Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News MONDAY, 09/05/05

[autorank]

NEW ORLEANS…Simply the Best

Never forget the pursuit of Truth.
Only the deluded & complicit accept election results on blind faith.

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News MONDAY, 09/05/05

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.

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



All previous daily threads are available here:
http://www.independentmediasource.com/DU_archives/du_2004erd_el_ref_fr_thr_calenders.htm

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for the Greatest Page (it's the link just below).

CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

[autorank]

1. DEMOCRATS UNITE: Thunder from the LEFT. Social Justice NOW!!!

Breaking! Breaking! Breaking! Now We’re Getting Serious. It’s about time.

DEMOCRATS THUNDER FROM THE LEFT.

Demand an End to Injustice and Racism, Restoration of Confidence

Argue Strongly that Elections have Consequences and Commit to Election Monitoring in 2006 and
Every Election after that

Howard Duckman
Serious News Service, 9/5/2005

Wash. DC (SNS). The Democratic Party stated a stunning show of party unity today in front of the Capitol. Framed by the steps and columns of that venerable building, all members of the Democratic congressional delegation stood as one while their leaders spoke.

Howard Dean, DNC Chairman, introduced the speakers and rallied the crowd of energetic hill staffers and local activists.

Dean introduced lead off speaker Hillary Clinton, D, NY whose first words were “Have you had enough of the bull shit!” The crowd roared its approval and cheered at every opportunity. Clinton was direct and stated “The marriage of politics and greed, policy and commercial interests, and bureaucracy and vendors must stop. We can never repeat New Orleans.”

Before introducing rumored presidential candidate Joe Biden, D, DE, Chairman Dean had a few sharp words for the Republicans. “We’ve sat on our hands the last three election cycles and watched huge leads disappear mysteriously. Enough! We will challenge every unfair election set up, we will monitor every precinct, we will make sure every vote is counted and every voter has the opportunity to exercise his or her franchise.” He went on, “Do you think New Orleans would have happened under President Gore? Do you think it would have happened under President Kerry? You know darn well it wouldn’t!” The crowd cheered wildly. This subject had been taboo at DNC for a while. There were shouts of “Remember Ohio” and “Cleland” Cleland”.

Dean then introduced Biden who said, “Not withstanding urgent matters of national security, collegiality and consensus are finished. There will be no more collaborating with the Republicans. They have become a threat to the general population.” Biden was stunned when Joe Lieberman, D, CT came on stage and put his arm around Biden’s shoulder. Lieberman shouted into the microphone, “We’re through, we’ve had enough, New Orleans! New Orleans!”

Pandemonium reigned as the crowd surged forward chanting “New Orleans! New Orleans!”

Dean came to the podium again. He stood between the two long term Democratic icons and sotto voce uttered, “Elections have consequences. All elections have to be free and fair. No more election fraud.”

With that the crowd broke into a rendition of “This Land is Your Land” while Dean, Biden, Liebenberg, and Clinton raised their hands together to the energized crowd.

©Democrat Dreamwerks Productions,
Satire Division.


CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

[Usrename]

7. THE WORLD IS WATCHING

kick!

[autorank]

2. OH: 12 DAYS OF SCANDAL!!! All OH Corruption Leads to Election Fraud

Remember this: all roads of corruption in Ohio Republican politics lead to election fraud. These story capsules from the Pulitzer Prize winning Toledo Blade are a mind blower. The Governor pleads guilty to taking illegal gifts. The Attorney General fights with the Governor over knowledge of a scam to loot employee retirement funds of $200 million for “rare coin” investments (I’m not making this up). Blackwell, Secretary of State and Bush State Chairman, gets an attorney (good idea). And Mr. Noe the investment advisor behind the scandal, fund raiser for Republicans, friend of Blackwell, and husband of a very busy Board of Elections official is everywhere in the scandal. Of course, he blew $200 million on “bad pennies” but what the heck, Bush won. This is just 12 days…

Just twelve days in Ohio politics: Republican Scandal Unfolds at a Stunning Pace. From the Toledo Blade

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=NEWS24

September 4, 2005 | Ohio News

Voinovich appointment started Noe's rise

COLUMBUS — Four months after taking office in 1991, then-Gov. George Voinovich made a decision that would alter the course of Ohio politics by setting in motion the rise to prominence of Toledo-area coin dealer Tom Noe.

