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Carter/Baker Report can't face how the GOP stole America's 2004 election & is rigging 2008
by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
September 20, 2005

The stolen elections of 2000, 2002 and 2004 are nowhere to be found in the milquetoast Carter-Baker Report now passing for wisdom on America's broken electoral system.

And unless the public is ready to face the reality that we no longer live in a nation with credible elections, the 2008 balloting is all but over.

As investigative reporters and registered voters living in central Ohio, we witnessed firsthand the outright theft of the 2004 election. We also endured the unwillingness of the Democratic Party to face up to a carefully choreographed "do everything" strategy that gave the presidency to George W. Bush for a second time, and which could make all elections to come virtually moot.

The just-issued report of a special commission headed by former President Jimmy Carter and Bush family consigliore Jim Baker is of little real value.

The report warns that public confidence in the electoral system is disappearing. But it fails to point out the most obvious cause: in both 2000 and 2004, the presidency was stolen, and the Republican Party made a mockery of those who took the time and effort to vote. It did the same in Georgia in 2002, when it overrode the public will to install a Republican US Senator and Governor. The US Senate races that year in Minnesota and Colorado are also suspect, to say the least.

Much controversy surrounds the Carter-Baker report over its recommendation that photo IDs be required of all voters. This is the electoral equivalent of blaming the people of New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina (which, of course, this administration has essentially done).

A wide range of critics have pointed out that this requirement is racist and repressive. It is the equivalent of a poll tax and discriminates against people of color, the poor, the elderly, and civil libertarians who object on principle to a national identification card.

The report also recommends that officials who run elections should not be aggressive partisans. But the horse is already out of the barn on that one. Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004 were administered by co-chairs of the state Bush-Cheney campaigns. Secretaries of State Katherine Harris and J. Kenneth Blackwell were both extremely outspoken Republican advocates allegedly running non-partisan elections. It's now clear that their fraudulent, illegal vote fixing twice gave George W. Bush the White House.

Among the panel's 87 recommendations is also a warning that electronic voting machines must have verifiable paper trails. On paper this is important. But there are many ways to use electronic voting machines to steal elections, even with a paper trail, if the likes of Karl Rove and Dick Cheney are running the show.

In the most laughable Carter/Baker punch line, the commission warns that "had the margin of victory for the [2004] presidential contest been narrower, the lengthy dispute that followed the 2000 election could have been repeated."

In fact, in our own preliminary report, we have unearthed more than 180 bullet points dealing with exactly how the GOP did steal the presidency in Ohio. A "do everything" Republican assault on democracy used intimidation, fraud, vote theft, computer rigging, machine distribution manipulation, a fake Homeland security alert, trashing of provisional ballots, denial of a recount and dozens more "dirty tricks" to produce a 118,775 "official" margin for Bush that was an utter fiction.

Exit polls in nine swing states showed Kerry a clear winner as late as 12:21 am on election night. Nationwide exit polls showed him with a 1.5 million vote margin in the popular vote.

But somehow, against all statistical probability, Bush wound up with a popular vote victory of nearly 3.5 million. And somehow, against all statistical probability, he carried Ohio and three other states (Iowa, Nevada and New Mexico) where he had been the clear loser in the exit polls. Ohio alone was sufficient to give him a second term, just as Florida had been in 2000.

Such an outcome is beyond implausible -- unless you saw how the Rove-Blackwell machine stole the vote.

The tactics the GOP perfected in Ohio 2004 are now being honed for re-use in 2008. Neither Al Gore nor John Kerry nor the core of the Democratic Party has been willing to face the reality that elections in the United States are all but over. This latest wimp report from the Carter-Baker whitewash commission does no better.

Unless our electoral system gets a total top-to-bottom revamp by an informed public willing to deal with the systematic poisoning of American democracy, there is no reason to bother printing the ballots or plugging in the voting machines in 2008.

--
Harvey Wasserman & Bob Fitrakis are co-authors of HOW THE GOP STOLE AMERICA'S 2004 ELECTION & IS RIGGING 2008, now available in a special release at http://freepress.org and http://harveywasserman.com.

