Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News THURSDAY, 09/08/05

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Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News WEDNESDAY, 09/07/05

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

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1. AZ: PROJECT CENSORED -- Election Fraud

Censored indeed. We’ll see that the CM (corporate media) can cover election fraud from all over the world BUT NOT IN THE UNITED STATES. Thanks for nothing CM? You gave us Bush and you deserve our contempt.

Censored Stories Project Censored presents the 10 stories the mainstream media ignored over the past year

http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=oid:72509

9/8/05
By CAMILLE T. TAIARA

ust four days before the 2004 presidential election, a prestigious British medical journal published the results of a rigorous study by Dr. Les Roberts, a widely respected researcher. Roberts concluded that close to 100,000 people had died in the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Most were noncombatant civilians. Many were children.
But that news didn't make the front pages of the major newspapers. It wasn't on the network news. So most voters knew little or nothing about the brutal civilian impact of President George W. Bush's war when they went to the polls.
That's just one of the big stories the mainstream news media ignored, blacked out or underreported during the past year, according to Project Censored, a media watchdog group based at California's Sonoma State University.

<snip>

"If there were a real democratic press, these are the kind of stories they would do," says Sut Jhally, professor of communications at the University of Massachusetts and executive director of the Media Education Foundation.

3. Another Year of Distorted Election Coverage

Last year, Project Censored foretold the potential for electoral wrongdoing in the 2004 presidential campaign: The "sale of electoral politics" made No. 6 in the list of 2003-04's most underreported stories. The mainstream media had largely ignored the evidence that electronic voting machines were susceptible to tampering, as well as political alliances between the machines' manufacturers and the Republican Party

Then came Nov. 2, 2004.

Bush prevailed by 3 million votes--despite exit polls that clearly projected John Kerry winning by a margin of 5 million.
"Exit polls are highly accurate," Steve Freeman, professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Organizational Dynamics, and Temple University statistician Josh Mitteldorf wrote in In These Times. "They remove most of the sources of potential polling error by identifying actual voters and asking them immediately afterward who they had voted for."

The 8-million-vote discrepancy was well beyond the poll's recognized, less-than-1-percent margin of error. And when Freeman and Mitteldorf analyzed the data collected by the two companies that conducted the polls, they found concrete evidence of potential fraud in the official count.

"Only in precincts that used old-fashioned, hand-counted paper ballots did the official count and the exit polls fall within the normal sampling margin of error," they wrote. And "the discrepancy between the exit polls and the official count was considerably greater in the critical swing states."

Inconsistencies were so much more marked in African-American communities as to renew calls for racial equity in our voting system. "It is now time to make counting that vote a right, not just casting it, before Jim Crow rides again in the next election," wrote Rev. Jesse Jackson and Greg Palast in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Sources: "A Corrupt Election," Steve Freeman and Josh Mitteldorf, In These Times, Feb. 15, 2005; "Jim Crow Returns to the Voting Booth, Greg Palast and Rev. Jesse Jackson, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Jan. 26, 2005; "How a Republican Election Supervisor Manipulated the 2004 Central Ohio Vote," Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman, www.freepress.org, Nov. 23, 2004.

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

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2. Velvet Revolution - An Outstanding Activist Site for Election Fraud

Two special sites featured today. The first is Velvet Revolution. Started by Brad Friedman of BradBlog, this is a great resource for the campaign for full voting rights and honest government. Make it a part of your resource kit.

VELVETREVOLUTION LAUNCHES 'NO MORE LIES'
CAMPAIGN TO SAY THAT ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

http://www.velvetrevolution.us/#020505

Is the NIST Technical Guidelines Development Committee Working for You, the Voter?: Voting Machine Rulemakers Poised to Violate Their Public Interest Mandate
by John Gideon
www.dissidentvoice.org



Should the makers of voting machines set the standards that their voting machines must live up to in order to satisfy the public interest? Though the answer is obviously “No”, a recent meeting of a technical subcommittee of the Election Assistance Commission shows that this is happening, yet the EAC may reveal these new standards, on or about July 1, coupled with a claim that they adequately protect the heart of democracy.

By way of background, the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) was chartered by the Elections Assistance Commission to provide updated standards against which all voting machines will be tested in order to be qualified for use. Presently voting technology is qualified to standards that were written in 1990 or 2002. The charter instructs NIST to form a committee to be called the Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC). This committee is to operate with guidance from the EAC charter and with funding coming from the EAC.

The TGDC has been holding public meetings as they go through the suggested standards they have developed for qualifying all voting systems. They are modifying or deleting suggested standards in order to have a finished product that will set the standards for the industry.

Among the guidelines laid out for this committee by the EAC charter is a requirement, in law, that the committee operate in the public interest. The seventh of the "Administrative Provisions" shows a concern by the EAC that there be no conflict of interest in the decision makers.

