Time Off - Election Reform, Fraud & News Wed 5/2/07-Vacationing In Chicago

[kpete]

Time Off - Election Reform, Fraud & News Wed 5/2/07-Vacationing In Chicago



from kpete: Forgive me but I am having too much fun in Chicago with my girlfriends. I am going to take this week off - if anybody, knows anything or finds anything, please post it. I will be back next week to document the autrocities.

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.ph ...

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.

[Melissa G]

1. A message from Greg Palast.

Thanks to Cassandra for the post and the DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x801934
Original message
A message from Greg Palast.
I'm just back from the Palast event here in NYC and haven't even opened to the new chapters in his paperback edition of Armed Madhouse but Greg had a message:
Buy or borrow the book and put passages, whole chapters, whatever you want online and spread the message virally. He wants the voter suppression material and Rove's 2008 plans particularly, out on the internet from as many directions as possible. No copyright problems with this. Seriously. I will post some of it tomorrow.
As for the event, it was great. Greg was great, Randi fabulous and RFK jr. gave a barnburner of a speech (and was in relatively good voice, too).

more here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x801934

[Melissa G]

2. Keef makes Rolling Stone article: The Most Honest Man in News

http://imgred.com/tn/

Thanks to sad_one for the post and the DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x801705

Original message
Rolling Stone: The Most Honest Man in News
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/13559914/the_most_honest_man_in_news

An unfamiliar viewer tuning in to Keith Olbermann's prime-time news program on MSNBC, Countdown, might, at first glance, assume he was watching a highly traditional broadcaster. Olbermann has a long, sober face and trim hair that's going gray. With his glasses, he looks like a Fifties newsman -- Clark Kent behind an anchor's desk -- while his stentorian delivery can sound almost self-consciously retro, the sort of voice (of God or your high school principal) mocked nightly by Stephen Colbert.

But there's a sharp contrast between the way Olbermann looks and sounds and what he's actually saying. After President Bush recently called for a troop escalation in Iraq, for example, Olbermann described the strategy as "absurd" and "childish," then added, "Mr. Bush, the question is no longer 'What are you thinking?' but rather 'Are you thinking at all?' " He has described Fox News anchor Chris Wallace as "a monkey posing as a newscaster" and begged Rush Limbaugh to "Please, go back on the drugs."

[Kurovski]

11. Is anyone else having trouble with the link?

And I can't even get into Rolling Stone itself from ANY other link.

:shrug: I'll have to try later.

[Kurovski]

15. No problem now. (nt)

:kick:

[Melissa G]

3. Task force studying D-13 meets in public today

Task force studying D-13 meets in public today
By LESLEY CLARK
Herald Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - The House task force looking into the disputed Sarasota congressional race convenes in public for the first time today. Its mission: determining whether to proceed with a formal investigation.

Republicans cautioned anew Tuesday that embarking on an official investigation - while the matter is under appeal in the Florida courts - could further poison relations between the two parties.

"This House still has a sore spot," said Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., referring to a contested Indiana race in 1984 that involved Republicans marching out of the House to protest Democratic involvement. "There are other avenues to go about before you bring it here and I haven't seen all the avenues exhausted yet."

But Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, D-Texas, task force chairman, said it's premature to conclude that an investigation is a sure thing, despite the composition of the task force: two Democrats and one Republican.
http://www.bradenton.com/180/story/37986.html

[Melissa G]

4. FL - Accuracy counts

Accuracy counts

Our position: State House should approve optical-scan voting machines.


Posted May 2, 2007

When it comes to ensuring the accuracy of elections, state senators have done their job by approving a proposal to end Florida's reliance on touch-screen voting machines.

Now it's up to the members of the state House, who have yet to act on the proposal to require the use of paper ballots that can be easily recounted in the event of an election meltdown. There's no more-important measure before lawmakers because, at the heart of this issue, is the sanctity of Florida elections.

That's why Republican Gov. Charlie Crist and U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, a Democrat, joined forces on this issue. And its why Democrats and Republicans joined together to pass it out of the Senate with a near-unanimous 37-2 vote.

The rush to touch-screen machines after Florida's 2000 presidential election disaster was understandable, but misguided. Supporters of touch-screens argue the electronic machines are easier to use and save printing costs.

But the problem is that the results of these machines cannot be verified by hand -- a recount consists of the equivalent of pressing a replay button. Machines that count ballots voters have filled in with a pencil or pen can be recounted by hand to ensure accuracy.
more...
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-ed02107may02,0,6306286.story?coll=orl-opinion-headlines

[Melissa G]

5. County will have fewer polling places in February

Less precincts and precincts are being renumbered, too! More voter suppression brought to you by expensive, unverifiable machines!



County will have fewer polling places in February

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NATHAN JOHNSON - Daily Herald
Utah County residents may need to brace for some changes when election time comes around.

In a cost saving move, and in preparation for the Feb. 5 Western States Presidential Primary, Utah County will consolidate smaller voting districts into fewer larger districts.

Utah County precincts 50 through 64 have all been folded into other precincts, eliminating 15 voting districts in all.

This move will save the county a great deal of money as the county moves to using $3,000 electronic voting machines, said elections coordinator Sandy Hoffmann.

Hoffmann said that it is economically unfeasible to use those machines in precincts with only 300 registered voters. Utah law was recently changed to increase the maximum size of a precinct from 1,000 registered voters to 1,250 registered voters.

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/220219/4/

[Melissa G]

6. Federal funds for paper ballots

Federal funds for paper ballots
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published May 2, 2007


TALLAHASSEE - The U.S. Election Assistance Commission will allow Florida to use federal funds to replace the state's touch screen voting machines with a verifiable paper-trail system, Sen. Bill Nelson's office and the Florida Department of State said Tuesday.

