Commentary

Voices From the Wreckage: It's possible to rise from the ashes

You think the people in Selma weren't scared when the dogs set on them? That it wasn't terrifying to load a gun and prepare to do battle in the Warsaw ghetto? That the slaves who rose up to overthrow their owners in Haiti didn't know fear, or that Sitting Bull and his warriors were unperturbed when Custer set out to massacre them? READ

Anatomy of a Letdown

But they were clearly cheering for a team in need of a near-miraculous comeback. One viewer reminded the woman next to him that Kerry’s hometown Red Sox had been down this late in the game too, but even he admitted to grasping for anything by that point. When midnight rolled around, only five states remained undecided, and only an unexpected result in Ohio could save Kerry’s candidacy. READ

The Election Hangover of a Lifetime

How can I not start on a personal note today? Election night was a roller coaster. I had written a piece a day earlier in which I had expressed guarded optimism about the prospects of experiencing 2005 without George Bush. By Tuesday evening, with hopeful exit polls pouring in, I was pumped. READ

2004 Voter Fraud and Irregularities

Petition to count the votes

We endorse the A Petition to Congress requesting an investigation into the Presidential Election of 2004 READ

Black Box Voting

Black Box Voting has taken the position that fraud took place in the 2004 election through electronic voting machines. We base this on hard evidence, documents obtained in public records requests, inside information, and other data indicative of manipulation of electronic voting systems. What we do not know is the specific scope of the fraud. We are working now to compile the proof, based not on soft evidence -- red flags, exit polls -- but core documents obtained by Black Box Voting in the most massive Freedom of Information action in history. READ

Kerry won. Here's the facts.

I know you don't want to hear it. You can't face one more hung chad. But I don't have a choice. As a journalist examining that messy sausage called American democracy, it's my job to tell you who got the most votes in the deciding states. Tuesday, in Ohio and New Mexico, it was John Kerry. READ

Who Counts in Ohio?

Nearly three months ago, I predicted that the Bush campaigners would, in fact, try to steal the election. They would, I argued, do it the old-fashioned American way - with "a massive effort to keep as many as three million pro-Democratic Afro-Americans, Native Americans, and non-Cuban Hispanics from voting." READ

Worse Than 2000: Tuesday's Electoral Disaster

Some of the problems with this past Tuesday's election will sound all too familiar. Despite having four years to look into and deal with the problems that cropped up in Florida in 2000, the 'spoiled vote' chad issue reared its ugly head again. Investigative journalist Greg Palast, the man almost singularly responsible for exposing the more egregious examples of illegitimate deletions of voters from the rolls, described the continued problems in an article published just before the election, and again in an article published just after the election. READ

From Jefferson's republic to banana republic

...On various Internet sites, evidence mounts to indicate votes weren't accurately counted in election 2004. Meanwhile, the talking heads of Fantasyland TV news keep telling the public George W. Bush won, no questions asked. They say to the public, "move on, move on, nothing to see here," while hundreds of blogs expose likely vote fraud right before our truth-seeking eyes. READ

Deja View: Another Stolen Election! Millions Disenfranchised?

...Exit polling on election day as reported by John Zogby of Zogby International and other independent exit polling organizations show a different result earlier on in the contest than what was reported later on by 6 national networks, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel and The Associated Press, who received their exit polling data from Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International, a consortium formed after Voter News Service was disbanded and blamed for the networks' error in prematurely calling Florida for Gore in the 2000 election. Exit polling using statistical analysis is an important part of our election process, providing necessary checks against the tabulated results, and a reasonable amount of protection against vote fraud. READ

The Ultimate Felony Against Democracy

Maybe Florida went for Kerry, maybe for Bush. Over time - and through the efforts of some very motivated investigative reporters - we may well find out (Bev Harris of www.blackboxvoting.org just filed what may be the largest Freedom of Information Act [FOIA} filing in history), and bloggers and investigative reporters are discovering an odd discrepancy in exit polls being largely accurate in paper-ballot states and oddly inaccurate in touch-screen electronic voting states Even raw voter analyses are showing extreme oddities in touch-screen-run Florida, and eagle-eyed bloggers are finding that news organizations are retroactively altering their exit polls to coincide with what the machines ultimately said. READ

Bush's 'Incredible' Vote Tallies

As a former C.P.A and auditor, I have used statistical sampling throughout my career with great confidence. With electronic record keeping, it's easy to create a program to falsify the books. But there are ways to uncover that. Auditors have developed statistical ways to cut right through corruption in companies. You don't even need a paper trail. These statistical approaches can be used with almost 100% accuracy to uncover fraud. READ

Evidence Mounts That The Vote May Have Been Hacked

When I spoke with Jeff Fisher this morning (Saturday, November 06, 2004), the Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 16th District said he was waiting for the FBI to show up. Fisher has evidence, he says, not only that the Florida election was hacked, but of who hacked it and how. READ

Should America Trust the Results of the Election?

