Stolen election confirmation(GAO report)

[The Kicker]

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1529

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


As a legal noose appears to be tightening around the Bush/Cheney/Rove inner circle, a shocking government report shows the floor under the legitimacy of their alleged election to the White House is crumbling.

The latest critical confirmation of key indicators that the election of 2004 was stolen comes in an extremely powerful, penetrating report from the General Accounting Office that has gotten virtually no mainstream media coverage.

The government's lead investigative agency is known for its general incorruptibility and its through, in-depth analyses. Its concurrence with assertions widely dismissed as "conspiracy theories" adds crucial new weight to the case that Team Bush has no legitimate business being in the White House.
More at link

[SharonRB]

1. Welcome to DU, Kicker

This needs to get broader distribution in the media. Someone should send it to Olbermann.

[The Kicker]

3. Thank you, SharonRB

I agree that this should get broader distribution. This is what we have been waiting for.
I love DU. There are so many wonderful,intelligent,caring people here.

[rodeodance]

5. how about you and all of us sending this to Olberman?

.....Someone should send it to Olbermann.

[rodeodance]

8. and then all media blast it.

[SharonRB]

9. I just did it.

Hope he report on it.

[The Kicker]

14. Just sent to Mr. Olbermann n/t

[rodeodance]

44. thanks--was hoping you would.

[rodeodance]

45. kick

[The Kicker]

46. Thanks for all you do here,rodeodance.

You are very good at feeding cube rats. DU is richer for that.

[FreedomAngel82]

18. Good idea

[Robeysays]

120. how?

[liberalnurse]

2. Bob and Harvey have the goods to back it up.

They have a big, thick book with all the data.

[mod mom]

39. You got that right Liberalnurse. Bob and Harvey have worked

unrelenting to expose what us in Ohio know to be true: KERRY WON!

AND BLACKWELL DESERVES HIS OWN FROG MARCH!

[femrap]

71. Oh, that would be so sweet to see Blackwell

frog marched...And here he is running for Governor and using all of the Christian Fascists to help him. We need to take this corrupt one down.....HARD!

[liberalnurse]

141. I chatted with Bob a few weeks ago

at the Amy Goodman/Phil Donahue event in Dayton. I saw his research text....I was very impressed....a hefty collection of facts! I believe it is available for purchase.

[lavenderdiva]

4. wow. this REALLY needs to be seen in the right places...

I agree with the previous poster-- PLEASE send this to Keith Olbermann on MSNBC

here is his e-mail:

[e-mail]


on edit: Welcome to DU!! :hi:

[SharonRB]

I sent it to

[e-mail]. That's the address at the bottom of his blog. I think they both work.

[The Kicker]

16. Just sent to Mr. Olbermann

I don't know the media blast routine. Maybe someone could help with that?

[msongs]

6. send it to john kerry, maybe he will un-concede nt

[stopwastingmymoney]

128. Send it to John Kerry?

I just did!

[WiseButAngrySara]

7. Damn! Why has everything happened about one year too late?

I sincerely hope that this gets coverage, but given the lack of it post-election, I have my doubts. Thanks for the link, and welcome to DU!

:hi: and a :kick: for the kicker!

[femrap]

74. Actually, this might be a great time for this to appear....

once corruption and indictments enter the MSM and into the slow-moving minds of American citizens, it likes to settle in and stay awhile...you know? People start to get all indignant and start talking at the grocery store about the 'bunch of crooks' running and ruining our country.

People begin to 'change bandwagons.' They see that the Pugs are the losers and that the Dems are the ones with the momentum...the ones who can clean up this mess the pugs created.

Election Fraud....that's a nice juicy topic to go along with all the lies that the pugs used to get us to enter this disaster of a war.

It's like a snowball rolling down a hill...it just gets bigger and bigger...and you can fight gravity!

GAO...bless them! Our gov't bureaucracy may be slow, but it is starting to kick some ass right now!

[EuroObserver]

87. Could be.

Some people I know who work for corporate media told me this summer they're aware of the problem - but it's been taboo. (Both sides get up to dirty electoral tricks, being one consideration. The complexity of the ballots being another).

Maybe this 'snowball effect' (and this non-partisan report) could now provide an opportunity to give the subject some air.

[Sallow]

116. It's still going to take years for this to get out..and it probably won't.

Be believed. Working in IT I know how easy it is to manipulate programs to get any result you want. That's why they are subject to rigorous inspection. The Diebold machines didn't even have to leave a "paper trail" which in itself is ridiculous. Hopefully this helps get us some election reform in this country. So we don't have to experience any more presidencies like the one we have been experiencing for the last five years.

[WA98296]

10. Okay, so can we start a class-action lawsuit or what?

[sepia_steel]

77. All of America was cheated - we should.

PM me, let's find out what we can do.

[me b zola]

137. I whole-heartedly believe that all voters should join in class action LS

We have been wronged and demand redress.

