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Departments Election Issues A monumental victory for the election protection movement That the well-oiled, well-funded Rove/Bush theft machine lost control of the US House with the Senate as close as it is says just one thing: somebody was watching. In 2006, that would be thousands of volunteer grassroots activists who left no stone unturned to expose rigged voting machines, Jim Crow registration roadblocks, trashed provisional ballots, manipulated absentee voting processes, and much more. A nationwide movement has been born to apply the lessons of the stolen elections of 2000, 2002 and 2004. In the lead-up to 2006, activists and independent experts scrutinized voting machines and electoral processes as never before. Mainstream media reports from the New York Times to CNN's Lou Dobbs to hundreds of radio talk shows finally paid attention to "glitches" and "problems" and "long lines" and "disputes" that just an election cycle ago were dismissed as "business as usual" or the stuff of conspiracy theory. At least six major reports have now warned of the hackability of electronic voting machines. More than 90% of the American public has expressed concern about the sanctity of the US electoral system. At least two state governors have called for electronic voting machines to be discarded in favor of a return to paper ballots. As we write, in Montana the fate of the U.S. Senate rests on a hand count after a software failure on voting machines in a few remaining precincts. The impact? There is no way the 2006 election would not have been stolen without a concerted 50-state effort to guarantee otherwise. In Ohio, an unprecedented project by five statewide Green, Libertarian and independent candidates dispersed scores of election observers throughout the state placing them inside key county boards of elections and precincts. A classic case comes from central Ohio, "scene of the crime" for the 2004 election. In the 15th Congressional District, election protection attorney Cliff Arnebeck was initially turned away from voting due to lack of "proper I.D," even though he presented a valid Ohio driver's license and proof of his current address. Arnebeck serves as lead attorney in the King Lincoln lawsuit that has won preservation of the Ohio 2004 ballots and a number of key victories regarding election protection. After correcting the precinct officials through a call to the County Prosecutor’s office Arnebeck learned upon arriving at his office that, hundreds of voters were being wrongly forced to show various forms of personal identification. Arnebeck called the Secretary of State’s lawyers and Justin Letts, the law clerk to US District Judge Marbley. Soon after the SOS issued a new directive confirming that a valid drivers licence need not contain a current address. Election observers documented a staggering percent of voters who were being forced to cast provisional ballots. Provisionals are notoriously easy for GOP Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell to pitch or now delete from the e-voting machines. More than 16,000 of them, mostly on paper, remain uncounted from 2004. Clearly, this was set up to be a stolen cakewalk for incumbent Congresswoman Deborah Pryce (R-15th), fourth ranking House Republican and a close Bush ally. Instead, Pryce's alleged margin of victory is now less than 4,000 votes. Rather than conceding, challenger Mary Jo Kilroy has vowed to fight it out until the last ballot is counted. A Democratic poll watcher at the Ohio Student Union at Ohio State University estimated that as many as 50% of the students may have been forced to vote provisional ballots. These student voters are in the heart of the undecided race in the 15th district, and early reports indicate there are 20-40,000 uncounted e-provisional voters in that race. Around the country, races in at least eight states are still under extreme scrutiny. Lawsuits are being prepared, video tape reviewed, testimony collected, reports compiled. Numerous eyewitness accounts have been filed at democracy@freepress.org, with CommonCause and a wide range of other election protection web, phone and legal operations. Both Democrats and Republicans who might earlier have meekly conceded are now holding out until the very last vote is recounted. This is new to American politics. In years gone by, elections have been stolen and the populace---and even candidates, like John Kerry in 2004---have shrugged their shoulders. No more. Team Bush/Rove has taught the grassroots that our electoral process cannot be taken for granted. One major, hopefully temporary, casualty in 2006 has been exit polling. Exit polls have become the most reliable overall monitor on election outcomes. The are regularly within 0.1% of the official vote count in Germany. In 2004, they showed clearly that John Kerry won Ohio and the national popular vote. They've been used to guarantee and even overturn dubious results in Ukraine, Mexico, ex-Soviet Georgia, the Philippines and more. But in 2006 the major networks did their best to lock up exit polls results that might have embarrassed the White House. Instead, the exit poll results we re impounded under lock and key, to be released to the public only after the election, and after "experts" massage the data to make it match official vote counts. To this day, the core data from the 2004 exit polls has yet to be released to the public. This cannot be allowed to stand. In the upcoming 2008 election, exit polls must be made fully public well before the final vote counts are announced. They must be funded to one percent accuracy or better, and their raw data must be a matter of open public record. In the interim, the science of election protection will advance and spread. There is still no reliable way to monitor electronic voting machines, whose computer codes are still deemed private property, and held in secret. Before 2008, this practice must be abolished. As the Rev. Jesse Jackson has put it, there can be no public elections on privately controlled machines. A return to paper ballots is the bottom line. The color-coded, multi-shaped Swiss sequencing ballots would work perfectly fine here in the U.S., and would save the nation billions of dollars, as well as the hard uncertainty that surrounds our electoral process. But however we cut it, there has been a sea change in the election process. As Americans, we have too long taken for granted the right to vote and have our votes counted. Now we know we have to fight for that right. And that doing so has already helped turn the tide of American politics. -- Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman are co-authors, with Steve Rosenfeld, of WHAT HAPPENED IN OHIO?, just published by The New Press. Fitrakis and Wasserman are of counsel and a plaintiff in the King Lincoln lawsuit. Fitrakis was an independent candidate for governor of Ohio, endorsed by the Green Party. Wasserman's SOLARTOPIA! OUR GREEN-POWERED EARTH, A.D. 2030, is available at www.solartopia.org. Read more of their work at http://freepress.org. |
