Letter from the Editor (Daniel Okrent of the NYTimes)

[Hobbes199]

I received an email response from Daniel Okrent's assistant Arthur Sorvino from the New York Times, regarding a call to action I made to many journalists last week. Here's the article he points me to, which doesn't say much, but does give us some attention in the media.

http://forums.nytimes.com/top/opinion/readersopinions/forums/thepubliceditor/danielokrent/index.html?oref=regi

>>dokrent - 5:40 PM ET November 21, 2004 (#35 of 35)

>>The Times and Covering Allegations of Election Fraud

>>Sorry to have been neglecting this spot for so long; I could give you a list of excuses, but none of them is especially good.

>>Now, though, my mailbox has begun to overflow with criticisms of The Times for not looking more deeply into allegations of large-scale vote fraud in Ohio and Florida, a story (if true) that no one can ignore. In some of these messages, writers say that "now that the theft of the election has been proven ...," The Times must reveal this to the wider world.

>>Were the assertion even nearly so, I would do more than recommend that The Times reveal it — I’d be demanding it publicly, loudly and frequently. But the evidence I have seen to date proves nothing, other than that there was a certain amount of error in certain counties, and an aggressive effort by some partisans in some areas to challenge some likely Democratic voters. To my knowledge, no one in the Kerry campaign’s vast on-the-ground operation, or in its armies of well-situated lawyers, has made the argument that what happened in Ohio (or Florida) could have changed the result of the election. Similar views were explained in http://w/2004/11/12/politics/12theory.html>"Vote Fraud Theories, Spread By Blogs, Are Quickly Buried," by Tom Zeller (Nov. 12).

>>And more, I expect, will be explored and explained in future articles if meaningful allegations can indeed be established as facts. Both Matthew Purdy, the head of The Times’s investigative unit, and Rick Berke, the paper’s Washington editor, assure me that reporters will continue to look into the issue. I’m confident that if they find something, they’ll publish it. A good investigative reporter (much less a whole staff of them) turning away from a story like this one — if true — would be like a flower turning away from the sun. Careers are made by stories that detail massive election fraud.

>>But: the operative words here are if true. Wishing doesn’t make it so. Although it would probably pain him to have someone from The Times touting his work, David Corn of The Nation, in a recent column, offers plenty of reason to examine the allegations before I, or anyone else, should leap to give them credence. You can find Corn’s column http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041129&s=corn>here.

I appreciate them addressing our concerns. And include their email here, in case we want to thank them. And maybe supply them with more information...

Public <[e-mail]>

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Ah they are still waiting for US to do their job

what will it take another year for them to go ooops they were right?

[JD Lau]

5. I believe you've already answered your question. Really,

all you need is one garbage bag full of poll receipts, and that should be enough of a story. I think, though, that we need to just keep hammering the journalists...and not get distracted and go off on some other path. This issue needs to be out there, and out there, and out there, and out there, until it becomes EASY to write about it if you are a mainstream writer.

Ready for the long haul????

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Oh believe me I am raedy for the long haul

I expect this to end in either world war, invasion, and occupation of this country (and disolution as an entity)

Or civil war.. uprising revolution....

Is that long haul enough for you?

And yes it turns my stonach as this implies at least 10 million dead and 50 million injured in this country alone

[keithjx]

2. missing the point (again)

"To my knowledge, no one in the Kerry campaign’s vast on-the-ground operation, or in its armies of well-situated lawyers, has made the argument that what happened in Ohio (or Florida) could have changed the result of the election." It's still a relevant story even if it doesn't change the outcome of the election. Will these people ever understand this???

[Eloriel]

3. Well, what I always want to know is "What constitutes proof" to

these people?

A signed admission of guilt? A paper trail leading to the perps (fat chance with paperless voting!!)? Overwhelming circumstantial evidence (enough to convict plenty of people who are now in prison)?

What, precisely, serves as PROOF for them?