[rodeodance]

11. nominated

[WiseButAngrySara]

12. And recommended! .....n/t

[callady]

13. yep

No doubt.

Corruption won the election

[malaise]

15. We have a phrase we use for politicians here

Captain your ship is sinking....massive waves of corruption are showing up everywhere we turn...couldn't happen to a nicer bunch.
This is not news to me - Prof. Freeman was all the proof I needed. Exit polls do not lie.

Historians may want to investigate when this coup took place and follow it to the end. I's start with the Clinton impeachment.

Edit - add sentence.

[napi21]

17. Where can I find the original GAO report they reference?

I wanted to send it to a few places, like some MSN contacts and cspan. I don't want to send the freepress link, but prefer the original. I agree, that's one of very few uncorruptable gov't orgs.

[The Kicker]

22. There is a link to the report at bradblog.

I'm still fairly green at computer operations, but bradblog has a link. It is a 107 page report.

[cyberpj]

23. Here's the report (PDF)

http://www.bradblog.com/Docs/GAOReport_ElectionSecurity_102105.pdf

[cyberpj]

28. Highlights: What GAO Recommends

What GAO Recommends
To help ensure the security and
reliability of electronic voting
systems, GAO is recommending
that EAC define specific tasks,
processes, and time frames for
improving the national voting
systems standards, testing
capabilities, and management
support available to state and local
election officials. In commenting
on a draft of this report, EAC
agreed with the recommendations
and stated that the commission has
initiatives under way or planned in
these areas. The commission also
sought additional clarification and
context on reported problems.

[napi21]

29. Thanks for the link. I see this was sent to 3 Dems.

WHY was there never any public acknowledgement of this report?

I know we are the minority, but that doesn't stop Conyers at other times. Why THIS TIME?

[cyberpj]

36. Not sure. But if you do a search on it, looks like all articles went out

very very recently.

Perhaps it wasn't distributed until this week?

AND - it's 107 pages - who's had time to sift through it all except those who are entirely focused on it?

The acknowledgement we really need is from THE NEWS!!!

Peace.

[cyberpj]

37. I checked VerifiedVoting - It was released 10/21 - Friday -

http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/article.php?id=6308

[ginnyinWI]

139. Timing.

They may simply be waiting for the best time.

[AirAmFan]

41. GAO has a powerful document search engine at URL

http://searching.gao.gov/query.html . I searched there for "election", at http://searching.gao.gov/query.html?col=&charset=iso-8859-1&qt=election ,

and the first hit was a 1.26MB pdf at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05956.pdf , entitled "ELECTIONS: Report to Congressional Requesters: Federal Efforts to Improve Security and Reliability of Electronic Voting Systems Are Under Way, but Key Activities Need to Be Completed (GAO-05-956, September 2005)" .

This turned out to be the same URL IkeWarnedUs had already posted to message #24.

But the GAO URL is worth keeping for future searches. Just plug in any keyword, such as "minimum wage", "stem cell", or "FEMA" and you'll generally hit some of the very best reports the Federal Government has to offer on the topic.

[WiseButAngrySara]

134. Thanks for this extremely useful info! The coin dealer in Ohio involved

in 'Coingate' is probably soon to be indicted! I wanted to see if GAO report had mentioned this as an aspect of the 2004 election fraud.

[FreedomAngel82]

19. Send it to David Cobb and John Conyers

and Cliff Arnebeck.

[SharonRB]

20. As close as those two are to the investigation,

and to Bob and Harvey, I guarantee they already know about it.

[cyberpj]

21. Conyers is "shocked" --- and here's another article on the report:

"I am shocked at the extent and nature of problems GAO has identified in our electronic voting systems, and I fear that this may just be the tip of the iceberg," Conyers said in a statement. "It is totally unacceptable that in 21st century America we would allow faulty machines and systems to rob citizens of their voting rights."

http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/051024evote/

[IkeWarnedUs]

24. Here's the GAO report

Link to GAO Report, ELECTIONS Federal Efforts to Improve Security and Reliability of Electronic Voting Systems Are Under Way, but Key Activities Need to Be Completed

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05956.pdf

That really is the title.

Here's a link to a one page "highlights" sheet (the GAO name for it) which would make a great handout.

http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05956high.pdf

[The Kicker]

26. Thank you very much, IkeWarnedUs

Great screen name!

[Mme. Defarge]

30. Apologies for the redundant post

We must have been working on this at the same time.

[yowzayowzayowza]

25. Rec. No 20 to three star status.

:kick:

[Mme. Defarge]

27. Haven't had time to read all of this

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05956.pdf
http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05956high.pdf

but this may be what the Freepress.org report is based on.

