Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Sunday 6/5/05

[MelissaB]

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

If you can:

1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.

2. Post stories using the "Election Fraud and Reform News Sources" listed here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x371233

3. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU, providing a link to the original thread with thanks to the Original Poster, too.

4. Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.


If you want to know how post "News Banners" or other images, go here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=371233#371391




Link to previous Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x374991


All previous daily threads are available here: http://www.independentmediasource.com/DU_archives/du_2004erd_el_ref_fr_thr_calenders.htm
(This is a new source. Please check it out.) :applause:

[MelissaB]

1. Washington: Are all-mail elections in our future?

Are all-mail elections in our future?

Will Thurston County join counties around the state and switch to all-mail elections?

The answer to that question might be decided early next month after a series of community meetings and a public hearing conducted by Thurston County commissioners. Now is the time for members of the public to weigh in on whether it's time to abandon poll-site voting and convert to all mail-in ballots.

Earlier this year, the Legislature authorized counties to switch to voting exclusively by mail. Recently, Jefferson County commissioners voted to make the switch. Mason County commissioners followed suit a week ago. Kitsap County election officials said they're likely to adopt a similar move next month, and Grant County commissioners will hold a hearing on the issue soon.

More: http://159.54.227.3/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050605/OPINION01/506050316/1005

[MelissaB]

2. BUSH’S IMPEACHABLE OFFENCES

Sunday 5th June 2005 (06h26) :

BUSH’S IMPEACHABLE OFFENCES

Compiled by "Son of a Bush" 1) The now famous Downing Street Memo, along with the testimony of former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neil constitute direct evidence of a decision by Bush to invade a sovereign foreign nation on entirely specious grounds.

2) The decision to deploy chemical weapons in Fallujah came from Rumsfeld who no doubt covered his ass by receiving assent from Bush to use these banned weapons

3) The decision by Bush to dig up dirt on UN diplomats when the General Assembly was considering his ill-fated war resolution

...snip

8) Engaging in a massive voter suppression campaign in the state of Ohio to secure a second term by fraudulent means. Such activities carry criminal sanctions as outlined in the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

...snip

13) Conspiring to rig the vote count in the state of Fl. by hacking optical scan machines and E-voting machines and covering up the latter by passing legislation in the state of Fl to prevent post-election examination of E-voting machines. There are many more impeachable offenses ordered by Bush and carried out by his agents ,such as the "outing" of CIA operative Valerie Plame. This info is what I can recover off the top of my head. Clearly an impeachment inquiry by the US House Judiciary Committeee is an action clearly overdue. Some of the allegations are violations of international law. They fall under the impeachment clause as well . An additional action of filing criminal referral to the UN War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague is also an absolute must if the United States wants to gain the esteem of the citizens of the entire world.


More: http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=6329


(Is "Son of a Bush" a DU'er?)

[MelissaB]

3. Blackwell had few concerns at first He now says scandal has 'smell' of cr

Article published Sunday, June 5, 2005

Blackwell had few concerns at first
He now says scandal has 'smell' of crime

By STEVE EDER
BLADE STAFF WRITER

COLUMBUS - Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell was not initially concerned or even shocked that the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation had invested $50 million in rare coins.


In fact, Mr. Blackwell told The Blade on April 5 that "most people" wouldn't find it "unreasonable" that the state had invested in rare coins with Tom Noe, who has said through his attorneys that at least $10 million of the state's assets are missing.

...snip

Two months later, Mr. Blackwell told The Blade that the coin scheme carries the "potential smell of organized crime" and needs to be addressed in the federal government.

...snip

And state Sen. Teresa Fedor (D., Toledo) said Mr. Blackwell's initial reaction to the coin scandal is indicative of the thought that contributions and influence-peddling caused leaders to turn a blind eye to potential wrongdoing.

...snip

Mr. Blackwell disputes that he had any interest in protecting Mr. Noe, or his wife, Bernadette. Mr. Blackwell accepted Ms. Noe's resignation from the Lucas County Board of Elections early last month amid problems at the county elections office unrelated to the coin scandal.

