NO, YES, NO: Alaska Won't Release '04 Election Data, Cites 'Security Risk'

[BradBlog]

NO, YES, NO: Alaska Now Refuses Release of 2004 Election Data Citing Security Concerns!
State's Top Security Officer Refuses Public Record Release of Diebold GEMS Database Files
The Latest Chapter in the Rollercoaster Battle to Audit Puzzling 2004 Poll Numbers Continues...

A bizarre story concerning Alaska's 2004 Election has taken yet another even more bizarre turn this week, The BRAD BLOG has learned.

A long-standing public records request for the release of Election 2004 database files created by Diebold's voting system had been long delayed after several odd twists and turns, including the revelation of a contract with the state claiming the information to be a "company secret."

But while it finally appeared as though the state had agreed to release the information (after reserving the right to "manipulate the data" in consultation with Diebold before releasing it), the state's top Security Official has now -- at the last minute -- stepped in to deny the request. The grounds for the denial: the release of the information poses a "security risk" to the state of Alaska.

We couldn't make this stuff up...

Full Story, including the Letters from Election & Security Officials and Much More:
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002467.htm

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[Wilms]

1. That's right, Brad! More bad news for Diebold!

Incredibly Bad Press and...Not just the lower 48, either...

:hi:

[BradBlog]

3. Smartly turned, Wilms! :-) n/t

[Fredda Weinberg]

5. Diebold waived proprietary rights e/m

[Chi]

23. One roadblock removed, another erected...the question is why. e/m

[Mithras61]

2. A "security risk" to the state of Alaska?

How so? Is it that releasing the database would demonstrate just how much the elections have been manipulated? It certainly seems so from the exchange of letters so far...

[BradBlog]

4. We report, you decide...

All the letters and the back and forth, etc. is available from the full item.

Please kick and/or recommend since this was all released so late on Friday night. It's an important story, and I'd hate for it to get lost completely in the weekend news hole.

Brad

[aquart]

6. Kicking like a Rockette.

[hobbit709]

20. "Security risk"

means the current administration in Alaska is very insecure about their future. Alaska will be quite safe and secure with this news.

[MissWaverly]

21. is this a security risk like the Judge claimed about

the Canadian who brought forth a case in NY stating that he was kidnapped during a layover
at a US airrport, sent to Syria and tortured for a year and then released. The judge threw
out the case claiming national security.

[Old and In the Way]

7. Most certainly a security threat to Repulicans looking to maintain

their electoral control of our elections. Let me guess...the POS/SOS is a Republican.

K&R'd.

[bleever]

8. This IS a security issue

on a par with making my six-year-old son take his tennies off to pass security at an airport.



Damn, I think I'm really sick of the shoe thing.



Rec'd.

[Higans]

39. every one knows you can't trust a 6 year old with anything but Camel.

[Steve A Play]

9. K&R!

:kick:

[For PaisAn]

10. kick

[Dem2theMax]

11. Kicking back to the top. The day crew has to read this.

:kick:

[lovuian]

12. Its obvious it was stolen!!!

you should show the results if you won!!!

[Judi Lynn]

13. The more we hear about this Alaska election criminality, the BETTER. KICK!

Thanks to BradBlog.

:kick: :kick:

[worldgonekrazy]

37. As an Alaskan...

I am truly confused by this story. Alaska is such a red state that there seems to be absolutely no need for the Republicans to rig the elections here. In fact, when this story first started popping up I dismissed it out of hand. But the lengths to which the State has gone to withhold the results is really making me wonder.

In 2004 we had the Presidential election, of course, as well as a Senate race. Now, there is absolutely no question that Bush should have easily won the Presidential vote here. But as for the Senate race, it featured a popular two-term Democratic Governor (Tony Knowles) running against a woman who had been appointed to the seat by her own father (Frank Murkowski) when he vacated the seat to become Governor (after Knowles). The appointment of Murkowski to her father's seat went over like a fart in church, and Knowles is pretty popular despite being a Democrat, so there was a fair amount of speculation that the Democrats might have been able to win that seat. Polls showed it being a pretty tight race around the 50/50 area a week or so before the election. Then the actual election results had Murkowski winning 60/40. I didn't think much of this disparity at the time because, like I said, this state is red to its very core, but now that the State has so adamantly refused to release the election results I am starting to wonder if perhaps Lisa Murkowski retained her Senate seat as the result of a rigged election.