[mod mom]

31. Freepress to hold Election Anniversary Event:

Free Press to hold Election Anniversary Event:
Hello Voting Rights Activist,
It has been nearly a year since the November 2 election and a lot of
work has been accomplished to report to the world what happened here in
Ohio.
We would like to invite you to an event at the very same church where
we held the first public hearing in Columbus to expose the stolen
election:
"One Year Later - Voting Rights in Ohio"
Saturday, November 5, 1-4pm
New Faith Baptist Church, 955 Oak St., Off of Parsons near 18th
The event is free and open to the public. We will be showing some of
the videos that were produced about the Freedom Bus Ride and trip to
Washington, in which many local people  are all the stars! Bob Fitrakis
and Harvey Wasserman will speak about the events of the past year and
they will be signing their books about the stolen election. We will
discuss the upcoming election and the four election reforms on the
ballot.
And we will have a tribute to the Rev. Bill Moss.
Please, invite friends and family to the event!

Please RSVP to this email [e-mail]

[symbolman]

78. I hope they are not showing

"Electile Dysfunction", because that is in legal proceedings as we speak.

Maybe I'd better contact some folks on that.

[mod mom]

100. contact info:

[e-mail] and phone [phone]. I will be talking to Harvey later and will bring this up. (although I don't know th details, so perhaps you should also contact.)

[The Kicker]

32. Thanks all.

Thank you for all the added information. DU is the best!

[KansDem]

33. Has the "Homeland Security terror alert" ever been explained?

I didn't see reference to it in the GAO report, but wasn't there an incident when the public was forced out of a count/recount due to a Homeland Security terrorism alert that turned out to be bogus?

[MelissaB]

34. It has never been explained

and was during the original counting of the votes.

[The Kicker]

35. Ohio courthouse, I believe.

I haven't seen anything on that since last year.

[Zodiak]

93. Warren County Courthouse

same place Hackett's votes were counted, I believe.

[cassiepriam]

130. Yep, my hometown. Warren Co.

Funny business galore where I "voted"....I still do not believe my vote was counted.
The three guys running the polling place were very elderly,
had severe vision and hearing problems and kept getting everything wrong in terms of paperwork. (The guy taking my info got me confused with the lady standing next to me, and put my name down in her space). When I handed him my completed ballot he seemed confused about where to put it etc. The voters were just shaking their heads. Anybody who wanted to come in and do something funny with the ballets would never have been noticed.

When I heard that down the road the polling place was closed early I was not surprised.

[SammyWinstonJack]

38. Here's the "Kicker"

:evilgrin: Thanks for the link and welcome to DU! :hi:

[we can do it]

40. Wow - the hits just keep comin'

Can't wait to share this one. Pass it on everybody.

:wow:

[Tiggeroshii]

42. It'll be great if we can just win the House now...

For cripe's sakes, John Conyers neesd some power to be doing this and he'll have that as Judiciary chair. Wouldn't it be great if these investigations were occuring and we actually had some leverage? Just one more year now and we'll have it!

[AX10]

43. kick

[usregimechange]

47. Where can I read the GAO report?

[The Kicker]

49. Check post # 24 by IkeWarnedUs n/t

[biscotti]

48. Every time I see this subject come up

I think of the video clip of Rep. Peter King at the Whitehouse with * during the campaign taken by Alex Pelosi.

click to play Peter King video down page.

http://whatreallyhappened.com/2004votefraud.html

[seabeyond]

52. i know n/t

[fshrink]

50. 2 good 2 be true. nt

[LeahD]

51. I passed along the full Free Press article to several people.

Wonderful that the truth is seeing the light of day in a big way.

[Nothing Without Hope]

53. **DON'T MISS THE BRADBLOG COVERAGE OF THE GAO REPORT (from 10/20) **

Here's the permalink:
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001940.htm

Blogged by Brad on 10/20/2005 @ 7:02pm PT...
Title: "BREAKING: NON-PARTISAN GAO REPORT CONFIRMS CONCERNS ABOUT SECURITY OF ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES!
REPORT: 'Loss and Miscount of Votes in Recent Elections'!
House issues BI-PARTISAN Press Release: Report 'A Wake Up Call', 'Foundation of Democracy Rests Upon Security, Integrity of our Voting System' "

Brad's extensive writeup is loaded with information, analysis and links, inlcuding to the GAO report itself.

Along with much else, Brad includes Rep. Conyers' comments on the GAO report:

Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), ranking minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, a tireless champion for election reform and leading force behind the landmark report "Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio 2004", has just blogged about the report.

He says the report "lends important credibility to the cause of election reform generally, and more specifically to requiring that every machine have a voter verified paper ballot that is used in election days audits and, if discrepancies are found in those audits, becomes the official record for the election."

"Despite the many official assurances that the problems of the past elections were isolated and few," Conyers writes, "the election system is indeed riddled with problems and flaws."

The "bottom line," says Conyers, is that until these matters are seriously addressed, and "significant security and controls" are put in place with our voting machines, "American citizens have no reason to have complete confidence in our democracy."

