Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News 05.01.06 - CTA Investigation;)

[autorank]

COLBERT IS LORD!!!

Now, I know there are some polls out there saying this man has a 32% approval rating. But guys like us; we don't pay attention to the polls. We know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking in "reality." And reality has a well-known liberal bias.

But the rest of you, what are you thinking, reporting on N.S.A. Wiretapping or secret prisons in Eastern Europe? Those things are secret for a very important reason, they’re super depressing. And if that's your goal, well, misery accomplished!

I have nothing but contempt for these people. I know how to handle these clowns.

Special Investigative Report:
CleanBlog Cracks CA Teachers Assn. McPherson Endorsement

I’M NOT WORKING! SUPPORT THE MAY 1st BOYCOTT

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

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News May 1, 2006

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

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

"Recommend"

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

[autorank]

1. OR: Vote by mail Common Here – Noticed Elsewhere

Vote by mail does not involve stupid DRE’s or even verified paper ballots that will never count for anything if state courts have anything to say. Lets get paper everywhere. This is one way.

Oregon's mail voting draws notice

http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2006/04/30/news/regional/95af1b64eccae3348725715f0020fabd.txt

By BRAD CAIN
Associated Press writer Sunday, April 30, 2006


SALEM, Ore. -- Oregonians have been voting by mail in statewide elections since 1998. Like some seasonal rite of nature, ballots show up at voters' homes. Folks have 18 days to mark their choices among the candidates and mail it back.

It's that time again. On Friday, election officials will begin sending out 2 million mail ballots to the homes of registered voters for Oregon's May 16 primary.

Oregon is the only state in the nation that has abolished the voting booth, but other states are moving in that direction.

In neighboring Washington state, voters are allowed to become "permanent absentees" and sign up to receive ballots by mail. Nearly 90 percent of that state's voters are expected to cast mail-in ballots in this year's elections, officials there say.

[autorank]

2. IN: The Primary to Watch – Tuesday May 2, 2006

Why watch. Well, they have a discriminatory voter ID law (thanks Baker-Carter Commission) AND they have machine problems AND they have a bogus contract controversy for the centralized voter registration database. Enough civil, human, voter rights assaults for you? I’m sure there’s more but I lack sufficient time and space to elaborate.

Channel 13, Indianapolis
New voter laws

http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=4839202&nav=9Tai
Roger Harvey/Eyewitness News

Indianapolis, April 30 - The final hours of campaigning are winding down for political candidates across Indiana. There's a new Indiana law that will impact all voters that are headed to the polls next.

The signs popping up around Central Indiana are an indication your turn to vote is coming, Primary Day is Tuesday. This year, there's a change for voters.

Under Indiana's new Voter ID law you must present photo identification at your polling place. If you don't have one, the BMV branches plan extended hours Monday until 8 p.m. and early on election day to allow people to get identification cards.

When voters head to the polls choosing candidates is the priority.

After the election an investigation by the Secretary of State's office will look into software problems with the election machines. Two voting companies MicroVote and ES&S are facing possible penalities.

[autorank]

3. NH: Phone Jamming Case Invokes Watergate Memories – Oops!!!

No kidding, it invokes memories of the theft of election 2004 and the Nader inspired audit in NH…hmmm. This needs to be fully vetted and analyzed and quickly. The story has legs. This is from the capitol paper in Washington State, quite a ways away.

KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS

Phone-jamming case evokes Watergate

http://159.54.227.3/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060430/NEWS/60430018
BY WILLIAM DOUGLAS

KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Is it a third-rate political dirty trick by Republicans or a cheap attempt by Democrats to drag the GOP through the mud before November's elections?

Democrats and Republicans here are locked in a legal battle over GOP operatives who tried to suppress voter turnout in a key 2002 U.S. Senate race by jamming Democratic get-out-the-vote phone banks on Election Day. “It's been the gift that's kept on giving for the Democrats,” said Dante Scala, a political-science professor at Manchester's St. Anselm College. “It's been gradually going up the ladder, and now it's in Ken Mehlman's office.”

Democrats say smoking guns abound in the case:
• A Republican operative who was convicted in the case called Mehlman's former office in the White House nearly two dozen times.
• The RNC paid millions of dollars in legal expenses for the operative, though it was under no legal obligation to do so.
• Contributions were made to the state GOP by Indian tribes whom disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff represented and by former House Speaker Tom DeLay's political action committee in amounts that together almost equaled the cost of the phone-jamming scheme.


