fitrakis
53. Kerry
You're right. Kerry said on Ed Schultz's show that we shoudn't be allowing private companies to secretly count the ballot. That the bottom line battle at this point. It's basic, it's simple.
Yes, I think there a major shift among certain people in the Democratic Party including Kerry and Dean to believe that the private companies should be driven out of the process.
fitrakis
65. Dems reluctant
I've spoken to many Dems on this issue, in fact am corresponding with an official from a major northeaster state. There's a tremendous fear that elected officials will be marginalized if they bring up the fraud issue.
The mainstream media and the Repubs will use the socialization of the American people to attack anyone who suggests election fraud. This is the benchmark issue. Oddly, major Repubs know that election fraud is taking place. Kevin Phillips writes in "American Dynasty" that the Bush family is incapable of running an election without a CIA manua
bleever
120. A very enthusiastic thumbs up to independent exit polling by Dems.
And in an ideal world, I would take Peace Patriot's point about the Dem's silence on electoral fraud, and use it to advantage. Not having screamed Foul, or seriously contested the process and results, corrupt in so many ways last time, they are in the position of Reasonable People to say: No private companies running the elections. Pure and simple.
Make the Repubs defend "privatized voting".
fitrakis
68. Exit polls
After the 2004 election, the consortium announced that it wouldn't do exit polling in the future. It is my theory that the massive "polling errors" by the Columbus Dispatch and Akron Beacon Journal in the 2005 election about the four election reform issues, has also discredited the two most accurate polling organizations in Ohio.
We must begin to raise money and encourage a nonprofit group of social scientists, not beholden to the corporate media, to begin polling operations for the 2008 election.
Peace Patriot
69. Welcome, Bob! And a million thanks to you for your work on this PRIORITY
ONE issue of our country, of this era, and maybe in the whole history of democracy.
A lot of developments today....
Calif counties have requested emergency legislation (in state) to use all mail-in voting this June, because of the unreliability of Diebold touchscreens. Do you know any details of Oregon mail-in voting successes/glitches?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph... Febble has posted that New Mexico is going "all paper ballot," but when you read the article, you see that it's just optiscans. Cripes! Not to dis a successful effort at getting at least a paper trail, but this one is over-sold, and I think is one of the dangers the election reform movement faces--stopping way to short of real election reform, and everybody patting themselves on the back, and Diebold and ES&S still has "trade secret" control of the machines and central tabulators.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph... ES&S has pissed on Ion Sancho in Leon Country. They reneged on their contract, after Sancho threw Diebold optiscans out, leaving Sancho will no electronic voting options. I think this is a benefit in disguise. They should bid good riddance to ES&S, go with all mail-in, and sue the bastards.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...Any comments you have on any of this?
Is it democracy yet?
fitrakis
86. Various state problems
I think in the states where we can get mail-in voting, it is clearly preferable to evoting, although we have to make sure that full transparency prevails here as well. We're turning up numerous irregularities with absentee ballots in OH, e.g., the double-counting of Bush ballots in 2004 in Sandusky.
Optiscans have their own problems, although preferable to evoting. You've got the problem of over-calibration where in Toledo, thousands of ballots were rejected because of stray marks on the paper invalidated the whole ballot. Or, the wrong markers were put out in Toledo and they didn't scan.
Also the software could direct the vote count to be flipped, and then you have other situations where these voting results are sent to central tabulators that are also vulnerable.
I agree with your assessment of Leon County. It is a benefit in disguise if they have to go to paper ballots there.
AmBlue
76. Citizens everywhere are fed up....
and know that this issue is the big, fat pink elephant sitting in all our living rooms. They are sick and tired of our elected leaders not speaking out about this. But what about MoveOn?? Do you know why they haven't picked up this torch and run with it on the NATIONAL level??? (I know they have done some selective support of legislative matters as they arise, but it's not enough.)
fitrakis
95. Move On
I think they've created a huge political operation and they want to play it safe by sticking to consensus bread and butter issues as they see it.
They're afraid of being marginalized also. We really owe Vanity Fair, Harper's and In These Times and the bloggers a great debt of gratitude for being able to confront the election fraud issue. True Majority is moving in our direction and has been sponsoring forums, including a recent one on Dec. 14 that Mark Crispin Miller and I spoke at.
The Dean people, DFA and PDA have both been good on the issue. I recently spoke in MI before the DFA.
fitrakis
37. Kicking HAVA out
The criminal charges in Ohio related to Coingate and the current congressional scandal involving Rep. Ney should force him and many other Repubs from office. In the end, as the dots are connected, people will realize that the money laundering in Ohio was deliberate and criminal. And the ties to the Bush family are well documented.
Most of this was put in place by a former intelligence office, Paul Mifsud, who co-managed Daddy Bush's campaign in 1980 and 88. He was Voinvoich's Chief of Staff. If we can tie all of these corruption scandals into HAVA, and show that it was a deliberate attempt to undermine democracy, then I think we can dump it.
mod mom
1. OK, I will start. bob please comment on HCPB.
fitrakis
17. HCPB
I believe that HCPBs must be mandatory and counted at the precinct level. I was an international election observer and author of the report on El Salvador's election in 1994 and I witnessed far more voters at my precinct voting on paper, and their votes were easily counted by hand. No partisan private corporation should be allowed to count the ballots.
Thanks again mod mom and Bob Fitrakis...........
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