U.S. Elections
2000
Key officials anticipated before Election Day, that there would be an increase in levels of voter turnout based upon new voter registration figures, but did not ensure that the precincts in all communities received adequate resources to meet their needs; At least one unauthorized law enforcement checkpoint was set up on Election Day resulting in complaints that were investigated by the Florida Highway Patrol and the Florida Attorney General; Non-felons were removed from voter registration rolls based upon unreliable information collected in connection with sweeping, state sponsored felony purge policies; Many African Americans did not cast ballots because they were assigned to polling sites that did not have adequate resources to confirm voting eligibility status; College students and others submitted voter registration applications on a timely basis to persons and agencies responsible for transmitting the applications to the proper officials, but in many instances these applications were not processed in a timely or proper manner under the National Voter Registration Act (“motor-voter law”); Many Jewish and elderly voters received defective and complicated ballots that may have produced “overvotes” and “undervotes;” Some polling places were closed early and some polling places were moved without notice; Old and defective election equipment was found in poor precincts; Many Haitian Americans and Puerto Rican voters were not provided language assistance when required and requested; Persons with disabilities faced accessibility difficulties at certain polling sites; Too few poll workers were adequately trained and too few funds were committed to voter education activities; STATUS REPORT ON PROBE OF ELECTION PRACTICES IN FLORIDA DURING THE 2000 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION - http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/vote2000/florida.htmWe are deeply troubled by our preliminary review which points to differences in resource allocations, including voting technology, and in voting procedures that may have operated so that protected groups may have had less of an opportunity to have their votes counted. We will conduct complete disparate impact and treatment analyses before the report is completed, and our final conclusions will take into account the results of these analyses. However, it appears at this phase of the investigation that the evidence may ultimately support findings of prohibited discrimination. Two particular sources of fruitful inquiry are the questionable uses of Choicepoint data and resource allocation issues. We are attempting to document whether and, if so, how long state, county and local officials knew that certain differences in resources and procedures might impact more harshly African Americans and members of other protected groups. STATUS REPORT ON PROBE OF ELECTION PRACTICES IN FLORIDA DURING THE 2000 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION - http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/vote2000/florida.htmU.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS CONCLUDES THAT “NO COUNT” IS REAL ISSUE IN FLORIDA VOTE Voter Disenfranchisement is at the Heart of the Issue WASHINGTON, DC, MARCH 9 - Supported by approximately 30 hours of sworn testimony from some 100 witnesses, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights determined that the Florida presidential elections appear to have been marred by voter disenfranchisement. "It is not a question of a recount or even an accurate count, but more pointedly those whose exclusion from the right to vote amounted to a 'No Count,'" concluded a statement issued today by the Commission. [...] "In the final analysis," the statement said, "new recounts of old ballots are an academic exercise. Voting is the language of our democracy and, regrettably - when it mattered most - real people lost real opportunities to speak truth to power in the ballot box. This must never occur again. "Voting technology reforms and the conclusion of recounting procedures alone are insufficient to address the significant and distressing issues and barriers that prevented qualified electors to cast ballots and have their ballots counted. It is our hope that Florida, as well as other jurisdictions, would promptly address these major problems instead of hoping that with the passage of time, the public will forget," the statement continued. [...] The Commission also flagged the removal of non-felons from the voter registration rolls on the basis of unreliable information collected during a sweeping, state-sponsored felony purge. The Commission cited other problems in Florida which prevented voters from exercising their franchise, including the assignment of many African Americans to polling sites that lacked sufficient resources to confirm voter eligibility; failure to process voter registration applications under the "motor voter" law in a timely manner; use of defective and complicated ballots that caused many "overvotes" and "undervotes"; early closing of polling places; relocation of polling places without notice; use of old and defective election equipment in poor precincts; failure to provide requested language assistance to Haitian American and Latino American voters; and failure to ensure access for voters with disabilities. - http://www.usccr.gov/nwsrel/archives/2001/030901.htm It is impossible to determine the total number of voters turned away from the polls or deprived of their right to vote. It is clear that the 2000 presidential election generated a large number of complaints about voting irregularities in Florida. The Florida attorney general’s office alone received more than 3,600 allegations—2,600 complaints and 1,000 letters.[2] In addition, both the Democratic and Republican parties received many complaints from Floridians who either could not vote or experienced difficulty when attempting to vote. - http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/vote2000/report/ch1.htm TABLE 1-1: Top 10 Counties with Various Population Characteristics and Ballot Rejection Rates at http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/vote2000/report/ch1.htm
Estimates indicate that approximately 14.4 percent of Florida’s black voters cast ballots that were rejected. This compares with approximately 1.6 percent of nonblack Florida voters who did not have their presidential votes counted. [...] Approximately 11 percent of Florida voters were African American; however, African Americans cast about 54 percent of the 180,000 spoiled ballots in Florida during the November 2000 election based on estimates derived from county-level data. - http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/vote2000/report/exesum.htmAfrican American voters were placed on purge lists more often and more erroneously than Hispanic or white voters. For instance, in the state’s largest county, Miami-Dade, more than 65 percent of the names on the purge list were African Americans, who represented only 20.4 percent of the population. Hispanics were 57.4 percent of the population, but only 16.6 percent of the purge list; whites were 77.6 percent of the population but 17.6 percent of those purged. - http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/vote2000/report/exesum.htm Under a 19th-century Florida law, convicted felons are barred from voting for life. DBT [Database Technologies] was hired, in part, to comb through computerised records around the country to identify former felons registered to vote in Florida. After wrongly identifying 8,000 Florida voters with Texas misdemeanour records as felons, it supplied a revised list of 57,770 "possible felons" to Florida's secretary of state, Katherine Harris. The list was full of mistakes mainly because of the criteria DBT used. It compared its list of felons with the Florida voting rolls by looking for a rough match between the names and dates of birth. - http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,439222,00.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/cta/progs/newsnight/palast.ram
2004
Florida Abandons Felons-To-Be-Purged Voting List
The state of Florida has thrown out its list of potential felons who shouldn't vote in the November election, after the list was found to be deeply flawed. If the list had been used it could have helped George Bush win Florida in November. Of the 47,000 voters on the list, Latinos made up one tenth of one percent -- even though roughly 20 percent of the state is Latino. Governor Jeb Bush claimed a mistake in the databases caused Latino names not to appear on the purge list. In Florida the Latino population, especially the Cuban immigrants, historically vote Republican. In addition the Miami Herald found nearly 2,500 felons, mostly African American, appeared on the list even though their voting rights had been restored. The makeup of the list was not publicly known until last week when a judge forced the state to make the secret list public. During the 2000 election, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris ordered the purging of tens of thousands of alleged felons from the rolls five months before the election. According to BBC investigative reporter Greg Palast the list included at least 8,000 voters, mostly African-American, who had only committed only misdemeanors and should not have been purged.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/12/1345237
FL Election Official Knew About Database Problems Early On
In other election news from Florida, the Miami Herald has revealed that Secretary of State Glenda Hood held out two months before scrapping a database of 48,000 felons barred from voting despite knowing about major problems with the list. The list included 2,500 ex-felons who had their voting rights restored. In addition the list contained almost no Latinos voters, a group that often votes Republican in Florida.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/08/02/1428205
Tom DeLay Aides Indicted For Illegally Raising Funds
Three top political aides to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay were indicted yesterday on charges that they illegally raised political funds from corporations to use in the Republican takeover of the Texas legislature. About 20 Republican candidates in Texas were helped from the illegal activity. Travis County District Attorney accused Delay's aides of using corporate contributions to "control representative democracy in Texas." After Republicans gained control of the Texas legislature for the first time since Reconstruction, GOP lawmakers redrew the state's Congressional map in a way that would give the Republicans as many as five new seats in Congress. According to the Washington Post DeLay has often cited the redistricting effort as a key reason he expects the Nov. 2 election to expand the Republican's House majority The Post reports that DeLay was not named as a target of the grand jury's investigation, but documents disclosed in the inquiry indicate that DeLay was central to creating and overseeing the political fundraising in Texas. Eight corporations were also indicted for illegal political contributions. They include Sears Roebuck, Bacardi and Cracker Barrel Old Country Store.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/09/22/1422200&mode=thread&tid=25
Late last month, students in the Women's Studies honorary society, in conjunction with the Feminist Majority Foundation, gathered on the lawn of the University of Arizona registering voters. They called the drive "Suffrage 2004." They were engaging in an activity that is common on many campuses nationwide. In recent weeks on the Arizona campus, the college Democrats, Republicans and student government had run similar drives. But this one was different. As the students gathered on the lawn doing voter registration, the local Fox News affiliate pulled up to the site and with cameras rolling accused the students of engaging in felony voter fraud. The Fox reporters charged that Arizona law prohibits students from out of state from registering to vote in Arizona. For their part, the students say they had consulted with the local registrar on voter law before they picked up the registration forms and insisted that state law requires only that someone live in the state for 29 days before the election.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/09/27/1433241&mode=thread&tid=25
Ohio Secretary of State Called On To Resign
In elections news, two state senators from the battleground state of Ohio have called for the resignation of Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell. State Senator Teresa Fedor accused the Republican official of attempting to cook the vote. Up until Wednesday Blackwell had threatened not to accept voter registration forms that were not printed on paper with 80-pound card stock. The senators also accused Blackwell of misinforming ex-felons of their voting rights and of refusing to clarify how many voters have been purged from Ohio's voter registration rolls. Blackwell served as an electoral expert for Bush and Cheney during the 2000 recount in Florida.