Members of the discussion forum, DemocraticUnderground.com dug in and have already found a clear error in the vote count within Ohio. In one voting precinct in Gahanna, Ohio, 4,258 voters supposedly cast an electronic ballot for George Bush while only 260 voted for John Kerry. While it is vaguely possible that over 94% of voters in the precinct supported George W. Bush, it is a hard number to believe considering that only 638 voters were counted at the polling center.  READ

VOTE FRAUD Links - a DU Compendium

I've broken [these] down by state and National/Multi-State, as well as Activism and Resources. READ

Vote Watch 2004

Vote/Election fraud, vote suppression, voting irregularities, voter intimidation in Election 2004 READ

Electronic Voting Machine Woes Reported

Voters nationwide reported some 1,100 problems with electronic voting machines on Tuesday, including trouble choosing their intended candidates.
But there were also several dozen voters in six states - particularly Democrats in Florida - who said the wrong candidates appeared on their touch-screen machine's checkout screen, the coalition said. READ

Ohio Is Set to Reckon with Outstanding Ballots

...Attorneys for the Kerry campaign said Monday that they did not believe the outcome of the Ohio vote - which gave President Bush the electoral votes needed to win - could possibly change; they have discouraged speculation that voting irregularities caused Kerry's loss.
 Nonetheless, the Ohio count is attracting scrutiny by groups who say the election was tainted and that voting equipment in Ohio, Florida, South Carolina and elsewhere was defective. On Friday, three congressional Democrats asked for a federal investigation. READ

Broward Machines Count Backward

Early Thursday, as Broward County elections officials wrapped up after a long day of canvassing votes, something unusual caught their eye. Tallies should go up as more votes are counted. Thats simple math. But in some races, the numbers had gone . . . down.
Officials found the software used in Broward can handle only 32,000 votes per precinct. After that, the system starts counting backward. READ

Machine Error Gives Bush Extra Ohio Votes

An error with an electronic voting system gave President Bush 3,893 extra votes in suburban Columbus, elections officials said.
Franklin County's unofficial results had Bush receiving 4,258 votes to Democrat John Kerry's 260 votes in a precinct in Gahanna. Records show only 638 voters cast ballots in that precinct. Bush's total should have been recorded as 365. READ

Electronic Voting Machine Woes Reported

...there were also several dozen voters in six states - particularly Democrats in Florida - who said the wrong candidates appeared on their touch-screen machine's checkout screen, the coalition said.
In many cases, voters said they intended to select John Kerry but when the computer asked them to verify the choice it showed them instead opting for President Bush, the group said. READ

Someone Please Confirm These Numbers

Franklin County. 77.3% of voters registered Dems. Only 15.9% registered Reps. 58.5% of the votes reported FOR BUSH???
Holmes County. 72.7% of voters registered Dems. Only 21.3% registered Reps. 77% of the votes reported FOR BUSH???
Calhoun County. 82.4% of voters registered Dems. Only 11.9% registered Reps. 63.4% of the votes reported FOR BUSH???
And on, and on... READ

North Carolina: Election problems due to a software glitch

....in the rush to make right the miscalculation that swelled the number of votes for president here by 11,283 more votes than the total number cast, a human mistake further delayed accurate totals for the 40,534 who voted. READ

Warren's vote tally walled off: Alone in Ohio, officials cited homeland security

County officials say they took the action Tuesday night for homeland security, although state elections officials said they didn't know of any other Ohio county that closed off its elections board. Media organizations protested, saying it violated the law and the public's rights. The Warren results, delayed for hours because of long lines that extended voting past the scheduled close of polls, were part of the last tallies that helped clinch President Bush's re-election. READ

FRAUD!! in Ghanna Ohio.

Page 23
Gahanna 1-B
4,258 - Bush
260 - Kerry
But suprisingly enough there is not a SINGLE place you can find these 4,000 voters reappear. READ

Computer error at voting machine gives Bush 3,893 extra votes

Franklin County's unofficial results gave Bush 4,258 votes to Democratic challenger John Kerry's 260 votes in Precinct 1B. Records show only 638 voters cast ballots in that precinct. READ

Software flaw found in Florida vote machines

It turns out the software used in Broward County can handle only 32,000 votes per precinct. After that, the system starts counting backward. Why a voting system would ever be designed to vote backward was a mystery to Broward County Mayor Ilene Lieberman. It had her on the phone late Wednesday with Omaha-based Elections Systems and Software. READ

Why Did CNN Change Their Exit Poll Data for Ohio After 1:00 AM?