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

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3. Living History: The Election Fraud Clearing House

Resource number two. The Election Fraud Clearinghouse (not funded by the Federal government ;) is a great historical site for the classic documents and studies in election fraud. It’s a must bookmark.

Election Fraud
Clearinghouse

http://www.electionfraudclearinghouse.org/

A resource for citizens, journalists, activists and wonks as our nation tries to make sense of the least credible election in modern history.
Despite widespread problems and possible foul play affecting races using electronic voting systems in 2002, their use expanded dramatically prior to the 2004 Presidential Election. Nearly five out of six of all votes cast on November 2, 2004, were counted by computerized devices controlled by FIVE corporations. Two of the largest of these companies are controlled by ardent Republican partisans. 35 Million of the votes entrusted to these companies were cast on "touch-screen" machines without leaving a paper record. On Election day, voter assistance hotlines received tens of thousands of calls from touch-screen users complaining that their vote was changed from Kerry to Bush at the review stage, forcing them to go back (often more than once) to change their vote.

Read the startling Johns Hopkins E-Voting Study that shattered public confidence in electronic voting systems.

If you want a second opinion, try the (heavily redacted) SAIC Report commissioned by the State of Maryland.

Read a U. Penn Professor's very accessable statistical analysis of the chances that the exit polls for Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania could all come out as far off as the election results would have us believe.

Have we already seen the trailer for this movie?
This analysis of the 2002 mid-terms explains why you may feel a sense of deja vu.

Optiscan Dixiecrats
Cross-party voting in Florida seems to depend on the local voting technology
Even after correcting for the Dixiecrat Effect, counties that used electronic touch-screen voting showed a shift toward Kerry; while among counties that used opti-scan paper ballots, there was a shift toward Bush.

Comupter Security Expert Chuck Herrin shows you how easy it is to Hack the Vote.

Want to know more about the Companies that Count Your Vote?
The main players in this booming industry have consistently resisted allowing government officials, independent experts or non-partisan watchdog groups to review their software, citing "trade secrecy."

Voters Unite, a non-partisan movement to reform election procedures, has compiled a partial yet still shocking list of incidents involving these machines dating back to 1998, and broken down by manfacturer. Voters Unite has also produced an excellent and comprehensive white paper on the subject of electronic voting systems. Entitled Myth Breakers, it leaves the "conspiracy theories" behind and addresses practical reasons why elections officials who have just spent millions on such systems are reluctant to acknowledge their mounting problems.

Visit BlackBoxVoting.Org for the latest on the biggest Freedom of Information Act suit in U.S. history, and excellent background on the e-voting scandal. Bev Harris has been on the case since 2001, and has been sending geek squads out across the country to access and analyze the hard drives from tabulators and paperless touch-screen machines in 34 states.

Donate to the Recount Efforts in Ohio, Florida and New Hampshire

If you're tired of wading through the many red herrings on the amatuer blogs on this topic, Dr. Edward Fenton of Princeton has started a weblog with experts in electronic voting systems.

Read the two letters sent by Congressmen Henry Wexler (D-FL), Jerold Nadler (D-NY), and John Conyers (D-MI) to the Government Accounting Office demanding a full investigation into the 2004 vote count.

Ohio's own Dennis Kucinich got the goods on Diebold.
Diebold Employee Manual Reveals Knowledge of Software Flaws
"Not only have the above memos demonstrated company knowledge of software flaws, but Diebold specifically instructs employees to misrepresent such flaws when questioned, according to Diebold’s Election Support Guide, published on Oct. 21, 2002. This manual is provided to the individuals who work directly with voting machines and systems on Election Day. Diebold’s employee guidelines demonstrate why we need more transparency in the development and implementation of voting machines so that such failings are not tolerated."

The National Ballot Integrity Project is a coalition of voting rights watchdog groups that has coalesced around the mounting questions around the 2004 vote, and the issue of privatized elections.
Take Action now to resolve the 2004 vote count, and insure that faulty voting machines and procedures never again cast such doubt on the integrity of our democratic system.



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

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4. Egypt: Corporate Media Covers Fraud Overseas, but NOT in the USA

Oops! CM’s covering election fraud, but NEVER in the USA. Why? Oh, let me guess… Who are we to judge Egypt or any other country for their election practices?

Charges of Fraud Mar Egyptian Election

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050907/ap_on_re_mi_ea/egypt_election_6

By MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press Writer Wed Sep 7, 9:15 AM ET
CAIRO, Egypt - Egyptians voted Wednesday in the country's first-ever contested presidential election, but charges of fraud and a big boycott rally marred balloting that longtime leader

Hosni Mubarak portrayed as a major democratic reform.
Ordinary citizens and opposition party members told The Associated Press that election workers inside polls in Luxor instructed voters to choose Mubarak, who is expected to be easily re-elected to a fifth six-year term. In Alexandria, workers for the ruling National Democratic Party promised food to those who cast a ballot, voters said.