Florida Attempts To Prevent 17,000 New Voters From Voting
In other election news, the state of Florida is threatening to keep more than 17,000 newly registered voters from the voters rolls because their registration forms were incomplete. The nonpartisan America's Families United is attempting to contact the 17,000 people before Monday's registration deadlines. The group has sued Duval County to hand over a list of the disqualified voters.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/01/1420257&mode=thread&tid=25
Report: Hundreds of Democrats Voter Forms Thrown Out In Nevada
The Nevada tv station KLAS is reporting workers at a Republican-funded voter registration company charge that hundreds, and perhaps thousands of voter registration forms signed by Democrats were thrown into the trash. The company, Voters Outreach of America, has employed up to 300 part time workers in Nevada collecting new voter registrations across the country. What the company didn't tell the new voters is that it is funded by the Republican National Committee. The workers allege the company sorted through the new registration forms, appropriately submitted the Republican forms and tossed the Democratic forms. This could possibly leave thousands of Democratic voters who thought they were registered unable to vote in the presidential election. Meanwhile in Florida, the Washington Post reports that African American leaders are complaining that voting officials in Duval County are unfairly rejecting new voter registrations from Democrats. An analysis by the Post found county officials were flagging Democratic registrations at three times the rate as Republicans. And no group has more flagged registrations than African Americans.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/13/144212&mode=thread&tid=25
Fmr. GOP Operative Move to Block Some Nevada Dem Voters Fails
In election news, a former Republican operative in Nevada has failed in an attempt to purge 17,000 Democrats from the state's voting rolls. Nevada's former Republican Party chair Don Burdish claimed the Democrats were inactive voters. But county officials rejected the request.
Meanwhile in Oregon, the secretary of state and attorney general have announced plans to investigate allegations that a Republican-funded company called Voters Outreach of America threw out voter registration forms filed by Democrats. Similar complaints have surfaced about the same company in Nevada. Former employees of the company have said they personally saw supervisors toss out voter registration forms filed by Democrats. The move could leave hundreds and possibly thousands of Democrats in Oregon and Nevada unable to vote even though they had registered.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/14/1455250&mode=thread&tid=25
GAO Study: Justice Dept. Unprepared to Handle Voting Rights Complaints
A new study by Congress's Government Accountability Office has determined the Justice Department is not prepared to handle a large influx of complaints about voting rights violations in the Nov. 2 presidential election. According to the Washington Post, the GAO found the Justice Department lacks a clear plan to reliably document and track allegations in a manner to identify patterns of abuse and take corrective steps.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/15/157200&mode=thread&tid=25
GOP Threatens Group Not To Discuss The Possibility of A Draft
The head of the Republican National Committee has threatened to take legal action against the pro-voting group Rock the Vote and to challenge its non-profit status if the group continues to discuss the possibility that the government may reinstate the draft. In an extraordinary letter sent last week that has received almost no media attention, Republican chief Ed Gillespie wrote to the group and accused it of "promoting a false and misleading campaign designed to scare America's youth into believing that they may be drafted to serve in the military." Last month the group sent a mock draft notice by email to over 600,000 email addresses. Gillespie described the possibility of the reinstatement of the draft as an urban myth and as proof cited a statement by President Bush that there would be no draft. Gillespie went on to write "As a non-partisan organization that enjoys the benefits of being formed under 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code, you have an obligation to immediately cease and desist from promoting or conducting your 'Draft' campaign In response, the head of Rock the Vote, Jehmu Greene described the threat as a "textbook case of attempted censorship." Greene wrote to Gillespie "By your logic, there should be no debate about anything that you disagree with. There's a place for that kind of sentiment (and your threats), but its not here in our country. "
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/18/1438227&mode=thread&tid=25
Early voting for the presidential election began in Florida on Monday as activists urged people to opt for early ballots to avoid a repeat of the 2000 election. Black and elderly voters in particular lined up to cast ballots two weeks before Nov. 2nd.
Computer problems and long lines soon emerged in Florida - one of 32 states where voters are allowed to make their choice before Election Day.
...
ACLU: Millions May Be Blocked From Voting
On the election front, the American Civil Liberties Union yesterday issued a report predicting millions of eligible voters will be prevented from casting votes due to non-existent or flawed procedures used by state election officials to purge felons from voter rolls.
Nevada Judge Blocks New Voting RegistrationsIn Nevada, a state judge has rejected a request by the Democratic Party to reopen voter registration for voters who had their registration forms destroyed by a Republican-funded organization. Last week it was revealed that the GOP-funded company Voters Outreach of America had thrown out many registration forms signed by Democrats. The judge claimed agreeing to the Democrats request would open the floodgates to allow people not affected by the illegal action to register to vote.
GOP Attempts Last Minute Move of 63 Polling Places
And in Pennsylvania, Republican operatives attempted to confuse voters in Democratic-leaning areas of Philadelphia by submitting last-minute requests to the city to relocate 63 polling places. 53 of the cited polling places are located in areas predominently populated by African-Americans and Latinos. The city denied the requests.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/20/1422246&mode=thread&tid=25
GOP To Send 3,600 'Monitors' To Challenge Right to Vote in Ohio
In election news, Republican officials in Ohio have formalized plans to send thousands of paid recruits to go to polling places on Election Day to challenge the qualifications of voters in heavily Democratic urban areas. This according to a report in the New York Times. Republicans have registered 3,600 election monitors in Ohio each of whom will be paid $100 to work on election day. The Democrats have registered about 2,000 monitors. Already the Republicans have challenged the voting eligibility of 35,000 registered voters in Ohio.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/25/1416239&mode=thread&tid=25
Right now, we're seeing a number of problems in the process, a lot of them related to the registration, and I'll give you one example from Arkansas, where a number of people took forms from the public library, registration forms, filled them out, sent them in and have been told by the registrars that because they used old forms, that they're not entitled to register to vote on those forms. Another example is early voting in Broward County, Florida, where there have been several problems using the voting machines early on, including voting machines not working, voting machines that had not been set back to zero at the appropriate time.
...
[V]ery early this year, we brought a case on behalf of students at Prairie View University, a historic Black college outside of -- about 40 minutes outside of Houston, Texas, Waller County, Texas, in which the district attorney actually threatened students with felony prosecution if they voted, claiming that because they were students they weren't residents of the county. We filed a lawsuit basically to get him to retract that position, which he quickly did.
...
If you are going to challenge groups of voters, you better have a good reason for doing so. We're very suspicious when anybody says that they're going to challenge a large group of voters. I'll give you another example, smaller example of something like that, which is going on in Atkinson County, Georgia, where basically the -- there in Georgia you have racial identification registration, and a few people in the county went down to the registrar's office, got the names of all of the Hispanic voters who had registered, and they have challenged most of the Hispanic voters in Atkinson County, Georgia, based on citizenship grounds. Once again, that sort of thing makes us suspicious when you're challenging large groups of voters without having personal knowledge, necessarily, as opposed to more narrow challenges where do you have personal knowledge of why somebody might be ineligible to vote. So hearing that they're contemplating, any group is contemplating challenging 35,000 voters makes us very suspicious.
...
[I]n terms of early voting and problems, Florida they started early voting the beginning of last week. There were breakdowns in the internet links apparently between laptop computers linked to the voter registration databases so people couldn't find out if they were eligible to vote. That caused hours of delay. In Duval County in Florida, the head of elections there, who is the one who is responsible for disenfranchising thousands of predominantly core, predominantly black, predominantly Democrat-voting voters in 2000, suddenly decided to resign on the very first day of voting, throwing them into complete pandemonium. He cited it where health reasons. There had been accusations that he wasn't providing sufficient early voting facilities in black areas of Jacksonville, which is the main town in Duval County.
...
[I]n Chicago earlier this year, in the primary election in Illinois where there were over 1,000 voters in Chicago, who lost their vote this way. They saw it when they went down to the polls, and they were -- they were given this provisional ballot. They thought that ballot was going to count. It turned out it didn't. You are giving people the expectation that their vote is going to count, then you take that -- you're taking that away.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/25/1416245&mode=thread&tid=25
In most states, the Secretary of State is the highest elections official. Now, the problem is that they're also generally partisan, elected on a party platform and very often involved in political campaigns. We thought after the scandals of 2000 when Katherine Harris was both making all the rules in Florida and co-chairing the Bush-Cheney election campaign, that there would be a stop put to this, but in fact, the National Association of Secretaries of State considered briefly whether they should have a rule that Secretaries of State have to be non-partisan during the election and they decided not to adopt that rule. In fact, we are seeing in places like Michigan and Missouri, and other places, we have Secretaries of State who are making rules about the election, who are deciding where registration drives funded by taxpayer money will be held. Will they be held in the inner city or at the suburban shopping mall? They're doing all of that with taxpayer money and they're also working in presidential campaigns.
...
The Ohio Secretary of State is a partisan republican, Ken Blackwell, who hopes to run for governor himself next year, which puts him in a position, obviously, of wanting to make friends with lots of people. He has made a number of rulings this year that have been fairly outrageous, but probably the worst was he just decided that voter registrations that were streaming into the county offices around the state, largely democratic registrations brought in by groups like America Coming Together, would be rejected, would have to be rejected if they came in on paper stock that was less than 80 pound weight. Now, it's a ridiculous rule.
...
Glenda Hood, who is Katherine Harris's successor, did the same thing all over again. She did a felon purge, which was very much flawed. The wrinkle she added is she decided that she had the right to keep it secret. She wasn't going to tell the media who was being purged. CNN and other media organizations had to go to court to get a court order. When she was ordered to make it public, within a day, the newspapers found thousands of names on the rolls who were in fact not felons at all. So, completely outrageous situation. And again, Glenda Hood, although nominally non-partisan -- she's not involved in the Bush-Cheney campaign -- she was an elector for George Bush in 2000 in Florida. It's troubling.