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Election Issues

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"Diebold hack proven in county test!"
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Glenn Yeagley

"Diebold Inc. in a tailspin after resignation of CEO and filing of a class action fraud lawsuit"
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"Orr thinks machines make voting simpler, more secure "
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Mario Bartoletti

"Diebold "hack test" - Sec. State / Black Box Lawyer square off"
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Black Box Voting

"With new legislation, Ohio Republicans plan holiday burial for American Democracy"
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"Important daily voting news"
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"Poll shock"
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"Ohio's Diebold Debacle: New machines call election results into question"
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"Diebold attempts to evade election transparency laws"
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"Supreme Court stabs another GOP knife into US democracy by upholding ex-felon vote ban"
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"What John Kerry definitely said about 2004’s stolen election and why it's killing American democracy"
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Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman

"Scrap the "secret" ballot - return to open voting"
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"Clarification of NEDA's withdrawal of Ohio exit poll paper"
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Kathy Dopp

"Clarification of NEDA's withdrawal of Ohio exit poll paper"
November 3, 2005
Kathy Dopp, National Election Data Archive

"Watergate-style money laundering indictments stoke Ohio's stolen election fires"
October 28, 2005
Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman

"Powerful Government Accountability Office report confirms key 2004 stolen election findings"
October 26, 2005
Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman

"Did you erase your own vote?"
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Warren Stewart, Director of Legislative Issues and Policy, www.VoteTrustUSA.org

"Why can't the left face the Stolen Elections of 2004 & 2008?"
October 18, 2005
Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman

"Carter/Baker Report can't face how the GOP stole America's 2004 election & is rigging 2008"
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"Two Steps Forward, One Step Back"
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"FEMA Chief Brown Paid Millions in False Claims to Help Bush Win Fla. Votes"
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"Ohio recount lawsuit set for trial; election workers indicted"
September 4, 2005
Blair Bobier

"Ohio Governor's ethics violations expose money trail to stolen 2004 election"
August 30, 2005
Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman

"Diebold's failure in California"
August 7, 2005
John Gideon, Information Manager, www.VotersUnite.Org and www.VoteTrustUSA.Org

"Did the GOP steal another Ohio Election?"
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Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman

"Conyers-Kaptur seek special counsel for Noe probe"
August 4, 2005
John Conyers, Jr. and Marcy Kaptur

"Dramatic new charges deepen link between Ohio's "Coingate," Voinovich mob connections, and the theft of the 2004 election"
July 29, 2005
Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman

"None dare call it stolen - Ohio, the election, and America's servile press"
July 24, 2005
Mark Crispin Miller, summarized by Mary Anne Saucier, Columbus, Ohio

"Civic Engagement and the Restoration of Community from a voter activist’s view"
July 19, 2005
Terri Zins

"My report from Hocking County, July 5, 2005: An update on Sherole Eaton's unfolding Story"
July 7, 2005
Victoria Parks, Ohio Backbone Campaign

"Handbook for Ohio Voter Activists, Version 2.0"
July 7, 2005
Various activists

"Direct testimony: Presented to Election Assessment Hearing"
July 4, 2005
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.

"Log Cabin Republicans in Ohio"
July 4, 2005
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.

"With a limp election theft report, Dems prove why they're unworthy"
June 28, 2005
Harvey Wasserman and Bob Fitrakis

"Voting problems and uncounted votes in Lucas County, Ohio"
June 28, 2005
Justine Smith

"The DNC 2004 Election Report: An indictment of incompetence"
June 25, 2005
Steven Rosenfeld and Bob Fitrakis

"Corporate control of the election process"
June 22, 2005
John Gideon

"Introduction: Did George W. Bush steal America's 2004 election?"
June 16, 2005
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman

"Voter Confidence Committee Calls For Rejection of CA Special Election"
June 16, 2005
Dave Berman

"Activists from 25 states lobby for paper ballots on June 9 and 10"
June 10, 2005
VoteTrustUSA.org