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Recent Election Issues Articles Renowned computer security expert agrees to meet California county supervisor's '1000 to 1' challenge to 'manipulate' Sequoia voting machine! 100 phantom votes found in one precinct; DelCo board of elections hinders investigation Think globally, protect the vote locally Will they or won't they: last chance for Democrats The vote protectors Ohio's 2006 vote count now includes a higher percentage of uncounted ballots than in 2004, and a statistically impossible swing to the Republicans The drama of empty numbers A monumental victory for the election protection movement Pick a number 2006 How they stole the mid-term election STOP Blackwell, what's that sign: Everyone look what's going down Parallel election midday report Tuesday's outcome may depend on the power of the election protection movement The power of a social movement can beat the GOP double Chickenhawks Check out We Count for a great TownHall confrontation between Vicki Lovegren of Ohio Vigilance and Michael Vu, Supervisor of Cuyahoga County BOE Official states electronic voting system added votes never cast in 2004 Presidential election; audit log missing Repairing the U.S. system of voting: 50 concrete steps Will a shocking new GOP court victory and Karl Rove's attack on Ohio 2006 doom the Democrats nationwide? Renoite sue Sequoia Voting Systems Severe election problems seen in ten states Direct material proof of massive election fraud in Ohio in the 2004 U.S. presidential election A talk with Mark Crispin Miller about what voters can do to prevent another stolen election Will Ken Blackwell find the ways to steal Ohio 2006 as he did in 2004? Important voter activism A loaves & fishes/Holy Ghost victory for the GOP in November? Why is the man who stole Ohio campaigning with a white supremacist? This cannot be Court victory lets preserved Ohio 2004 ballots tell new tales of theft and fraud as indictments and convictions mount Unfit for use in ANY democracy An open letter to Gov. Robert Taft and Sec. of State J. Kenneth Blackwell Coshocton County complaint Saving the ballot evidence from Ohio 2004 San Diego suit’s second hearing: Judge to rule next Tuesday on constitutional and jurisdictional questions New Zogby Poll: It’s Nearly Unanimous How the last presidential election awoke me from an unsound sleep PFAW's Neas praises advance of Voting Rights Act, Calls on Bush Administration to start enforcing the law Why Democrats don't count: lessons from the un-Gore of Mexico Resolution of no confidence in current U.S. elections An open letter from Ohio to the people of Mexico The stolen election of 2004 The Democrats must now say "We Do Not Concede" in the U.S. as it's being said in Mexico Project Vote, voting rights organizations, file to overturn restrictive voter registration rules BBV: Unredacted Hursti Diebold reports, photos released Ignore that man behind the screen, Dorothy Bob Fitrakis for Governor -- he is now on the ballot Alameda County supervisors embrace election fraud San Diego’s run-off election aggregate results are plausible A vote of no confidence: democracy left to languish in living rooms, garages Kennedy's challenge: Salon, Mother Jones & the tortured dialogue Warren County revisited Something smells fishy in San Diego! Response to Salon Magazine Analysis of Connally spreadsheet and other documents RFK and Rolling Stone nail Ohio's stolen 2004 election, but much more must be done Pick a card, any card Will the major media finally cover the electronic election fraud issue? The money pit: Diebold vs. America Worst security flaw ever - 3 states invoke Diebold emergency procedures Cranks and Kooks: Kerry won in '04 Ohio 2004 election thief grabs Gov nod while (surprise! surprise!) voting machines malfunction Hand counted paper ballots in 2008 Busheviks connected to New Hampshire phone-jamming scheme Are mainstream churches finally standing up to the GOP’s hateful “Christian” blitzkrieg? Thousands march in New Orleans for right for Katrina survivors to vote in the city’s April 22 election Shocking Diebold conflict of interest revelations from Secretary of State further taint Ohio's electoral credibility Faith-based voting Targeting the voters in Toledo Targeting the voters in Cincinnati Through a glass Darkely Is the Mainstream Media finally getting half the rigged voting machine story? Please help Clint Curtis Utah testing of the Diebold touch-screen reveals new problems Trust us Harman vs. Winograd, tough choice? Why did J. Kenneth Blackwell seek, then hide, his association with super-rich extremists and e-voting magnates? Did 308,000 cancelled Ohio voter registrations put Bush back in the White House? Statisticians recommend new measures to ensure vote count accuracy, release "Ohio’s 2004 exit poll analysis for novices” As Alito takes Supreme Court seat, Ohio GOP guts election protection The Harri Hursti hack and its importance to our nation Programmer Jeff Dean worked for chief of White House Plumbers unit Free Press Editor in Film at Sundance PA activists sue to vote on machines Important documents The gun is smoking - The gun is smoking - 2004 Ohio precinct-level exit poll data show virtually irrefutable evidence of vote miscount Recipe for hacking ES&S and Sequoia, Hursti-style What’s all the fuss about Diebold in Florida and California? New info may take out Diebold touchscreens Read Election Issues Articles by Year: |
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