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kpete

(71,979 posts)
Thu Oct 18, 2012, 10:57 AM Oct 2012

Does the Romney Family Now Own Your E-Vote? - YEP, PRETTY MUCH - By Bob Fitrakis

Does the Romney Family Now Own Your E-Vote?

October 18, 2012 at 09:35:55
By Bob Fitrakis

by Gerry Bello, Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman

Will you cast your vote this fall on a faulty electronic machine that's partly owned by the Romney Family? Will that machine decide whether Romney will then inherit the White House?

Through a closely held equity fund called Solamere, Mitt Romney and his wife, son and brother are major investors in an investment firm called H.I.G. Capital. H.I.G. in turn holds a majority share and three out of five board members in Hart Intercivic, a company that owns the notoriously faulty electronic voting machines that will count the ballots in swing state Ohio November 7. Hart machines will also be used elsewhere in the United States ( Hart Intercivic ).




In other words, a candidate for the presidency of the United States, and his brother, wife and son, have a straight-line financial interest in the voting machines that could decide this fall's election. These machines cannot be monitored by the public. But they will help decide who "owns" the White House.

They are especially crucial in Ohio, without which no Republican candidate has ever won the White House. In 2004, in the dead of election night, an electronic swing of more than 300,000 votes switched Ohio from the John Kerry column to George W. Bush, giving him a second term. A virtual statistical impossibility, the 6-plus% shift occurred between 12:20 and 2am election night as votes were being tallied by a GOP-controlled information technology firm on servers in a basement in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In defiance of a federal injunction, 56 of Ohio's 88 counties destroyed all election records, making a recount impossible. Ohio's governor and secretary of state in 2004 were both Republicans, as are the governors and secretaries of state in nine key swing states this year

...........................

MORE:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Does-the-Romney-Family-Now-by-Bob-Fitrakis-121018-232.html
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2012/4724

28 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Does the Romney Family Now Own Your E-Vote? - YEP, PRETTY MUCH - By Bob Fitrakis (Original Post) kpete Oct 2012 OP
Paper ballot janlyn Oct 2012 #1
Interesting. In Licking County we do not have paper ballots at the polls anymore. peace13 Oct 2012 #5
No paper ballot's on election day at the precints in Ohio!! peace13 Oct 2012 #6
Even if people are allowed to vote on paper, Stevepol Oct 2012 #19
thanks janlyn Oct 2012 #20
Someone please tell me yankeepants Oct 2012 #2
As an Ohioan who has already witnessed stolen elections... peace13 Oct 2012 #3
Yet you will find many posts & responses of DUers CrispyQ Oct 2012 #16
And that's why privatizing sucks. Baitball Blogger Oct 2012 #4
He has a vested interest or his family does he bkkyosemite Oct 2012 #7
So Ole Joe on the morning show said it's up to Ohio and Romney owns bkkyosemite Oct 2012 #8
Was it Joe who mentioned romney owns part of the machines? Cha Oct 2012 #23
The day we allowed no public info is the day democracy died. Period. WinkyDink Oct 2012 #9
There must be something we can do. bkkyosemite Oct 2012 #10
We can, but Doctor_J Oct 2012 #11
That's what bothers me the most. I agree it's disgusting that they have done nothing. Booster Oct 2012 #12
But we didn't have the super-duper majority to do something about it, CrispyQ Oct 2012 #18
Paper please. ananda Oct 2012 #13
"notoriously faulty electronic voting machines"? IDemo Oct 2012 #14
Wait one damn minute! Isn't this a Conflict of Interest? chowder66 Oct 2012 #15
Wish I could multiple rec this. CrispyQ Oct 2012 #17
Hart Intercivic? Blue Owl Oct 2012 #21
And, I read that bush didn't steal the 2004 Cha Oct 2012 #22
And this is the only way those two fuckers can win. lonestarnot Oct 2012 #24
I definitely think they're gonna try and steal this! DearHeart Oct 2012 #25
Why wouldn't they? Doctor_J Oct 2012 #27
I know! I keep wondering what would happen if... DearHeart Oct 2012 #28
What I found... FamilyMan Oct 2012 #26

janlyn

(735 posts)
1. Paper ballot
Thu Oct 18, 2012, 11:02 AM
Oct 2012

My county offers a paper ballot. I have ALWAYS voted paper ballot. As a tech person I know that computer programed machines are only as good as the people who program them.And numbers can be easily fudged!!

I would urge everyone to ask for a paper ballot!

 

peace13

(11,076 posts)
5. Interesting. In Licking County we do not have paper ballots at the polls anymore.
Thu Oct 18, 2012, 11:11 AM
Oct 2012

Check to verify that they will be there on election day because if not you will have to use a machine. I vote early, on paper, at the BOE and encourage anyone who votes absentee to drop their ballot off in person at the BOE.