...
These purges go on everywhere, but the problem is there's really no mechanism for us to know how they're being done. There's a very great possibility that thousands of people are being thrown off in every state, but there's no accountability, no transparency. One example I can give you is, when I was reporting on this, it occurred to me that the same kind of felon purges or other purges may being done wrongly in New York state. When I called the New York State Board of Elections and said, “Can you tell us how this is working and how do we know that people are not being wrongly purged,” the one person I was told could talk to me about this, the spokesman, hung up the phone. He was offended by the question. In New York, we apparently don't have the right to know how they're doing the purge.
...
[T]he faxed ballots from soldiers and the e-mailed ballots from soldiers don't come to the Pentagon, they go to a defense contractor called Omega Technologies. Well, I had never heard of Omega Technologies. It seems that it had been never described anywhere. It was not in any written materials that I could find. I talked to Omega Technologies. It turns out it is a Pentagon contractor. The CEO of it is a contributor to the Republican Congressional Re-election Committee. In this cycle, she's given $6,600. She's on a committee of this Republican Congressional Re-election Committee. She's handling the non-secret ballots, and there's no oversight of any kind. There's no ability for the parties or the candidates to go in and make sure that the ballots are being handled correctly, and that they're all being transferred to the states. I mean, we don't know that they're not, say, throwing out the John Kerry ballots. It's just shocking. The other thing we don't know is how many ballots get handled in this way. There seem to be no reporting requirements. We have no idea how many ballots go in, how many come out. One little disturbing thing that I learned is that this is the process that was used in 2000. Remember when the military ballots came in at the last minute in Florida and may have changed the outcome of the election? We don't know how many went through this office. Now, I should say, many of them went directly to county elections offices, and it may be that this office only handled a few ballots, but we really don't know.
...
Students in this country often have a hard time voting. There are actually places in the country where they have been threatened with prosecution for simply trying to register from their dorms, which they have a Constitutional right to do. The Supreme Court has spoken to the issue. But in Prairie View Texas this year, we had a District Attorney who threatened to prosecute the 8,000 African-American -- largely African-American -- students at Prairie View A&M, if they tried to register from their dorms. We had someone in upstate New York who was threatened with prosecution. All voting is local. In a lot of the local communities, they see students as a threat. They're not thinking necessarily about the Presidential election, they may be thinking, “Hey, if all of these students register, they could throw out the local city council member. They could change the mayoral race,” and things like that. So they really tell a lot of students they can’t vote.
...
New citizens are also a group that have had some obstacles. Probably the most egregious thing in this regard that happened this year is, there was a group in Florida called Mi Familia Vota that does register Latino, often new citizens to vote. They put up a little registration table in Miami Beach on the public sidewalk outside of a building where there had just been a naturalization ceremony. They wanted to register the 3,000 new registered citizens and their family members who showed up for the ceremony. The Department of Homeland Defense -- Homeland Security -- told them they could not be on this public sidewalk registering people.... The reasons they gave were so specious. One was that in another part of the state, Republicans had tried to register some new citizens with forms that already had the Republican Party checked on it, so therefore, this non-partisan group would not be allowed to register other citizens. They also said they were creating an obstruction on the sidewalk. Completely ridiculous. A federal court rejected all of these reasons, but again, it shows that's an arm of the federal government trying to stop newly registered citizens from registering to vote.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/26/144227&mode=thread&tid=25
BBC: GOP Preparing To Challenge Florida Voters
Meanwhile the BBC and investigative reporter Greg Palast reported last night that it had obtained a secret document within the Republican party in Florida that contained nearly 1,900 names and addresses of voters in Jacksonville from areas that are predominantly black and Democratic. An elections supervisor in Tallahassee told the BBC, "The only possible reason why they would keep such a thing is to challenge voters on election day."
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/27/1428218&mode=thread&tid=25
Up to 58,000 Absentee Ballots Missing in Florida
In election news, as many as 58,000 absentee ballots have gone missing in the heavily Democratic Broward County in Florida. The ballots were said to have been mailed two weeks ago but many have disappeared. The county is blaming the postal service but the post office denied it is at fault. Now county officials are attempting to get ballots sent out in time to voters. In the 2000 presidential elections Al Gore won 67 percent of the vote in Broward County.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/28/141203&mode=thread&tid=25
In one county in Ohio, more than 900 registered voters have been told they must appear in court on Saturday to defend their voter eligibility or risk losing their right to vote. In Wisconsin, scores of students report that their local elections board says it has no record of their voter registration. In Nevada, fallout continues after the it emerged that a group registering voters had destroyed possible hundreds of ballots of voters who identified themselves as Democrats. But nowhere is concern greater than in the state of Florida, the epicenter of the theft of the election in 2000.
Yesterday, the deputy election supervisor in one of Florida's most populous counties admitted that some 60,000 absentee ballots had gone missing. Broward county election official Gisela Salas said the matter is under investigation by law enforcement agencies. In 2000, it was Broward county that gave Al Gore his strongest support in the state of Florida. The US Postal Service says it has investigators trying to find the missing ballots, which constitute 5 percent of Broward County's electorate.
...
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 more than 1,800 names and addresses of voters in predominantly Black and traditionally Democratic areas of Jacksonville, Florida.
...
ION SANCHO: This, for example, is a copy of my step-daughter's voter registration from Orlando; and it is clear that her own handwriting filled in blocks two through fifteen. Apparently, a petition form was placed over the top of a voter registration form. It purported to tell the citizen they were signing a petition to legalize medical marijuana. The citizen filled it in, thinking that's what they were doing, and then after the voter had left, the individual fraudulently filled out lines one, the party change, making them a Republican now, and then fraudulently signed it, and then turned the application over to the election administrator. This form changed the voter's registration from Tallahassee to Orlando. And if this voter had not known me, and turned this information over to me, she may have been -- she may have been disenfranchised when she attempted to vote.
...
New Mexico -- there's non-count of vote in the Hispanic areas and Native American areas. Colorado they're starting a felon purge, days before the election which is against federal law, by the Republican Secretary of State. In Harper's, in this month's issue, I have gone through how the change in machinery to computers is going to cost hundreds of thousands of African American votes, Democratic Party votes. We figure our analysis is that in southern Florida alone, the change to computer also cost 27,000 votes -- will cost John Kerry a net of 27,000 votes. So, it's even the machinery. We have Hispanic precincts in New Mexico which in the last race showed no vote at all for president, and the response they get from elections officials, some people cannot make up their mind. What's happening is in poor areas, they're being given crap machines, just like they get crap hospitals and crap schools. They know this means that a lot of votes are lost in the machinery, whether its computers or punch cards. You name it. You have a loss of -- by the US Civil Rights Commission statisticians that I have been working with, we calculated a loss of 1 million black and minority votes lost in the machines. This is a tremendous electoral thumb on the scale, when we are going into this Tuesday. It's nationwide. I concentrated on Florida, because Florida will be Florida again. Look to, if you are going to see it election shoplifted, New Mexico, Colorado, Ohio. Those are going to be states where you cannot trust the vote.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/28/141211&mode=thread&tid=25
Bush Seeks to Limit Voting Rights LawsuitsIn election news, the Los Angeles Times is reporting that Bush administration lawyers are now attempting to overturn decades of legal precedence by claiming that only Attorney General John Ashcroft and not individual voters have a right to ask federal courts to enforce voting rights. In legal briefs filed in Ohio, Michigan and Florida, the Bush administration is arguing that the new Help America Vote Act stipulates that only the Justice Department, and not voters themselves, may sue to enforce the voting rights. Veteran voting rights lawyers say this would overturn decades of legal precedent and could greatly affect any legal challenge to Tuesday's election. According to the LA Times, since the civil rights era of the 1960s, individuals have gone to federal court to enforce their right to vote, often with the support of the NAACP, the AFL-CIO, the League of Women Voters. J. Gerald Hebert, a former chief of the Justice Department's voting-rights section, said he was dismayed that the government was seeking to weaken a measure designed to protect voters. Hebert, who worked in the voting-rights section from 1973 to 1994 told the Times, "This is the first time in history the Justice Department has gone to court to side against voters who are trying to enforce their right to vote. I think this law will mean very little if the rights of American voters have to depend on this Justice Department." Even the Supreme Court has backed the idea of private suits. In 1969, the justices issued a ruling in a case related to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that "the achievement of the act's laudable goal would be severely hampered ... if each citizen were required to depend solely on litigation instituted at the discretion of the attorney general."
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/29/1414213&mode=thread&tid=25
Dirty Tricks Reported Ahead Of Tuesday's Election
With one day until the presidential elections, reports are coming in across the country of efforts to confuse, intimidate and discourage voters from going to the polls. Ion Sancho, the supervisor of elections in Leon County in Florida, told the Washington Post, "In my 16 years as an election administrator, I've never seen anything like this." In Florida thousands of students have learned that not only was their party registration switched to Republican but their home address was changed without their knowledge. This means that when they show up to vote at their local precinct, their names won't appear on the voting rolls. In Pittsburgh, fliers were handed out on what looked like county letterhead that claimed voting had been extended an extra day "due to immense voter turnout expected on Tuesday." The fliers said Republicans should vote on Tuesday and Democrats should vote on Wednesday. In Wisconsin fliers purportedly from the a group calling itself the "Milwaukee Black Voters League" told voters, "If you've already voted in any election this year, you can't vote in the presidential election, If you violate any of these laws, you can get ten years in prison and your children will get taken away from you." In South Carolina, a letter purportedly from the NAACP warned voters they can not vote if they have outstanding parking tickets or have failed to pay child support.
