Your source for alternative media coverage of the 2008 election alongside the 2004 elections and the related voter irregularities in Ohio.<br><br>Additional articles about the elections by <a href=http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/3>Bob Fitrakis</a> and <a href=http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/7>Harvey Wasserman</a> are in the <a href=http://www.freepress.org/columns>columns</a> section.
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Those interested in contributing statistical skills to the project may want to contact <a href=mailto:truth@freepress.org>The Free Press</a> and <a href=http://uscountvotes.org target=usvotes>uscountvotes.org</a>.
Election Issues
The new Jim Crow: Massive disenfranchisement returns
As we approach 2012, a massive machine designed to deprive millions of Americans of their vote has been activated. Given its ability to keep primarily young, poor, elderly and non-white voters from the polls, it alone could swing the election to Mitt Romney.
Though mentioning it elicits howls of protest from the GOP, in fact this new Jim Crow disenfranchisement is deeply rooted in our history. Should it turn the 2012 election to the Republicans, it will be only the latest in a two-century tradition of abuses aimed at keeping the rich in power.
As we saw in the previous chapter, the politics of the United States was dominated until the Civil War by the Electoral College and the 3/5ths bonus. It was a disenfranchisement unique in world history. It referenced slaves who were allowed no human or political rights---least of all the right to vote---but used their physical presence to enhance the electoral power of their owners.
As we approach 2012, a massive machine designed to deprive millions of Americans of their vote has been activated. Given its ability to keep primarily young, poor, elderly and non-white voters from the polls, it alone could swing the election to Mitt Romney.
Though mentioning it elicits howls of protest from the GOP, in fact this new Jim Crow disenfranchisement is deeply rooted in our history. Should it turn the 2012 election to the Republicans, it will be only the latest in a two-century tradition of abuses aimed at keeping the rich in power.
As we saw in the previous chapter, the politics of the United States was dominated until the Civil War by the Electoral College and the 3/5ths bonus. It was a disenfranchisement unique in world history. It referenced slaves who were allowed no human or political rights---least of all the right to vote---but used their physical presence to enhance the electoral power of their owners.
3,000 already disenfranchised, with 3,000 more in immediate danger next week in Tennessee; more on the way in multiple US jurisdictions this November.
Shelby County (TN) is currently enduring yet another botched election -- perhaps the worst one yet. Under Election Administrator Richard Holden's misleadership, this time thousands of voters are being disenfranchised by giving them the wrong ballot, a result of administrative foot-dragging on redistricting-related database updates.
Based on tips I have been receiving from several US locations, precinct boundary changes caused by redistricting will be bollixed in multiple jurisdictions across the USA in November. Some -- like Shelby County -- will be of strategic importance. I'll describe the emergency taking place right now in Shelby County first; below that, I'll explain how redistricting can be used to prevent voters from voting for their chosen candidates.
ENTER THE LATEST SHELBY COUNTY SNAFU
Shelby County (TN) is currently enduring yet another botched election -- perhaps the worst one yet. Under Election Administrator Richard Holden's misleadership, this time thousands of voters are being disenfranchised by giving them the wrong ballot, a result of administrative foot-dragging on redistricting-related database updates.
Based on tips I have been receiving from several US locations, precinct boundary changes caused by redistricting will be bollixed in multiple jurisdictions across the USA in November. Some -- like Shelby County -- will be of strategic importance. I'll describe the emergency taking place right now in Shelby County first; below that, I'll explain how redistricting can be used to prevent voters from voting for their chosen candidates.
ENTER THE LATEST SHELBY COUNTY SNAFU
The Republican Party could steal the 2012 US Presidential election with relative ease.
Four major factors make it possible: the continued existence of the Electoral College, the systematic disenfranchisement of millions of American voters over the past decade, the widespread and growing use of electronic voting machines, and GOP control of the governorships and secretary of state offices in the key swing states that will once again decide the election.
To this we must add the likelihood that the core of the activist community that came out to protect the vote for Barack Obama in 2008 may not do so again in 2012.
Towering over it all, of course, is the reality that corporate money has come to totally dominate the American electoral process. The John Roberts US Supreme Court has definitively opened the floodgates with its infamous Citizens United decision. But for well over a century, at least since the 1880s, corporations have ruled American politics. Back then the courts began to confer on corporations the privileges of human rights without the responsibilities of human decency.
Four major factors make it possible: the continued existence of the Electoral College, the systematic disenfranchisement of millions of American voters over the past decade, the widespread and growing use of electronic voting machines, and GOP control of the governorships and secretary of state offices in the key swing states that will once again decide the election.
To this we must add the likelihood that the core of the activist community that came out to protect the vote for Barack Obama in 2008 may not do so again in 2012.
Towering over it all, of course, is the reality that corporate money has come to totally dominate the American electoral process. The John Roberts US Supreme Court has definitively opened the floodgates with its infamous Citizens United decision. But for well over a century, at least since the 1880s, corporations have ruled American politics. Back then the courts began to confer on corporations the privileges of human rights without the responsibilities of human decency.
Black Box Voting has been investigating and reporting on this disconcerting trend for nine years now. Everything we've been reporting has not only turned out to be true, but is increasing. A press release today about the planned expansion of Unisyn into more USA locations renews attention on foreign ownership of corporations selling voting systems into the United States.