[lildreamer316]

54. Whoa! Great catch!

Welcome! and wonderful! Great reading; kicky..........

[lateo]

55. Where is Kerry on this issue? nt

[Nothing Without Hope]

61. I googled and found NOTHING from Kerry. It's been a discussion he has

avoided like the plague. Like the rest of the DLC, he's previously been silent on electronnic fraud and only speaks about the long lines for the voting machines and other non-electronic voter suppression. If anyone else has found a statement from him on this GAO report, I'd surely like to see it. I'd be pleased - and quite frankly surprised - to see anything passionate in his statement about it if it exists at all.

The horrible, whitewashing DNC official report on the 2004 election specifically stated - on basically a specious quasi-statistical argument that is meaningless - that "the evidence" indicates that there was NOT widespread electronic fraud. For whatever reason - and yes, I do suspect corruption - the Democratic leadership has mostly ignored and downplayed the significance of electronic election fraud.

Of course, without urgent action, the same hacking can be done to steal all FUTURE elections. There is no acceptable reason why the Dem leadership should ignore this - and with the GAO report now in hand, we should be blasting their ears off. And Arnebeck's rebuttal of the awful DNC whitewash report of the 2004 Ohio election needs to be finished and widely disseminated.

[Nothing Without Hope]

63. I also searched Kerry's web site - nada on this there either

http://www.johnkerry.com

[lateo]

90. If Kerry doesn't start getting involved in this he is toast.

This is THE issue for Democrats to be railing on. Any Democratic presidential candidate who wants to actually win better be getting on this bandwagon.

[ginnyinWI]

140. IMO, not his job

This is a job for Howard Dean as the Dem chair. Get on the case of all the state elections boards. Give this thing the publicity it needs and deserves. It is also the job of all self-respecting journalists in this country--to give the people the information they need to have. I hope they are on this. But not Kerry--not in any public way. It would only de-legitimize the case for the candidate himself to do it.

[goforit]

108. Kerry never once contested the vote. He doesn't deserve the throne.

[Nothing Without Hope]

56. ***The Joint Bipartisan PRESS RELEASE on the GAO Report, issued 10/21***

(press release posted at BradBlog here: http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001940.htm

Here is the complete joint bi-partisan press release, issued by six U.S. House of Representative members:

U.S. House of Representatives

N E W S R E L E A S E

For Immediate Release: October 21, 2005

Davis, Waxman, Sensenbrenner, Conyers, Boehlert, and Gordon React
To GAO Report on Security Problems With Electronic Voting Systems

Washington, D.C. - Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA) and Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), Judiciary Committee Chair F. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI), and Science Committee Chair Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) and Ranking Member Bart Gordon (D-TN), issued the following statements upon today's release of the Government Accountability Office's report, "Federal Efforts to Improve Security and Reliability of Electronic Voting Systems Are Under Way, but Key Activities Need to Be Completed" (GAO-05-956):

"It is certainly disappointing that, despite the recommendations from federal organizations and non-governmental groups, many states still have not made progress to make sure their electronic voting systems are safe from fraud and can be relied on to accurately count votes," Chairman Davis said. "However, I am pleased that the EAC is continuing to push states to improve their voting systems and comply with the requirements of the Help Americans Vote Act (HAVA). American's voting system must be made to be world class, everywhere in the country, as soon as possible."

"The GAO report indicates that we need to get serious and act quickly to improve the security of electronic voting machines," said Rep. Waxman. "The report makes clear that there is a lack of transparency and accountability in electronic voting systems - from the day that contracts are signed with manufacturers to the counting of electronic votes on Election Day. State and local officials are spending a great deal of money on machines without concrete proof that they are secure and reliable. American voters deserve better."

Chairman Sensenbrenner said, "The Founders established the states as the entity primarily responsible for the administration of both federal and state elections. While Congress has provided direction through HAVA and federal grants to modernize state election systems, some states continue to drag their feet in preventing voting compilation errors and eliminating questionable voter registration and poll day procedures. In my home state of Wisconsin, the current Governor has done his best to block the legislature's efforts to implement voting reforms conforming with HAVA guidelines, despite evidence of widespread voter fraud in Milwaukee in recent elections. The EAC will have to push hard to overcome the resistance of those who rely on outmoded and unreliable voting practices to keep themselves in power."

"I am shocked at the extent and nature of problems GAO has identified in our electronic voting systems, and I fear that this may just be the tip of the iceberg," said Rep. Conyers. "It is totally unacceptable that in 21st century American we would allow faulty machines and systems to rob citizens of their voting rights. While GAO offers some modest recommendations for improvement, it is incumbent upon Congress to respond to this problem and to enact much-needed reforms such as a voter verified paper audit trail that protects all Americans' right to vote."

Chairman Boehlert said, "I wholeheartedly endorse the GAO recommendations, which underscore the need for the Election Assistance Commission and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to continue their work to establish standards and testing procedures for voting equipment. This work must move ahead on an ambitious schedule, and the Science Committee will continue to monitor its progress."

