Election Reform, Fraud & Related News Wed-8/30/06-Lambs, Wolves & Shark

[kpete]

Election Reform, Fraud & Related News Wednesday 8/30/06-Lambs, Wolves & Shark, Oh My!



"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote."
--Benjamin Franklin 1759

"Tyranny is a Court telling the Lamb there's no jurisdiction or standing."
--Paul Lehto 2006




Land Shark: “This is democracy. Every vote needs to be respected. Every vote needs to be counted.”

Unless the people reassert their right,
consistent with the 92% result in the recent Zogby poll,
to supervise elections and obtain information regarding them,
democracy itself will be lost.
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1163







The following comments come to us from the plaintiffs' attorney, Paul Lehto.

Today, the plaintiffs are declaring victory, having proven not only that an election was corrupted and invalid, but that democracy itself was denied. The House of Representatives denies that voters have any say whatsoever. They've exercised their absolute power to swear in Bilbray, and they've heard enough of this elections business, they deem a recount or investigation unwarranted. Checks and balances of elections have been eliminated, the public's right to supervise elections by witnessing vote counting and obtaining information about it has been denied, and in its place is an assertion of absolute uncheckable power, something that was clearly anathema to the people who wrote our Constitution and founded this country specifically in the context of elections, because elections were intended to be the People's primary if not sole protection against oppressive government, but if the House of Representatives can legally do this, then they can legally do anything, including ignoring elections entirely.
…………………………
It may come as news to the voters of America that their Courts are powerless to "revise even the most arbitrary and unfair action of the legislative department…." The Court could have (as it was requested to do) assessed the Constitutionality of the premature action by the House given Roudebush v. Hartke, a US Supreme Court case stating that states have the right to perform the count, so therefore they have the right to perform a recount as well. But here again, the early swearing in was the defendants end-around this US Supreme Court case, as well as its end around democracy, the San Diego Superior Court, the rights of the contestants, and the requirement that all parts of the Constitution be upheld, not just Art. I, sec. 5.
Whether or not an appeal from this particular case is the vehicle, the contestants will fight on harder than ever before, because it is now clear that there are powerful forces in our country willing to exercise raw power to terminate elections.

Given the undeniable nature of the power grab that took place in San Diego's 50th Congressional District, the entire nature of the debate about the question of whether any elections officials might ever take advantage of less open methods of modifying or terminating election results via the opportunity of secret vote counting provided by electronic voting machines seems clearer than ever before. Unless the people reassert their right, consistent with the 92% result in the recent Zogby poll, to supervise elections and obtain information regarding them, democracy itself will be lost.

More at:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3353Text

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[kpete]

1. Suit seeking recount of Bilbray election is dismissed

Suit seeking recount of Bilbray election is dismissed
SIGNONSANDIEGO NEWS SERVICES

3:43 p.m. August 29, 2006

SAN DIEGO – Saying he lacked jurisdiction, a judge Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit seeking a recount in the special election that Republican Brian Bilbray won in June to replace disgraced ex-Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham.

..........................

The lead attorney for the plaintiffs, Paul Lehto, argued last week that the oath of office was administered to Bilbray even before Haas certified the election results in late July, and that the specific intent of the GOP-controlled House of Representatives was to render the state court powerless.

Lehto said it is highly unusual for a lawmaker to be sworn in within a week of being elected; that the process usually takes a month or more.

Outside court Tuesday, Lehto said there were thousands of uncounted votes in the June 6 special election, rendering voters in the 50th Congressional District “completely impotent.”

“We don't know what the result of the election is,” Lehto told reporters.

The attorney said the votes in the special election were counted only by machines.

Lehto said the plaintiffs will probably appeal, but a final decision hasn't been made.

“This is democracy,” the attorney said. “Every vote needs to be respected. Every vote needs to be counted.”

more at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20060829-1543-recount.html

[Kurovski]

16. Paul Lehto's comments put me in mind of SC Justice John Paul Stevens'

quote from his dissent in the case of Bush v. Gore, Justice Stevens wrote: "Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year's presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the nation's confidence in (this Court) as the impartial guardian of the rule of law."

Thank you for todays ERD, kpete. The OP is a thing of beauty.:thumbsup:

[kpete]

18. We Do NOT Consent

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Judge Yuri Hofmann on Tuesday afternoon dismissed the lawsuit brought by San Diego voters contesting the June 6 election of Brian Bilbray to California's 50th Congressional district seat. Bilbray was sworn in to Congress while his election was not yet certified and the vote count was not yet complete. These are but some of the many grounds cited for the election challenge. But no matter how damning the evidence, it would not get its day in court.

