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
NEW ORLEANS –– In a moment captured from a page of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, thousands of disenchanted citizens marched across the Crescent City Connection Bridge on Saturday, seeking the right of displaced New Orleans citizens to vote in the election scheduled April 22.
After fiery speeches delivered on the grounds of the Ernest M. Morial Convention Center by leaders of the civil rights movement, politicians and celebrities, such as Rev. Jesse Jackson, the president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network, and celebrity Judge Greg Mathis, the marchers crossed the Crescent City Connection Bridge, spanning the Mississippi River, where thousands of New Orleans citizens were stranded after Hurricane Katrina and the floodwaters of the Gulf of Mexico caused devastation in the city last summer.
After fiery speeches delivered on the grounds of the Ernest M. Morial Convention Center by leaders of the civil rights movement, politicians and celebrities, such as Rev. Jesse Jackson, the president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network, and celebrity Judge Greg Mathis, the marchers crossed the Crescent City Connection Bridge, spanning the Mississippi River, where thousands of New Orleans citizens were stranded after Hurricane Katrina and the floodwaters of the Gulf of Mexico caused devastation in the city last summer.
Ohio is reeling with a mixture of outrage and hilarity as Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell has revealed that he has owned stock in the Diebold voting machine company, to which Blackwell tried to award unbid contracts worth millions while allowing its operators to steal Ohio elections. A top Republican election official also says a Diebold operative told him he made a $50,000 donation to Blackwell's "political interests."
A veritable army of attorneys on all sides of Ohio's political spectrum will soon report whether Blackwell has violated the law. But in any event, the revelations could have a huge impact on the state whose dubiously counted electoral votes gave George W. Bush a second term. Diebold was the vendor in three Ohio counties in 2004. Because of Blackwell's effort, 41 counties used Diebold machines in Ohio's highly dubious 2005 election, and now 47 counties will use Diebold touchscreen voting machines in the May 2006 primary, and in the fall election that will decide who will be the state's new governor.
A veritable army of attorneys on all sides of Ohio's political spectrum will soon report whether Blackwell has violated the law. But in any event, the revelations could have a huge impact on the state whose dubiously counted electoral votes gave George W. Bush a second term. Diebold was the vendor in three Ohio counties in 2004. Because of Blackwell's effort, 41 counties used Diebold machines in Ohio's highly dubious 2005 election, and now 47 counties will use Diebold touchscreen voting machines in the May 2006 primary, and in the fall election that will decide who will be the state's new governor.
A serious question has been raised as to how C. Ellen Connally, a little-known, underfunded, African-American municipal judge from Cleveland, running for Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court against a well-financed incumbent, could have received more votes than John Kerry in 12 counties in Ohio. Not just a larger percentage of the vote. She drew more votes than John Kerry in these counties, in a race for Chief Justice that drew 1,195,882 fewer votes, statewide, than did the presidential race. The matter will be forever known, in the words of Reverend Jesse Jackson, as “The Connally Anomaly.”
The 12 counties are: Auglaize, Brown, Butler, Clermont, Darke, Highland, Mercer, Miami, Putnam, Shelby, Van Wert, and Warren.
Read the full article as a PDF.
The 12 counties are: Auglaize, Brown, Butler, Clermont, Darke, Highland, Mercer, Miami, Putnam, Shelby, Van Wert, and Warren.
Read the full article as a PDF.
TALLY OF REJECTED PROVISIONAL BALLOTS,
HAMILTON COUNTY, BY LOCATION
Cincinnati 3179
Harrison 60
Cleves 40
Loveland 34
North Bend 9
Miamitown 7
Terrace Park 5
Hamilton 4
Hooven 2
Addyston 1
Pisgah 1
Subtotal 3342
Not Completed 136
Cincinnati 3179
Harrison 60
Cleves 40
Loveland 34
North Bend 9
Miamitown 7
Terrace Park 5
Hamilton 4
Hooven 2
Addyston 1
Pisgah 1
Subtotal 3342
Not Completed 136
TALLY OF CHALLENGED VOTERS,
LUCAS COUNTY, BY LOCATION
Ward 8 121
Ward 2 111
Ward 4 76
Ward 6 62
Ward 17 39
Ward 13 32
Subtotal 441
Toledo 810
Suburbs 120
Total 930
Note that of 930 challenged voters, 810 (87.1%) were in Toledo. 441 (47.4%) were in six wards. 370 (39.8%) were in four wards. 232 (24.9%) were in two wards.
LUCAS COUNTY, BY LOCATION
Ward 8 121
Ward 2 111
Ward 4 76
Ward 6 62
Ward 17 39
Ward 13 32
Subtotal 441
Toledo 810
Suburbs 120
Total 930
Note that of 930 challenged voters, 810 (87.1%) were in Toledo. 441 (47.4%) were in six wards. 370 (39.8%) were in four wards. 232 (24.9%) were in two wards.
Oh, those glitches!
For some reason we tolerate them a lot more in an election - that is to say, in the mechanics of democracy, something we affect to believe in so fervently we're willing to go to war to make sure other countries have it - than we would in, let's say, our banking system.
Last week's primary election fiasco here in Chicago and Cook County - a fiasco of such ballot-eating magnitude that the city and county, which each had separate deals with Sequoia Voting Systems, are withholding more than $30 million remaining on their respective contracts with that company - should have generated howls of outrage. Instead, the tone of the local coverage of the chaotic transition from punch cards to optical-scan and touch-screen voting struck me more as tepid bemusement.
For some reason we tolerate them a lot more in an election - that is to say, in the mechanics of democracy, something we affect to believe in so fervently we're willing to go to war to make sure other countries have it - than we would in, let's say, our banking system.