Civil Rights Activists Sue Ohio To Block GOP Challenges
Meanwhile in Ohio, a pair of civil rights activists have filed a lawsuit to block the Republicans from challenging the eligibility of any voters at the polls tomorrow. The couple, Marian and Donald Spencer, said the Republicans are basing the challenges on a law dating back to the Jim Crow era that was originally aimed at disenfranchising black voters.
GA. Officials Throw Out GOP Challengers
In Georgia's Atkinson County, the Republicans attempted to challenge the voting eligibility of 78 percent of the county's registered Latino voters. But on Thursday the Board of Registrars dismissed the Republican complaint. The county attorney said, "The challenges ... are legally insufficient because they are based solely on race."
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/01/1513250&mode=thread&tid=25
U.S. Short 500,000 Poll Workers
The newly formed Election Assistance Commission officially announced yesterday that the country will likely have 500,000 fewer poll workers than needed for tomorrow's elections. The Commission called on businesses to allow employees take the day off from work so they could work at the polls.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/01/1513250&mode=thread&tid=25
Federal Appeals Courts Oks GOP Challenges at Polls
Late last night a federal appeals court in Ohio reversed two lower court rulings and ruled that Republicans will be allowed to send thousands of operatives into the polls today to challenge the eligibility of voters. A pair of Ohio civil rights activists had sued the state to block the challenges saying they were unconstitutional and that the law allowing the challengers dated back to the Jim Crow Era. Both Kerry and Bush view Ohio as a must-win state.
Penn. GOP Plan To Challenge 10,000 Voters in Philadelphia
In Pennsylvania Republicans have also announced plans to challenge as many as 10,000 voters from west Philadelphia, an area populated by many African-Americans. And the Republicans plan similar challenges in Florida.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/02/1522229&mode=thread&tid=25
Daschle Sues Opponent Over Native American Vote Intimidation
Meanwhile in South Dakota, Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle took his Republican opponent, John Thune, and 200 Republican attorneys to court yesterday over allegations of intimidation of Native American voters.
Election Protection Hotline Receives 50,000 Calls
Numerous groups have set up 1-800 hotlines for voters who experience problems at the poll. The hotline run by the Election Protection Coalition, 1-866-OUR VOTE, has already received 50,000 calls since mid-October. More reports of pre-election day dirty tricks have also emerged. In Michigan, an unknown group has been placing automated phone calls to heavily populated African-American areas around Detroit. The recording on the call says, "When you vote this Tuesday, remember to legalize gay marriage by supporting John Kerry. It's what we all want. It's a basic Democratic principle." Kerry, in fact, opposes gay marriage. The Republican party denied being behind the calls.
Police Tackle, Punch & Arrest Journalist at Fla. Polls
Meanwhile in Palm Beach County Florida, a widely published investigative journalist was arrested Sunday for taking photos of voters waiting in line to vote. According to news reports, the county's sheriff's deputy tackled, punched and arrested the journalist, James Henry. Police accused Henry of breaking a new county rule barring reporters from interviewing or photographing voters lined up outside the polls. The 54-year-old Henry is a Harvard-educated lawyer and economist who has written for the New York Times, Washington Post and other publications.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/02/1522229&mode=thread&tid=25
International Election Monitors Report Problems
The International Herald Tribune reported observers from the European-based Organization for Security and Cooperation said they had less access to polls than in Kazakhstan and that the electronic voting had fewer fail-safes than in Venezuela. Election observer Konrad Olszewski said, "To be honest, monitoring elections in Serbia a few months ago was much simpler. They have one national election law and use the paper ballots I really prefer over any other system. Another observer, Ron Gould, criticized the electronic voting machines that gave voters no receipt. Gould said, "Each electronic vote in Venezuela also produces a ticket that voters then drop into a ballot box. Unlike fully electronic systems, this gives a backup that can be used to counter claims of massive fraud."
Election Protection Groups Receive Thousands Of Complaints
Election protection groups reported receiving tens of thousands of complaints from voters who experienced problems but widespread problems of voter intimidation or suppression did not appear to materialize. In Ohio some voters were forced to wait in line over six hours due to a shortage of working voting machines.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/03/1520204&mode=thread&tid=25
Report: N.C. County Loses 4,500 Votes
This comes at a time when officials in North Carolina are admitting that 4,500 votes were lost in one county due to electronic voting machine problems. According to the Associated Press country officials were misinformed as to how many votes could be stored on each machine. Meanwhile the website Voteprotect.org is reporting that more than 1,100 voters called their 1-800 number on election day to report problems with electronic voting machines or other voting technologies.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/05/1521207&mode=thread&tid=25
Congressmen Call For E-Voting Investigation
In election news, more questions are being raised about the accuracy of electronic voting machines used last week. Three Democratic members of Congress have written to the General Accounting Office of Congress to request an investigation into problems with voting machines on Election Day. This according to Wired.com. The Congressmen are John Conyers of Michigan, Jerrold Nadler of New York and Robert Wexler of Florida. In their letter they note how in one Ohio county, the electronic voting machines mistakenly gave President Bush an extra 3,900 votes due to a machine mishap. Also they noted that in North Carolina, electronic voting machines accidentally lost 4,500 votes.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/08/1513234&mode=thread&tid=25
Even though Kerry has stopped fighting for the presidency, serious questions abound about the use of electronic voting machines. Take this story: In a voting precinct in Ohio's Franklin County, records show that 638 people cast ballots. Yet, George W Bush got 4,258 votes to John Kerry's 260. In reality, Bush only received 365 votes. That means Bush got nearly 3,900 extra votes. And that's just in one small precinct. This in a state that Bush officially won by only 136,000 votes. Elections officials blamed electronic voting for the extra Bush votes.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/08/1513252&mode=thread&tid=25
According to a letter from Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) to Kevin Brock, Special FBI Agent in Charge of the Democratic Staff's investigation into irregularities in the 2004 election, and attorney Larry E. Beal, Hocking County Prosecutor, three federal laws and five Ohio State laws could have been violated by Triad's behavior.
Additionally, according to the Votecobb.org website (a cached google copy), the events in Hocking County represent the compromise of the required randomness of the recount precincts:
Conyers brings this up in his first letter to Triad's President and Michael Barbian:
In a separate interview, Barbian admits that none of the six counties he serviced during the recount actually conducted a full recount:
As of the time of this writing, Triad had not responded to either of Conyers' letters.
Everything below is quoted from Representative John Conyers' Letter to Kevin Brock, Special FBI Agent in Charge of the Democratic Staff's investigation into irregularities in the 2004 election, and attorney Larry E. Beal, Hocking County Prosecutor.