“There are some parallels to Watergate,” Howard Dean, the Democratic National Committee chairman, said last week. “This is a third-rate, silly effort that definitely turns out to be rooted in the White House.”

[autorank]

4. MD: Fraudulent Intent-Gov Starts Petition to get rid of Early Voting

Right, it’s a bull shit rationale. There are those who want to expand the franchise and those who want to contract it. To contract it, you just make it harder to vote. “Literacy tests” won’t sell anymore so they have Voter ID and they take away voting that makes it easier for the elderly, poor, indigent, and two-job workers to vote, i.e., Democrats.

Ehrlich Campaign Starts Petition Drive to Repeal Early Voting

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/29/AR2006042901212.html

By Matthew Mosk and John Wagner
Sunday, April 30, 2006; Page C04

Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. began moving forward yesterday with a petition drive aimed at undoing plans for early voting in the fall elections.

The governor's 2006 campaign team, led by campaign manager Bo Harmon , began handing out petitions drawn up along standards set by the attorney general's office. The team is working under the name Marylanders for Fair Elections.

The petition drive, if successful, would ask the state's voters to overturn a 2005 law that allows voting during the week leading up to Election Day and a 2006 law that identifies where polling places will be and orders that they stay open 13 hours a day.

Petitioning legislation onto the ballot has occurred rarely in Maryland. For Ehrlich (R) to prevail, his campaign team would have to collect 51,185 valid signatures by June 30 and overcome a recent legal opinion by the attorney general's office, which asserted that the petition drive needed to occur last year to get on the ballot this fall.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

11. early voting meant to increase Diebold's stronghold in MD

The Governor is trying to prevent Diebold from being even further entrenched.
He publicly stated that he didn't trust the paperless Diebold TS and that Maryland
should not use them in the next election.

He recommended legislation to require VVPB and lease optical scanners.

Then, the MD House introduced and passed a bill unanimously to require VVPB, and to also
pull Diebold out of service and replace with optical scan.

The Governor provided over $20 Million to fund the legislation.

The STUPID Democrats in the Senate kept the bill from being heard for a vote.

The STUPID Democrats instead urged early voting, took the $20+ million and appropriated it for
STUPID Diebold Electronic Poll books, which will be essential for early voting.

The STUPID Maryland Democrats wanted to make sure that Diebold kept its paperless touchscreen foothold.

The key issue today is whether our votes count, not whether we can vote early and out of precinct.

So, those against voter verified paper ballots pushed the early voting, so
that they could make it harder and more expensive to get rid of the Diebold
DRES, plus spending the $20 Million meant for VVPB into stupid crappy
voter disenfranchising Diebold Electronic Poll Books.

*To be fair, only the Democrats in the Senate were really STUPID. The Dems in the house voted
FOR VVPB.

[autorank]

5. Italy: Berlusconi to quit….Franco dead, btw.

What a stubborn guy. Did he fail to notice that even * called his opponent to congratulate him on victory. That means you lose Silvio, arrivederci, bye bye.

Berlusconi ready toquit, but not quietly

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/1fe45ff2-d8ae-11da-9715-0000779e2340.html
By Tony Barber in Rome
Published: May 1 2006 03:00 | Last updated: May 1 2006 03:00

Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's prime minister, bowed to the inevitable at the weekend and said he would resign tomorrow to let Romano Prodi, his arch-rival, form a centre-left government.

But Mr Berlusconi continued to dispute whether he was legitimately defeated in Italy's April 9-10 general election, and opened another battlefront by insisting that Mr Prodi's bloc must not unilaterally pick Italy's next head of state.

Mr Berlusconi's spoiling tactics were brushed aside by Mr Prodi, who has problems enough with a tiny parliamentary majority, an internally divided centre-left coalition and a massive task ahead in restoring order to Italy's public finances.

Mr Prodi's candidates for the speakerships of the upper and lower houses of parliament were finally approved on Saturday, after three inconclusive votes on Friday had exposed the brittleness of the centre-left's control of the legislature.

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6. Philiippines: Coup Leader Tries to Help Prevent Them- Stop Election Fraud

I must say, the Philippines military is something. This leader was jailed for running a protest by the military at outrageous corruption. A few years ago, they took over a hotel and protested. He’s in jail but earning an advanced degree. The most important element to prevent military coups – STOP STEALING ELECTIONS.

Mutineer studies coup prevention

http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.php?index=1&story_id=74262
First posted 05:18am (Mla time) May 01, 2006
By Nikko Dizon
Inquirer

Editor's Note: Published on page A1 of the May 1, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

NAVY Lieutenant Antonio Trillanes IV, detained for the 2003 Oakwood mutiny, has earned a degree in public administration, submitting a final paper that ironically dealt with "Preventing Military Interventions."