More than 3,000 people marched through downtown Cairo at midafternoon — by far the largest crowd ever drawn by the opposition group Kifaya, or "Enough" in Arabic. Police watched from a distance, despite government vows the day before that protests would not be allowed.
Egypt says the decision to allow challengers to Mubarak signals a move toward greater democracy in a country that has seen only authoritarian rule for more than a half-century.

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

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5. Philippines: Voting Rights Party Won't Give Up (hint, hint, "role model")

The Philippines saga continues. Unlike certain political entities elsewhere, the voting rights acvocates in the Philippines hate election fraud so much they’re pushing this case to the extreme. Of course they have a voice recording of President Arroyo telling an election official to fix the vote in her favor since she was losing. Why don’t we have sleuths like that here?

HOUSE TO DEFEND DECISION BEFORE Supreme Court

http://www.tempo.com.ph/news.php?aid=15912

9/8/05
Administration lawmakers called yesterday on the pro-impeachment group to seriously consider the peaceful and legal option to challenge the House impeachment decision before the Supreme Court (SC) to settle the issue once and for all and remove all doubts arising from the chamber's ruling.

<snip>

“This will be better for their interest as well as the President’s and of the entire nation. The sooner the questions about impeachment are settled, the better for all of us.”


Libanan said getting the highest court of the land to address all issues pertinent to the House decision would help the country move forward faster towards stability, progress and political maturity.


Libanan said it was totally unfair for the pro-impeachment group to accuse the House of railroading the impeachment proceedings because for one, the justice committee labored for seven meetings with one objective which was to dispense justice the way it sees fit, regardless of circumstances.


<snip>

The Palace official, however, said that the administration is hoping an end to the political crisis so that the government can move in attaining its goals for the country and the people in terms of peace, stability and progress. (Anthony Giron)
S7 MOVEMENT LAUNCHED


Religious, workers, students, professionals and militant groups joined forces yesterday in the launching the September 7 Movement (S7 Movement), a coalition advocating for an end to the rule of the elite and traditional politicians, which, they said, is the cause of the current crisis in the country.


“Congress has failed its tasks in giving the nation an authentic impeachment process. Now it is time to take the process before the tribunal of the Filipino people,” organizers of the S7 Movement said during its launching at the University of Santo Tomas, which was attended by priests, nuns, and members of militant and middle class groups.


Bishop Julio Labayen, retired bishop of Infanta, Quezon, said the people should be allowed to voice their sentiments in the search for truth, and this right should not be suppressed, particularly in a country that acknowledges democracy.


<snip>

The movement’s organizers said that while they are calling for the ouster of Arroyo, they are opposing the appointment of Vice President Noli de Castro as Arroyo’s replacement, and the juntas, charter-change and snap elections as options to change the government.


They also say “NO” to traditional politicians, both administration and opposition, and another elite rule which, they said, has “fostered a culture of corruption”.


What the country needs now is the total change in societal structures accompanied by deep change in the hearts and minds of the people, the movement said. (Emily G.
CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

[Melissa G]

6. State can't investigate complaint on Rove's voting in Texas

Thanks to Deminks for the post and DU discussion
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1762241&mesg_id=1762241


State can't investigate complaint on Rove's voting in Texas
WASHINGTON — The Texas Secretary of State's office doesn't have jurisdiction to investigate a watchdog group's complaint that presidential adviser Karl Rove may be illegally voting in Texas, a spokesman said Wednesday.

Spokesman Scott Haywood said complaints about a voter's residency must be investigated by county officials. He also said the group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, did not have standing to file the complaint against Rove. Such complaints would have to be filed by another registered voter in Kerr County, the county where Rove is registered.

Haywood said the agency is drafting a response to the group's complaint.

CREW sent the complaint Tuesday after the Washington Post reported that local residents, including the Democratic Party chairman, said they never have seen Rove or his wife in the two rental cottages that they claim as their residence for voting purposes.

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/gen/ap/TX_Rove_Voting.html

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7. GREAT BRITAIN: They Dump Machines, Go to Paper for "Credibility"

OK, for all those Americans who fell for the Iraq war because Tony Blair sounded smart with his English accent plus all those who respect one of the worlds best functioning democracies, PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THIS--THEY DUMPED ALL MACHINES AND ARE GOING TO PAPER BALLOTS IN GREAT BRITAIN!!!!!! THREE CHEERS!!!!!

Thank you user " cyberpj" for this.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/06/govt_voting

UK.gov ditches 'Big Brother'-style e-voting

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/06/govt_voting

Rounding on the Government Oliver Heald MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, described the Government's e-voting plans as "reckless" and "insecure".