READ

Presidential Votes Miscast on E-Voting Machines Across the Country

Voters from at least half a dozen states reported that touch-screen voting machines had incorrectly recorded their choices, including for president. READ

Machine Error Gives Bush Extra Ohio Votes

An error with an electronic voting system gave President Bush (news - web sites) 3,893 extra votes in suburban Columbus, elections officials said. Franklin County's unofficial results had Bush receiving 4,258 votes to Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites)'s 260 votes in a precinct in Gahanna. Records show only 638 voters cast ballots in that precinct. Bush's total should have been recorded as 365. READ

Palm Beach County Logs 88,000 More Votes Than Voters

According to the official election results posted on the Palm Beach County election website, 542,835 ballots were cast for a presidential candidate while only 454,427 voters turned out for the election (including absentee). This leaves a discrepancy of 88,408 votes cast for the presidential candidates. READ

Warren Co. defends lockdown decision: FBI denies warning officials of any special threat

The information, which Commissioner Pat South said was previously deemed confidential, is coming out a week after the public was barred from viewing the Warren County vote count. The Ohio Secretary of State's office doesn't know of any other county in the state to impose such a restriction.
County officials initially said they feared that having reporters and photographers present could interfere with the ballot counting. They subsequently cited homeland security concerns. READ

Subject: Re: Cuyahoga County

I have looked at the data posted by the county, and saw something really unusual - different municipalities have the exact same number of "extra" votes. READ

Stolen Election?

Ohio Stolen (blog entry, gnn.tv) 2004-11-03 16:26:30 "Greg Palast and Randi Rhodes reported today that the state of Ohio was stolen by the Republicans in election 2004. Ohio was the critical state that tipped the balance, giving the presidency to Bush. Turns out one County in Ohio, equipped with Diebold electronic voting machines, reported NEGATIVE 25,000 votes. Wha?!? Thats what at least one election official in Ohio said. The votes from that County are lost. Not counted. GONE!" READ

N.C. Computer Loses More Than 4,500 Votes

More than 4,500 votes have been lost in one North Carolina county because officials believed a computer that stored ballots electronically could hold more data than it did. Scattered other problems may change results in races around the state. READ

Watchdogs Spot E-Vote Glitches

The National Protection Coalition, composed of several nonpartisan groups that include the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Verified Voting, reported Tuesday afternoon it had received more than 600 calls from voters complaining about problems with e-voting machines around the country. READ

Possible evidence of voter fraud in Ohio (scroll down to picture of pickup truck)

I just received a photo a Cincinnati poll manager took this evening, and it seems to be proof of some fishy actions with ballots in Ohio. Bottom line: Note the already-voted-with ballots in the back of the truck with the Bush-Cheney sticker in the back window. Does this prove fraud? Well, it certainly doesn't look good in a state that's already had lots of problems this election. READ

GOP Dirty Tricks

GOP Dirty Tricks and the Complicit Media (Perspective from 2000)

...the media relentlessly bashing Al Gore with dishonest attacks - even his choice of clothing - while ignoring Bush's deep flaws, Texas record, and shady dealings. Another is the cynical, but expertly designed Republican dirty trick machine which fed a steady stream of lies to a compliant media.
Remember the flap about Naomi Wolf telling Gore to wear "earth tones?" The media frenzy about Al Gore "inventing the Internet," inspiring Love Story, and "discovering" Love Canal? All those came directly from Republican National Committee "attack faxes" and went directly into print and on the air - not as paid political commercials. As "news." All of them were lies. READ

GOP Consultant Admits Dirty Trick (election 2002)

The former head of a Republican consulting group has pleaded guilty to jamming Democratic telephone lines in several New Hampshire cities on Election Day two years ago.
The jamming involved more than 800 computer-generated calls and lasted for about 1 1/2 hours on Nov. 5, 2002, the day voters decided several races, including a close Senate contest between outgoing Gov. Jeanne Shaheen and GOP Rep. John E. Sununu, who won by fewer than 20,000 votes. READ

Infiltration of files seen as extensive (Pattern of dirty tricks from 2002-2003)

Senate panel's GOP staff spied on Democrats
From the spring of 2002 until at least April 2003, members of the GOP committee staff exploited a computer glitch that allowed them to access restricted Democratic communications without a password. Trolling through hundreds of memos, they were able to read talking points and accounts of private meetings discussing which judicial nominees Democrats would fight -- and with what tactics. READ

GOP dirty tricks primer: Part 1

Republican tactics include voter fraud, voter intimidation, illegal disenfranchisement, and smear campaigns designed to encourage voters to infer a false equivalence between Republican and Democratic tactics. READ

GOP Dirty tricks primer: Part 2

Republicans have been laying the groundwork for minority voter suppression for months. READ