Alleged Violations Of Federal Law
Alleged Violations of Ohio State Law
Alleged Violations Of Federal Law
Key officials anticipated before Election Day, that there would be an increase in levels of voter turnout based upon new voter registration figures, but did not ensure that the precincts in all communities received adequate resources to meet their needs; At least one unauthorized law enforcement checkpoint was set up on Election Day resulting in complaints that were investigated by the Florida Highway Patrol and the Florida Attorney General; Non-felons were removed from voter registration rolls based upon unreliable information collected in connection with sweeping, state sponsored felony purge policies; Many African Americans did not cast ballots because they were assigned to polling sites that did not have adequate resources to confirm voting eligibility status; College students and others submitted voter registration applications on a timely basis to persons and agencies responsible for transmitting the applications to the proper officials, but in many instances these applications were not processed in a timely or proper manner under the National Voter Registration Act (“motor-voter law”); Many Jewish and elderly voters received defective and complicated ballots that may have produced “overvotes” and “undervotes;” Some polling places were closed early and some polling places were moved without notice; Old and defective election equipment was found in poor precincts; Many Haitian Americans and Puerto Rican voters were not provided language assistance when required and requested; Persons with disabilities faced accessibility difficulties at certain polling sites; Too few poll workers were adequately trained and too few funds were committed to voter education activities; STATUS REPORT ON PROBE OF ELECTION PRACTICES IN FLORIDA DURING THE 2000 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION - http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/vote2000/florida.htmWe are deeply troubled by our preliminary review which points to differences in resource allocations, including voting technology, and in voting procedures that may have operated so that protected groups may have had less of an opportunity to have their votes counted. We will conduct complete disparate impact and treatment analyses before the report is completed, and our final conclusions will take into account the results of these analyses. However, it appears at this phase of the investigation that the evidence may ultimately support findings of prohibited discrimination. Two particular sources of fruitful inquiry are the questionable uses of Choicepoint data and resource allocation issues. We are attempting to document whether and, if so, how long state, county and local officials knew that certain differences in resources and procedures might impact more harshly African Americans and members of other protected groups. STATUS REPORT ON PROBE OF ELECTION PRACTICES IN FLORIDA DURING THE 2000 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION - http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/vote2000/florida.htmU.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS CONCLUDES THAT “NO COUNT” IS REAL ISSUE IN FLORIDA VOTE Voter Disenfranchisement is at the Heart of the Issue WASHINGTON, DC, MARCH 9 - Supported by approximately 30 hours of sworn testimony from some 100 witnesses, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights determined that the Florida presidential elections appear to have been marred by voter disenfranchisement. "It is not a question of a recount or even an accurate count, but more pointedly those whose exclusion from the right to vote amounted to a 'No Count,'" concluded a statement issued today by the Commission. [...] "In the final analysis," the statement said, "new recounts of old ballots are an academic exercise. Voting is the language of our democracy and, regrettably - when it mattered most - real people lost real opportunities to speak truth to power in the ballot box. This must never occur again. "Voting technology reforms and the conclusion of recounting procedures alone are insufficient to address the significant and distressing issues and barriers that prevented qualified electors to cast ballots and have their ballots counted. It is our hope that Florida, as well as other jurisdictions, would promptly address these major problems instead of hoping that with the passage of time, the public will forget," the statement continued. [...] The Commission also flagged the removal of non-felons from the voter registration rolls on the basis of unreliable information collected during a sweeping, state-sponsored felony purge. The Commission cited other problems in Florida which prevented voters from exercising their franchise, including the assignment of many African Americans to polling sites that lacked sufficient resources to confirm voter eligibility; failure to process voter registration applications under the "motor voter" law in a timely manner; use of defective and complicated ballots that caused many "overvotes" and "undervotes"; early closing of polling places; relocation of polling places without notice; use of old and defective election equipment in poor precincts; failure to provide requested language assistance to Haitian American and Latino American voters; and failure to ensure access for voters with disabilities. - http://www.usccr.gov/nwsrel/archives/2001/030901.htm It is impossible to determine the total number of voters turned away from the polls or deprived of their right to vote. It is clear that the 2000 presidential election generated a large number of complaints about voting irregularities in Florida. The Florida attorney general’s office alone received more than 3,600 allegations—2,600 complaints and 1,000 letters.[2] In addition, both the Democratic and Republican parties received many complaints from Floridians who either could not vote or experienced difficulty when attempting to vote. - http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/vote2000/report/ch1.htm TABLE 1-1: Top 10 Counties with Various Population Characteristics and Ballot Rejection Rates at http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/vote2000/report/ch1.htm
Estimates indicate that approximately 14.4 percent of Florida’s black voters cast ballots that were rejected. This compares with approximately 1.6 percent of nonblack Florida voters who did not have their presidential votes counted. [...] Approximately 11 percent of Florida voters were African American; however, African Americans cast about 54 percent of the 180,000 spoiled ballots in Florida during the November 2000 election based on estimates derived from county-level data. - http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/vote2000/report/exesum.htmAfrican American voters were placed on purge lists more often and more erroneously than Hispanic or white voters. For instance, in the state’s largest county, Miami-Dade, more than 65 percent of the names on the purge list were African Americans, who represented only 20.4 percent of the population. Hispanics were 57.4 percent of the population, but only 16.6 percent of the purge list; whites were 77.6 percent of the population but 17.6 percent of those purged. - http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/vote2000/report/exesum.htm Under a 19th-century Florida law, convicted felons are barred from voting for life. DBT [Database Technologies] was hired, in part, to comb through computerised records around the country to identify former felons registered to vote in Florida. After wrongly identifying 8,000 Florida voters with Texas misdemeanour records as felons, it supplied a revised list of 57,770 "possible felons" to Florida's secretary of state, Katherine Harris. The list was full of mistakes mainly because of the criteria DBT used. It compared its list of felons with the Florida voting rolls by looking for a rough match between the names and dates of birth. - http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,439222,00.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/cta/progs/newsnight/palast.ram
2004
Florida Abandons Felons-To-Be-Purged Voting List
The state of Florida has thrown out its list of potential felons who shouldn't vote in the November election, after the list was found to be deeply flawed. If the list had been used it could have helped George Bush win Florida in November. Of the 47,000 voters on the list, Latinos made up one tenth of one percent -- even though roughly 20 percent of the state is Latino. Governor Jeb Bush claimed a mistake in the databases caused Latino names not to appear on the purge list. In Florida the Latino population, especially the Cuban immigrants, historically vote Republican. In addition the Miami Herald found nearly 2,500 felons, mostly African American, appeared on the list even though their voting rights had been restored. The makeup of the list was not publicly known until last week when a judge forced the state to make the secret list public. During the 2000 election, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris ordered the purging of tens of thousands of alleged felons from the rolls five months before the election. According to BBC investigative reporter Greg Palast the list included at least 8,000 voters, mostly African-American, who had only committed only misdemeanors and should not have been purged.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/12/1345237
FL Election Official Knew About Database Problems Early On
In other election news from Florida, the Miami Herald has revealed that Secretary of State Glenda Hood held out two months before scrapping a database of 48,000 felons barred from voting despite knowing about major problems with the list. The list included 2,500 ex-felons who had their voting rights restored. In addition the list contained almost no Latinos voters, a group that often votes Republican in Florida.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/08/02/1428205
Tom DeLay Aides Indicted For Illegally Raising Funds
Three top political aides to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay were indicted yesterday on charges that they illegally raised political funds from corporations to use in the Republican takeover of the Texas legislature. About 20 Republican candidates in Texas were helped from the illegal activity. Travis County District Attorney accused Delay's aides of using corporate contributions to "control representative democracy in Texas." After Republicans gained control of the Texas legislature for the first time since Reconstruction, GOP lawmakers redrew the state's Congressional map in a way that would give the Republicans as many as five new seats in Congress. According to the Washington Post DeLay has often cited the redistricting effort as a key reason he expects the Nov. 2 election to expand the Republican's House majority The Post reports that DeLay was not named as a target of the grand jury's investigation, but documents disclosed in the inquiry indicate that DeLay was central to creating and overseeing the political fundraising in Texas. Eight corporations were also indicted for illegal political contributions. They include Sears Roebuck, Bacardi and Cracker Barrel Old Country Store.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/09/22/1422200&mode=thread&tid=25
Late last month, students in the Women's Studies honorary society, in conjunction with the Feminist Majority Foundation, gathered on the lawn of the University of Arizona registering voters. They called the drive "Suffrage 2004." They were engaging in an activity that is common on many campuses nationwide. In recent weeks on the Arizona campus, the college Democrats, Republicans and student government had run similar drives. But this one was different. As the students gathered on the lawn doing voter registration, the local Fox News affiliate pulled up to the site and with cameras rolling accused the students of engaging in felony voter fraud. The Fox reporters charged that Arizona law prohibits students from out of state from registering to vote in Arizona. For their part, the students say they had consulted with the local registrar on voter law before they picked up the registration forms and insisted that state law requires only that someone live in the state for 29 days before the election.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/09/27/1433241&mode=thread&tid=25
Ohio Secretary of State Called On To Resign
In elections news, two state senators from the battleground state of Ohio have called for the resignation of Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell. State Senator Teresa Fedor accused the Republican official of attempting to cook the vote. Up until Wednesday Blackwell had threatened not to accept voter registration forms that were not printed on paper with 80-pound card stock. The senators also accused Blackwell of misinforming ex-felons of their voting rights and of refusing to clarify how many voters have been purged from Ohio's voter registration rolls. Blackwell served as an electoral expert for Bush and Cheney during the 2000 recount in Florida.
Florida Attempts To Prevent 17,000 New Voters From Voting
In other election news, the state of Florida is threatening to keep more than 17,000 newly registered voters from the voters rolls because their registration forms were incomplete. The nonpartisan America's Families United is attempting to contact the 17,000 people before Monday's registration deadlines. The group has sued Duval County to hand over a list of the disqualified voters.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/01/1420257&mode=thread&tid=25
Report: Hundreds of Democrats Voter Forms Thrown Out In Nevada
The Nevada tv station KLAS is reporting workers at a Republican-funded voter registration company charge that hundreds, and perhaps thousands of voter registration forms signed by Democrats were thrown into the trash. The company, Voters Outreach of America, has employed up to 300 part time workers in Nevada collecting new voter registrations across the country. What the company didn't tell the new voters is that it is funded by the Republican National Committee. The workers allege the company sorted through the new registration forms, appropriately submitted the Republican forms and tossed the Democratic forms. This could possibly leave thousands of Democratic voters who thought they were registered unable to vote in the presidential election. Meanwhile in Florida, the Washington Post reports that African American leaders are complaining that voting officials in Duval County are unfairly rejecting new voter registrations from Democrats. An analysis by the Post found county officials were flagging Democratic registrations at three times the rate as Republicans. And no group has more flagged registrations than African Americans.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/13/144212&mode=thread&tid=25
Fmr. GOP Operative Move to Block Some Nevada Dem Voters Fails
In election news, a former Republican operative in Nevada has failed in an attempt to purge 17,000 Democrats from the state's voting rolls. Nevada's former Republican Party chair Don Burdish claimed the Democrats were inactive voters. But county officials rejected the request.
Meanwhile in Oregon, the secretary of state and attorney general have announced plans to investigate allegations that a Republican-funded company called Voters Outreach of America threw out voter registration forms filed by Democrats. Similar complaints have surfaced about the same company in Nevada. Former employees of the company have said they personally saw supervisors toss out voter registration forms filed by Democrats. The move could leave hundreds and possibly thousands of Democrats in Oregon and Nevada unable to vote even though they had registered.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/14/1455250&mode=thread&tid=25
GAO Study: Justice Dept. Unprepared to Handle Voting Rights Complaints
A new study by Congress's Government Accountability Office has determined the Justice Department is not prepared to handle a large influx of complaints about voting rights violations in the Nov. 2 presidential election. According to the Washington Post, the GAO found the Justice Department lacks a clear plan to reliably document and track allegations in a manner to identify patterns of abuse and take corrective steps.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/15/157200&mode=thread&tid=25
GOP Threatens Group Not To Discuss The Possibility of A Draft
The head of the Republican National Committee has threatened to take legal action against the pro-voting group Rock the Vote and to challenge its non-profit status if the group continues to discuss the possibility that the government may reinstate the draft. In an extraordinary letter sent last week that has received almost no media attention, Republican chief Ed Gillespie wrote to the group and accused it of "promoting a false and misleading campaign designed to scare America's youth into believing that they may be drafted to serve in the military." Last month the group sent a mock draft notice by email to over 600,000 email addresses. Gillespie described the possibility of the reinstatement of the draft as an urban myth and as proof cited a statement by President Bush that there would be no draft. Gillespie went on to write "As a non-partisan organization that enjoys the benefits of being formed under 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code, you have an obligation to immediately cease and desist from promoting or conducting your 'Draft' campaign In response, the head of Rock the Vote, Jehmu Greene described the threat as a "textbook case of attempted censorship." Greene wrote to Gillespie "By your logic, there should be no debate about anything that you disagree with. There's a place for that kind of sentiment (and your threats), but its not here in our country. "
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/18/1438227&mode=thread&tid=25
Early voting for the presidential election began in Florida on Monday as activists urged people to opt for early ballots to avoid a repeat of the 2000 election. Black and elderly voters in particular lined up to cast ballots two weeks before Nov. 2nd.