That said, there's a pile of circumstantial pointers (I consider it "evidence"), along with a lot of chaff -- interesting chaff, but chaff -- to be found right here:

VOTE FRAUD LINKS - A DU Compendium - Thread #3
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=201x4927

VOTE FRAUD Links Compendium - Thread #2
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=201x3223

VOTE FRAUD Links - a DU Compendium
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=201&topic_id=1984#


Oh, and being "partisan" doesn't mean one is wrong, or that the facts uncovered are biased.

[joeunderdog]

11. Did we prove Swift Boat accusations, Iraq WMD's or Medicare savings

before there were reports on the process? Gimme a fucken break.

I sent this to the sister paper of the times, the Boston Globe...

Like most major new sources, The Globe’s silence regarding the alleged voter fraud of this year’s Presidential election is itself a story. Now that we’ve convicted Lacy Peterson’s killer, Globe readers are indeed safer. Unfortunately, our elections don’t appear to be. Readers just won’t learn about it here.

The Globe simply “dismissed” the so-called Internet conspiracies that referenced the F-word (fraud.). Dismissing is easy. Anyone can do that. It would have been better journalism if they took the time to actually discredit these conspiracies with facts and figures.

It’s hard to imagine how a story as sensational as the dramatic speculation of a stolen US Presidential election wouldn’t sell newspapers. O.J. did, and sales were brisk debating the judicial process there. Maybe someone has to die for this story to get legs. (For what it’s worth, the inventor of a verifiable computer voting system did die in a car crash, but that might be too tabloid.) Maybe the Globe just has no more election ink to give after spilling it all on the hot rumors on the candidates’ 30-year-old war records.

Am I disappointed in all of this? Sure, but not as much as those people whose votes are missing. In North Carolina, Official Voter Records acknowledge that Craven County “lost” 4500 votes to a computer (ehem) “glitch." A nearby NC county reported another 11,000 vote “glitch.” In Florida and Ohio, literally dozens counties actually reported more votes than voters. To date, not one of these so-called glitches has favored Senator Kerry. What exactly is it about these very official election numbers that conjures up the notion that Internet paranoia is based on wild speculation?

Exit polling has historically been very accurate, but was off in 8-plus swing states this year by up to an unprecedented 15%, and all in favor of President Bush. More fodder for the Conspiracy Theorists--the probability of this is less than one percent, according to statisticians. In not one state did Kerry outperform exit polls by more than the margin of error. Interestingly, these kinds of extreme irregularities occurred this year in not a single state with a paper trail.

Looking for a motive in this mystery? The companies who produce the computer voting machines are owned and operated by Republicans to the exclusion of Democrats, and business is booming. Walden O'Dell, chief executive of computer voting’s Diebold Inc. is a proud Bush activist and a successful Republican fundraiser. Fox, meet henhouse. Walden said on record that he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president (this) year." He just may have. As Stalin said, "Those who cast the votes decide nothing, those who count the votes decide everything."

Unfortunately, the copyright concerns for the compu-voting companies take precedence over the preservation of a fair and transparent democratic process for America. This means no voter verification by impartial parties. In the meantime, Diebold and leading Republicans consider questions about election results to be offensive and objectionable despite flatly refusing to implement a verifiable voting system. Similarly, the Globe has not found Diebold’s symbiotic financial relationship with President Bush to be important enough to investigate corresponding anomalies across e-states during the election.

No, vote theft is not “news.” Both Democrats and Republicans have historically tried to further their personal and political agendas by beating the election system and its technology since before George Washington took office. This year, what’s different is that because of computer voting, large numbers of have been moved or lost without a receipt or a trace. And our own Official Election Results indicate that it is in fact happening. They are not “glitches.” They are an indication of a bigger problem that is being swept under the mats of the Globe and major new sources like it. Even if it’s only to dispel the rumors, shouldn’t the Globe be looking into it?

Look, O.J. was ultimately exonerated, but it still made for a great news story for the Globe.


(didn't print that either.)