"The Government must retain the tried and trusted ballot box as the foundation of British democracy.

"Restoring public confidence in our electoral system is more important than spending taxpayers' money on 'Big Brother' text messaging gimmicks.

"This lack of an adequate audit trail is extremely worrying in the light of the risk of fraud already exposed with all-postal voting," he said.

cont'd...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/06/govt_voting /

[Algorem]

8. Turncoats unite (Zell Miller endorses Ken Blackwell for Ohio governor)

Ohio Secretary of State Uncle Tom Blackwell has locked up the traitor vote. Last week, former U.S. Senator and Georgia Governor Zell Miller endorsed Blackwell in a speech to church leaders in Columbus.

He said Blackwell "knows what is right, wants to accomplish great things for Ohio, and has the courage to stick to his principles." Apparently, Blackwell and Miller share a lot of the same principles, such as devotion to opportunism.

Blackwell used to be a champion of black issues, until he saw that Republicans had an opening for Token Negro. By last year, he had gone full circle, doing his best to suppress the black vote in the presidential election.

Likewise, Miller used to be a populist Democrat -- until he discovered such people were no longer popular in Georgia. So he delivered the keynote speech at the 2004 Republican National Convention.

Now he is supporting Ohio's most right-wing candidate for governor. "Ken is my kind of Republican," Miller said. Sure he is, Zell.

http://www.clevescene.com/Issues/2005-09-07/news/firstpunch.html

[Algorem]

10. Pastors pledge political unity on social front

Sunday, September 4, 2005

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050904/NEWS01/509040360

COLUMBUS - ...

He encouraged fellow pastors to circulate petitions calling for fair and swift confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court nominee John Roberts. He also asked church leaders to help register 400,000 new Ohio voters as part of the Reformation Ohio project. His group has goals parallel to the Ohio Restoration Project, led by Rev. Russell Johnson of Lancaster...

Quoting from his best-selling book, "Silent No More,'' Parsley also expressed concern about the world's growing Muslim population: "I will rail against the idea that the God of Christianity and the god of Islam are the same being.''...

Butler County business leader Rick Segal is leading a group that will interview potential lieutenant governor candidates to be on next year's ticket with Blackwell.

In 2000, Segal was a senior adviser to GOP presidential candidate Steve Forbes and spokesman for the Rev. Billy Graham's 2000 mission to Cincinnati.

[Algorem]

9. Cleveland columnist says Blackwell will win Repub primary as it is now

Cleveland columnist says Blackwell will win Repub primary as it is now
Election 2006: GOP's outsider' has the inside track for governor

Sunday, September 04, 2005
Brent Larkin
Plain Dealer Columnist

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/brent_larkin/index.ssf?/base/opinion/112574027740951.xml&coll=2

For those looking to separate fact from fiction regarding the 2006 election for governor, there's only one place to start.

It's in the Republican Party primary.

There are now three candidates -- Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, State Auditor Betty Montgomery and Attorney General Jim Petro.

Fiction: Montgomery and Petro continue to insist they can prevail in a three-way con test...

[FogerRox]

11. Garci flight leaves poll protest cases in limbo /Philippine Daily Inquirer

Garci flight leaves poll protest cases in limbo

First posted 11:07pm (Mla time) Sept 08, 2005
By Artha Kira Paredes
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on Page A19 of the September 9, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

BAGUIO CITY—THE FLIGHT OF FORMER Commission on Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano has left problems for local officials who have election protests awaiting resolution from the poll body.

A Comelec en banc resolution promulgated on Aug. 31 dismissed an election protest filed by losing Tineg, Abra mayoral candidate Tony Benwaren. The resolution was signed by former Commissioners Garcillano and Manuel Barcelona, four other commissioners and Comelec Chair Benjamin Abalos.

“At the time na na-promulgate , was no longer connected with Comelec,” lawyer Raul Casipit, Benwaren’s counsel, told the Inquirer in a phone interview on Wednesday

.http://news.inq7.net/regions/index.php?index=1&story_id=49583

[FogerRox]

12. Taff pleads not guilty to fraud charge

Taff pleads not guilty to fraud charge
Case centers on campaign contributions, fraudulent home mortgage
By Dave Ranney (Contact)
Thursday, September 8, 2005

Two-time congressional candidate Adam Taff pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he illegally used campaign contributions to set up a fraudulent home mortgage.

Taff’s co-defendant and former employer, John D. Myers, also pleaded not guilty to one count of wire fraud.

Both declined to meet with reporters before or after the 15-minute hearing.

U.S. Magistrate Judge James P. O’Hara reminded Myers and Taff they had the right to remain silent.

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/sep/08/taff_pleads_not_guilty_fraud_charge/?city_local