Greg Palast , 1 Million Kerry Votes Already Stolen

[G_j]

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/110204V.shtml

An Election Spoiled Rotten

By Greg Palast

TomPaine.com

Monday 01 November 2004

It's not even Election Day yet, and the Kerry-Edwards campaign is already down by a almost a million votes. That's because, in important states like Ohio, Florida and New Mexico, voter names have been systematically removed from the rolls and absentee ballots have been overlooked—overwhelmingly in minority areas, like Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, where Hispanic voters have a 500 percent greater chance of their vote being "spoiled." Investigative journalist Greg Palast reports on the trashing of the election.

John Kerry is down by several thousand votes in New Mexico, though not one ballot has yet been counted. He's also losing big time in Colorado and Ohio; and he's way down in Florida, though the votes won't be totaled until Tuesday night.

Through a combination of sophisticated vote rustling—ethnic cleansing of voter rolls, absentee ballots gone AWOL, machines that "spoil" votes—John Kerry begins with a nationwide deficit that could easily exceed one million votes.

..more..

[Born Free]

1. rotten bastards

these rotten bastards deserve jail time...

[Kikosexy2]

4. Here come...

the lawsuits.

[Mountainman]

2. How can this be confirmed?

[Selatius]

8. Reply

Here is a snippet:

Not everyone's vote spoils equally. Rio Arriba is 73 percent Hispanic. I asked nationally recognized vote statistician Dr. Philip Klinkner of Hamilton College to run a "regression" analysis of the Hispanic ballot spoilage in the Enchanted State. He calculated that a brown voter is 500 percent more likely to have their vote spoiled than a white voter. And It's worse for Native Americans. Vote spoilage is epidemic near Indian reservations.

Votes don't spoil because they're left out of the fridge. It comes down to the machines. Just as poor people get the crap schools and crap hospitals, they get the crap voting machines.

And another:

In Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), some citizens have been caught Registering While Black. A statistical analysis of would-be voters in Southern states by the watchdog group Democracy South indicates that black voters are three times as likely as white voters to have their registration requests "returned" (i.e., subject to rejection).

And yet another:

It's bad for Hispanics; but for African Americans, it's a ballot-box holocaust. An embarrassing little fact of American democracy is that, typically, two million votes are spoiled in national elections, registering no vote or invalidated. Based on studies by the U.S. Civil Rights Commission and the Harvard Law School Civil Rights project, about 54 percent of those ballots are cast by African Americans. One million black votes vanished—phffft!

There's a lot of politicians in both parties that like it that way; suppression of the minority is the way they get elected. Whoever is to blame, on Tuesday, the Kerry-Edwards ticket will take the hit. In Rio Arriba, Democrats have an eight-to-one registration edge over Republicans. Among African American voters...well, you can do the arithmetic yourself.

[Straight Shooter]

16. "Vote spoilage is epidemic near Indian reservations"

Well, take a look at some chickens who still support Colonel Sanders



:wtf:

[NurseLefty]

24. Stars and Stripes W's

1. Is that NOT a desecration of the American flag? From the very party with all their phony patriotic rhetoric about "protecting" the flag?!
2. Or, is it the swastika of the 21st century? GOD, I HOPE NOT.

[The Doctor.]

22. I have long considered leaving the country if...

These bastards steal the election.

They will become foever entrenched with their apparatus.

But we cannot leave the real Americans to stand by themselves and be destroyed.

This could be a dilemma.

By all that is divine, let those guilty of the greatest deceit suffer the greatest defeat.

Amen.

[Bandit]

3. Ain't gunna be enough

It is going to take more than a million spoiled votes for them to steal it this year. People are determined to oust this corrupt Cabal. Kerry should win by more than ten million votes.

[leftchick]

5. I agree Bandit....

even with all of their dirty rotten cheating tricks! The turnout will be HUGE and the Democtratic Party will win!
:)

[G_j]

6. you bet !

I think Kerry may win with a 'mandate' size comfort zone.

[Swamp Rat]

7. They will not get away with it... the world is watching.

[Kanary]

9. Palast is a smart guy and a Patriot... why didn't he write this 4 years

ago?

So there would be time to do something about these problems?

Unless he is proposing a fix for this election, it really isn't helping right now.

Kanary

[Ima]

10. Hopefully we will still win

[Jim Sagle]

12. He's been writing about this all along.

[Djinn]

41. Hey look - something I agree with Jim on!

wonders will never cease!

[SoCalDem]

19. He DID..and he HAS BEEN for 4 years.. Only the UK has been listening

The puppydog press here, has all but banned him..and when they DO bring him on, he's usually one lone progressive voice, who is shouted over and interrupted..