GOP scandals hurt, Ludeman says

September 2, 2005 | Ohio News
It’s never easy to run as a Republican in Toledo, but this year’s election looks like a golden GOP opportunity: The Democrats who dominate city politics have split into three factions, behind three mayoral candidates, with a lone Republican challenger.

Petro revisits inquiry into SEC claims

September 1, 2005 | Ohio News
COLUMBUS — Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro reversed course and said yesterday that his office will investigate a federal agency’s allegations of investment problems at the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.

Petro told to give proof of Bureau of Workers’ Comp investigation

August 31, 2005 | Ohio News

The almost daily exchange between Statehouse Democrats and Republican Attorney General Jim Petro intensified yesterday, with Democrats charging that he failed to investigate investment problems at the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Comp. Petro fired back, calling state Sen. Marc Dann, the Democrats’ “designated hit-man

'Special counsel' (says) contracts bring criticism of Attorney General Petro

August 30, 2005 | Ohio News

Democratic officials brought pay-to-play charges to the state controlling board yesterday and aimed them squarely at Republican Attorney General Jim Petro. Two Democratic members of the board questioned awarding $19 million in outside legal work to firms that had contributed $803,000 to Mr. Petro since 1998.

Attorney appointed for Blackwell

August 30, 2005 | Ohio News

COLUMBUS - Secretary of State Ken Blackwell has a new attorney in his fight against an attempt to prevent four proposed constitutional amendments overhauling Ohio's election system from reaching the Nov. 8 ballot.

Taft claims he can still govern, but not all agree

August 29, 2005 | Ohio News
With his criminal conviction behind him, Gov. Bob Taft has pledged to buckle down and conduct the business of the state for his final 16 months in office.

Governor's criminal conviction contradicts a legacy of integrity

August 28, 2005 | Ohio News
In 2002, the Taft Museum in Cincinnati was long overdue for renovations. Home to nearly 700 works of art and the site where William Howard Taft accepted the Republican party nomination for the presidency in 1908, the building's roof was leaking, the galleries were cramped and dim, and an air of mildew hung over the site.

Taft joked about Noe, rare coins at roast; '04 speech did not mention BWC fund

August 27, 2005 | Ohio News
At a 2004 roast of Tom Noe, Gov. Bob Taft talked about rare coins and giving money to the Toledo-area coin dealer, but he did not make a direct reference to the $50 million rare-coin investment that now, a year later, has enveloped his administration in scandal.

Colorado grand jury to hear missing-coin case

August 27, 2005 | Ohio News
COLUMBUS - Another grand jury, this time in Colorado, will soon hear testimony about two missing coins that helped shine a light on problems with Tom Noe's failed $50 million rare-coin investment, authorities said yesterday.

Feds warned Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation about excessive fees

August 26, 2005 | Ohio News
Federal regulators repeatedly complained over several years that the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation paid excessive fees to some of its brokers — warnings that went unheeded. The bureau’s Oversight Commission yesterday learned in dramatic fashion about the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission letters.

Opposing groups unite in effort to remove Taft

August 26, 2005 | Ohio News
A pair of grassroots activist organizations that rarely see eye to eye announced yesterday they have joined forces in a campaign to drive Gov. Bob Taft from office because of his conviction on ethics violations.

Petro sides with election reform opponents

August 25, 2005 | Ohio News
COLUMBUS - Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro has sided with the group trying to keep four election-reform constitutional amendments off the Ohio ballot, a move that places his office on both sides of the case.

Democrats discuss possible Taft impeachment

August 24, 2005 | Ohio News
COLUMBUS - If Gov. Bob Taft lied about when he first knew of the state's $50 million investment in rare coins with Tom Noe, lawmakers would pursue impeachment, the top House Democrat said yesterday.


CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

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3. AL: Dem Secretary of State Dumps Diebold After Trial

Well, it’s about time. Alabama Secretary of State, Nancy Worley, D, got suckered into choosing Diebold as a registration system. After using it for a few months, she’s canceling the contract and re-bidding it. Welcome to the Reality-Based Community, we’re extremely happy to have you.

