Connecting the dots… Investigative reporter, Bev Harris, has been reporting on the various concerns related to electronic voting for some time via her site BlackBoxVoting.org She released a book within the last year on the topic, and likely has compiled more evidence on the matter than anyone else in the world.
After studying the audit logs from one Washington state county’s voting machines (audit logs obtained through a “Freedom of Information Act” petition) they discovered 3 hours of deleted data on the logs from the primary election there just six weeks ago.
Today they posted this:
Black Box Voting has taken the position that fraud took place in the 2004 election through electronic voting machines. We base this on hard evidence, documents obtained in public records requests, inside information, and other data indicative of manipulation of electronic voting systems. What we do not know is the specific scope of the fraud. We are working now to compile the proof, based not on soft evidence — red flags, exit polls — but core documents obtained by Black Box Voting in the most massive Freedom of Information action in history.
We need: Lawyers to enforce public records laws. Some counties have already notified us that they plan to stonewall by delaying delivery of the records. We need citizen volunteers for a number of specific actions. We need computer security professionals willing to GO PUBLIC with formal opinions on the evidence we provide, whether or not it involves DMCA complications. We need funds to pay for copies of the evidence.
Visit the site for more details on how you can help…
Other ways you can help: 1) Send the link to this story and/or this blog and/or as many of the previous items I’ve reported on (scroll down!) to as many folks as you can! 2) If you find something you think I should look at, feel free to post here in comments or email me with a link (please pardon if I can’t respond immediately, I assure you I’m looking at it).
The Mainstream Media has largely taken their lead from the Bush Administration and the Rightwing media to follow the “Great Bush Mandate” storyline despite the numbers — at best — just not adding up, and even if accepted at face value, they represent the slimmest margin for a sitting President since Woodrow Wilson in 1916!
I understand full well that “conventional wisdom” is already beginning to harden that Bush “won” this race, and I’m sorry to continue to offer troubling information to those of you who would have liked a clean result this time around. If that’s where my investigation leads, I will tell you that. But as of now, every street I turn down seems to display more and more that something is rotten in the state of Diebold/ES&S. Pay. Attention.
Brad,
Keep me informed on how the investigation is going. Our Supreme Court ruled back in the 1830-40’s on a little known case law named "Federal Common Sense Law." In simple words it allows us ordinary folks that have not taken any law courses or criminal justice classes the right to stand up in court and use the difference between Right & Wrong to debate the finer points of law in front of a judge.
Although I have only invoked it once in a court of law, I can tell you it is fun to take an Assistant DA to school. Therefore, any election law you can direct me to on this matter I’ll try to give you my spin on how we can use it to set the record straight. 😀
Brad et al,
PLEASE keep up your efforts to investigate this and bring it to themedia and Publics attention! I will do anything I can to help.
On election night I knew something was wrong with Florida, and I am also leary of Ohio. There are to many "coincidences" and I tell my kids that if there are too many coincidences then they probably aren’t coincidental.
Does anybody think that Bush is so well liked that he would have defied all prior "rules of thumb"…ie)
large turnouts favor challenger and Democrats, no president has been re-elected with approval rating below 50 (Bush had many readings at 46 to 47%), 56%of people feel america is going in wrong direction and exit polls have never been so wrong before the days of W).
This whole thing smells real bad and we all worked too hard during this election and we should not let this election also be stolen without a fight.
Thanks again and keep up the hard work, ME.
I am so thankful for Bev. These electronic voting machines were most certainly "fixed" by the Republicans. I live in Toledo, OH and whenever the Democrats on the Board of Elections wanted a paper trail for the electronic machines, the Republicans said it wasn’t necessary. This is true throughout the US the Dems want a paper trail, the Repubs don’t. It is soooo obvious. Anyway the Dems won the fight against the electronic machines and we (in Lucas County) ended up with optical scanners. I worked the polls and I can’t see how you can tamper with the scanners ( at least at the poll where we all had to sign off on the results).
OMG!!!!!!1
This is the funniest thing ive read yet. You think the election was fixed? There was a margin of 3.5 million people. You guys seriously need to get a grip on yourselves. You got your asses spanked, deal with it.
SORE LOSERS!
\HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHA
If a voting machine can be "fixed", so can the journal inside the machine and the "receipt" it prints out for the voter. In other words, someone might vote for Kerry, the journal and receipt are electronically altered and show the person that he/she voted for Bush. I think the best way to verify or disprove the fixed machine theory would be to take a small area (one that is likely to have been a fraud target), contact every voter, see how they voted, and then compare the results with the election electronic ballot returns. This should be done using a random sample anyway, just to be safe. Does anyone know what % of the voters used touch screen machines, and what % of those votes each candidate got? That would be a first step.
We need to determine that fraud has taken place. Fraud would invalidate Kerry’s concession. Then we need to get a re-vote in Ohio and Florida.
Orgainze the accomodations for absentee ballots, and set aside a Friday and a Saturday for people to return to vote. Cover every presinct with federal and state officials. Use standard machines.