Hofmann quoted:
"Under our form of government the judicial department has no power to revise even the most arbitrary and unfair action of the legislative department, or of either house thereof, taken in pursuance of the power committed exclusively to that department by the constitution..."

......................

In the simplest of terms, this is a new low for America. Yes, I know, it seems like we've bottomed out thousands of times already in recent years. I have to account for the paradigm shift this news has brought me. Consider, for the past two and a half years I've been writing and saying to all who can read and hear that there is no basis for confidence in the reported results of American elections. In a quote featured on the back cover of my book, We Do Not Consent (free .pdf download), Lehto says the "no basis for confidence...formulation approaches scientific certainty." When votes are counted in secret, the conditions of the election guarantee inconclusive outcomes that will not meet unanimous public acceptance

................

The dismissal of the CA-50 lawsuit has changed my entire view of how I've framed this work for so long. Election reforms are each an uphill marathon to introduce and ultimately implement. What I realized today is that conclusive election results are no longer a viable indicator of the existence of Democracy. For just like the above example of the false alternative, what good would it do to ensure conclusive outcomes if Congress is still equally entitled to pre-empt any such results in favor of appointing new members at will?

..................

A revolution never come with a warning
A revolution never send you an omen
A revolution just arrive like the morning
Ring the alarm we come to wake up the snorin'
--Lyrics to YELL FIRE! by Michael Franti and Spearhead

much, much more at:
http://wedonotconsent.blogspot.com/2006/08/so-much-for-checks-and-balances.html

[kpete]

2. Democracy Denied: San Diego Judge Dismisses Busby/BilBray Election Contest

Democracy Denied: San Diego Judge Dismisses Busby/BilBray Election Contest On Jurisdictional Grounds
By Emily Levy, for The Brad Blog
August 30, 2006

Finds Rushed Swearing in of Presumed Winner Bilbray by U.S. House — Just 7 Days After Election and 16 Days Before Certification — Transferred Power to Decide Election Outcome to Congress - California Voters, Courts Left Powerless to Challenge Illegally Administered Election According to Ruling

This article appeared on The Brad Blog. It is reposted here with permission of the editor.

A judge in the San Diego challenge to the Francine Busby/Brian Bilbray U.S. House Special Election in California's 50th Congressional District has found in favor of the defendants' motion to dismiss the case based on jurisdictional grounds, The BRAD BLOG has learned.

We have covered the defendants' argument, that the swearing in of Bilbray — just seven days after the election and a full 16 days prior to certification by San Diego County — effectively transferred power to decide any election challenges from the California courts to the U.S. House of Representatives. Those arguments are discussed in detail in several previous BRAD BLOG articles (here, here, here and here.)


The defendants' attempts to force plaintiffs to cover the cost of attorneys fees (a so-called "SLAPP back" motion) was denied by Judge Yuri Hofmann based on the same jurisdicational arguments used to dismiss the case, according to the plaintiffs' attorney, Paul Lehto. Since the California court has no jurisdication to adjudicate an election contest for a California U.S. House election, it also has no jurisidiction to find against plaintiffs in the "SLAPP back" motion, says Lehto.

more at:
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1725&Itemid=113
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3353

[kpete]

10. How important is it that your vote is counted & counted accurately?

How Important Is Your Right To Vote?
More importantly, how important is it that your vote is actually counted, and counted accurately?

For those of you who haven't been following the CA-50 Bilbray/Busby “election” and its aftermath, come November you'll be wondering “WTF just happened”.

In a nutshell here's what happened with Bilbray/Busby:

1. By written admission of the Registrar of Voters in a letter there were thousands of votes were still uncounted on June 13th, the letter stating that 2,500 votes were still uncounted as of June 15 at 5 p.m. PST, Eastern Standard Time, which is slightly more than two days after the swearing-in on June 13th.

2. Partial election totals indicated on June 13th that only a few thousand votes separated the candidates,

3. As of June 13th, the defendants knew or should have known from news reports that the election would be disputed with recounts requested,

4. As of June 13th, no manual audit had been started or completed as required by California law, and

5. As of June 13th, it would still be 16 days or more before official certification of the election results - the only thing that makes an election complete, legal and official.