 

peace13

(11,076 posts)
6. No paper ballot's on election day at the precints in Ohio!!
Thu Oct 18, 2012, 11:18 AM
Oct 2012

Please note in Ohio on election day there are no paper ballots unless you vote PROVISIONAL! Folks, in Ohio if you walk in to vote you will use a machine unless you plan on casting a provisional ballot.

Stevepol

(4,234 posts)
19. Even if people are allowed to vote on paper,
Thu Oct 18, 2012, 06:14 PM
Oct 2012

where I am in Kansas (Sedgwick County), the paper is immediately run through an optiscan to be counted and there are no required audits. You might want to check to see how the paper is counted.

The paper doesn't mean much if it's not hand-counted. The optiscans are just as easy to maliciously program as the touch screens.

Something that people need to recognize and remember:

When the vote is counted in total secrecy without verification, it's impossible to have a democracy.

 

peace13

(11,076 posts)
3. As an Ohioan who has already witnessed stolen elections...
Thu Oct 18, 2012, 11:08 AM
Oct 2012

This is sickening. Our former Dem SOS said five years ago that our machines were easily hackable then. Not a thing has been done about it. After professing this she ran for another office in the middle of her SOS term and left us with a Republican SOS. Yes folks we are in trouble.

But hey, The people of this country have been out to lunch for so long it is probably too late to stop the machine. We were protesting on the statehouse steps for a month and a half but no one joined us. Kerry rolled over and that was it. Go figure.

When Jimmy Carter comes out and says fair elections for all Americans we can get the pencil and ballot out and begin again to count the votes. Until then we do not even have the third world protection that our former President affords other countries.

CrispyQ

(36,437 posts)
16. Yet you will find many posts & responses of DUers
Thu Oct 18, 2012, 02:17 PM
Oct 2012

chortling about how we're going to win, how it's in the bag.

I didn't know that about your SOS running for another office. ~heavy sigh. They could do it again.

bkkyosemite

(5,792 posts)
8. So Ole Joe on the morning show said it's up to Ohio and Romney owns
Thu Oct 18, 2012, 11:23 AM
Oct 2012

part of the machines being used. I see a fix coming in...

bkkyosemite

(5,792 posts)
10. There must be something we can do.
Thu Oct 18, 2012, 11:37 AM
Oct 2012

We need to start a petition to state we want a paper trail and that we the public are the owners of our vote. I know it's wishful thinking but wish we could stop this blantant corruption before our eyes. It's sickening! Maybe if there were enough of us we could make a dent in turning this around.

 

Doctor_J

(36,392 posts)
11. We can, but
Thu Oct 18, 2012, 11:42 AM
Oct 2012

it will require things blowing up. The Dems were first confronted with this 12 years ago, and have done absolutely nothing about it for 12 years. Disgusting.

CrispyQ

(36,437 posts)
18. But we didn't have the super-duper majority to do something about it,
Thu Oct 18, 2012, 02:21 PM
Oct 2012

so crickets was better than something.



IDemo

(16,926 posts)
14. "notoriously faulty electronic voting machines"?
Thu Oct 18, 2012, 01:09 PM
Oct 2012

It seems to me they have performed very well for the task they were designed for.

chowder66

(9,065 posts)
15. Wait one damn minute! Isn't this a Conflict of Interest?
Thu Oct 18, 2012, 01:38 PM
Oct 2012

No candidate should have any association whatsoever with any type of voting machine, ballot producers, etc.

Cha

(297,029 posts)
22. And, I read that bush didn't steal the 2004
Thu Oct 18, 2012, 11:54 PM
Oct 2012

election.. this looks like it says differently.

This is some scary shit.

 

Doctor_J

(36,392 posts)
27. Why wouldn't they?
Fri Oct 19, 2012, 09:46 AM
Oct 2012

If they do, there won't be any repercussions. We're going to keep getting bullied until we hit back.

DearHeart

(692 posts)
28. I know! I keep wondering what would happen if...
Sun Oct 21, 2012, 01:45 AM
Oct 2012

If they did steal it, what would people do? I'm afraid that most people would just accept it and not bother to protest or "hit back". I don't know that I can handle another election being stolen. And, since the Romney's (Tagg, Anne and another family member) own the company that makes the electronic voting machines, I got that sinkin feeling!

 

FamilyMan

(31 posts)
26. What I found...
Fri Oct 19, 2012, 01:28 AM
Oct 2012

Here is a link to my thread on what I found...it looks like Karl Rove and company are trying to engineer a horse race so they can let their machines work their 'magic' if things get tight: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021577305

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