"Fear of riffraff"
June 10, 2005
Robert C. Koehler, Tribune Media Services

"Electoral Politics and the War: Lessons from 2004 and What the Anti-War Movement Should do in 2006"
June 8, 2005
Kevin Zeese

"Optical scan machines hacked in Florida"
June 2, 2005
Black Box Voting

"Does ES&S really want to sell the Automark machines?"
May 28, 2005
John Gideon

"Attack on election board whistleblower and leaked Blackwell threats re-fire Ohio's election theft scandal"
May 23, 2005
Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman

"Franklin County, Ohio Election Procedures – April and May 2005"
May 6, 2005
Paddy Shaffer

"Carter Gets It – But Will His Electoral Commission?"
April 24, 2005
Kevin Zeese and Linda Schade

"Voter Perceptions and Political Deceptions: Federal, Ohio and Knox"
April 24, 2005
Mike Swinford

"Electoral reform groups call for James Baker's resignation from electoral reform commission"
April 17, 2005
Ilene Proctor

"National Conference on Election Reform Opens with Civil Rights Panel"
April 13, 2005
Abigail Thorton

"View from Another Planet"
April 13, 2005
Josh Mitteldorf

"Democrats! Paper “Trails” Aren’t Good Enough. Count The Damn Ballots!"
April 12, 2005
Lynn Landes

"Democrats, Paper ‘Trails’ Aren’t Good Enough; Count The Damn Ballots!"
April 1, 2005
Lynn Landes, Online Journal Contributing Writer

"Scientific Analysis Suggests Presidential Vote Counts May Have Been Altered"
March 30, 2005
US Vote Counts

"As Blackwell Says, Ohio’s in 2004 was a National Model"
March 24, 2005
Steve Rosenfeld, Bob Fitrakis, and Harvey Wasserman

"Understanding the difference between paper ballots and paper audit trails"
March 20, 2005
Gary Beckwith

"Save Our Democracy"
March 16, 2005
John Irwin

"Republicans maneuvering to get Voting Rights Act killed"
March 10, 2005
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

"Legal filing highlights Blackwell's hypocrisy in Ohio recount case"
March 7, 2005
Blair Bobier

"Selma 40 Years Later"
March 6, 2005
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

"Exit Poll Madness - Analyst Steve Freeman & Company Offer False Choice"
March 4, 2005
Lynn Landes

"Libertarians To Testify in Ohio House: Modernize Ohio's Election Laws"
March 3, 2005
Robert Butler

"The New Voting Rights Movement Begins Here Today"
March 2, 2005
Steven Rosenfeld

"Voting in America"
February 28, 2005
Bob Babson

"The Mighty Texas Strike Force"
February 28, 2005
Nick Mottern - Documentary News Service

"Blackwell presidential election sanctions briefs"
February 22, 2005
Various individuals

"Representative Conyers and others file amicus brief in Ohio Supreme Court"
February 17, 2005
Dena Graziano

"Congresswoman Tubbs Jones Outraged at Blackwell's Failure to Appear During House Administration Hearing"
February 12, 2005
Office of Rep. Tubbs Jones

"Ohio Attorney-General's attack on election protection attorneys draws mountain of documentation on state's stolen election, including new study on exit polls"
February 3, 2005
Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman

"Prominent Statisticians Refute 'Explanation' of 2004 U.S. Exit Poll Discrepancies in New Edison/Mitofsky Report and Urge Investigation of U.S. Presidential Election Results"
January 31, 2005
Bruce O'Dell

"The last man to concede..."
January 29, 2005
Sheila Samples

"Report on Washington DC, January 6, 2005"
January 25, 2005
Avram Friedman

"Arkansas in 2004: Did Bush Really Win?"
January 24, 2005
Max Standridge

"New links"
January 23, 2005
Free Press staff

"Voting Problems and Uncounted Votes in Lucas County, Ohio"
January 23, 2005
Justine Smith

"Plan B: Parallel Elections & Signed Ballots"
January 20, 2005
Lynn Landes

"Open Letter to Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro from Representative John Conyers, Jr."
January 20, 2005
Representative John Conyers, Jr.