6. Even as of today's date, no human being or combination of human beings have counted these votes even once; we've only been provided with totals to be taken on faith from reports of Diebold optical scan and touchscreen voting machines, with the possible exception of a 1% hand audit.

7. On the level of the principles that our country was founded upon, the only legitimate political authority is that derived from the consent of the governed, and a fair election process. Given that elections are purely procedure and don't promise us substantive results that the best candidate will necessarily win, if the procedure of the elections is compromised, there is no political legitimacy. As it stood, the thousands of people and organizations concerned with this election all declared that based on all of the procedural irregularities ranging from sleepovers of voting machines, to precincts with turnouts that were thousands of percent higher than registered voters, there was simply NO BASIS FOR CONFIDENCE in the June 6 election.

more at:
http://www.allspinzone.com/blog/index.php?itemid=3286

[kpete]

3. Judge throws out 50th District election lawsuit

Judge throws out 50th District election lawsuit

By: WILLIAM FINN BENNETT - Staff Writer


.............

But the judge's decision was wrong, she said.

"It's outrageous that this judge just said the state of California doesn't have jurisdiction over our own elections, over this election," Busby said. "What happened today should be of concern to all voters."

Neither Bilbray nor Haas could be reached for comment late Tuesday.

Jacobson has said that part of her reason for filing the lawsuit revolved around the fact that Haas allowed precinct workers to take voting machines home with them in the days leading up to the election. Hass has said the practice is common across the state as registrars scramble to have voting precincts up and running early each election day.

However, the plaintiffs and some experts on voting technology say allowing precinct workers to take the machines home is particularly fraught with risk because the machines are not only far from the public eye, but can easily be hacked into and the votes manipulated.

After the hearing, Bilbray attorney David King said that under federal statute once Bilbray was sworn in, any of the other candidates ---- Busby, Libertarian Paul King or Independent William Griffith ---- had 30 days to contest the validity of the speaker's action and force a recount.

"And no one did," King said.

Plaintiff Jacobson said she has not yet decided whether to appeal Hofmann's decision. Her attorney Lehto said that they have not given up on the struggle to curtail the use of the high-tech voting machines.

"Will the fight continue? Absolutely," Lehto said. "The question is: Is this really the right vehicle to take this all the way to the (U.S.) Supreme Court?"

more at:
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/08/30/news/top_stories/7_05_458_29_06.txt

[kpete]

4. Democracy just died in America.

COMMENT #34
... Jim March said on 8/29/2006 @ 6:24 pm PT...

Ohhhhh man. This is bad.

Guys, you know what this means? It's the death of the VVPAT as a working process in Federal congressional elections. It's the death of the entire oversight process…everything, NASED, EAC, voting system certification (state AND fed), OPEN SOURCE, party oversight, public oversight, 1% audits, none of it matters. *Nothing* we can do to protect elections will be worth a damn in terms of taking back congress.

Election theft will be unlimited and unchecked in congressional races if this holds.

Democracy just died in America.

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3353#comment-103754

[kpete]

5. Ohio officials prepare to destroy paper ballots from 2004 election

Ohio officials prepare to destroy paper ballots from 2004 presidential election



RAW STORY
Published: Tuesday August 29, 2006


Ohio officials will soon begin destroying the paper ballots from the 2004 presidential election despite objections from voter rights groups.

"Soon after the 2004 presidential election, questions emerged about how votes were tallied in Ohio, a battleground state that delivered the presidency to George W. Bush," Ian Urbina writes in a story slated for the New York Times.

"Now, following a routine procedure, state officials are preparing to destroy the paper ballots from the election," writes Urbina.

"Critics say the ballots should be preserved for more study," the article continues.

more at:
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/NYT_Ohio_officials_prepare_to_destroy_0829.html

(Note: The Times article may have been postponed until Thursday)

[kpete]

6. "Off with Their Heads!" cried the Queen of Hearts

"Off with Their Heads!" cried the Queen of Hearts
By Ellen Theisen, Vote-PAD, Inc.
August 29, 2006
"How am I to get in?" asked Alice again, in a louder tone.


"Are you to get in at all?" said the Footman. "That's the first question, you know."

It was a Queen of Hearts sort of a day in California on August 9, 2006. The Secretary of State's advisory panel was hearing public comments regarding the pending certification of the Vote-PAD, a non-electronic assistive device designed to help voters with disabilities mark and verify a paper ballot independently.