Secretary of state rejects first plan as deadline nears
State behind in voter sign-up

http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1125825333122790.xml&coll=1


Sunday, September 04, 2005
By TAYLOR BRIGHT
Times Montgomery Bureau [e-mail]

MONTGOMERY (Alabama) - Three months after choosing Diebold Election Systems to provide a new statewide voter registration system, Secretary of State Nancy Worley has thrown out the Diebold deal and asked for new proposals.

At issue, Worley said Wednesday, was whether the state would license software from Diebold or buy it. Diebold could not be reached for comment.

The state at first wanted to buy the software, which would require the state to take care of any problems with the program. Other states typically pay license fees for the programs, whose suppliers take care of any issues under the leases.

"I think it was a wise decision," said state Rep. Sue Schmitz, D-Toney, who had criticized Worley's choice of Diebold.

Worley this summer chose Diebold over the recommendations of the unanimous decision of a bipartisan advisory committee set up under the federal Help America Vote Act.

But some worry that Alabama might miss the federal Jan. 1 deadline to have the new registration system in place for the 2006 elections.

.

CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

[autorank]

4. NY: Upstaters Take Voting Devices Seriously, Want "Paper"

Well, Upstate New Yorkers are thinking through the choice between “electronic voting machines” (DRE’s) and optical scanning machines (with paper ballots). This is encouraging. The next level of thinking is a critical look at the optical scan machines which are computers that can tabulate and receive instructions and modifications if not properly secured. Good work New Yorkers, keep thinking.

Future of voting at stake.
Optical scan system safest, but gets unfair rap by wrong information.

http://www.stargazettenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050904/OPINION03/509040303

September 4, 2005
GUESTVIEW

It was heartening to have 35 residents of Chemung, Schuyler and Steuben counties come to Steele Memorial Library in July to hear about the optical scan voting system our counties could choose to replace our lever machines. Sadly, of the 18 public officials who were invited, only one (Schuyler County administrator Tim O'Hearn) attended.

As was reported in this paper, speaker Bo Lipari, a computer programmer and director of New Yorkers for Verified Voting, documented benefits of a paper ballot/optical scan system over electronic voting machines. These included voter confidence in the system, ease of training workers, low risk of malfunctioning, ease of transportation and storage, and cost savings because one scanner with a ballot-marking device for the disabled serves many more voters than one electronic machine.

What has not been publicized, however, is that sponsors of the town meeting (the League of Women Voters in Chemung, Schuyler and Steuben counties) met with participants by county afterwards to plan what to do next. In the weeks that followed, when they spoke with county officials, they found much skepticism. The skepticism may be based on misinformation about optical scanning.

<snip>

Most important is the integrity of the system. Common Cause, Verified Voting and Voters Unite have documented incidents nationwide of malfunctioning electronic voting machines, including overheating, failing to record votes or tallying more votes than the number of people who voted.

<snip>

Critics of electronic voting machines are often labeled as paranoid for saying there's no proof that the machines electronically record, store and count our votes the way they were cast. Yet it is computer scientists, from Rebecca Mercuri of Harvard to David Dill of Stanford, who have warned for years that electronic voting machines can be manipulated by inside programmers or outside hackers. If it happens, or has already happened, we will never know.

<snip>

It is imperative that a voting method be chosen that inspires voter confidence and increases voter turnout, rather than doing the opposite. Democracy depends on it.


CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

[GettysbergII]

6. kick

[kster]

8. K+R........NT

[autorank]

5. Phillipines: Electrion Fraud Fighters Undeterred by Supreme Court

They won't give up despite a set back in the Supreme Court. Filipino no election fraud opponents are going back to Congress with instructions by the Supreme Court for a settlement of the issue there. The Court refused to hear the case saying Congress should hold hearings. These were denied by President Arroyo, over heard telling an election official to fix the outcome prior to the final tabulation of votes. Will they allow foreign observers? Can we send some interns there to teach Democrats how to fight for the franchise?