[BrklynLiberal]

4. I also wrote a note about their "coverge" of voter fraud

At 10:45 AM 11/12/2004, you wrote:

Thank you for such a "fair and balanced" story about the voter fraud perpetuated on the American voters during this past election. Your one-sided story makes all of those interested in making sure that every vote that was cast was counted sound like tin-foil hat conspirators. Ensuring that the elections were actually free and fair does not equate with trying to overturn the results. It merely means that they are trying to make sure that casting votes in an election actually means something.
I am sure that when the full extent of the fraud is exposed, with no help by any of your reporters, the story will appear in small print on the back page of section B.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Thank you for your message. Several other readers raised similar concerns which Mr. Okrent addressed on his web journal. See post #35.

http://forums.nytimes.com/top/opinion/readersopinions/forums/thepubliceditor/danielokrent/index.html

You are welcome to comment on Mr. Okrent's web journal posts in the "weigh in" section for readers' opinions.

http://forums.nytimes.com/top/opinion/readersopinions/forums/thepubliceditor/danielokrentscolumnswebjournal/index.html

Sincerely,
Arthur Bovino
Office of the Public Editor
The New York Times

[pointsoflight]

6. Send him this link

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/volusia-lawsuit.html

There is direct evidence that a vote tabulator that was not supposed to be networked WAS networked. Direct evidence shows that there were attempts to access the computer remotely. And the vote counts on that computer that was networked and being accessed remotely has different counts than those submitted by individual precincts. This should be getting nationwide attention!!!

[L84TEA]

7. Why doesn't Bev Harris

Get that video she made of them shutting her out of the election office and her digging through the trash to find the election tapes???
I think that would be NEWS WORTHY????

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. here is my Ltte to them

yes go ahead and smack me... they need this tone now I think

--------------

We have enough circumstantial evidence that YOU should be looking into

For example, the Volusioa County garbage bags, meant for the shredder that had the original poling tapes, different from those given to Bev Harris because of her FOIA request

I wonder why is it that the Times does not want to even raise this story?

OK OK, I know why ... all that business before the Republican Congress. This story could be bad for business but what about the country? Have you thought about your reputation with your readers? What if enough people LOOSE all confidence in your reporting? It has happened with the mantra of the so called liberal media ... you are not liberal but hey, still now you are loosing us too ... bad for business if you get my drift'

Oh and you are missing the point, this is not about overturning the election but COUNTING THE VOTES, Why is this such a difficult concept for the times to get?


Here are some places for you to go search ... and I know they are in the blogosphere, but hey one place shopping, how much easier can we make it for you to find the info you need to do some investigative reporting. Granted this is just a start and you should double and triple check this info, but YOU MUST do it ... what will it take a signed confession? A whistle blower (who will be called a conspiracy theorist by you)? What will it take?

VOTE FRAUD LINKS - A DU Compendium - Thread #3
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

VOTE FRAUD Links Compendium - Thread #2
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

VOTE FRAUD Links - a DU Compendium
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...




Sincerely,

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Historian, freelance writer and overall concerned American, who sees the Fourth Estate FAILING in its job.

[pointsoflight]

10. Here's mine

I think your readers would find the following information of great interest:

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/volusia-lawsuit.html

Let me point out some key things here:

Official, signed poll tapes from election night were found in the garbage. The vote tallies on these official poll tapes differ from the numbers that were certified, and differ from unofficial poll tapes that were supplied to the consumer protection group, blackboxvoting.org. If you interview Bev Harris, she can tell you that the new numbers swung toward one presidential candidate time and time again.

In addition, there is direct evidence that a vote tabulator was networked when it was not supposed to be. There is also direct evidence of attempts to access that tabulator from a remote location. This tabulator now shows different vote counts that those on the official polling tapes from election night. Hand in hand with that, Bev Harris can tell you that she interviewed election workers who can confirm that the vote tallies they submitted to the county office are different than the vote tallies the county is reporting.

Certainly this is more direct evidence than the discrepancy between exit polls and election results that is driving the Ukraine story, isn't it?

Respectfully,
(signed)
Concerned Citizen