If Bush is so confident about his "mandate" he should welcome the opportunity to increase hius lead.
A full Congressional investigation should also take place, with full prosecution. TREASON!!!!
http://www.alternet.org – alternet: Exit Polls Right, Tallies Wrong/?
it may not go far. But it seems after a night of blog speculation, the story moves to Alt News….If patterns remain the same, it will eventually be picked up in mainstream news.
http://img103.exs.cx/img103/4526/exit_poll.gif
graph from http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/
Secret Service comes to blogger’s front door………anniesj: a word to the wise
http://www.livejournal.com/user...12.html#cutid1
Generosity
"Stop thinking this is all there is. Realize that for every ongoing war and
religious outrage and environmental devastation and bogus Iraqi attack plan,
there are a thousand counter-balancing acts of staggering generosity and
humanity and art and beauty happening all over the world, right now, on a
breathtaking scale, from flower-box to cathedral. Resist the tempation to
drown in fatalism, to shake your head and sigh and just throw in the karmic
towel. Realize that this is the perfect moment to change the energy of the
world, to step right up and crank your personal volume; right when it all
seems dark and bitter and offensive and acrimonious and conflicted and
bilious, there’s your opening. Remember magic. And, finally, believe you are
part of a ground swell, a resistance, a seemingly small but actually very,
very large impending karmic overhaul, a great shift, the beginning of
something important and potent and unstoppable."—Mark Morford, columnist for the San Francisco Gate
Guys, I have to Apologize. I acted prematurely and gloated when the evidence suggests you are right. Apparently the voting machines DID miscount the votes.
http://apnews.myway.com/article...D865R1DO0.html
SUCKERS
Brad,
So glad to see you are dedicating your website to these matters. What I’d like to learn more about it where this could potentially go. What is the probability that we can get close enough with the remaining provisional ballots in OH to demand a recount? How likely is it that we can "prove" fraud in Ohio and Florida (and I am sure other states)? Do you know whether attorneys hired for K/E campaign are involved with any of this. I read on Atrios blog yesterday about "something coming"….beats me what that was all about.
Anyone know whether K/E folks are willing to "unconcede" if we can get the ball rolling…what is the probability of being able to change the momentum of what happened? I just want a shred of optomism to guide me through these difficult times.
Probability zero.
What I think we need to focus on is who to appoint to the Supreme Court.
My suggestion would be Alan Keyes. How about you guys?
Shari –
Please take a look at the article I just linked to over at DailyKos in my latest item. He answers a number of your questions.
And to clear up a misconception I’ve seen in several placed, Kerry/Edwards do not need to "unconcede" for things to change. The "concession" is no more than political courtesy, not a legally binding entity. If anything changes that shows the very few vote difference that gave the race to Bush has changed to instead give the race to Kerry, he becomes the President. Period.
Brad,
If this finding is true than a full congressional hearing needs to be done to discover who in Our Political System was involved. While in peace time I might recommend jail for them; however, during a time of war the charges should be tersion.
Keep it coming! 🙂
Henry, I hate to say it, but I wouldn’t wait for any (Republican controlled) Congressional hearings.
We’re on our own for now on this one. Us and the Media, if we can get them to begin paying attention to what seems to have gone on.
I think that the State of Ohio should look into the voting to confirm that this didn’t happen throughout the state. But if it did it might have helped Kerry in some counties, too. Still, what if it narrows the gap to where the provisional ballots can make a difference? Although I read somewhere that 2/3 of these were for Bush. But the winner is almost not the issue. The issue is, was the vote count accurate?
Brad, thanks for clearing that up. I was under the impression that the game was over when JK gave his concession speech.
Dream on.
3.5 million people more voted for W. Thats not a majority, its a MANDATE.
3.5 million out of 110 million is not a huge mandate. Over 50 million voted AGAINST bush – and those are just the votes that were properly recorded and counted.
That votes were electronically lost is not a surprise – this is the exact scenario many of us have predicted: exit polls where unauditable technology was used consistantly 5-8% different from actual, and the difference favoring Bush in every case. Exit polls where auditable technology was used generally within 1%, and going either way.
If you don’t think it’s possible to produce such results than you a) haven’t been paying attention and b) don’t know anything about computers. If you don’t think that anyone would do it than you are hopelessly naive. But what ever you think, and whatever the truth is, one thing is certain: Without reliable audits there is no way to have any confidence in the results, no matter who really won.
Hey, I can rig a program like that easily. Just tell me the range of percentage points to add. – I can even do a better job, spreading the points depending on the current tally. These results didn’t even always change the outcome – adding 8% to a 10% loss won’t turn it into a win, and adding 8% to a 2% win still leaves a win. That’s one of the things that points to a logical conclusion of fraud.
Folks who say there is no evidence of incorrect counts are missing the point: the problem is indeed that there IS NO EVIDENCE. Wasn’t it Rumsfeld who pointed out that the absense of evidence is not evidence of absense?
Tell me, where do you guys store your tin hats between elections?
jhc