Computer problems and long lines soon emerged in Florida - one of 32 states where voters are allowed to make their choice before Election Day.
...
- This summer, Michigan state Rep. John Pappageorge (R) was quoted in the Detroit Free Press as saying, "If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we're going to have a tough time in this election." African Americans comprise 83 percent of Detroit's population.
- In South Dakota's June 2004 primary, Native American voters were prevented from voting after they were challenged to provide photo IDs, which they were not required to present under state or federal law.
- In Kentucky in July 2004, black Republican officials joined to ask their State GOP party chairman to renounce plans to place "vote challengers" in African-American precincts during the coming elections.
- Earlier this year in Texas, a local district attorney claimed that students at a majority black college were not eligible to vote in the county where the school is located. It happened in Waller County - the same county where 26 years earlier, a federal court order was required to prevent discrimination against the students.
ACLU: Millions May Be Blocked From Voting
On the election front, the American Civil Liberties Union yesterday issued a report predicting millions of eligible voters will be prevented from casting votes due to non-existent or flawed procedures used by state election officials to purge felons from voter rolls.
Nevada Judge Blocks New Voting RegistrationsIn Nevada, a state judge has rejected a request by the Democratic Party to reopen voter registration for voters who had their registration forms destroyed by a Republican-funded organization. Last week it was revealed that the GOP-funded company Voters Outreach of America had thrown out many registration forms signed by Democrats. The judge claimed agreeing to the Democrats request would open the floodgates to allow people not affected by the illegal action to register to vote.
GOP Attempts Last Minute Move of 63 Polling Places
And in Pennsylvania, Republican operatives attempted to confuse voters in Democratic-leaning areas of Philadelphia by submitting last-minute requests to the city to relocate 63 polling places. 53 of the cited polling places are located in areas predominently populated by African-Americans and Latinos. The city denied the requests.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/20/1422246&mode=thread&tid=25
GOP To Send 3,600 'Monitors' To Challenge Right to Vote in Ohio
In election news, Republican officials in Ohio have formalized plans to send thousands of paid recruits to go to polling places on Election Day to challenge the qualifications of voters in heavily Democratic urban areas. This according to a report in the New York Times. Republicans have registered 3,600 election monitors in Ohio each of whom will be paid $100 to work on election day. The Democrats have registered about 2,000 monitors. Already the Republicans have challenged the voting eligibility of 35,000 registered voters in Ohio.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/25/1416239&mode=thread&tid=25
Right now, we're seeing a number of problems in the process, a lot of them related to the registration, and I'll give you one example from Arkansas, where a number of people took forms from the public library, registration forms, filled them out, sent them in and have been told by the registrars that because they used old forms, that they're not entitled to register to vote on those forms. Another example is early voting in Broward County, Florida, where there have been several problems using the voting machines early on, including voting machines not working, voting machines that had not been set back to zero at the appropriate time.
...
[V]ery early this year, we brought a case on behalf of students at Prairie View University, a historic Black college outside of -- about 40 minutes outside of Houston, Texas, Waller County, Texas, in which the district attorney actually threatened students with felony prosecution if they voted, claiming that because they were students they weren't residents of the county. We filed a lawsuit basically to get him to retract that position, which he quickly did.
...
If you are going to challenge groups of voters, you better have a good reason for doing so. We're very suspicious when anybody says that they're going to challenge a large group of voters. I'll give you another example, smaller example of something like that, which is going on in Atkinson County, Georgia, where basically the -- there in Georgia you have racial identification registration, and a few people in the county went down to the registrar's office, got the names of all of the Hispanic voters who had registered, and they have challenged most of the Hispanic voters in Atkinson County, Georgia, based on citizenship grounds. Once again, that sort of thing makes us suspicious when you're challenging large groups of voters without having personal knowledge, necessarily, as opposed to more narrow challenges where do you have personal knowledge of why somebody might be ineligible to vote. So hearing that they're contemplating, any group is contemplating challenging 35,000 voters makes us very suspicious.
...
[I]n terms of early voting and problems, Florida they started early voting the beginning of last week. There were breakdowns in the internet links apparently between laptop computers linked to the voter registration databases so people couldn't find out if they were eligible to vote. That caused hours of delay. In Duval County in Florida, the head of elections there, who is the one who is responsible for disenfranchising thousands of predominantly core, predominantly black, predominantly Democrat-voting voters in 2000, suddenly decided to resign on the very first day of voting, throwing them into complete pandemonium. He cited it where health reasons. There had been accusations that he wasn't providing sufficient early voting facilities in black areas of Jacksonville, which is the main town in Duval County.
...
[I]n Chicago earlier this year, in the primary election in Illinois where there were over 1,000 voters in Chicago, who lost their vote this way. They saw it when they went down to the polls, and they were -- they were given this provisional ballot. They thought that ballot was going to count. It turned out it didn't. You are giving people the expectation that their vote is going to count, then you take that -- you're taking that away.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/25/1416245&mode=thread&tid=25
In most states, the Secretary of State is the highest elections official. Now, the problem is that they're also generally partisan, elected on a party platform and very often involved in political campaigns. We thought after the scandals of 2000 when Katherine Harris was both making all the rules in Florida and co-chairing the Bush-Cheney election campaign, that there would be a stop put to this, but in fact, the National Association of Secretaries of State considered briefly whether they should have a rule that Secretaries of State have to be non-partisan during the election and they decided not to adopt that rule. In fact, we are seeing in places like Michigan and Missouri, and other places, we have Secretaries of State who are making rules about the election, who are deciding where registration drives funded by taxpayer money will be held. Will they be held in the inner city or at the suburban shopping mall? They're doing all of that with taxpayer money and they're also working in presidential campaigns.
...
The Ohio Secretary of State is a partisan republican, Ken Blackwell, who hopes to run for governor himself next year, which puts him in a position, obviously, of wanting to make friends with lots of people. He has made a number of rulings this year that have been fairly outrageous, but probably the worst was he just decided that voter registrations that were streaming into the county offices around the state, largely democratic registrations brought in by groups like America Coming Together, would be rejected, would have to be rejected if they came in on paper stock that was less than 80 pound weight. Now, it's a ridiculous rule.
...
Glenda Hood, who is Katherine Harris's successor, did the same thing all over again. She did a felon purge, which was very much flawed. The wrinkle she added is she decided that she had the right to keep it secret. She wasn't going to tell the media who was being purged. CNN and other media organizations had to go to court to get a court order. When she was ordered to make it public, within a day, the newspapers found thousands of names on the rolls who were in fact not felons at all. So, completely outrageous situation. And again, Glenda Hood, although nominally non-partisan -- she's not involved in the Bush-Cheney campaign -- she was an elector for George Bush in 2000 in Florida. It's troubling.
...
These purges go on everywhere, but the problem is there's really no mechanism for us to know how they're being done. There's a very great possibility that thousands of people are being thrown off in every state, but there's no accountability, no transparency. One example I can give you is, when I was reporting on this, it occurred to me that the same kind of felon purges or other purges may being done wrongly in New York state. When I called the New York State Board of Elections and said, “Can you tell us how this is working and how do we know that people are not being wrongly purged,” the one person I was told could talk to me about this, the spokesman, hung up the phone. He was offended by the question. In New York, we apparently don't have the right to know how they're doing the purge.
...
[T]he faxed ballots from soldiers and the e-mailed ballots from soldiers don't come to the Pentagon, they go to a defense contractor called Omega Technologies. Well, I had never heard of Omega Technologies. It seems that it had been never described anywhere. It was not in any written materials that I could find. I talked to Omega Technologies. It turns out it is a Pentagon contractor. The CEO of it is a contributor to the Republican Congressional Re-election Committee. In this cycle, she's given $6,600. She's on a committee of this Republican Congressional Re-election Committee. She's handling the non-secret ballots, and there's no oversight of any kind. There's no ability for the parties or the candidates to go in and make sure that the ballots are being handled correctly, and that they're all being transferred to the states. I mean, we don't know that they're not, say, throwing out the John Kerry ballots. It's just shocking. The other thing we don't know is how many ballots get handled in this way. There seem to be no reporting requirements. We have no idea how many ballots go in, how many come out. One little disturbing thing that I learned is that this is the process that was used in 2000. Remember when the military ballots came in at the last minute in Florida and may have changed the outcome of the election? We don't know how many went through this office. Now, I should say, many of them went directly to county elections offices, and it may be that this office only handled a few ballots, but we really don't know.
...