Republican Dirty Tricks: Election 2004

In Nevada, Voter Outreach of America is accused by former employees of shredding the registration forms of thousands of Democrats; in West Virginia, Voter Outreach of America employees say they were instructed to mislead voters into registering Republican and voting for Bush; in Oregon, yet another swing state, the state attorney general has opened a criminal investigation into allegations that Sproul's firm, which is Voter Outreach of America's parent company, was involved in intentionally destroying or discarding voter registration forms signed by Democrats. READ

Here Come the Dirty Tricks

A former employee told a television station that VOA, which was paid to collect signatures by the Republican National Committee, intentionally destroyed hundreds of registration forms in Nevada, trashing only those filled out by Democrats. VOA, which is run by former Arizona GOP chair Nathan Sproul, has also registered voters in Oregon, where the attorney general’s office is now investigating whether similar selective-ballot-destruction efforts took place there. READ

GOP dirty tricks: the latest.

(Rove) has instructed his operatives to vandalize vehicles with Bush/Cheney bumper stickers. Plus to steal campaign signs on lawns. Guess who get's the blame? It also possible that Roves planted that fake memo to CBS. Roves that planted a bug in his office and blame it on the Democrats. So if you have a pro-Bush bumper on your fender, watch out! Your fellow Republicans is gonna trash your car. READ

GOP tricks in the mail

It is not easy to paint a former Parent Teacher Organization president and School Committee chairwoman as an ally of child molesters, but the Massachusetts Republican Party seems to think that all it will take is one twist of one vote on one half-baked amendment to discredit Spilka. READ

GOP Dirty Tricks in Ohio?

"Who does this provisional ruling affect most?" asks Robbins. "People who move. Census data shows that low-income people are 90 percent more likely to move. If you're poor, you're twice as likely to have to vote provisionally. On top of that, when they get a provisional ballot, they're likely to encounter [poll workers] who give them unclear information on a complex form. That's already difficult. READ

GOP: 'Liberals' Will Ban Bible

The literature shows a Bible with the word "BANNED" across it and a photo of a man, on his knees, placing a ring on the hand of another man with the word "ALLOWED." The mailing tells West Virginians to "vote Republican to protect our families" and defeat the "liberal agenda."
The Times said RNC spokeswoman Christine Iverson had confirmed that the GOP had sent out the mailings. READ

New Florida vote scandal feared

Two e-mails, prepared for the executive director of the Bush campaign in Florida and the campaign's national research director in Washington DC, contain a 15-page so-called "caging list".
It lists 1,886 names and addresses of voters in predominantly black and traditionally Democrat areas of Jacksonville, Florida. READ

Dirty Tricks and Treats in Wisconsin

Apparently worried about massive increases in voter registration in the city of Milwaukee--and about the intense interest in the presidential race among people of color, young people and others who might not be inclined to vote to re-elect George W. Bush-Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker pulled one of the most bizarre stunts ever seen in Wisconsin electoral history.
When city of Milwaukee officials requested several weeks ago that more ballots be printed in order to accommodate the expected rush of new voters on November 2, Walker refused. READ

Voter fraud and disenfranchisement

In a letter, Berkeley County clerk John Smalls cites calls from a cell phone were made to Eastern Panhandle democrats telling them that they were not registered to vote. The letter also said the calls informed democrats in some cases they wouldn`t be able to vote on Election Day READ

McAuliffe: Will GOP Answer If They Know Whether Stone, Others Had Involvement With CBS Documents?

Terry McAuliffe issued this statement: “In today’s New York Post, Roger Stone, who became associated with political ‘dirty tricks’ while working for Nixon, refused to deny that he was the source the CBS documents.
“ Will Ed Gillespie or the White House admit today what they know about Mr. Stone’s relationship with these forged documents? Will they unequivocally rule out Mr. Stone’s involvement? Or for that matter, others with a known history of dirty tricks, such as Karl Rove or Ralph Reed?” READ

Dirty Tricks in Columbus

Deanna Zandt, who is in the Election Protection offices in Columbus Ohio reports ...that there have been reports from election protection officials that there is some voter intimidation going on. She has heard that groups of Republican-backed intimidators have been walking up and down voter lines, misleading voters about their eligibiity to vote and telling them that they need to vote in another precinct. READ

Civil rights groups, GOP trade charges of dirty tricks

Civil rights groups, in an election eve report, charged that dirty tricks, "unprecedented" challenges of voter eligibility, and bureaucratic bungling around the country are threatening the turnout in minority neighborhoods. READ

GOP surfed for voters at work

Managers at more than 50,000 companies in Ohio urged employees to vote, while trying to coax them in e-mails to look at customized internal Web sites rating politicians' votes on business issues, a project leader said. One rating gave Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry a zero last year on votes affecting manufacturers. READ