Mr. Blackwell said his "battle" with the Noes over the elections board serves as clear evidence that he would not allow a contributor to interfere with his decision-making.

Much more: http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050605/NEWS24/506050376

[Coexist]

4. Trial in Washington State re: Gregoire

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2002307435_trial05m.html


Judge left to mull vote-fraud claim

By David Postman
Seattle Times chief political reporter

Election trial dispatches

WENATCHEE — Much of the tenor of the governor's election trial was set just a few minutes into Republican attorney Dale Foreman's opening statement.

Foreman outlined now well-known complaints about King County's record-keeping. But he said evidence collected for the trial showed something "even more sinister."

"This is not just a case of sloppy election officials. This is a case of election fraud."

[Botany]

6. Lucas County huh?

"Mr. Blackwell accepted Ms. Noe's resignation from the Lucas County Board of Elections....."

*Lucas County where voting machines "locked up" on 11/2/04
* Lucas County where a couple who had been living in the same house
since 1960 (their first vote was for JFK) went to vote to find that they
were no longer registered
* Lucas County where the Kerry HQ or Dem party HQ was broken into and
a computer with voter files was stolen
* Lucas County where all of the BOE had to resign after the election


Yea I bet Blackwell is real shocked over these irregularities .....

[MelissaB]

7. Thanks, Botany!

I didn't remember all of that! :grr:

[Botany]

8. I even skipped a couple that I was only 90% sure on.

the whole state is dirty. I only hope that Noe let's us look into
things.

keep up the good work.

[MelissaB]

5. Bush met with Noe (Coingate)

In Washington, the Republican National Committee (RNC) said Thursday it would donate to charities $6,000 that the Bush/Cheney campaign and the RNC received directly from Noe and his wife, Bernadette. The Bush campaign received more than $100,000 raised by Noe. RNC spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt said remaining contributions "appear to be completely appropriate."

Bush met with Noe last October to thank him and his wife for their fund-raising efforts. Bush narrowly won Ohio, whose 19 electoral votes enabled him to secure a second term.


More: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2002307235_ohiocoin05.html

[Wilms]

9. DU Op-Ed: Are We Helping the Voting Companies, or Opposing Them?

DU Op-Ed

Are We Helping the Voting Companies, or Opposing Them?
Strategies for Dealing with the Business of Election Secrets.

by Land Shark

You probably didn’t know that cigarettes have a lot to do with election reform – they have secrets in common.

The secrets in both election reform and cigarettes are both “trade secrets”. Phillip Morris has successfully claimed trade secrets in the list of additives in their cigarettes so that when Massachusetts passed a law requiring cigarette makers to disclose just the names of additives but not the “recipe”, Phillip Morris won a lawsuit claiming the state had “taken” their trade secret “property”.

Even though trade secrets are simply unprotectable ideas or processes that become protectable only because of the value a business claims they have, along with the business’s efforts at protecting that value through secrecy, they achieve the legal status of “property” more or less at the decision of private companies. Unlike patents, there is no uniqueness or invention required, just an investment-backed expectation of competitive advantage in secrecy.

-snip/more/discussion:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x375300

[Wilms]

10. Local TV poll needs our attention re: Ballots

What type of ballot would you prefer to use in local elections?

Computer/Touch Screen
Punch Card
Paper Ballot

http://www.wlox.com

Please scroll down to about 3/4's of the page and vote.
Computer/Touch Screens is winning at 60%

Thanks to Merh for posting:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x375211

[Wilms]

11. Leon County Fla. Report on Hacked Machines

Special Report: Black Box Voting Attempts to Penetrate The Leon County Florida Optical Scan Voting System.

In January of this year Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho was contacted by representatives of Black Box Voting .org, a non-partisan elections advocacy group, to see if their computer experts could successfully circumvent the security of the Leon County voting system. Supervisor Sancho agreed to this proposal and in three separate attempts over a four month period, computer experts Dr. Herbert Thompson and Harri Hursti visited the Leon County Elections Office in their efforts to penetrate the county voting tabulation equipment and alter election data.