The good news about all this is that Alaska is such a small state (population wise) that it would be pretty hard to keep a lid on this, if it were the case. Proving voter fraud would be much easier here than any other state.

[Blue_In_AK]

45. Ding, ding, ding - we have a winner...

I'm convinced it was all about Lisa. I think the powers that be greatly fear Tony for his popularity here; they knew Lisa would most likely follow in Ted's footsteps, especially since she owed him for all that last minute smearing he did on her behalf. Remember all those ads about how if Tony won, he'd be siding with Daschle, Kerry and - gasp! - HILARY! And how Ted would lose his chairmanship if Tony were elected - even though he had to give it up anyway because of term limits.

Did you hear that arrogant bastard Don Young say he would relish a run against Tony for the House race, because he would "kill" him politically? Does he want to put Tony's head on his wall along with all his other trophies? Every time they show him sitting in his office with all those dead animals, I almost :puke:.

We have GOT to get the Democrats back in power here. There was a time when this was a Democratic state ... it could happen again.

[nolabels]

14. Extra double kickity kick boom

This don't belong on any place other than in the front page. Check out them links, would ya :think:

[roguevalley]

15. thank you, bradblog. I am aghast at this. but then, you have to know

loren leman.

[Blue_In_AK]

30. I see his fingerprints all over this, RV...

They must be getting really nervous. Don Young's blustering yesterday about how if Tony runs against him this year, he'll politically "kill" him and how he, Young, has NO ties to Abramoff seems to me to be the protests of a very insecure man. I would love nothing better than to see that political blowhard chopped off at the knees. His arrogance knows no bounds.

[roguevalley]

44. that is so true. get this. his house back in the washington area has gold

bathroom fixtures. his house is a sultan's palace. makes you wonder how a guy with a ditzy trailer house residence in fort yukon could afford that on a congressman's salary.

[Blue_In_AK]

46. I did not know that about the gold fixtures...

...but it doesn't surprise me one bit. I think he is much more corrupt than we even suspect. My husband was even reading about Don Young and some shady deal having to do with the merchant marines on the MEBA web site last week. He probably has his grubby little fingers in dozens of pies. I just can't stand him.

[roguevalley]

57. you and me both. here's hoping this brings him down.

[HuffleClaw]

16. well, it IS VERY MUCH a 'security risk'

to the republicans who engineered it !

[tom_paine]

17. K & R

:kick: :thumbsup:

[Nothing Without Hope]

18. K & R. Slimy, calculating liars. "Security Risk"! Only a Bush supporter

could come up with that one. I wonder if they have ever read Orwell, or if their habitual use of Orwellian irony simply shows how right he really was.

[ProSense]

19. Security risk? Bush is leaking classified intelligence and

these people think transparent elections are a security risk?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2477825&mesg_id=2477825

[MissWaverly]

22. wait, aren't these supposed to be public records

what ever became of the sunshine law

[buddysmellgood]

24. Sickening. Those freaks should be arrested on the spot.

[pazarus]

25. are there any Democratic states

with Diebold machines willing to turn over everything? If I remember correctly, the discrepancy was pretty much across the board. There's a stone wall put up in Florida, Ohio, Alaska, and other Republican-controlled areas, but there must be a Democratic Secretary of state who will cooperate.

Sorry if this is an obvious question, I haven't been able to follow it very closely recently.

[Canuckistanian]

26. Where is the AK Democratic party on this?

Any word yet?

Can any civil organization bring a suit?

[Shelor]

27. I guess democracy is supposed to be top secret.

[Botany]

28. So the election was in November of 04

and we still can't look @ data in just about March of 06?

Only one reason for this, "they" are hiding something.

The real security risk is that we are having bogus elections and that has allowed a mad man
and his gang of crooks to seize power, loot the treasurer, and start an unneeded war.

Here in Ohio HB 3 was passed so as to codify election crimes too.

thanx brad blog!