Philippines Supreme Court refuses to intervene in Arroyo impeachment case

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050902/wl_asia_afp/philippinespoliticscourt_050902055350

The Philippines Supreme Court has refused to intervene and save an apparently doomed opposition attempt to have President Gloria Arroyo removed from office for alleged election fraud.

Manila lawyer Ernesto Francisco, acting as a private citizen, filed a suit at the top court earlier this week to stop Arroyo's allies in the House of Representatives' justice committee from dismissing three impeachment complaints against her.

The committee rejected the complaints on Wednesday and the 15-member Supreme Court said in a resolution Friday that Francisco should "wait until all the remedies in the House are exhausted."

It added: "This is not yet the time to resolve the issues raised in the petition."

<snip>

"It's just a minor setback. The issues I raised in the petition are so serious that they (justices) would have to address them."

<snip>

Arroyo has been under fire since an audiotape was leaked nearly three months ago in which a woman sounding like her apparently tells a senior election official to fix the result of the May 2004 polls.


Her admission sparked mass resignations within her cabinet and defections by key allies who urged her to resign.



[link:democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=user&saz=my_forums&ssaz=add&forum=203|CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election

[philly_bob]

9. Handling TruthIsAll

I emailed the Admin on this, got no response.

Either (1) let TruthIsAll and his valuable statistical analysis back on DU or (2) give us a link to where we can follow his work on election matters.

[Bill Bored]

10. TIA has a Geocities website. Why not just ask him to post there?

BTW, it's easy to start one's own free forum too.
Just go to: http://www.proboards.com
It works, it's advertiser supported, or you can donate via PayPal to go ad-free. (I'm sure TIA could inspire many such donations -- once Hurricane Relief has been fully funded of course.)

You can have a whole Exit Poll True Believers Forum and link to it to you heart's content! The rest of us can actually work on Election Reform! (OK, just kidding; exit polls could play a role in election reform too.)

[FULL_METAL_HAT]

11. WT?F TIA has a website?

http://www.geocities.com/electionmodel/ seems to be an archive with no input and no contact info.

PLEASE if you have contact info for TIA post it!

With the bush levee broken, the incredible efforts of TIA might just really start to come to fruition!

{B^)
FMH

[autorank]

12. Welcome to DU!!!!

Here's an article that provides a nice summary of TIA's work.

I don't have any links for further contact but there's a great deal of information here.

The "Essential" threads linked to the article are a nice argument based on the selection of 16 key analyses.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0507/S00238.htm

The Unanswered Question: Who Really Won In 2004?

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0507/S00238.htm

By DU Poster Autorank
Posted at Democratic Underground
(See links in article on "Scoop")

According to the vote tabulators, in the 2004 presidential election George W. Bush won a stunning victory that defied all odds, particularly those applied by unbiased statisticians. He won despite trailing in most state and national polls. He won despite an approval rating of less than 50%, usually the death knell for an incumbent presidential candidate. He won despite trailing in the three National Exit Polls three timelines from 4pm to 12:22 am (13047 respondents) by a steady 48%-51%, miraculously winning the final exit poll (with only 613 additional respondents, totaling 13,660). This poll was “weighted” (altered) to meet the reported election result on the assumption that the reported result was accurate -- quite an assumption. The final poll showed a stunning reversal of the Kerry 51%-48% poll margin, which had been measured consistently all day by the same polling group: major news/networks and polling firm Edison-Mitofsky.

The analysis of exit polls and documented fraud in this election began on the Internet. A number of academics posted detailed work showing the near-impossible odds of Bush overcoming deficits in the state exit polls and the National Exit Polls. Much of this analysis comes from “TruthIsAll” (TIA), a poster on DemocraticUnderground.Com. TIA has a background and several degrees in applied mathematics. Using various elements of the national and state exit polls and other data sources, he produces results that are thorough, detailed, sober and compelling. He shows ALL data and calculations, while encouraging others to check his math. Only once did he make a minor math error, after asking DUers to check his calculation of probability that at least 16 states would deviate beyond their exit poll margin of error and go for Bush. The answer turned out to be one in 19 trillion! The debates on DemocraticUnderground’s “2004: Election Results and Discussion” forum are legendary and have attracted observers from all over the Net.

[kster]

13. Protest kick