Fraud;

2. Allegations and Evidence of Fraud in Recent U.S. Elections;

3. Advance Warnings of Fraud in the 2004 Presidential Election;

4. Allegations and Evidence of Fraud in the 2004 Presidential Election: The Developing Controversy.

5. Appendix: Selected Articles on the 2004 Presidential Recall Referendum in Venezuela and the 2004 Presidential Election (Second Round) in Ukraine.

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7. OHIO: The Strange Death of American Democracy—Another Keefer classic.

This is one of the great documents of the election integrity movement.

http://globalresearch.ca/articles/KEE501A.html

The Strange Death of American Democracy:
Endgame in Ohio

by Michael Keefer

www.globalresearch.ca 24 January 2005

So who ever thought the 2004 U.S. presidential election had the remotest chance of being honest and democratic?

Not, one might guess, the electronic voting security experts like Ken Thompson, Roy Saltman, Rebecca Mercuri, Bruce Schneier, Doug Jones, Victoria Collier, Aviel Rubin, Lynn Landes, and Bev Harris, who have for years been warning that the new voting technology coming into use in the United States offers unprecedented opportunities for electoral fraud.<1>

Probably not Osama bin Laden, who made his much-anticipated Jack-in-the-Box video appearance three days before polling day: wearing a gold-lamé hospital gown in front of a blank shower curtain, and with a nose that looked to have been quite recently punched flat, he landed some anti-Bush shots that Rush Limbaugh and the other ring-tailed roarers of the American right were happy to interpret as a last-minute endorsement of John Kerry.<2>

And certainly not Republican Congressional Representative Peter King, who made an equally notable video statement on the afternoon of November 2nd, long before the polls closed, in the course of a White House function that seemed to have put him into a celebratory mood. "It's already over," he told the interviewer. "The election's over. We won." Asked how he knew at that early hour, King replied: "It's all over but the counting. And we'll take care of the counting."<3>

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8. U.N. official- Iraqi elections credible, no justification for rerun

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051228/BREAKINGNEWS/51228011

Article published Wednesday, December 28, 2005

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A United Nations official said today that Iraq’s recent parliamentary elections, which have given a strong lead to the Shiite religious bloc dominating the current government, were credible and that there was there was no justification in calls for a rerun.

In violence today, an inmate in a Baghdad prison grabbed an assault rifle from a guard Wednesday and opened fire, killing eight people, police said. One American soldier was injured in the attempted prison break, the U.S. military said.

The Shiite bloc held talks with Kurdish leaders about who should get the top 12 government jobs, as thousands of Sunni Arabs and secular Shiites protested what they say was a tainted vote. Two Sunni Arab groups and former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s Iraqi National List have threatened a wave of protests and civil disobedience if fraud charges are not properly investigated.

In another of continuing political demonstrations across the country, more than 4,000 people rallied Wednesday in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, in favor of the major Sunni Arab party, the Iraqi Accordance Front. Demonstrators carried banners say “We refuse the election forgery.”