"The foundation of democracy rests upon the accuracy, integrity and security of our voting system," Rep. Gordon said. "The Science Committee gave the National Institute of Standards and Technology a pivotal role to ensure that our voting systems are trustworthy. However - as the GAO report highlights - much remains to be done before the next election cycle. Their report is a wake-up call for adequate funding for NIST's activities and makes clear that closer oversight by Congress is warranted."

Background / GAO Results Summary

All levels of government share responsibility in the U.S. election process. At the federal level, Congress has authority under the Constitution to regulate presidential and congressional elections. The Help America Vote Act of 2002 increased the federal role in state and local elections, in part by giving states the resources to improve the accessibility, security, and reliability of their voting systems. Under HAVA, nearly $39 billion has been allocated to states to purchase electronic voting systems and improve the voting process.

Voting System Vulnerabilities Identified by GAO:

· Cast ballots, ballot definition files, memory cards, and audit logs could be modified.

· Supervisor functions were protected with weak or easily guessed passwords, and memory cards that allowed individuals access to voting machines were inadequately protected.

· Systems had easily picked locks and power switches that were exposed and unprotected.

· Voting machine vendors had weak security practices, including the failure to conduct background checks on programmers and system developers, and the failure to establish clear chain of custody procedures for handling software.

Voting System Failures Have Already Occurred During Elections

In addition to identifying potential vulnerabilities, GAO identified a number of cases of operational failures in real elections. These examples included:

· In California, a county presented voters with an incorrect electronic ballot, meaning they could not vote in certain races.

· In Pennsylvania, a county made a ballot error on an electronic voting system that resulted in the county's undervote percentage reaching 80% in some precincts.

· In North Carolina, electronic voting machines continued to accept votes after their memories were full, causing over 4,000 votes to be lost.

· In Florida, a county reported that touch screens took up to an hour to activate and had to be activated sequentially, resulting in long delays.

Problems With Implementation of Voluntary Standards, Testing, and Federal Efforts to Improve Voting System Security

GAO reported that voluntary standards for electronic voting adopted in 2002 by the Federal Election Commission contain vague and incomplete security provisions, inadequate provisions for commercial products and networks, and inadequate documentation requirements. GAO also found that tests currently performed by independent testing authorities and state and local election officials do not adequately assess electronic voting system security and reliability

The GAO report indicated that national initiatives to improve voting system security and reliability of electronic voting systems either lack specific plans for implementation or are not expected to be completed until after the 2006 election. According to GAO, "Until these efforts are completed, there is a risk that many state and local jurisdictions will rely on voting systems that were not developed, acquired, testing, operated, or managed in accordance with rigorous security and reliability standards - potentially affecting the reliability of future elections and voter confidence in the accuracy of the vote count"

The Election Assistance Commission, which was created as part of the "Help American Vote Act" began operations in January 2004. To improve the security and reliability of electronic voting systems, GAO recommends that EAC establish tasks, processes, and time frames for improving the federal voluntary voting system standards, testing capabilities, and management support available to state and local election officials. EAC commissioners agreed with GAO recommendations and stated that actions on each are either under way or intended. The National Institute of Standards' (NIST) director also agreed with the report's conclusions.

###

[The Kicker]

58. Great additions, NWH.

I want to thank you for the time and energy you invest here to spread the truth, NothingWithoutHope. I have learned much from your posts. I am very thankful for DU and the truth telling here. Thanks again.

[Nothing Without Hope]

85. Thanks for your kind words, Kicker, as well as for posting this thread.

:hi:

[IndyOp]

57. Kick!

[Nothing Without Hope]

59. ***John Conyers diary entry at Daily Kos about the GAO Report (10/21)***

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/10/21/115027/30

Well worth reading, and there are almost 300 comments.

dKos apparently has a censorship issue too - note this telling comment by Rep. Conyers, which implies his belief that the election was hacked and also states that it's known that saying you suspect the election was hacked gets you banned at dKos:
"On this site and elsewhere, there have been discussions and debates about whether this or that election was "hacked." I would like to suggest putting that discussion aside for the moment (or longer -- I understand some such discussions can result in a ban from this blog community). In this context, we should focus on what we all agree on, and what the GAO found: these machines have substantial problems."

How long before the stealing of the 2004 Election will no longer be banned from discussions even at a relatively progressive site like dKos? This taboo of broad discussion of the likelihood and evidence that the 2004 election being hijacked does not serve our democracy because it undermines any urgency in preventing the same thing from happening again.

[upi402]

62. I would like to suggest putting that discussion aside for the moment (or

scaring me...

[Nothing Without Hope]

65. He's quite right about that subject not being allowed at dKos

For months after the election there was a lot of anger over this censorship and many Kossacks came to DU at that time because of it.