The Florida Legislature is on the verge of passing an elections bill that calls for the use of nearly $28-million in federal funds to replace touch-screen voting machines in 15 counties. But until Tuesday, state lawmakers and Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning did not know for sure whether they could rely on federal money from the Help America Vote Act.

Despite the high priority Gov. Charlie Crist and most lawmakers - Republican and Democrat - have given to the replacement of the machines, a tight budget year has left the Legislature hard-pressed to find state funding for it.

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/05/02/State/Federal_funds_for_pap.shtml

[Melissa G]

7. Crossing a line at Justice

Crossing a line at Justice
How an attorney general handles outside political forces is critical to the mission of true justice. Alberto Gonzales could have learned a thing or two from one of his Justice Department predecessors: RFK.
By Ronald Goldfarb

The current agonies of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales call to mind a dramatic moment in the Robert F. Kennedy Justice Department. Members of his organized crime section were in RFK's office reviewing our pending investigations and cases. One of our group advised Kennedy that his grand jury investigations were about to lead to the indictment of the then-mayor of a large Midwestern city, one that had voted for his brother John Kennedy in the close presidential election of 1960.


When my colleague completed his report about the big scalp about to be added to our list of political corruption cases, RFK was quiet. It happened that the scalp in question belonged to President Kennedy's ambassador-designate to Greece. The attorney general smiled slightly and facetiously remarked: "Well, that's nice. Now my brother's going to have to put me on the Supreme Court." The indictment went forward and included others in the city's political (Democratic) machine. All were convicted.

That anecdote is relevant today as the Senate Judiciary Committee considers the attorney general's recent dismissals of several U.S. attorneys. When it comes to the proper administration of justice in the Department of Justice, there are politics and there are politics.

The two P's

Capital "P" politics that is, party politics, such as the partisan personal shenanigans of Gonzales meddling with the independence of competent prosecutors' discretion in response to political pressures are improper and have no place in the justice system. Small "p" politics, the imposition of discretionary preferences, policies and priorities in the focus of prosecutorial discretion, generally are proper. Partisans must accept them, like it or not. They are not the basis for replacing attorneys general.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/05/crossing_a_line.html

[Melissa G]

9. DU discussion here...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x472045

[Melissa G]

8. Summary of the Collaborative Public Audit of the 2006 General Election in Cuyahoga County Ohio

Vendors
Summary of the Collaborative Public Audit of the 2006 General Election in Cuyahoga County Ohio
By John Washburn, VoteTrustUSA Voting Technology Task Force
May 01, 2007
The final report for the audit of the November 7, 2006 election held in Cuyahoga County, Ohio was released on April 17, 2007. It took five months and some follow up reports are still to be produced. The complete report can be downloaded here.

The 68 page final audit report contains many startling findings including poor chain of custody, improper scanning of absentee ballots, poor data base design, poor security of the election management server, and possible database corruption. But the most stunning finding is found on page 36 of the report.
Additionally, we have no clarity on which table contains the final accurate results.
Stop and think about this.

After five months of diligent work there is no clarity where in the GEMS system one looks to find the final, accurate results of an election. After five months of consulting with computer experts, after months of consulting with Talbot Iredale, the professional engineer from Diebold Election Systems who designed the GEMS system, the auditors have no clarity on what are the final, accurate results for the November election or where to find those number.

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2425&Itemid=51

DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x472043

[Kurovski]

10. Have fun in my hometown, kpete!

I'm jealous.

And thank you Melissa G, for stepping in so beautifully well. :hug:

K&R.

[Melissa G]

16. We have a great team around this place!

:grouphug:

[rumpel]

12. On DU: Renzi Breaks Silence: Bush Administration Tried To Rig My Election And ‘Needs To Be

Investigated’

thanks to babylonsister

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3246769&mesg_id=3246769

give it a nice push... :)

[rumpel]

13. Related: Election commission drops charges against Renzi

The Daily Courier

AP

Wednesday, May 02, 2007
5/2/2007 4:01:00 AM

By JIM KUHNHENN
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Arizona Rep. Rick Renzi avoided federal campaign penalties by paying $323,830 in back taxes last year to reassure regulators that loans to his political committee came from his own pocket.

The Federal Election Commission, in documents made public Tuesday, said it decided to take no further action against Renzi regarding the source of the loans to his 2001-2002 congressional campaign.

Renzi, a Republican, did agree to pay a $25,000 fine for unrelated reporting violations during that election cycle.

The congressman, who has been drawn into an FBI investigation of an Arizona land deal, completed a conciliation agreement with the FEC on Jan. 10, but it was only made public now.

http://prescottdailycourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=43931&TM=25319.9

[Melissa G]

14. Yipee! U.S. House task force votes to investigate the District 13 vote

:bounce:U.S. House task force votes to investigate the District 13 vote
LESLEY CLARK
Herald Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - A U.S. House task force has voted today to formally investigate the disputed District 13 congressional election in Sarasota County, and has asked the Government Accountabilty Office to design a study of the electronic voting machines used there.

The vote marked the first federal investigation into 18,000 undervotes. Previously, a state investigation found the voting machines were working properly.

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, was sworn into office with a 369-vote margin after the election in November, but Democratic challenger Christine Jennings, also of Sarasota, continues to challenge the results.

Before the task force vote, Republicans warned their Democratic counterparts it would be bad for relations between the two parties if they intervene before the state courts rule, but the GOP is outnumbered on the three-member panel. Two Democrats and one Republican make up the task force.

U.S. Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, D-Texas, said it was the first time in knowledge that the House has tackled an electronic voting machine case.


http://www.bradenton.com/180/story/38130.html