He was not present at last week's graduation ceremonies at the University of the Philippines' National College of Public Administration and Governance (NCPAG) in Diliman, Quezon City.

But the 35-year-old officer has managed to channel his frustrations at the government through what seemed to be a benign academic requirement, which he completed during the summer term of May 2004, shortly before the presidential election.

From his cell at the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), Trillanes wrote a 37-page paper that analyzed policies purportedly being implemented by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's administration to prevent coups. He used the Oakwood incident as a jump-off point for discussion, concluding that administration measures did not address issues the rebels raised when they assaulted the Oakwood Suites in Makati City in July 2003.

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8. Jamaica: EAC Suggests Changes to Election Procedures

Here’s an EAC that’s doing its job. Can we make a trade;)

http://159.54.227.3/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060430/NEWS/60430018

EAC suggests changes to election procedures

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20060429T180000-0500_103645_OBS_EAC_SUGGESTS_CHANGES_TO_ELECTION_PROCEDURES_.asp

Observer Reporter
Sunday, April 30, 2006

In a report to Parliament last Thursday, the Electoral Advisory Committee (EAC) recommended several changes to local government and general election procedures to improve the efficiency and security of the taking of the polls.

Also, Fitz Jackson, acting as Leader of the House, gave notice of the Constituencies Constitutional Amendment Act to amend the Constitution of Jamaica to provide that for the purpose of election of members of the House of Representatives, the maximum number of constituencies into which Jamaica shall be divided be increased from 60 to 65.

Jackson also reintroduced the Electoral Commission Interim Act which seeks to replace the Electoral Advisory Committee with the Electoral Commission of Jamaica.

The recommendations, which were made after the two previous elections were reviewed, would effect changes to the sections of the Representation of the People Act (ROPA), and sections of the Parish Councils and the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation Act that govern:
. assisted voting for disabled electors;
. the upper limit of electors in a polling division;
. the recognition of political parties so as to allow for scrutineers during the registration of electors; and
. the secrecy of the vote and electors voting openly

[Oversea Visitor]

7. kick

:kick:

To keep thread active.

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9. CA: Calif. Teachers Assn. McPherson Endorsement Explained – Investigation

Satire

A CleanBlog Investigative Report

California Teachers Association of Endorsement
of Republican McPherson Unraveled

Sacramento, CA: The California Teachers Association stunned political observers last week by endorsing the reelection of Republican Secretary of State Bruce McPherson. McPherson was appointed by Gov. Schwarzenegger to replace Kevin Shelley after he was driven from office over allegations of financial improprieties, charges later rebutted and rejected.

Since assuming the Secretary of State position, McPherson has routinely ignored problems with voting systems and acted in ways that indicate to some he is less than committed to honest elections. Finnish security expert Harri Hursti was scheduled to perform a test on Diebold equipment. After Hursti performed a successful hack in Leon County Florida, McPherson hastily cancelled Hursti.

McPherson also ignored blatant violations of state procedures. Diebold patched machines all over the state just before a recent primary election. This violation of state law has become a cause celebe for , a voting rights activist who made the case for violation of state law. McPherson has yet to look at GuvWorld’s evidence or even send a state bureaucrat to investigate.

Our investigative reporter, wend deep cover and discovered a shocking story about CTA that will change the face of California politics forever, perhaps American politics as well.

Please fasten your seat belts. We’re about to take off.

Far beyond anything GuvWorld had uncovered, mere violations of the California State Code and civil rights, CleanBlog revealed a sinister conspiracy that controls the minds of key California teacher association board members.

Using his vast connections with corporate America and the Burning Man Foundation (sponsor of Bohemian Grove gatherings), Schwarzenegger personally recruited Professor Kevin Warwick of Britain’s University of the Holy Scripture. Warwick is the world’s leader in adaptive human chip technology. This was the critical point in the plot to drive the Golden State into oblivion through perpetual Republican victories. The victories will be delivered by McPherson in his role as Secretary of State.

Warwick simply made his technology available and Disney Imagineers did he rest. They created a simple signaling program that allowed McPherson to broadcast instructions to CTA board members at the time of their meeting in Sacramento last week. The message was simple, “Endorse McPherson…Endorse McPherson.”

Chip Shot

But how were the teachers lured into this insidious plot? Teachers were encouraged to participate in the Teachers in Space program. This brilliant but evil ploy took advantage of the burning desire or many teachers to go into space.