Progressive blogs have censorship issues too. For example, here at DU I have repeatedly had threads locked, deleted, shuffled to irrelevant backwater forums when I posted mainstream articles on AIPAC and its effects on American politics, for example the Franklin scandal and pushes for regime change in Iraq and Iran.

Another subject that was censored here for a time was the possibility that some of the Bush Administration's delays and blocks of aid before, during and after Hurricane Katriina might have been at least in part deliberate. That seems to be OK to suggest as a possibility now, but for a while there it wasn't.

[upi402]

69. sureal

It's sureal when "progressive" fora prohibit open discussion. Can we not be more tolerant than the freeps? I have witnessed things such as what you mentioned more than once at still other sites. 2sad.

[Peace Patriot]

80. Banned?! I didn't know it was banned. I'm one of the Kossacks who came

to DU because the posts at dKos about "why we lost the election" seemed so "fingernail on the blackboard" irrelevant. I didn't know they were actually banning the topic.

I figured it was political ladder-climbing; much too much influenced by the Dem Party leadership.

Funny about the Dem Party's leadership's complete and total silence about Bushite corporations tabulating our votes with SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code. You'd think that might strike them as a bad idea.

[Nothing Without Hope]

84. I doubt a bald statement that the suggestion was banned was stated

explicitly. After all, it sounds so anti-first amendment! But the results of the policy could be seen quite clearly. Pretty striking when the censorship problem is so bad that a US Representative and member of the Judiciary Committee has reason to point it out and take care with his own wording.

[Cults4Bush]

95. NWH, is that what the purge was about?

I remember when dKos purged his "conspiracists" and damn near every moderate on DU stood up and applauded and wanted it to happen here as well. I still haven't forgotten any of those voices that wanted us kicked off or censored, just for pushing election fraud, LIHOP, US duplicity in a number of actions and so on. I mean we weren't talking weather manipulation or underground nuclear tests we were speculating on things that very well could have happened.

So yeah was this part of the purge, the election fraud people?

[cosmicdot]

70. fwiw

Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, NPI Fellow
New Politics Institute (New Democrat sub-org of Simon Rosenberg's ndn.org/DLC)

not saying it's the reason
just saying 'fyi' fwiw

http://www.ndnpac.org/npi/founding_team.html


follow the money is always
a helpful guide ... but,
so is "who benefits?"

[Nothing Without Hope]

75. yes, for whatever reason, the DLC has been and remains conspicuously

disinterested in electronic election fraud. It's such a massive silence that I do suspect some form of corruption involved in the policy decision to take this course of ignoring the stealing of elections by hacking machines and tallies.

As for Markos - his politics are pretty much DLC for the most part. For whatever reason.

[FizzFuzz]

60. YEAHHHHHHHHH! Kick, saved, rec'd

FEELS GOOD!

[SeattleGirl]

64. Wow! I saved the link so I can email it out.

I see it's been emailed to Olberman -- good move -- but i'm thinking of emailing it to Al Franken. Do you remember after the election, how he just seemed to brush these charges off? And he had that one stats guy (sorry, I can't remember his name on the show) who seemed to be the only statistician who didn't find anything wrong with what happened. I remember I was pretty pissed at Al, because there were other people he could have had on instead of or in addition to this guy. Who knows if Al will read it, but maybe he will, since it's about the report put out by the GAO.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

66. Election fraud is by far the issue...

...of greatest importance for the restoration of our democracy. We should be on democratic leadership about this relentlessly until they put it on the front burner. Any who refuse we should withdraw our support from.

[Nothing Without Hope]

67. Absolutely agree. And the Dem leadership has been avoiding the

subject - let alone the urgency - of electronic election fraud prevention like the plague. I do strongly suspect corruption, and it cannot be tolerated.

The Rethugs will be happy to give more voting machines to the Ohio neighborhoods that lacked them in 2004 - they'll hook in some dark-skinned locals for man-of-the-people photo-ops, smile for the cameras, and happily publicize their oh-so-caring :sarcasm: efforts to promote free and fair elections. That's because it won't make a damn bit of difference if the votes CAST on those extra machines are still hacked over to the GOP candidates, as they SURELY WILL BE if there is not urgent action to change the system.

So far, the Dem leadership has shown the opposite of any interest in such urgent steps to correct the corrupt electronic election fraud network that is already in place.

[Stand and Fight]

68. Glad to be #60. K/R... n/t

[lovuian]

72. WOW!!! The GAO is onto it!!! Bush stole not only 2004 but 2000

This Administration is going down!!!

[upi402]

73. May it burn in peace

:applause:

[snot]

76. I believe in voting for the lesser evil, making my vote count, etc., BUT

I am seriously entertaining making a vow NOT to vote for any candidate who does not take a clear position in favor of REAL election reform. Including Kerry, to whom I gave campaign $$ last time.

If support for real election reform isn't a sine qua non, what is?

