Freeman letter to editor re Mullane article on stolen election

[Melissa G]

Peace Patriot suggested I post a separate thread for this response letter because she thought it was more accessible as a General read

Letter reprinted with permission of author so here in full..
Re: Was 2004 presidential election stolen? by J.D. Mullane





I would like to thank the Bucks County Courier Times for covering my presentation to the American Statistical Association (Re: Was 2004 presidential election stolen? by J.D. Mullane http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/219-10202005-557661.html ).



But what kind of journalism is it for a reporter who acknowledges that he “is lousy at math” to render a pronouncement on a presentation to statisticians without even taking the trouble to try to understand what “correlation” means? Wouldn’t your readers be better served by learning what the statisticians and others in the audience thought?



Just to set the facts in order, the thrust of my presentation was:



We had an election in which (1) extensive malfeasance and count corruption has been documented, and far more has been alleged, but has gone uninvestigated; (2) in Ohio, a state in which Kerry had a decisive edge in the exit poll numbers, a manual count which could have verified the official count was obstructed by the Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell, who also served as chair of the Ohio Bush/Cheney campaign; and (3) 30% of Americans cast their ballots on electronic voting machines providing absolutely no assurance or verifiability that votes were counted as cast.



Given such a context, an exit poll discrepancy of 6 percentage points between the official count and exit poll projections warrants investigation. Especially given a nationwide 6.5 percentage point Precinct-Level Deviation. This is the difference between how 114,559 voters in selected precincts across the nation reported casting their ballots in confidential questionnaires as they exited the polls and the official counts in those very same precincts where the exit polls were conducted. Moreover, these are the final numbers, not the “half-time score” as Mitofsky and Mullane imply.



My talk to the American Statistical Association showed that the official explanation that Bush voters disproportionately – and by a large margin – refused to fill out the questionnaires offered by pollsters is unsubstantiated by the facts. I documented 17 statistical improbabilities and mathematical impossibilities that result from this hypothesis. Readers can read the text and view the slides in the presentation at a web site I established for this research: http://www.appliedresearch.us/sf/epdiscrep.htm



By the way, Mullane should brush up on metaphor as well as math. “Sour grapes” refers to a rationalization made by a hungry fox as he walked away from succulent grapes that eluded his reach.” I am saying exactly the opposite, that nothing could be more important than a clean election. As John Roberts acknowledged in his confirmation hearings, the right to vote and have that voted counted is “preservative of all other rights.” Because of that, we can’t just move on and walk away from damning evidence of a stolen election.



Steve Freeman

Center for Organizational Dynamics

University of Pennsylvania

[second edition]

1. Good! I e-mailed this reporter yesterday echoing similar thoughts.

This wasn't about "sour grapes" and "get over it-Bush won", it was about making elections accurate and fairer.

[Peace Patriot]

2. Great letter! Recommended! That last paragraph is dynamite!

I urge DUers to get Freeman's book as soon as it's available, swarm the book editors to demand coverage, reply to all coverage, give the book as a Christmas present to all family and friends (there is NOTHING they need more than to know what happened in the election--nothing!), and make it a best seller.

The public will soon be hungry for answers to: What has gone wrong with our country? (--when the Fitzgerald indictments start coming down).

And the answer is quite obvious, but has been blackholed by the war profiteering corporate news monopolies, who are themselves guilty of DOCTORING information (the exit polls) to confirm the results of Diebold's and ES&S's secret formulae, and to impose the Bush junta and its war on an unwilling and unconsenting public.

Freeman's book lays it all out. I haven't read the whole thing, but I've read the two analyses that have circulated on the internet, and he really nails it, in a clear and understandable way.

Secret, proprietary vote tabulation. Secret, proprietary exit poll data. And the numbers just don't add up.

It's past time for the American people to learn what has been done to their election system, and WHY/HOW these criminals are still in office. We need a broadbased election reform movement, at the state/local level, to throw these election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!

[IndyOp]

6. Is Freeman's conclusion that there definitely was enough

fraud to change the results of the election -- or -- enough fraud to warrant massive investigation?

At least one statistician from US Count Votes seems to have some serious concerns about Steve Freeman's analyses - I mention this because I want all people who are investigating fraud to be successful. Always a good idea to know about potential criticisms and be ready to respond. Here is the start of my back & forth with the US Count Votes statistician...
<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x397828#397916>

[Time for change]

12. This is just my opinion

But I've read a lot of Freeman's stuff, and I don't believe that he has ever said that the exit polls provide proof of a stolen election, and I don't believe that he would say that if asked. He definitely thinks that they're very suggestive of a stolen election. I certainly agree that they add considerably to weight of the evidence that the election was stolen.

[Stevepol]

3. A tremendous letter. I believe Freeman is getting stronger and stronger

in his conviction that the vote was stolen. He sounds like a crusader. I hope he begins to make the talk shows and C-SPAN etc. If he doesn't, why not?

[rdmccur]

4. Melissa,

any chance of inviting Freeman to a du discussion (online)?

[Melissa G]

9. I asked him a long time ago..it's not his thing... plus I'm sure we

would all rather he spent his time doing the needed research to get this book out which is quite substantial and time consuming! He has been very appreciative of the kind words and support expressed by DUers and info some of us have occasionally provided.

I'll ask him again though as a one time thing after the book is done!

[rdmccur]

11. I 'm sure Freeman is

a very busy guy. Thanks for the reply.

[Land Shark]

5. there's a simple formula regarding news coverage of election integrity:

1. There's no point in covering it because there's NO EVIDENCE of irregularity; or
2. There's no point in covering it because there's NOT ENOUGH EVIDENCE OF IRREGULARITY TO CHANGE THE RESULT of the election; or
3. If the activists say that the evidence shows that the election result is wrong, there's no point in covering it because IT'S ALL SO PARTISAN and is just SOUR GRAPES.

Note: because all political races are partisan and ties are virtually impossible, there is always a winner and loser. The winner never questions his victory, the loser is full of sour grapes. Thus the result, no matter what, is unimpeachable. According to the media.

[Melissa G]

10. You think the media are just lazy?.. some I have talked to spend

too much time watching, reading and same pablum they feed the general
public..so they seem to have become the sheeple too...
except for the times the corporate bosses kill the stories..

for example, the during the re redistricting in Texas. I often gave testimony and afterwards I was almost always asked for an interview...never saw a clip make it to the actual video news. With print I was was luckier and got more column inches than the Gov one day but they still left out all the good stuff..

[BeFree]

7. Freeman is a hero

And a True Patriot.

Its odd, don't ya think, that some here say there was fraud, but that the exit polls can't be used as evidence? My goodness how they do spin.

[glitch]

8. That's their job. Someone has to do it. Apparently.

Consider it a positive sign that their employer thinks it's necessary.

[FogerRox]

13. link to article by Mullane

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/219-10202005-557661.html

[Blue Shark]

14. You say...

..."official count was obstructed by the Secretary of State"... it was obstructed by our Great White Hope too you know. Had JFK II signed on to the recount with the 15 million dollars still in the till, the eyes of the nation and world would have seen if the reported totals matched the ballots and NONE of the shenanigi by Blackwell and others would have stood.

...The Ohio vote would have been finally counted and we would have a definitive answer as to the fraud and who actually won the presidency.


...so simple ...and so late.