Teachers in Space Web Page.
Note the control characters

Teachers simply clicked on the web site to take a survey and the subliminal programming began.


The unassuming chip implantation van.
Coming to a neighborhood near you?

They were told to report to a mobile chip implantation van that would show up in their neighborhood based on the teachers sick days. Friendly school administrators, who are often latent Republicans, cooperated by reporting substitute teacher assignments.


Chip control central for CTA board disguised as a
centralized voter registration database.

Once installed, the chips were controlled through a simple broadcast system disguised as a centralized voter registration database. When the teachers gathered at CTA headquarters for their endorsement meeting, the signal was sent: “Endorse McPherson…Endorse McPherson.” A parallel signal was also sent, “Resistance is Futile.” Sources tell CleanBlog that McPherson actually controlled the database and made the broadcast himself. The source who witnessed the event said McPherson would take several deep breaths before each broadcast of instructions and then laugh uproarioiusly. “It was as though he was the only person in the room,” the source reported.

CTA Endorses McPherson: the end of politics as usual

The historic shift in Democratic Party alliance by CTA cannot be explained by any political logic. This is a first. CTA watchers are stunned, while teacher members from across the state are protesting loudly.

When asked why the “chipping” resulted in only one endorsement, a Republican for Secretary of State, our inside man said, “When you control the Secretary of State, you control the voting. When you control the voting you control the entire government. All candidates are beholden to you, regardless of political party. We will soon complete the transformation of American politics.”

Resistance is Futile!!!

[understandinglife]

10. K&R

Never Forget: George W. Bush willfully violated National Security to cover-up his willful launch of a war of aggression and illegal occupation of Iraq.

[Algorem]

12. Oh-County Commish/Dem Chairman "leery" of machines,votes absentee

http://www.cleveland.com/tipoff/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1146479437163011.xml&coll=2

Dimora elects not to give new machines a vote of confidence

Monday, May 01, 2006
Michael K. McIntyre
Plain Dealer Columnist

This ought to inspire confidence in voters who will encounter new electronic voting machines at the polls tomorrow: Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, who also is boss of the county Democratic party, refuses to go to the polls. "I'm leery," he said.

So Dimora and his wife voted absentee, even though he wasn't out of town. The commissioners are so concerned about the machines they're paying $246,000 to Election Science Institute of San Francisco to conduct an independent review of primary election results to see how well the machines worked and, hopefully, to reassure the public.

But even if the machines perform perfectly, Dimora may never return to the polls.

"You don't have to wait in line," he said, "and you don't have to go through that gantlet of people pass ing out political literature."

[kster]

13. KNR.nt

[Algorem]

14. OH- letters to editor- Means of tallying votes is now top-secret

http://www.cleveland.com/letters/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/opinion/114612748293630.xml&coll=2

Means of tallying votes is now top-secret

Thursday, April 27, 2006

On April 14, I made a pub lic records request to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. I asked for a printout of the computer source codes that will be used on the computerized touch-screen voting machines for the May 2 primary elections.

On April 20, I was told that my request was denied on the grounds that this is "proprietary information."

What the denial of that request told me is that you and I will not be able to see the process used to tally election results. The counting of ballots in Cuyahoga County is now secret.

Ray Rosenberger

Parma



Secret ballot - yes; secret vote counting - no way

http://www.cleveland.com/letters/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1146299982124791.xml&coll=2

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Letter writer Ray Rosen berger (April 27) does Cuyahoga County voters a great service by plainly naming the present approach to electronic vote counting as "secret."

Anyone who has taken a basic computer programming course knows that the algorithms for counting and totaling are simple and straightforward. The introduction of too many conditional statements makes the program more complex. If there is a desire to manipulate the counting in hidden ways, you just insert the needed codes for that as well.

Declaring the program source code to be "proprietary" screams out that there is coding being used that cannot stand public scrutiny. This intentional cloud over transparency gives rise to grave doubt that our votes next week and beyond will be counted as the simple result of our intended choices.


This is not some drug formula deserving market protection. This is our basic right to open and honest voting tabulation. The ballot and voting should be secret, but the counting and methods for doing so should be open and auditable.

David K. McClurkin

Beachwood




Blackwell displays spite toward gays

http://www.cleveland.com/letters/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1146040331219270.xml&coll=2

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Id like to thank The Plain Dealer for giving GOP candi date Ken Blackwell the opportunity to display how unfit he is to be governor of Ohio.

I was disgusted to read Blackwell's tirade equating gay people as having less sense than "barnyard animals."