The tests focused on two areas: outside or external hacks, specifically examining the modem and any lines going to the vote tabulation computer, and simulated inside or internal penetrations. The results were clear. No outside hack was accomplished. This was not the case however when the hacker was physically present at the vote tabulation computer terminal.

-snip/more-
http://www.leonfl.org/elect/SpecialReport.htm

Thanks to BeFree for posting:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x375124

[Wilms]

14. Bev Harris's BlackBoxVoting Finds Voting Scan Machines Hackable

Bev Harris's BlackBoxVoting Finds Voting Scan Machines Hackable

By Matthew Cardinale

www.OpEdNews.com

Two new and startling discoveries announced by Bev Harris and BlackBoxVoting.org indicate that Diebold Optical Scan Machines are vulnerable to, and designed for, hacking that would modify the results of an election.

Whereas Touch Screen voting machines have received the most attention, she asserts, Optical Scanning Machines pose as much cause for concern based on recent findings.

In an interview for the progressive news community, Bev Harris, 53, explains in detail the recent developments.

Harris asserts that her technical experts found, in research conducted publicly on Leon County, Florida, elections machines, that both the individual machines as well as the Central Tabulator were hackable.

-snip/more-

http://www.opednews.com/cardinale_060505_hackable_voting_machines.htm

Thanks to Zorra for posting the Editorials and Other Articles Discussion:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x129984

[Wilms]

12. Online activists use Ohio election as testing ground

Online activists use Ohio election as testing ground

Sunday, June 05, 2005

Nick Juliano
Associated Press

Though he does not live in Ohio's 2nd Congressional District, Chris Baker is trying to work outside traditional political outlets to elect a progressive candidate there.

He is among liberal activists in the state and around the country who see the district's special elections as a chance to test strategies to reach voters through online blogs that they hope will remain for future elections.

The southern Ohio district has the only federal election around, so it has the potential to draw a lot of time and money from progressive activists nationwide, said Michael Cornfield.

-snip/more

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/111797250872650.xml&coll=2

[MelissaB]

13. Relative of Noe tied to Bush campaign donations; In-law's colleagues talk

Relative of Noe tied to Bush campaign donations; In-law's colleagues talk to grand jury

By MIKE WILKINSON and JAMES DREW
BLADE STAFF WRITERS


Tom Noe's brother-in-law has been linked to campaign contributions made to the Bush-Cheney campaign, The Blade has learned.


Two of Joe Restivo's fellow executives at a Bedford Township company appeared before the federal grand jury Thursday. At the time, they left the courthouse without identifying themselves.

But yesterday, The Blade confirmed who they were: Bart Kulish and Phil Swy.


Mr. Kulish, vice president of operations at MTS Seating, said he only knew about a controversial Bush fund-raiser in October, 2003, because of Mr. Restivo, who is the chief financial officer of the company. Mr. Restivo is the brother of Mr. Noe's wife, Bernadette.

Both Mr. Kulish and Mr. Restivo attended the fund-raiser and contributed $2,000 each to the Bush-Cheney campaign.

...snip

The U.S. attorney's office is investigating whether Mr. Noe broke federal campaign laws by giving money to others in order for them to contribute to the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign.

...snip

Investigators are reviewing the contributions to the Bush-Cheney campaign to determine whether Mr. Noe was the source of them.

Many of the contributions occurred at or around an Oct. 30, 2003, fund-raiser in Columbus that raised $1.4 million for the President's re-election campaign.

Federal campaign laws limit individuals to contributing $2,000 per candidate in each election. It is a violation of federal law to pass campaign contributions through another person to skirt individual contribution limits.