[Media_Lies_Daily]

25. Where the heck have you been? Palast has been around for quite...

...some time now.

[tom_paine]

33. Because the events had to happen and stories take time to write

and research.

And I think many of us were caught by surprise when Goebbels v2.0 kicked into high gear and produced so many Nazi Stormtroopers willing to shred votes, registration forms, and God knows what else.

[spooked911]

11. Damn-- here's another way they could steal this election

http://www.legitgov.org/essay_kane_fema_terror_drill_102904.html

Cheney is running a terror-preparedness drill tomorrow, and I hope you know what happened last time Cheney ran an terror preparedness-exercise. (9/11)

[PATRICK]

13. Not crunching the numbers but

it seems if this applies to the large early voting in key states, the scale of fraud will not be enough(that is, markedly greater than possibly 4 million votes robbed in 2000) to steal the election. Any decent efforts to stem or reverse this open crime wave will increase our margin.

This ugly fact we always knew. That the element of fraud MUST be there. The sickening, unjust cost would be great because our efforts have been so late. Even in 2002 the efforts were weak or ineffective. People like Madame La Pore are still in place, acting with shrill impunity. This is gray in the silver cloud.

The sacrifice of lost votes must never be forgotten, never again covered over, never again allowed to happen on this scale. The screams of the hypocrites caught disenfranchising America "You too" need to be disregarded as any schoolyard bully weeping in the circle of accusers.

Success does not mean justice achieved. A mandate robbed of its full weight must be revealed. Healing does not mean applying cosmetics to cancer, protecting important people from the eyes of equal justice.

No revenge, no victory, but justice. The Longest Day on the beachhead of democracy is tomorrow but it began with the early votes.

[drunkdriver-in-chief]

27. We need to classify election tampering as treason

At least in presidential elections and elections to the national congress. Give these traitors 50 years in the can.

[PATRICK]

40. Even the laws we have

are not very impressively or well enforced probably because at least one powerful political party shields their guys and they KNOW and game the system. Politicos and the government cannot solely police themselves anymore than than the police or any other contained agency. It simply is too big for people to see- when they are even allowed to see it.

But the Dems have to get their heads out of the past. While they are busy being nice guys, they pick the WRONG time to be traditional shady characters and tolerant of these flaws in the gem,. so to speak. What a toxic mix! The cheating they tolerate(in ANY way)- or sanction always hurts them.

And I know they are afraid to contemplate this- removing the flaws will benefit the Democratic Party(at first) although it leaves politicians naked to total accountability. We would sweep the system pretty much, reversing the enormous fraud of the past couple of decades.

[Zorra]

14. Yeah - The pukes almost stole New Mexico by trashing votes in Rio

Arriba county in 2000.

I really hope we have some Dem lawyers there.

[goforit]

15. OMG!!!!...........Somebody stop these hoodlums!!!!

[glocksters4kerry]

17. ahhh, the victory will be even sweeter knowing this.

[Philostopher]

18. I'm gonna say it once, here, and then I'm gonna shut up.

The point is not whether the spoilage adds up to enough to beat Kerry. I know, it's our big worry tonight, the night before the election, but dammit -- we all need to be more concerned about the real point.

The real point is that African American, Hispanic and American Indian voters are having their registrations thrown out, getting stuck with difficult or malfunctioning voting machines and will be challenged at some precincts because they are African American, Hispanic or American Indian. It stinks -- it's the GOP's way of saying if you're not white, you don't count. And if we allow it to go unchallenged after tomorrow, we're also (if not equally) culpable.

Letting it go on this year, after what happened in 2000, should make us ashamed, too. I'm ashamed about what's going on in Ohio. I don't know what I can do, but if it goes as badly as Palast predicts, I intend to find something to do -- whatever it is. Something more than I've done so far.

[Kukesa]

21. And sign me up as your helper, nownow; I'm serious. n/t

[southlandshari]

31. THANK YOU!

My anger at this EXACT point has kept me up nights for a long time (about four years, I'd guess).

Stealing the election is an atrocity worth everyone's outrage.

But the complete and total lack of corresponding outrage at the underlying issue of marginalizing minority voters as a political strategy is inexcusable.

This was allowed to pass in 2000, and looking back (quite vividly, thanks to the now-famous video footage of the CBC's attempts to raise this issue in congress), it is heartbreaking. Because it led to Bush in the White House? Yes. But even more so because, even those who give the most lip service to fighting for equality and justice, did little or nothing to challenge the dismissive treatment of so many good citizens of this country.