Blackwell's comments illustrate perfectly what embarrassment and humiliation Ohioans will be subjected to if he's elected.

The folks he refers to in such demeaning terms are not only human beings deserving of respect but tax-paying citizens who pay his salary.

Donna Algeri

Cleveland

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15. "Scoop" File a Complaint - Put them on NOTICE

Cramdown, Stripdown, Lockdown Democracy In The USA
Thursday, 20 April 2006, 10:44 am
Article: Michael Collins

SIMPLE QUESTIONS -- TROUBLING ANSWERS
Q&A Session with a Commissioner of the Elections Assistance Commission Reveals Massive Violations of Citizen Rights
Secret Vote Counting Crammed Down the Throat of Democracy

Special Report for “Scoop” Independent Media
First in a Series on HAVA and the EAC
by Michael Collins
Washington, DC

INTRODUCTION:

The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) was passed on the heels of the Florida 2000 presidential election and its “hanging chad” problem. These ambiguous ballot chads riveted and frustrated the nation for a couple of months in late 2000. However, few thought the solution to the ambiguity of hanging chad evidence of a voter’s intent would be to completely eliminate that evidence.

With the help of nearly $4 billion in federal grants, HAVA eliminates the evidence of voter intent by eliminating the paper. Instead of paper ballots we have votes registered and counted on "touch screens" - computer based direct recording electronic (DRE) voting machines. Invisible electronic ballots are the result of these DRE touch screens. Electronic vote counting software does the vital vote tabulation in secret. For citizens and public officials, the vote counting processes are strictly off limits. There is literally nothing to see. As a result, the public records of vote counting are gone. To preserve this secrecy, DRE purchase contracts often pledge the government to cooperate with the vendors to fight the very citizens the government is pledged to serve.

<snip>

Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress…

- United States Code, Title 42, Chapter 21, Civil Rights, Subchapter I-
Generally. Section 1983. Civil action for deprivation of rights.

When deprived of their rights by statute, regulation, or other means, individuals or groups of citizens can take their case to court. Citizens can defend democracy by reminding their elected officials and their bureaucratic employees of two important points. First, governments are instituted solely to secure and protect the rights and well-being of citizens. Second, it is the role of elected officials to be the guardians of democracy at all times. The necessary effects of EAC- and HAVA-driven purchase contracts for DREs should be noted clearly. If you complain about losing your rights through DRE secrecy and your government officials persist in instituting technology with secret vote counting, their behavior constitutes a violation of public rights that is then intentional, not simply negligent, because you have put them on notice. A certified letter pointing out some of the facts and legal realities here or those located in the complaint in the following link should suffice for starters and can be adapted to your jurisdiction by a lawyer if a lawsuit becomes necessary. Check and inquire about your state law as part of the process. See www.votersunite.org/info/lehtolawsuit.asp (complaint link).

[Kurovski]

16. I feel like giving you a hug today, autorank

(and I promise to keep my hands above the waist.)

:hug:

[Wilms]

17. NY: A Mini-Rebellion Averted As Town Transfers Voting Keys

Too, bad.

A Mini-Rebellion Averted As Town Transfers Voting Keys

By Don Heppner, Westchester Record-Review

May 01, 2006

This article originally appeared in the Westchester County, NY Record-Review. It is reposted by permission of the author.

In the past, town governments had control of most election chores. Not anymore. In an act of defiance that approached the tea dumping party in the Boston Harbor in 1773, when asked by the county in January, Pound Ridge refused to give the county its keys to its lever voting machines.

“It was the consensus that the machines were ours,” Gary Warshauer, town supervisor said. “We wanted to know what they were going to do with them and we wanted to know how our residents were going to vote.”

snip

Reginald A. LaFayette, the commissioner of the board of elections, wrote that he “regretted” that the town did not comply with the request for keys and unless the keys could be inventoried, the county would notify the New York State Board of Elections that the town did not comply with state law. The county wrote that “we will be unable to certify your voting machines for the upcoming 2006 elections.”

Joanne Pace, the town’s clerk, drove the keys down to the Westchester County offices in White Plains. Ms. Pace waited while they were inventoried and brought them back to Pound Ridge, no longer town property, but under the control of the county.

snip

A lawyer who is associated with a political party and wished to remain anonymous said that New York law does not require the lever machines to be replaced.

“The language in the law gives local boards of elections the option of choosing to retain them,” he said. “This is widely misunderstood, even by some who voted for the law.”

snip

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1245&Itemid=113


Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x425851