Voting integrity advocates held signs supporting the certification of Vote-PAD. They told of countless failures of computerized voting systems. They spoke about recent discoveries of easily hackable "back doors" into the vote totals on those systems, which have been certified. By contrast, "Vote-PAD is no more hackable than a #2 pencil," said one.

Notwithstanding this and the letters praising the Vote-PAD from dozens of people with visual and motor disabilities, the Secretary of State's staff was recommending against certifying the Vote-PAD for use in California. The Queen started by describing the testing process, "We asked them to vote independently on the Vote-PAD, and we told them exactly what to do the entire time."

"Excuse me," said Alice, "but how is that independent?"

"That's not the point," said the Queen. "The point is that they weren't able to vote independently."


more at:
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1718&Itemid=51

[kpete]

7. What Do Paper Trails & Gestation Period Of A Baby Elephant Have In Common?

What Do Paper Trails And The Gestation Period Of A Baby Elephant Have In Common?
By Office of State Senator Debra Bowen
August 30, 2006
Bowen Bill To ensure Voting Machine Paper Trails Retain Their Integrity And Readability Signed Into Lawa By California Governor

Electronic voting machines used in California will have to produce an accessible voter-verified paper audit trail (AVVPAT) that will retain its integrity and readability for 22 months under SB 1760 by Senator Debra Bowen (D-Redondo Beach), which was signed into law Monday night.

“These machines use thermal paper, and as anyone who has ever left an ATM receipt on the passenger seat in their car for too long knows, there’s far too great of a risk that the vote results on these paper trails could vanish into thin air,” said Bowen, the chairwoman of the Senate Elections, Reapportionment & Constitutional Amendments Committee. “Under current law, elections officials already have to keep all ballots and AVVPATs for 22 months, but if the actual votes on the audit trail disappear, it undermines the requirement to keep the ballots and the paper audit trails.”

Current law requires elections officials to retain ballots and other items – including the paper record copies produced by a touch screen’s AVVPAT – for 22 months after an election. SB 1760 precludes the Secretary of State from approving an electronic voting system for use in California unless he or she ensures the paper used for the machines audit trail is of sufficient quality to maintain its integrity and readability throughout the required 22-month post-election retention period.

“Back when everyone had those fax machines with the thermal paper, the first thing you always did whenever you got a fax you wanted to keep was to copy it onto a piece of regular paper, because traditional fax paper is hard to deal with, it crinkles and smudges easily, and the images on it fade over time,” continued Bowen. “The larger issue here is the accuracy and the integrity of California’s election results. The reason we keep ballots and other materials for 22 months after every election is so that if questions are raised or irregularities are discovered about the results in a particular race, elections officials can go back to the original ballots and solve it. They won’t be able to do that if the votes on the AVVPATs, which are what we use in the case of a recount or an election contest, have evaporated into thin air.”

more at:
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1723&Itemid=113

[kpete]

8. New York: To Avoid Glitches, council Pushes For Vote Machine Tests

New York: To Avoid Glitches, council Pushes For Vote Machine Testsd
By Reuven Blau, The chief-Leader
August 30, 2006

..................

Electronic Kinks

Ms. Hommel and other election integrity advocates have charged that computerized Direct Recording Electronic systems are fundamentally flawed, and have been urging the Board to use only paper ballots and optical scanner devices.

They contend that computerized voting systems similar to ATM machines cannot be properly audited after elections and that the technology can be easily hacked into and manipulated. In addition, purchasing enough DREs for the entire city will cost approximately four to six times more than the simpler and more manageable optical scan machines, according to Ms. Hommel.

Optical scanners are similar to Scantron systems used by Teachers to grade tests. They involve placing paper ballots into an optical mark recognition machine to detect markings in each race and tabulate the votes. The ballots can later be manually checked to verify the results.

For the upcoming primary, the Board will use computerized ballot marking de vices called Vote Tracker machines at each of its borough offices in order to begin complying with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) that was passed after the 2000 presidential elections. The machines are designed to allow disabled citizens to vote independently and privately. Other voters at those locations will also be able to use them as well.

more at:
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1726&Itemid=113

[kpete]

9. No-confidence vote earned by machines-By BOB BARR

No-confidence vote earned by machines

By BOB BARR

Published on: 08/30/06

I hate to admit it, but Cynthia McKinney may be on to something.