Students in this country often have a hard time voting. There are actually places in the country where they have been threatened with prosecution for simply trying to register from their dorms, which they have a Constitutional right to do. The Supreme Court has spoken to the issue. But in Prairie View Texas this year, we had a District Attorney who threatened to prosecute the 8,000 African-American -- largely African-American -- students at Prairie View A&M, if they tried to register from their dorms. We had someone in upstate New York who was threatened with prosecution. All voting is local. In a lot of the local communities, they see students as a threat. They're not thinking necessarily about the Presidential election, they may be thinking, “Hey, if all of these students register, they could throw out the local city council member. They could change the mayoral race,” and things like that. So they really tell a lot of students they can’t vote.
...
New citizens are also a group that have had some obstacles. Probably the most egregious thing in this regard that happened this year is, there was a group in Florida called Mi Familia Vota that does register Latino, often new citizens to vote. They put up a little registration table in Miami Beach on the public sidewalk outside of a building where there had just been a naturalization ceremony. They wanted to register the 3,000 new registered citizens and their family members who showed up for the ceremony. The Department of Homeland Defense -- Homeland Security -- told them they could not be on this public sidewalk registering people.... The reasons they gave were so specious. One was that in another part of the state, Republicans had tried to register some new citizens with forms that already had the Republican Party checked on it, so therefore, this non-partisan group would not be allowed to register other citizens. They also said they were creating an obstruction on the sidewalk. Completely ridiculous. A federal court rejected all of these reasons, but again, it shows that's an arm of the federal government trying to stop newly registered citizens from registering to vote.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/26/144227&mode=thread&tid=25
BBC: GOP Preparing To Challenge Florida Voters
Meanwhile the BBC and investigative reporter Greg Palast reported last night that it had obtained a secret document within the Republican party in Florida that contained nearly 1,900 names and addresses of voters in Jacksonville from areas that are predominantly black and Democratic. An elections supervisor in Tallahassee told the BBC, "The only possible reason why they would keep such a thing is to challenge voters on election day."
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/27/1428218&mode=thread&tid=25
Up to 58,000 Absentee Ballots Missing in Florida
In election news, as many as 58,000 absentee ballots have gone missing in the heavily Democratic Broward County in Florida. The ballots were said to have been mailed two weeks ago but many have disappeared. The county is blaming the postal service but the post office denied it is at fault. Now county officials are attempting to get ballots sent out in time to voters. In the 2000 presidential elections Al Gore won 67 percent of the vote in Broward County.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/28/141203&mode=thread&tid=25
In one county in Ohio, more than 900 registered voters have been told they must appear in court on Saturday to defend their voter eligibility or risk losing their right to vote. In Wisconsin, scores of students report that their local elections board says it has no record of their voter registration. In Nevada, fallout continues after the it emerged that a group registering voters had destroyed possible hundreds of ballots of voters who identified themselves as Democrats. But nowhere is concern greater than in the state of Florida, the epicenter of the theft of the election in 2000.
Yesterday, the deputy election supervisor in one of Florida's most populous counties admitted that some 60,000 absentee ballots had gone missing. Broward county election official Gisela Salas said the matter is under investigation by law enforcement agencies. In 2000, it was Broward county that gave Al Gore his strongest support in the state of Florida. The US Postal Service says it has investigators trying to find the missing ballots, which constitute 5 percent of Broward County's electorate.
...
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 more than 1,800 names and addresses of voters in predominantly Black and traditionally Democratic areas of Jacksonville, Florida.
...
ION SANCHO: This, for example, is a copy of my step-daughter's voter registration from Orlando; and it is clear that her own handwriting filled in blocks two through fifteen. Apparently, a petition form was placed over the top of a voter registration form. It purported to tell the citizen they were signing a petition to legalize medical marijuana. The citizen filled it in, thinking that's what they were doing, and then after the voter had left, the individual fraudulently filled out lines one, the party change, making them a Republican now, and then fraudulently signed it, and then turned the application over to the election administrator. This form changed the voter's registration from Tallahassee to Orlando. And if this voter had not known me, and turned this information over to me, she may have been -- she may have been disenfranchised when she attempted to vote.
...
New Mexico -- there's non-count of vote in the Hispanic areas and Native American areas. Colorado they're starting a felon purge, days before the election which is against federal law, by the Republican Secretary of State. In Harper's, in this month's issue, I have gone through how the change in machinery to computers is going to cost hundreds of thousands of African American votes, Democratic Party votes. We figure our analysis is that in southern Florida alone, the change to computer also cost 27,000 votes -- will cost John Kerry a net of 27,000 votes. So, it's even the machinery. We have Hispanic precincts in New Mexico which in the last race showed no vote at all for president, and the response they get from elections officials, some people cannot make up their mind. What's happening is in poor areas, they're being given crap machines, just like they get crap hospitals and crap schools. They know this means that a lot of votes are lost in the machinery, whether its computers or punch cards. You name it. You have a loss of -- by the US Civil Rights Commission statisticians that I have been working with, we calculated a loss of 1 million black and minority votes lost in the machines. This is a tremendous electoral thumb on the scale, when we are going into this Tuesday. It's nationwide. I concentrated on Florida, because Florida will be Florida again. Look to, if you are going to see it election shoplifted, New Mexico, Colorado, Ohio. Those are going to be states where you cannot trust the vote.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/28/141211&mode=thread&tid=25
Bush Seeks to Limit Voting Rights LawsuitsIn election news, the Los Angeles Times is reporting that Bush administration lawyers are now attempting to overturn decades of legal precedence by claiming that only Attorney General John Ashcroft and not individual voters have a right to ask federal courts to enforce voting rights. In legal briefs filed in Ohio, Michigan and Florida, the Bush administration is arguing that the new Help America Vote Act stipulates that only the Justice Department, and not voters themselves, may sue to enforce the voting rights. Veteran voting rights lawyers say this would overturn decades of legal precedent and could greatly affect any legal challenge to Tuesday's election. According to the LA Times, since the civil rights era of the 1960s, individuals have gone to federal court to enforce their right to vote, often with the support of the NAACP, the AFL-CIO, the League of Women Voters. J. Gerald Hebert, a former chief of the Justice Department's voting-rights section, said he was dismayed that the government was seeking to weaken a measure designed to protect voters. Hebert, who worked in the voting-rights section from 1973 to 1994 told the Times, "This is the first time in history the Justice Department has gone to court to side against voters who are trying to enforce their right to vote. I think this law will mean very little if the rights of American voters have to depend on this Justice Department." Even the Supreme Court has backed the idea of private suits. In 1969, the justices issued a ruling in a case related to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that "the achievement of the act's laudable goal would be severely hampered ... if each citizen were required to depend solely on litigation instituted at the discretion of the attorney general."
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/29/1414213&mode=thread&tid=25
Dirty Tricks Reported Ahead Of Tuesday's Election
With one day until the presidential elections, reports are coming in across the country of efforts to confuse, intimidate and discourage voters from going to the polls. Ion Sancho, the supervisor of elections in Leon County in Florida, told the Washington Post, "In my 16 years as an election administrator, I've never seen anything like this." In Florida thousands of students have learned that not only was their party registration switched to Republican but their home address was changed without their knowledge. This means that when they show up to vote at their local precinct, their names won't appear on the voting rolls. In Pittsburgh, fliers were handed out on what looked like county letterhead that claimed voting had been extended an extra day "due to immense voter turnout expected on Tuesday." The fliers said Republicans should vote on Tuesday and Democrats should vote on Wednesday. In Wisconsin fliers purportedly from the a group calling itself the "Milwaukee Black Voters League" told voters, "If you've already voted in any election this year, you can't vote in the presidential election, If you violate any of these laws, you can get ten years in prison and your children will get taken away from you." In South Carolina, a letter purportedly from the NAACP warned voters they can not vote if they have outstanding parking tickets or have failed to pay child support.
Civil Rights Activists Sue Ohio To Block GOP Challenges
Meanwhile in Ohio, a pair of civil rights activists have filed a lawsuit to block the Republicans from challenging the eligibility of any voters at the polls tomorrow. The couple, Marian and Donald Spencer, said the Republicans are basing the challenges on a law dating back to the Jim Crow era that was originally aimed at disenfranchising black voters.
GA. Officials Throw Out GOP Challengers
In Georgia's Atkinson County, the Republicans attempted to challenge the voting eligibility of 78 percent of the county's registered Latino voters. But on Thursday the Board of Registrars dismissed the Republican complaint. The county attorney said, "The challenges ... are legally insufficient because they are based solely on race."
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/01/1513250&mode=thread&tid=25
U.S. Short 500,000 Poll Workers
The newly formed Election Assistance Commission officially announced yesterday that the country will likely have 500,000 fewer poll workers than needed for tomorrow's elections. The Commission called on businesses to allow employees take the day off from work so they could work at the polls.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/01/1513250&mode=thread&tid=25
Federal Appeals Courts Oks GOP Challenges at Polls
Late last night a federal appeals court in Ohio reversed two lower court rulings and ruled that Republicans will be allowed to send thousands of operatives into the polls today to challenge the eligibility of voters. A pair of Ohio civil rights activists had sued the state to block the challenges saying they were unconstitutional and that the law allowing the challengers dated back to the Jim Crow Era. Both Kerry and Bush view Ohio as a must-win state.
Penn. GOP Plan To Challenge 10,000 Voters in Philadelphia
In Pennsylvania Republicans have also announced plans to challenge as many as 10,000 voters from west Philadelphia, an area populated by many African-Americans. And the Republicans plan similar challenges in Florida.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/02/1522229&mode=thread&tid=25
Daschle Sues Opponent Over Native American Vote Intimidation
Meanwhile in South Dakota, Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle took his Republican opponent, John Thune, and 200 Republican attorneys to court yesterday over allegations of intimidation of Native American voters.