I white and I am from the Deep South. But I swear that I will be good and @#%damned if I stay silent about this issue in this election year. Not because I want Bush to lose or Kerry to win - but because what is happening to fellow Americans is reprehensible and the antithesis of the principles upon which our country was founded. And if it can happen to "them," believe me, fellow caucasions, it can - and will - happen to you and me one day if we don't speak up now.

And all the majority talk about "The Black Vote" and how "they" should "wake up" and vote for the party "with their best interest in mind" needs to stop. If folks like me and many of you here aren't willing to do whatever it takes to insure that all men and women are TRULY equal in America, we ought to all go back and live in our glass houses very, very carefully and stay away from the ever-tempting stones!

Didn't mean to go off on anyone in particular, or on DU friends in general. Thanks for allowing me to vent for a moment tonight!

[crickets]

32. I'm with you

Just weighing in as another white person from the deep South who is damned sick and tired of the injustice and bigotry. ENOUGH! I'd try to get all eloquent, but you've done such a good job, already, southlandshari.

:grr:

[GinaMaria]

36. I'm with you

This breaks my heart. African American, Hispanic and American Indian voters need more allies and advocates. Count me in.

[deadparrot]

20. Sad...a much subtler rehashing of Jim Crow.

It's really awful that what is supposedly the greatest nation on earth doesn't even have the balls to count the vote of every citizen.

[Raster]

29. I call it "electoral lynching," and it's just as despicable as a ...

...literal lynching.

I believe it was Molly Ivins who said something to the effect of how low to try and steal the vote of the poor and downtrodden. They have so little and now the bushistas are trying to take the one thing they have that brings them hope, their vote.

I'm sitting here writing this with tears streaming down my face. There are so many wonderful, brave people who are making great sacrifices to make sure their voice is heard. They are standing in long lines. They are taking time from their jobs to make sure they vote. They truly believe that this time their vote is so critical. And they're right. The bushes want all the little people to think that they don't matter and they have no power. Can you imagine someone so hateful as to try and keep some of the most disenfranchised Americans from casting their lawful ballot. What is even worse is that supposedly decent, good christian people see nothing wrong with such tactics.

So to the christian republicans that will be working extra hard tomorrow to try and limit the minority vote, I ask you what would Jesus do?

[NJCher]

23. how can someone do this and get away with it?

I don't get it. In the case of Davidson, isn't anyone challenging her on what she did? She's accountable to someone--why isn't that someone checking into her obviously illegal act?

Re the Ohio situation where "black voters are three times as likely as white voters to have their registration requests 'returned,'" we should deal with this like we do with racial profiling. There should be large fines and the loss of jobs for people who do this when they can't make a convincing case for doing what they did.

This is such a disgrace. Democracy my a(**.


Cher

[RapidCreek]

28. We should deal with it as a hate crime.

That's what it is.

RC

[Media_Lies_Daily]

26. They can't "lose" votes fast enough to overcome the massive new....

...voter registration drives nationwide, the Republicans that will be voting for Kerry, and the Naderites that will NOT be voting for Nader this time around. Additionally, quite a few of the military have made the switch to Kerry.

We may lose a million, but I bet we gain about three million.

[EastofEdon]

30. "No Stolen Elections"

Join Julian Bond, Daniel Ellsberg, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Barbara Ehrenreich, Howard Zinn and others in taking the pledge..


www.nov3.us

Pledge of Action to Stop A Stolen Election

"I remember the stolen presidential election of 2000 and I am willing to take action in 2004 if the election is stolen again. I support efforts to protect the right to vote leading up to and on Election Day, November 2nd. If that right is systematically violated, I pledge to join nationwide protests starting on November 3rd, either in my community, in the states where the fraud occurred, or in Washington DC."
www.nov3.us

[GinaMaria]

37. saved some vacation time just for this possibility

hope other DUers have done the same. If I don't need the PTO, I'll take off at Christmas. If these right wing bastards try to subvert democracy again, I'm rolling up my sleeves and getting in the fight with plenty of vacation days and some $ socked away for air and hotel.

Edit: I will go to the fight where ever it is.

[Nightwing]

34. This will not stand

Team Kerry already has several top lawyers ready, willing and able to short circuit any theft of this election. The lawyers are in planes on the runway waiting for the word as to where to go in this nation to prevent another illegal theft of the election.

I'll be working all day today doing phone calls, taking people to the polls and doing my best to get every young registered voter to the polls. We do our job and GOTV and Kerry will win!! :party:

[drdigi420]

39. nightwing from georgia?

[0rganism]

35. Then our course of action is clear: we must win by 10 million votes

Time to Get It On!

[goforit]

38. Film every damn RETHUG that walks by!!!!

So at the end of the day we'll make room for them at San Quentin