Last week's primary election fiasco here in Chicago and Cook County - a fiasco of such ballot-eating magnitude that the city and county, which each had separate deals with Sequoia Voting Systems, are withholding more than $30 million remaining on their respective contracts with that company - should have generated howls of outrage. Instead, the tone of the local coverage of the chaotic transition from punch cards to optical-scan and touch-screen voting struck me more as tepid bemusement.
The most unprincipled and opportunistic man in the history of Ohio, Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, stands poised to claim the Republican primary for governor. Blackwell and his far-right theocratic “rapture-ready” Christian dominionists will doom the Buckeye State to further despair.
It should come as no surprise that the Free Press is the only newspaper in Ohio willing to out Blackwell for appearing before white supremacists in the secretive Council on National Policy. Blackwell understands power; he understands that there’s plenty of money in putting a black face on the new politics of high-tech Jim Crow. Blackwell also understands that in order for his strategy to succeed, he must convince a significant number of black ministers to join him in his open bigotry against gays and lesbians.
This is simply the old apartheid politics of divide and conquer. Blackwell wants to rule the new Buckeye State Bantustan.
It should come as no surprise that the Free Press is the only newspaper in Ohio willing to out Blackwell for appearing before white supremacists in the secretive Council on National Policy. Blackwell understands power; he understands that there’s plenty of money in putting a black face on the new politics of high-tech Jim Crow. Blackwell also understands that in order for his strategy to succeed, he must convince a significant number of black ministers to join him in his open bigotry against gays and lesbians.
This is simply the old apartheid politics of divide and conquer. Blackwell wants to rule the new Buckeye State Bantustan.
The fact that electronic voting machines don't work may finally be sinking into a segment of the mainstream media. The fact that e-voting machines can, have been, and will be used to steal elections, continues to go unreported.
At least the corporate media has moved from framing the allegations of e-voting fraud as “conspiracy theory” into reporting epic errors in election results.
Both USA Today and the New York Times have run recent articles on the mechanical problems surrounding electronic voting that mirror much of what happened during the theft the presidential election in Ohio 2004.
On March 28, USA Today's front page reported, that "Primary voting-machine troubles raise concerns for general election." The story focused on primaries in Illinois and Texas, where all-too-familiar problems include more votes being counted than there were registered voters, and thousands of votes missing from a recount.
Even Texas voters couldn’t ignore the fact that an initial ballot tally in Ft. Worth showed 150,000 votes “. . . even though there were only one-third that many voters,” according to USA Today.
At least the corporate media has moved from framing the allegations of e-voting fraud as “conspiracy theory” into reporting epic errors in election results.
Both USA Today and the New York Times have run recent articles on the mechanical problems surrounding electronic voting that mirror much of what happened during the theft the presidential election in Ohio 2004.
On March 28, USA Today's front page reported, that "Primary voting-machine troubles raise concerns for general election." The story focused on primaries in Illinois and Texas, where all-too-familiar problems include more votes being counted than there were registered voters, and thousands of votes missing from a recount.
Even Texas voters couldn’t ignore the fact that an initial ballot tally in Ft. Worth showed 150,000 votes “. . . even though there were only one-third that many voters,” according to USA Today.
Does the name Clint Curtis ring a bell? It should. He’s the computer programmer from Florida who passed a polygraph test a year ago, strengthening the case that Rep. Tom Feeney had committed election fraud in 2000.
In October 2000, Clint was working for an Oveido software firm, Yang Enterprises. At a company meeting attended by Feeney (who was then a Florida state legislator and Yang’s attorney and lobbyist), Feeney asked Curtis to devise a vote-rigging prototype to “control Democratic fraud in South Florida.” Curtis obliged, not realizing at the time that Feeney was engaging in projection…his true motive was to rig the election for the Republicans.
In October 2000, Clint was working for an Oveido software firm, Yang Enterprises. At a company meeting attended by Feeney (who was then a Florida state legislator and Yang’s attorney and lobbyist), Feeney asked Curtis to devise a vote-rigging prototype to “control Democratic fraud in South Florida.” Curtis obliged, not realizing at the time that Feeney was engaging in projection…his true motive was to rig the election for the Republicans.
Emery County Clerk Bruce Funk has been running elections for 23 years.
He was quite content with his optical scan system. The state of Utah thought
otherwise: On Dec. 27, Funk took delivery on 40 Diebold TSx touch-screen
machines, part of a statewide directive.
"I had concerns about Diebold," says Funk, "but I thought, 'If the state is going to mandate it, then I guess they'll assume responsibility if anything goes wrong.'"
Not so. He soon learned that he will be responsible but the state will decide what election system will count the votes.
"YOU'RE GOING TO HATE MY GUTS ON ELECTION DAY"
Funk's concerns escalated when he heard a particularly unusual statement by Diebold sales rep Dana LaTour.
"Some of you are going to hate my guts on Election Day," she said to the assembly of elections officials. Later, another Diebold representative named Drew was asked what LaTour meant when she said "Some of you are going to hate my guts..."
"We're going to have problems on Election Day, and we're just going to have to work through them," he said.
FAILURES RIGHT OUT OF THE GATE
"I had concerns about Diebold," says Funk, "but I thought, 'If the state is going to mandate it, then I guess they'll assume responsibility if anything goes wrong.'"
Not so. He soon learned that he will be responsible but the state will decide what election system will count the votes.
"YOU'RE GOING TO HATE MY GUTS ON ELECTION DAY"
Funk's concerns escalated when he heard a particularly unusual statement by Diebold sales rep Dana LaTour.
"Some of you are going to hate my guts on Election Day," she said to the assembly of elections officials. Later, another Diebold representative named Drew was asked what LaTour meant when she said "Some of you are going to hate my guts..."
"We're going to have problems on Election Day, and we're just going to have to work through them," he said.
FAILURES RIGHT OUT OF THE GATE