"Open Letter to Warren Mitofsky and Larry Rosin from Representative John Conyers, Jr."
January 20, 2005
Representative John Conyers, Jr.

"Ohio's GOP Attorney General launches revenge attack on Election Protection legal team"
January 19, 2005
Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman

"What are they hiding in New Mexico?"
January 18, 2005
Warren Stewart, National Ballot Integrity Project

"In the Shadow of Dr. King, counting the vote remains a civil rights issue"
January 17, 2005
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman

"Did the “Liberal Media” Get the 2004 Election All Wrong? "
January 16, 2005
Gene C. Gerard

"'COUNT EVERY VOTE. EVERY VOTE COUNTS'"
January 16, 2005
Mary Anne Saucier

"Moss v. Bush moves on and movement continues"
January 13, 2005
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman

"Rally Continues Drive for Democracy"
January 9, 2005
Mark Huntress

"Estimated vote count in Ohio"
January 8, 2005
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.

"January 6 Washington, D.C. rally report"
January 8, 2005
Nick Mottern

"Together, we moved three mountains"
January 8, 2005
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman

"What the election challenge means"
January 8, 2005
David Swanson, ILCA

"Progressive Democrats lead historic voting rights protest as Congress ratifies flawed 2004 Electoral College tally"
January 7, 2005
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman

"Arnebeck letter to Congress re Presidential Electoral Challenge"
January 6, 2005
Clifford O. Arnebeck, Jr.

"Senator Barbara Boxer, D-CA and Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-OH contested the election"
January 6, 2005
Free Press staff

"The "Crime of November 2": The human side of how Bush stole Ohio, and why Congress must investigate rather than ratify the Electoral College (Part Two of Two)"
January 5, 2005
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman

"Status Report of the House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff"
January 5, 2005
U.S. Rep. John Conyers and staff

"Seven key reasons why the vote must be challenged at the electoral college"
January 3, 2005
Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition

"Ten preliminary reasons why the Bush vote does not compute, and why Congress must investigate rather than certify the Electoral College (Part One of Two)"
January 3, 2005
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman

"Verified election contest petitions and documents in Ohio Supreme Court "
January 2, 2005
The undersigned

"Distribution of voting machines by county in Ohio"
January 1, 2005
Andy Shifflette

"Did We Bounce An Election?"
January 1, 2005
Warren Stewart, votersunite.org

"Presidential election congressional hearing transcript"
January 1, 2005
Congresspeople Waters, Tubbs-Jones and Conyers and others

Selected articles from 2004

"Ohio's official non-recount ends amidst new evidence of fraud, theft and judicial contempt mirrored in New Mexico"
December 31, 2004

"Impossible Phantom Votes in New Mexico "
December 30, 2004

"The 2004 Presidential Election: Who Won The Popular Vote? An Examination of the Comparative Validity of Exit Poll and Vote Count Data"
December 29, 2004

"Ohio GOP election officials ducking notices of deposition as Kerry enters stolen vote fray"
December 28, 2004

"Another third rate burglary"
December 25, 2004

"Hacking the vote in Miami County"
December 25, 2004

"Update from the Ohio Frontlines"
December 24, 2004

"Lawsuit Before the Ohio Supreme Court"
December 24, 2004

"Kerry votes switched to Bush and ballots pre-punched for Bush"
December 24, 2004

"Uncounted votes in Cuyahoga County"
December 24, 2004

Related Journal articles:

"GAO report documents how easy it is to hack the vote"
November 15, 2005

"J30 Election Reform Coalition"
March 21, 2005

"The Un-mighty New Hampshire Jam Force"
March 21, 2005

"Petro sanctions democracy"
March 21, 2005

"Progressives helped concede election by conceding the moral high ground"
March 21, 2005

"We will not concede, or get over it, but we shall overcome"
January 23, 2005

"From Selma to Palm Beach to Columbus"
January 23, 2005

"Movement Heroes"
January 23, 2005

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