McKinney's post-election diatribe against her usual litany of enemies aside, her broadside against electronic voting machines may have some merit. Not in terms of her election loss, I hasten to add.

There has been not a shred of evidence that her 17-point loss to Hank Johnson was the result of anything other than weariness of her antics by voters. But questions raised about electronic voting machines have become sufficiently widespread and credible as to warrant serious study and action by Georgia and other states.

The pell-mell rush to electronic voting machines was launched after the 2000 presidential election debacle in Florida. It was fueled by Congress' knee-jerk reaction to that fiasco in passing the "Help America Vote Act" in 2002, along with a boatload of taxpayer dollars — nearly $4 billion.

Unfortunately, this well-funded fascination with electronic voting machines has proceeded with virtually no comprehensive study or development of national standards to ensure the integrity of the machines and how they are utilized. Each state sets its own standards — or doesn't — and follows its own rules in letting contracts for the machines.

more at:
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/0830edbarr.html

[kpete]

11. Mexico:Courage and Resistance in Oaxaca and Mexico City

August 30, 2006 at 05:19:31

Courage and Resistance in Oaxaca and Mexico City

by Stephen Lendman


http://www.opednews.com

Courage and Resistance in Oaxaca and Mexico City - by Stephen Lendman

It began on May 15 this year when teachers belonging to the 70,000 strong National Union of Education Workers in Oaxaca, Mexico took to the streets for the first time to press their demands to the state government to address their long-neglected needs. They included restructuring teachers' salaries, improving the deplorable educational infrastructure forcing teachers to conduct classes in laminated cardboard shacks, a lack of books and other educational materials and providing food for the many impoverished children who come to school each day hungry.

After Chiapas, Oaxaca is the poorest of Mexico's 31 states, each of which has its own constitution and elected governor and representatives to the state congresses. Both states share a common border in the extreme south of the country, and both are predominantly rural which exacerbates the impoverishment of their people. That poverty level worsened substantially in the 1980s and especially in last dozen years because of the neoliberal so-called "free market" policies adopted by President Carlos Salinas and maintained by successive presidents up to the present that included the destructive NAFTA trade agreement with the US and Canada. It followed from the IMF-imposed structural adjustment policies since the mid-1980s that included large-scale privatizations of state-owned industries, economic deregulation, and mandated wage restraint that held pay increases to levels far below the rate of inflation. The result is that the great majority of Mexicans for years have seen their standard of living decline, and more of them now live in poverty especially in the rural areas where farmers are unable to compete with heavily subsidized US grain and other food imports flooding the country since the NAFTA agreement ended agricultural import tariffs. It's the main reason so many of them and other impoverished Mexicans come el norte in desperation to find work unavailable to them at home.

Mexico's adherence to neoliberal Washington Consensus policies also added to the country's growing dependency on capital inflows that includes "hot money" free to enter and leave the country's deregulated financial markets. It led to an unsustainable current account deficit and collapse of the peso in early 1995 causing the worst depression in the country in 60 years and far greater impoverishment of the majority of the Mexican people. Those conditions still affect most Mexicans, they're not getting better, and there's a growing discontent and anger because of them. It's leading to acts of resistance and rebellion against a system of governance that's enriched a small minority of the country's elite (a handful of them to obscene levels of wealth) at the expense of the majority poor sinking deeper into poverty and the misery from it. It's playing out now in the mass-demonstrations in Mexico City's vast Zocalo Plaza de la Constitucion (where the country's first constitution was proclaimed in 1813) in the wake of another stolen presidential election and in the streets of Oaxaca where teachers, other working people, and many organizations and groups in solidarity with them are encamped and demonstrating daily for the rights they deserve. It shows that ordinary people anywhere will only put up with so much for so long before demanding change. In the Mexican streets today, it just remains to be seen how far these acts of resistance will go and what successes, if any, they'll have.

more at:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_stephen__060830_courage_and_resistan.htm

[kpete]

12. Mexico: Lopez Obrador 'Will Not Accept' Election Ruling Favoring Calderón

Mexico: Lopez Obrador 'Will Not Accept' Election Ruling Favoring Calderón
By VOA News
29 August 2006


Mexico's top electoral court has thrown out allegations of massive fraud in last month's presidential election, handing almost certain victory to conservative Felipe Calderón.