We've done so much already to let them know what we want, and if they still can't even get to that position, how else do I make my point with them?

[sepia_steel]

79. recommended.

soo frustrating that this is coming out NOW. will anyone pay attention?

[MsConduct]

81. Wow Kicker, great find! I just sent the link to my local nbc, abc

and cbs news stations asking why the mainstream media isn't covering it. Now I'm going to send it to all the big newspapers in my state (Oregon) and then on to cnn, msnbc, faux, etc.

Welcome to Du!

[Ferret Annica]

82. Interesting

It's interesting that Diebold, which manufactures some of the Electronic Votefraud Machines, is on the public record as saying they can't print an auditable tally yet they also manufacture ATM machines that can.

The only safe Electronic Voting Machine is none.

The best way to conduct as honest as possible election is to have hand marked paper Ballots, counted at the Precinct by randomly drawn (like Jurors) citizens in the Precinct, and then to seal the Ballots for safe keeping or recount if need be.

E-voting has too many possible ways to "cook the vote". I recall the election which first alerted me to this kind of "hijinx". A popular Citizen's Iniative which would have repealed an unpopular Tax in Washington State was winning by a comfortable margin - and then the Computers "went down". When the computers came back up it was losing. I can't prove that it was done corruptly, but I believe it was.

All of the flaws listed above have been detailed, and were detailed before the sElection, by Black Box Voting.

No, Electronic Voting is just a way to ensure that the "right" people get sElected. It was installed to facilitate corruption no prevent it.

[nolabels]

83. Five years in the wilderness is just too long I guess

Hope the can find enough jail cells for em all :D

[kick_them_hard]

86. Anyone know if Senator Kerry

can disavow the election results?

[converted_democrat]

88. Thank you for posting!!! Great find!! n/t

[DemReadingDU]

89. Recommended

[BlueEyedSon]

91. Why can't I find the actual "report" with Google?

[Vektor]

126. Here it is!

http://searching.gao.gov/query.html?col=+&qt=+election&charset=iso-8859-1&ql=&x=0&y=0

Google GAO.

When they take you to the govt. site, put "election" in the search bar at the top. This report is the second one down.

[The Witch]

92. "General Accounting Office" ???

Is this freepress.org site anything close to legit? Because it's the Government Accountability Office and any paper worth its salt would have a copy editor that'd catch that. I smell the distinct odor of tinfoil. Besides, isn't this report a few weeks old?

[merh]

98. I believe it has been know as both

and the reports have been called "General Accounting Office Reports"

http://www.fas.org/man/gao/

:hi:

[Vektor]

127. True.

Same office.

[DemonFighterLives]

94. Just in time for the perfect storm

:dem:

[slay]

96. Well, I'm not the kinda guy to say "I told you so", but..

:eyes:

[Joe Chi Minh]

97. "In Gahanna Ward 1B, at a fundamentalist ..

..church, a so-called 'electronic transfer glitch' gave Bush nearly 4000 extra votes when only 638 people voted at that polling place. The tally was allegedly corrected, but remains infamous as the 'loaves and fishes' vote count".

There are some very dry wits out there....

[Lowell]

99. So who will Bush fire now

Isn't that his MO. A government official exposes the truth and they have to go. It is great having our suspicions confirmed. Too bad we can't do anything about it, like send the whole lot of carpetbaggers back to whatever rocks they crawled out from under.

[lovuian]

101. kick

:kick:

[Greyskye]

102. Recommended with a

:kick:

[goforit]

103. Geeee!!!Doesn't this make ya wanna vote!!!

[foflappy]

104. Still no smoking gun........

"Given the growing body of evidence, it appears increasingly clear that's exactly what happened."

possibilities for crime alongside a card house of "evidence" is not a cause and effect situation.

Has anyone actually scientifically "connected the dots"????

This logic is about as solid as the "Intelligent Design" logic....

before you flame:

I WOULD LOVE FOR THIS TO BE TRUE!!!!!!!!

Even this truth dodging administration could not get out of that one.....treason at this level would shake the world..possibly into making changes for the better.

[robbedvoter]

111. Here's one for ya:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3987237.stm

Early exit polls quoted by media seemed to give Mr Kerry the edge, but colleagues said Mr Rove indicated right away that they did not tally with his information.

He used his own data to put Ohio and Florida in the Bush column - bringing cheers from the president and his family when he went into the Roosevelt Room and told them

[robbedvoter]

112. self delete

[foflappy]

119. Still no smoking gun

Where is the proof???

so rove was optimistic on election night...does it prove he or someone else fixed the elections

Has any credible source or credible democrat come out and made the claim the the elections were stolen?

If th eelection swere stolen then why has no one done anything about it...like show evidence of tampering.

[helderheid]

105. kick - outstanding!

[shadowlight]

106. 100

[Wilms]

107. kick n/t

[OneForLuck]

109. Just once

I'd like them to get caught so red handed they can't spin it. I'm beginning to have a small sliver of hope that it's coming....