[Blue_In_AK]

29. Jesus H. Christ -- I am so sick of these people...

It's very hard not to be convinced that something fishy went on here in 2004. I honestly believe Tony Knowles should be our senator and not Lisa Murkowski. The more these people stonewall, the more I'm convinced. Damn...

[annabanana]

31. We shall kick it through to Monday morning!

[BradBlog]

32. I like that!

Good pic for kicking inspiration annabanana!

Wish this had been on Monday instead of late Friday. But, alas, I don't schedule the news. Just report it :-)

Brad

[annabanana]

40. ick-kay

[Capn Sunshine]

34. I'm down with that

everybody, one ..two..three..:kick:

[Nutmegger]

33. Thank you BradBlog!

Amazing...

:kick:

[freedomfries]

36. thanks for staying on top of this brad!

[d_b]

35. I'm going to have a talk

with my state congressman. This is madness.

[file83]

38. That's right folks: CORPORATE security now trumps CONSTITUTIONAL security

according to the leaders of this country. You do know what that is the definition of right?

Fascism. When corporate interests are maniuplated into undermining the rights of US elections, then we have crossed the rubicon from a democratic republic to a fascist state. What happens from here is anybodies guess.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

41. Imagine all that has...

...transpired since Dubya took office happening under a Clinton, Gore or Kerry administration where elections were routinely stolen by Dems. Imagine how Neocons would have responded. This country would have seen a full blown revolution and probably a very bloody one by now.

[Hippo_Tron]

42. Bush won like 60% in Alaska what is the big deal?

I can't imagine that they have anything to hide.

Well... unless it involves a certain US Senate race upset.

[Blue_In_AK]

43. That would be my guess...

It should have been Tony Knowles all the way. It's always seemed very odd to me that in the very same 2004 election where Alaskans voted overwhelmingly to hold elections in the future rather than have the governor make appointments to vacated senate seats (i.e., Governor Frank appointing his lovely daughter Lisa to the seat he vacated to run for governor in 2002), the very same Lisa pulls out a victory at the last minute. Things that make you go hmmmmmmmm.....

[snowbear]

49. OMG Hippo........ Hippo........... Hippo.........

The big deal is that highly unpopular "appointed by my daddy to this seat woman" was HATED throughout every single part of Alaska.

Tony Knowles on the other hand, had been a two-term mayor Anchorage, then easily won the next two terms as Governor of Alaska.

Many other votes besides the U.S. senate race are screwed up, although they are REALLY whacked. "Murky" received 77,055 votes too many.

Votes that she didn't actually receive.

Meanwhile, Tony Knowles - who probably WON - lost the race by a mere 6,000 votes?

So let's see. Diebold data shows that the 77K that were given to Lisa actually show on the Diebold GEMS system that they went to another candidate.

Which candidate? Tony, of course!!! And now that Diebold actually caved in and released the actual data to check them against a sampling of our original ballots so the Alaska DNC has the proof they need to get the ball rolling with this.

The dirtball in Juneau looks over the info Diebold sent him and said he needed to delay releasing it about a week, Fine, Jake Metcalfe gave him a week.

Then he said they still need to figure something out and asked for a second delay.

This time Metcalfe said no way, but wound up getting Loren Leman to promise him he'd release the data this past week.

They now won't release it saying that it's a "Safety factor for the State" or some bogus story like that.

What it is is a CYA for his ass.

But he will be SUED more than likely. They are sitting on some incredible information that will send shockwaves across this state and they are terrified to let anyone see it.

Chances are, it's because, if you look at the numbers Metcalfe has, Kerry and Bush came very, very, close (to tying here), and in fact, Kerry may have a slight lead. Have you read the numbers the Anchorage Daily News reported that inadvertantly went to Bush by mistake???

In the U.S. Senate race, there's no question Lisa Murkowski lost and lost big.

Other races that Leman is afraid of? He's terrified we'll see the actual numbers for Assembly Member Ken Stout and Chris Birch.

In one of these districts, although our local records show voter turnout at 41%, Diebold counted a 239% voter return.

Now Chris Birch is happy about that, but uh.. if you were in South Anchorage at the time, you would be hard pressed to find anyone pulling for Birch.

How did he win so big? Ask Diebold.