Manuel Lopez Obrador
Leftist challenger Andrés Manuel López Obrador says the judges' unanimous rejection of his complaints is "offensive and unacceptable for millions of Mexicans." He vowed not to recognize a government led by Calderón and the ruling National Action Party.

The seven-judge Federal Electoral Tribunal reported it examined 375 challenges to the July 2 election, and discarded about one-half of one percent of the 41 million ballots, due to irregularities. The court said it found no evidence of massive fraud, or any indication that further recounts would tip the election from Calderón to López Obrador.

The court's action cost each of the two main presidential candidates roughly the same amount of votes, and shaved fewer than 5,000 votes from Calderón's reported victory margin. Earlier tabulations had shown the former energy minister winning by 244,000 votes - less than six-tenths of one percent.

more at:
http://www.voanews.com/english/CN-MEXICO-POL-29aug06.cfm

[kpete]

13. PA: Race to Adopt Electronic Voting Raises Concern Over Elections

Race to Adopt Electronic Voting Raises Concern Over Elections

By Catherine Fisher

Aug. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Electronic voting machines are coming to Centre County, Pennsylvania, and residents see a mess in the making.

On a recent morning, more than 30 constituents -- twice as many as usual -- attended a meeting of the county board in the locality of 136,000, home to Pennsylvania State University. One after another, 16 people rose to denounce the county's purchase of the machines. After hearing reports of malfunctions elsewhere, residents said they are worried the technology is unreliable.

``I'm an angry citizen,'' said Ben Brewer, 21, a county poll worker attending the meeting. ``I like to vote, and I'd prefer that my vote be counted.''

Centre County is just one of thousands of areas across the U.S. scrambling to update voting equipment in time to meet a January deadline set by the Help Americans Vote Act, the law enacted by Congress following the disputed 2000 Florida vote count that eventually gave George W. Bush the presidency.

more at:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aTrz304l11pA&refer=home

[kpete]

14. OH: Federal Court Lawsuit Challenges Ohio Voting Rules

Federal Court Lawsuit Challenges Ohio Voting Rules

Opponents of a new rule that allows poll workers to inquire if a voter is a naturalized citizen filed a federal lawsuit.

The ACLU of Ohio and the New York-based Brennan Center for Justice want to overturn the provision. It allows poll workers to ask for proof that a voter is a naturalized citizen.

Under the rules, those who can't prove their citizenship can cast a provisional ballot and provide proof to the county elections board afterward.

The lawsuit says the rules single out one group of US citizens and puts an unfair extra burden on them.

A spokesman for Ken Blackwell says the secretary of state believes the law can't be enforced.

http://www.wtov9.com/news/9760278/detail.html

[rumpel]

15. LAWYERS: VOTES DON'T NEED C0UNTING

Wednesday, August 30, 2006 - FreeMarketNews.com

by Staff Reports
Republican Brian Bilbray was sworn into Congress to represent California’s 50th Congressional District seven days after defeating Democrat Francine Busby in a special election and 16 days before the election was certified. Two San Diego voters filed a lawsuit challenging the results of the election soon after the election.

Superior Court Judge Yuri Hofmann heard arguments Friday on a motion to dismiss the election challenge lawsuit filed by voters seeking a full hand recount in California’s 50th Congressional district, according to Raw Story and other reports. Attorneys for Bilbray argued that the lawsuit should be thrown out because no court has the authority to intervene in an election after a member has been sworn into Congress. Attorneys also pointed out that Bilbray was seated unanimously by his House colleagues, that Busby could have filed her own challenge and argued only Congress has the power to seat or unseat its members.


http://www.freemarketnews.com/Feedback.asp?nid=9225

[Kurovski]

17. Kick to the top!

:kick:

[kpete]

19. So much for checks and balances, welcome to absolute power

So much for checks and balances, welcome to absolute power

Plaintiffs' attorney Paul Lehto issued a lengthy public statement in response to the ruling. It is posted at BradBlog just beneath the Hofmann opinion, and also appears at the end of this post. Lehto circulated additional comments by e-mail. An excerpt:

Our declaration of a (sad) victory by our side to the media today is because we've proven, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendants INTENDED to terminate the elections process and knew full well that this would be the effect of their unilateral and premature swearing in of Bilbray only 7 days after the election. The subsequent claim (and this is the most important element) that this sweating in rendered the court powerless and without jurisdiction because the "exclusive jurisdiction" transferred to the House by the swearing in, means that the certification of the allegedly "final" results by Registrar Haas was clearly void, resuilting in an invalid and incomplete election legally for Bilbray, the VERY POINT we sued to prove! (because the certification, being post-swearing in, was without force and effect and void, as is the Court's power, since "exclusive jurisdiction" transferred to the House, thus not only was the court rendered without power to affect the election, so was Registrar Haas)