Election Protection Hotline Receives 50,000 Calls
Numerous groups have set up 1-800 hotlines for voters who experience problems at the poll. The hotline run by the Election Protection Coalition, 1-866-OUR VOTE, has already received 50,000 calls since mid-October. More reports of pre-election day dirty tricks have also emerged. In Michigan, an unknown group has been placing automated phone calls to heavily populated African-American areas around Detroit. The recording on the call says, "When you vote this Tuesday, remember to legalize gay marriage by supporting John Kerry. It's what we all want. It's a basic Democratic principle." Kerry, in fact, opposes gay marriage. The Republican party denied being behind the calls.
Police Tackle, Punch & Arrest Journalist at Fla. Polls
Meanwhile in Palm Beach County Florida, a widely published investigative journalist was arrested Sunday for taking photos of voters waiting in line to vote. According to news reports, the county's sheriff's deputy tackled, punched and arrested the journalist, James Henry. Police accused Henry of breaking a new county rule barring reporters from interviewing or photographing voters lined up outside the polls. The 54-year-old Henry is a Harvard-educated lawyer and economist who has written for the New York Times, Washington Post and other publications.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/02/1522229&mode=thread&tid=25
International Election Monitors Report Problems
The International Herald Tribune reported observers from the European-based Organization for Security and Cooperation said they had less access to polls than in Kazakhstan and that the electronic voting had fewer fail-safes than in Venezuela. Election observer Konrad Olszewski said, "To be honest, monitoring elections in Serbia a few months ago was much simpler. They have one national election law and use the paper ballots I really prefer over any other system. Another observer, Ron Gould, criticized the electronic voting machines that gave voters no receipt. Gould said, "Each electronic vote in Venezuela also produces a ticket that voters then drop into a ballot box. Unlike fully electronic systems, this gives a backup that can be used to counter claims of massive fraud."
Election Protection Groups Receive Thousands Of Complaints
Election protection groups reported receiving tens of thousands of complaints from voters who experienced problems but widespread problems of voter intimidation or suppression did not appear to materialize. In Ohio some voters were forced to wait in line over six hours due to a shortage of working voting machines.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/03/1520204&mode=thread&tid=25
Report: N.C. County Loses 4,500 Votes
This comes at a time when officials in North Carolina are admitting that 4,500 votes were lost in one county due to electronic voting machine problems. According to the Associated Press country officials were misinformed as to how many votes could be stored on each machine. Meanwhile the website Voteprotect.org is reporting that more than 1,100 voters called their 1-800 number on election day to report problems with electronic voting machines or other voting technologies.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/05/1521207&mode=thread&tid=25
Congressmen Call For E-Voting Investigation
In election news, more questions are being raised about the accuracy of electronic voting machines used last week. Three Democratic members of Congress have written to the General Accounting Office of Congress to request an investigation into problems with voting machines on Election Day. This according to Wired.com. The Congressmen are John Conyers of Michigan, Jerrold Nadler of New York and Robert Wexler of Florida. In their letter they note how in one Ohio county, the electronic voting machines mistakenly gave President Bush an extra 3,900 votes due to a machine mishap. Also they noted that in North Carolina, electronic voting machines accidentally lost 4,500 votes.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/08/1513234&mode=thread&tid=25
Even though Kerry has stopped fighting for the presidency, serious questions abound about the use of electronic voting machines. Take this story: In a voting precinct in Ohio's Franklin County, records show that 638 people cast ballots. Yet, George W Bush got 4,258 votes to John Kerry's 260. In reality, Bush only received 365 votes. That means Bush got nearly 3,900 extra votes. And that's just in one small precinct. This in a state that Bush officially won by only 136,000 votes. Elections officials blamed electronic voting for the extra Bush votes.
- http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/08/1513252&mode=thread&tid=25
According to a letter from Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) to Kevin Brock, Special FBI Agent in Charge of the Democratic Staff's investigation into irregularities in the 2004 election, and attorney Larry E. Beal, Hocking County Prosecutor, three federal laws and five Ohio State laws could have been violated by Triad's behavior.
Additionally, according to the Votecobb.org website (a cached google copy), the events in Hocking County represent the compromise of the required randomness of the recount precincts:
(Section 3515 of the Ohio Revised Code) "The board must randomly select whole precincts whose total equals at least 3% of the total vote, and must conduct a manual count."
"If the tabulator count does not match the hand count, and after rechecking the manual count the results are still not equal, all ballots must be hand counted. If the results of the tabulator count and the hand counted ballots are equal, the remainder of the ballots may be processed through the tabulator (for optical scan and punch cards)."
Conyers brings this up in his first letter to Triad's President and Michael Barbian:
I am concerned that your company has operated - either intentionally or negligently - in a manner which will thwart the recount law in Ohio by preventing validly cast ballots in the presidential election from being counted.
You have done this by preparing "cheat sheets" providing county election officials with information such that they would more easily be able to ignore valid ballots that were thrown out by the machines during the initial count. The purpose of the Ohio recount law is to randomly check vote counts to see if they match machine counts. By attempting to ascertain the precinct to be recounted in advance, and than informing the election officials of the number of votes they need to count by hand to make sure it matches the machine count is an invitation to completely ignore the purpose of the recount law.
You as much as admitted that this was your purpose at the December 20 hearing:
Rapp: "Remember: the purpose was to train people on how to conduct their jobs... and to help them identify problems when they conducted their recount... If they could not hand recount the ballots correctly, they would know what they needed to look for in that hand count."
[break]
Observer: "Why do you feel it was necessary to point out to a team counting ballots the number of over-votes and under-votes when the purpose of the team is to in fact locate those votes and judge them?"
Barbian: "It's an easy mistake as you're hand counting... It's just human error. The machine counts it right. We're trying to give them as much information as possible to help them out.
[break]
Interviewer: "You were just trying to help them so that they wouldn't have to do a full recount of the county, to try to avoid that?"
Barbian: "Right."(1)
In a separate interview, Barbian admits that none of the six counties he serviced during the recount actually conducted a full recount:
Interviewer 1: Did any of your counties have to do the full recount?
Michael Barbian: Not that I am aware of.
As of the time of this writing, Triad had not responded to either of Conyers' letters.
Everything below is quoted from Representative John Conyers' Letter to Kevin Brock, Special FBI Agent in Charge of the Democratic Staff's investigation into irregularities in the 2004 election, and attorney Larry E. Beal, Hocking County Prosecutor.
Alleged Violations Of Federal Law
Alleged Violations of Ohio State Law
Alleged Violations Of Federal Law
- Tampering with ballots and/or election machinery would violate the constitutional rights of all citizens to vote and have their votes properly counted, as guaranteed by the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
- 42 U.S.C. 5 1973provides for criminal penalties against any person who, in any election for federal office, "knowingly and willfully deprives, defrauds, or attempts to defraud the residents of a State of a fair and impartially conducted election process, by . . .the procurement, casting, or tabulation of ballots that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under the laws of the State in which the election is held."
- 42 U.S.C. 3 1974also requires the retention and preservation, for a period of twenty-two months from the date of a federal election, of all voting records and papers and makes it a felony for any person to "willfully steal, destroy, conceal, mutilate, or alter" any such record. Further, any tampering with ballots and/or election machinery would violate the constitutional rights of all citizens to vote and have their votes properly counted, as guaranteed by the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Alleged Violations of Ohio State Law
OHIO REV. CODE ANN. 3599.27provides "[n]o person shall tamper or attempt to tamper with, deface impair the use of, destroy or otherwise injure in any manner any voting machine...No person shall tamper or attempt to tamper with, deface, impair the use of, destroy or otherwise change or injure in any manner any marking device, automatic tabulating equipment or any appurtenances or accessories thereof."- OHIO REV. CODE ANN. 3599.24provides "[n]o person shall...destroy any property used in the conduct of elections."
- OHIO REV. CODE ANN. 3599.34provides "[n]o person, from the time ballots are cast or voted until the time has expired for using them in a recount or as evidence in a contest of election, shall unlawfully destroy or attempt to destroy the ballots, or permit such ballots or a ballot box or pollbook used at an election to be destroyed; or destroy, falsify, mark, or write in a name on any such ballot that has been voted."
- OHIO REV. CODE ANN. 53599.33provides "[n]o person, from the time ballots are cast or counted until the time has expired for using them as evidence in a recount or contest of election, shall willfully and with fraudulent intent make any mark or alteration on any ballot; or inscribe, write, or cause to be inscribed or written in or upon a registration form or list, pollbook, tally sheet, or list, Iawfully made or kept at an election, or in or upon a book or paper purporting to be such, or upon an election return, or upon a book or paper containing such return the name of a person not entitled to vote at such election or not voting thereat, or a fictitious name, or, within such time, wrongfully change, alter, erase, or tamper with a name, word, or figure contained in such pollbook, tally sheet, list, book, or paper; or falsify, mark, or write thereon with intent to defeat, hinder, or prevent a fair expression of the will of the people at such election.".
- Ohio Revised Code 3505.32which provides that during a period of official canvassing, all interaction with ballots must be "in the presence of all of the members of the board and any other persons who are entitled to witness the official canvass," given that last Friday, the Ohio Secretary of State has issued orders to the effect that election officials are to treat all election materials as if they were in a period of canvassing,(2) and that "Teams of one Democrat and one Republican must be present with ballots at all times of processing."(3)
- http://video.lisarein.com/election2004/ohioreport/recount.html
posted by Unknown at 4/05/2005 09:50:00 p.m.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home