Link: http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050604/NEWS24/506040365/0/NEWS

[Wilms]

15. US probes Isle of Man scheme used by billionaire Bush donors

US probes Isle of Man scheme used by billionaire Bush donors

By Jason Nisse

05 June 2005

The Manhattan District Attorney, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are jointly probing a tax-shelter plan run out of the Isle of Man.

The scheme, devised by one of America's biggest banks and used by two billionaire donors to George Bush's election campaign among others, is being probed for possible breaches of securities and anti-money-laundering rules.

-snip-

The duo, who made their money in computing and retailing, not only gave over $200,000 to President Bush's re-election campaigns, but also bankrolled TV adverts attacking his rivals, John Kerry and Senator John McCain.

-snip/more-

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/story.jsp?story=644159

Thanks to LightningFlash for posting the discussion:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x375404

[Wilms]

16. Schwarzenegger Donors Rewarded With Access

Schwarzenegger Donors Rewarded With Access

6/5/05

LOS ANGELES - Top contributors to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have been rewarded with a private telephone number that gives them access to his closest advisers — and even to the governor himself.

The Los Angeles Times on Sunday reported that major donors are invited twice a month to participate in conference calls featuring information about the governor's campaign strategy. In turn, donors who dial in can give the governor or his advisers advice.

The Times said it was given access to the conference call Thursday by a participant. The newspaper did not identify that person.

In the half-hour call, Schwarzenegger media strategist Don Sipple outlined a plan to create a "phenomenon of anger" to turn voters against public employee unions that have been among the governor's harshest critics, the newspaper said.

-snip/more-

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050606/ap_on_el_gu/schwarzenegger_donors

[Wilms]

17. (FL) Keep the touch screens

Keep the touch screens

Palm Beach Post Editorial

Sunday, June 05, 2005

While the elections supervisor in Miami-Dade County is ready to trade in that office's $24 million touch-screen voting system for optical-scan ballots, it's good to note that the elections supervisor in Palm Beach County is not.

Arthur Anderson correctly states that Miami-Dade is struggling with a different touch-screen system, one that puts more emphasis on poll workers, costs more to set up and — most important — underwent a one-machine breakdown in the November presidential election that resulted in the counting of 171 phantom ballots. That system is made by ES&S.

-snip/more-

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2005/06/05/w2e_elections_edit_0605.html

[MelissaB]

18. WaPo Monday: Senior GOP strategists begin to worry ethics scandals will er

WaPo Monday: Senior GOP strategists begin to worry ethics scandals will erode majority

After enlarging their majority two elections in a row, House Republicans have begun to fear that public attention to members' travel and relations with lobbyists will make ethics a potent issue that could cost the party seats in next year's midterm races, the Washington Post's Mike Allen will report on Monday page ones, RAW STORY has learned.

Republicans have a 29-seat majority in the House, which they likely won't lose in the 2006 elections. But those among senior ranks of the party who spoke earlier in the year about breaking even in the midterm elections now speak of losses. If Democrats retake the House, Republican strategists tell the Post, it won't be until 2012.

Allen says senior Republicans now speak of "the DeLay effect," intimating ethics questions circling House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) have begun to hurt fellow party members, who face local coverage of their own trips and use of relatives on campaign payrolls.

Among those endangered, according to the Post, are at least two committee chairmen and several other senior members, including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), House Administration Chairman Bob Ney (R-OH) and House Resources Chairman Richard Pombo (R-CA). Congressional districts that traditionally have been safe for Republicans could become more competitive, GOP officials tell the Post.

"Nowhere is the impact of the ethics issue clearer than in the Appalachian hills of eastern Ohio, where a thicket of weekly newspapers now gives regular coverage to revelations about House Administration Committee Chairman Robert Ney (R-Ohio) and his ties to DeLay and Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist now under criminal and congressional investigation for the tens of millions of dollars in fees he and a partner collected from casino-owning Indian tribes," Allen writes.

More: http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Senior_GOP_strategists_begin_to_worry_ethics_scandals_will_erode_ma_06_05_2005_0811pm.html

[Wilms]

19. .