In summary, the intent to terminate the election process prior to its end and even while as many as 12,500 votes remained uncounted shows clear intent to manipulate the elections process. There's a whole new population of people who are so good-hearted that they have a problem understanding that there are many people out there willing to manipulate elections for advantage. We should invite them to see that here in San Diego's fiftieth, the knife of raw power was drawn and used intentionally on June 13th, and given the dramatic nature of the claim of absolute power that followed in briefing to the Court around August 22 and after, it is beyond a doubt true that they fully intended to find an end-around the completion of elections, to find an end-around the US Supreme Court case that held that states have rights to do both counts AND recounts under Art I, sec. 4 of the Constitution, and that end-around termination of democratic elections was that in Roudebush v Hartke the Senate respected the courts, but in the case of Bilbray, the Speaker of the House decided not only that he'd seen enough of the election, but that he'd had it with the courts, too!

So much for checks and balances, welcome to absolute power.

more at:
http://wedonotconsent.blogspot.com/2006/08/so-much-for-checks-and-balances.html

[kpete]

20. PBS Program: NOW - set to ask if voting rights are 'under assault'

PBS set to ask if voting rights are 'under assault'

RAW STORY
Published: Wednesday August 30, 2006

Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is set to air a segment posing the possibility that the voting rights of many Americans are under attack, RAW STORY has learned.

A nation-wide push for laws to target voter fraud is likely to disqualify many who are legally eligible to vote, the PBS program NOW will claim in a segment tomorrow night titled, "Your right to vote -- is it under assault?"

...................

"This is a concerted effort to make sure that certain people don't have the opportunity to vote, that they don't have the opportunity to participate in their own democracy," Georgia state representative Alisha Thomas Morgan will be seen telling the program.

NOW is also preparing to use the Internet to support the story. Tomorrow morning, features on the program's website will include a state-by-state overview of election rights, an exploration of the voting rights act, and a list of "the 11 worst places in America to vote."

The segment will run tomorrow, September 1, at 8:30 p.m.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/PBS_set_to_ask_if_voting_0830.html

[Kurovski]

21. A big-time venue. That's absolutely terrific!

:kick:

[kpete]

22. Poll Worker Fired For Saying She Didn't Like Touch-Screen Voting Machines

Fla. Poll Worker Fired For Comments
POSTED: 6:16 am EDT August 29, 2006

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- A New Smyrna Beach voting equipment inspector was fired after she said she didn't like the new touch-screen voting machines being used for the first time in Volusia County.

Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall fired 76-year-old Drusilla Synal, a poll worker for more than a decade, for making the derogatory remarks as she cast her ballot during an early voting session last week.

McFall said Synal told everyone in the polling place that she disliked the touch-screen voting machines because they don't leave a paper trail.


A precinct manager asked her to leave. McFall said Synal was rude and loud. McFall called her the next day and fired her.

............

more at:
http://www.local6.com/news/9752950/detail.html?taf=orlpn

[kpete]

23. Kenneth Blackwell Forced To Delay Destruction Of 04 Election Ballots

Kenneth Blackwell Forced To Delay Destruction Of 04 Election Ballots

Ohio to Delay Destruction of Presidential Ballots
Michael Houghton for The New York Times


By IAN URBINA
Published: August 31, 2006
With paper ballots from the 2004 presidential election in Ohio scheduled to be destroyed next week, the secretary of state in Columbus, under pressure from critics, said yesterday that he would move to delay the destruction at least for several months.

Since the election, questions have been raised about how votes were tallied in Ohio, a battleground state that helped deliver the election to President Bush over Senator John Kerry.

The critics, including an independent candidate for governor and a team of statisticians and lawyers, say preliminary results from their ballot inspections show signs of more widespread irregularities than previously known.

The critics say the ballots should be saved pending an investigation. They also say the secretary of state’s proposal to delay the destruction does not go far enough, and they intend to sue to preserve the ballots.

more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/31/washington/31ohio.html?hp&ex=1156996800&en=24bc6b6a59183170&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[rumpel]

24. love the op

:)