Alaska isn't as "RED" as you think. Alaska is full of extremely Independent, pro-choice, voters.

Like you said, Knowles was and is still popular!!!

He may throw his hat in the ring for the Congressional seat and oust the dirtball who's been taking dirty Abramoff money for years. Who knows?

What I do know is that the Alaska Democratic Party is not kicking back forgetting about Leman and his denials to turn this public data over.

It's going to get very, very interesting!!!

BWT.. sorry for typos. It's too late to scan thru' double checking for errors.. :boring:

[Blue_In_AK]

56. Thank you, Larissa, for telling it much better than I

could pull it together. I too felt that Kerry came much closer to winning here than everyone thought. I didn't know anyone who voted for ** except for my Nascar ex son-in-law. Here are some snips from this morning's Anchorage Daily News article on this Division of Elections issue:

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/7482792p-7392875c.html

Election officials reject file request
RESULTS: Democrats say accuracy of 2004 vote is in question.

By ALEX DeMARBAN
Anchorage Daily News

Published: February 26, 2006
Last Modified: February 26, 2006 at 02:37 AM


The state Division of Elections is once again refusing to give its electronic voting files to the Democrats, arguing that doing so presents security risks to state government and the election system. Releasing the files could allow someone to use an easily available data-management program, like Microsoft Access, to manipulate the data without the knowledge of the Division of Elections, said director Whitney Brewster.

The state denied the request in a letter dated Feb. 22, more than two months after the Alaska Democratic Party filed a public records request seeking the data file, which contains the final vote tallies for the 2004 general election. The accuracy of the vote is in question, the Democrats said. Even the division's Web site contains glaring errors, with huge discrepancies between the number of votes cast statewide for each candidate and the number of votes cast district by district, they said.

"The public deserves clear, accurate data about the election," said Democratic spokeswoman Kay Brown. "We wonder why they're so determined not to shed light on this."

<snip>

"It's akin to providing a map to a museum that shows where the fine artwork is and where all the security cameras are," said Brewster. "It's not like providing the code to the alarm, but it's like providing that map. Someone could try to go in and tinker around in there," she said.

Jake Metcalfe, Alaska Democratic Party chairman, called the issue of security a "phony excuse." He said that the Democrats are willing to review the electronic database in the presence of Division of Elections officials. "The books don't balance," he said. "We're not saying they fooled around with them, but it's their job, it's their only job, to tell the public how they counted the votes. If they won't tell us, that raises a whole other set of questions." Brown said the party is considering a lawsuit or an administrative appeal.

[Lisa]

47. probably the same folks who use "innocent people have nothing to fear ..."

"... from the law" -- when defending the USA PATRIOT Act.

[harpboy_ak]

48. kick again

and we ought to kick that loony lite gov loren leman, the ape with one eyebrow, back to nikiski.

if you live in los anchorage, call dem party chairman jake metcalfe & tell him to sue the bastard.

[Blue_In_AK]

59. I already e-mailed Kay Brown...

...urging her to do just that. I think it helps for them to know we're paying attention.

[jfern]

50. Let me guess

Knowles really won the Senate race.

[blue cat]

51. This is the biggest lie of all

and republicans just, don't, care as long as they win.

[FighttheFuture]

55. Neither, apparently, does the Democratic Party care....

Time to clean house from within. Liberman is a good first step.

I really hope Al Gore runs, win or loose, at least he has the courage to define the issue for the next generation.

[Paradise]

52. kick. n/t

[Trevelyan]

53. Thank you for steadfastly keeping on this Brad. Your recent Photocartoons

have been very good also. I think I will distribute the "Democracy is Toast" cartoon.

[Trevelyan]

54. Tried to Recommend but I was too late. Kick still available??

:kick: :yourock: Kick!!! All the bush scandals will go for naught if we don't have honest paper not vapor auditable voting.

[BradBlog]

58. I don't know...but let's try...

Since this broke so late on Friday, it'd be great if it was still up there by Monday for folks to catch when they get back to work (readership on weekends is about one-fifth of weekdays! And there's been some good additional background info posted in comments in this thread, to boot!)

Brad

[annabanana]

60. and a Monday morning kick

[Blue_In_AK]

61. Kick again

for Alaska's Democrats.