Unisyn is owned by a Malaysian gambling outfit. Another major elections industry player, Canada's Dominion, purchased the massive Diebold Election Systems division (which it shares with ES&S); Dominion also owns Smartmatic, which handles electronic vote-counting in the Philippines and Belgium. Military voting is now handled in several states by Barcelona, Spain-owned Scytl. In January 2012, Scytl acquired the largest election results reporting firm, SOE Software.
Unisyn is owned by a Malaysian gambling outfit. Another major elections industry player, Canada's Dominion, purchased the massive Diebold Election Systems division (which it shares with ES&S); Dominion also owns Smartmatic, which handles electronic vote-counting in the Philippines and Belgium. Military voting is now handled in several states by Barcelona, Spain-owned Scytl. In January 2012, Scytl acquired the largest election results reporting firm, SOE Software.
To what extent will progressive morality be a factor in the looming presidential election? Is it simply a nuisance? Will mainstream Democrats (yet again) cringe in its presence, disavow it, spout mostly Republican-lite platitudes about tough-guy patriotism -- and, positioning themselves, as ever, as the Lesser of Two Evils, count the progressive vote as theirs?
The election season, which ought to be more about promoting values than candidates, is barely about values at all, except as weaknesses to manipulate.
Ah, democracy! In post-modern America, the political establishment has quietly uncoupled the word from its definition even as it affects to promote democracy around the world. Campaigns celebrate and dismantle candidates’ personalities and stand for no more than variations of the status quo.
The election season, which ought to be more about promoting values than candidates, is barely about values at all, except as weaknesses to manipulate.
Ah, democracy! In post-modern America, the political establishment has quietly uncoupled the word from its definition even as it affects to promote democracy around the world. Campaigns celebrate and dismantle candidates’ personalities and stand for no more than variations of the status quo.
What we got tonight, June 5th, in Wisconsin was the same old stench, coming from the same old corner of the room, even more pungent than usual. If it smells a bit acrid to you, that would be the ashes of your democracy still smoldering. To wit, there was a huge turnout (highly favorable to the Democratic candidate Barrett), in fact they're still waiting in line to vote in Milwaukee and elsewhere nearly two hours after poll closing; and the immediate post-closing Exit Polls had it a dead heat, 50%-50%. But the only place those polls were posted was as a Bar Chart in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Not a single network posted any Exit Poll numbers, though they all have been regularly posting them throughout the 2012 primary season within a few minutes of poll closing. But they all called the race "extremely tight," since they were looking at the same 50%-50% Exit Poll that the Journal Sentinel at least had the courage to post in some format.
The Ohio House Republicans tactically retreated and repealed House Bill 194 – the controversial voter suppression bill. The bill was slated to be on Ohio’s November 6 ballot, and was thought by political strategists to have aided Obama’s re-election campaign in the key battleground state.
This is the first recorded case in Buckeye State history where the legislature has repealed a bill scheduled for a referendum vote by the people. Ironically, the Democrats who bitterly fought the bill, unanimously opposed its repeal.
The Democrats sought an agreement by the Republicans to restore Ohio’s practice of early voting the weekend before the election. Sensing victory in a hot button issue to push poor and minority voters to the polls who were targeted for voter suppression in the bill, the Dems argued that the repeal of the bill was unconstitutional.
Ohio House Democratic leader Armond Budish stated that the repeal of the bill was: “an admission by Republican lawmakers that they violated voter’s rights last year when they passed HB 194 to suppress Ohioans constitutional right to vote.”
This is the first recorded case in Buckeye State history where the legislature has repealed a bill scheduled for a referendum vote by the people. Ironically, the Democrats who bitterly fought the bill, unanimously opposed its repeal.
The Democrats sought an agreement by the Republicans to restore Ohio’s practice of early voting the weekend before the election. Sensing victory in a hot button issue to push poor and minority voters to the polls who were targeted for voter suppression in the bill, the Dems argued that the repeal of the bill was unconstitutional.
Ohio House Democratic leader Armond Budish stated that the repeal of the bill was: “an admission by Republican lawmakers that they violated voter’s rights last year when they passed HB 194 to suppress Ohioans constitutional right to vote.”
The Free Press obtained public records from all 88 of Ohio’s county Boards of Elections (BOE) documenting that 1,092,392 voters were removed from the voting rolls since the last presidential election.
Cuyahoga County, which includes Democratic-rich Cleveland, led the Buckeye State with 267,071 purges. Franklin County which includes the capital of Columbus, removed 93,578 voters. Franklin County went 58% for Obama in the 2008 election. Hamilton County which includes Cincinnati removed 65,536 voters, for a total of 426,185 from these three Ohio counties. Once again, a few rural Ohio counties reported no purges. These include Hancock, Huron, Sandusky, and Wood counties.
Cuyahoga County, which includes Democratic-rich Cleveland, led the Buckeye State with 267,071 purges. Franklin County which includes the capital of Columbus, removed 93,578 voters. Franklin County went 58% for Obama in the 2008 election. Hamilton County which includes Cincinnati removed 65,536 voters, for a total of 426,185 from these three Ohio counties. Once again, a few rural Ohio counties reported no purges. These include Hancock, Huron, Sandusky, and Wood counties.