[Rainscents]

110. I called Thom Hartmann and told him about this and gave him the link

Thom Hartmann thanked me and they read this article over the air this morning!!! I was so happy!!!

[MellowOne]

113. Now can we indict Blackwell

please, please, please....

[robbedvoter]

114. I predict a Kerry speech on this in 3 years - my teacup will run over!

[MellowOne]

115. The good, the bad and the ugly

The good....BushCo will be exposed while in office, public humiliation for all the world to see....the bad, we would have had Kerry as our president now and the Iraq mess would be taken care of....the ugly, American's most powerful country can do much better than this.

[lonestarnot]

117. Damn still waiting and watching!

[POTGNE]

118. This is what I was trying to respond to when I started a new thread....

I just wanted to say that I sent this in to Olbermann, all major tv news investigative shows, and major liberal organizations with notation saying to get off their butts and investigate. I also posted it on several blogs. Hope this thing explodes in Bushie's face!!!

[helderheid]

121. And now NOE is going down! He's at the heart of what happened in Ohio!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5193753

[AntiFascist]

122. Hey, my vote didn't tally when I recommended this thread!!!!

Is it stuck at 111? Does that have something to do with This is HUGH!!!!

[Vektor]

123. GAO is a legitimate Govt. agency. WHY this has not come to light in MSM

is beyond me. These are not a bunch of tin foilers making up conspiracy theories in their basement. This is OUR OWN GOVERNMENT presenting the case that the election was stolen.

What does it take to get the media and the rest of this nation to open their fucking eyes?

[CrispyQ]

124. This is worthy of a DU activist event.

We need to storm our papers & media with LTTE & letters & try to bring this to the attention of the people.

I'm sick & tired of being told - by Dem friends even! - that I'm a conspiracy theorist nut cuz I believe election fraud happened.

[eppur_se_muova]

125. Cross-link to Editorials & Other Articles (GAO report link)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=168041&mesg_id=168041

(My first crosslink, not sure if I'm doing it right...)

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05997.pdf
for the original report

[mistertrickster]

129. This is an inflammatory headline. The actual report only recommends

security changes, it doesn't even suggest a stolen election.

I want to believe it, I'd be the first to shout it from the rooftops if there were solid evidence from the GAO, but there's nothing to see in this report.

Freepress.org should really check the facts before they print crap . . .

[AzDar]

131. This STILL breaks my heart...how different things would be. They

are EVIL..they've killed Democracy.

[cassiepriam]

133. Yes, the country we thought we had is gone. Simply gone.

And without a whimper. It is surreal.

[StellaBlue]

132. Am I crazy?

THIS IS HUGHHHHHH!!!!!

[Pepper32]

143. No

This IS very SERIES!

[Dover]

135. If this has legal legs...and the truly elected prez takes the throne

Hmmm....does this mean that the 2000 vote was NOT stolen?
Why wasn't the 2000 election given the same review and consideration?

Perhaps so that IF there is a move to replace Bush with the truly
elected prez it would mean Kerry rather than Gore will get to be prez.

[chat_noir]

136. DU Media Blast List

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=106x8816

Thanks to all those that contributed to this valuable resource!

[Hubert Flottz]

138. I want my tax money back

If they aren't going to count my vote, then they don't need to count my money either! Taxation Without Representation is UN-AMERICAN and unpatriotic.

[happydreams]

142. This quote blows me away:

"The United States is the only major democracy that allows private partisan corporations to secretly count and tabulate the votes with proprietary non-transparent software. Rev. Jesse Jackson, among others, has asserted that "public elections must not be conducted on privately-owned machines." The CEO of one of the most crucial suppliers of electronic voting machines, Warren O'Dell of Diebold, pledged before the 2004 campaign to deliver Ohio and thus the presidency to George W. Bush. "

This goes to show you how totally fucked up our voting systems in the US are.

[Giant Robot]

144. Does this mean that

I can have my government back now??

[emulatorloo]

145. kick n/t

[Patsy Stone]

146. Excellent!

Having just had power restored from Wilma, when I log on to read the news, this is a great thing to see. Thanks for posting.

[flyarm]

148. heyyyy Patsy..how are ya doing????

:hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi:

are you still going to :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: room???

i do not have the link to the room!!:cry: :cry: ..fly

[Patsy Stone]

151. Hey, MamaFly!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=315

I've wondered where you were! C'mon by, I know everyone would love to see you. :hug:

[flyarm]

147. sure wish Andy was here to see this!!...maybe as an angel he made this

happen!!

I do believe he is looking over their shoulders!!

Hey Andy...the fight goes on!!

:hug: :hug: :hug:

fly

[The Kicker]

149. I was born and raised in Ohio

I hope my home state comes through for all the citizens of this country.

[Chi]

150. Kick , Thanx Kicker 8) ..N/T