Blogged by Brad Friedman on 12/4/2004 1:16PM  
An Actual Election Results Analysis from a Major American Newspaper!
Wonders never cease.

The Chicago Tribune has published today a provocative, and well-researched article about a number of Election 2004 concerns. All without a single mention of the word "blog", "leftwing" or "conspiracy theory"!

A detailed analysis by the Tribune of voter rolls in a number of states has revealed several notable concerns. (NOTE TO NY TIMES, BOSTON GLOBE and NEWSWEEK: An "analysis" is what investigative reporters sometimes do prior to announcing there is nothing worth investigating. NOTE TO BRAD BLOG READERS: Click on any of those links to find out how you can help encourage those outlets to do their job!)

Among the concerns revealed by the Tribune report published today:

  • FLORIDA: 64,889 dead people remained on the voters rolls on Election Day despite being listed in a database of Social Security Administration death claims.
  • MICHIGAN: 50,051 dead people remained on the voters rolls on Election Day.
  • NEW MEXICO: 5,000 dead people remained on the voter rolls on Election Day. The presidential election there was decided by 6,000 votes.
  • IOWA: 4,900 dead people were on Iowa's voter rolls on Election Day. Bush won Iowa by 10,000 votes.
  • More than 181,000 dead people in total were listed on the voter rolls in the six swing states of Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota and New Mexico.
  • Thousands more voters were registered to vote in two different places, which could have allowed them to cast more than one ballot.
  • OHIO: More than 90,000 ballots were discarded for including no valid choice for President either because no candidate was chosen, the counting machine failed to register their choice or they voted mistakenly for more than one candidate. Bush's "official" margin of victory in Ohio now stands at 119,000 after provisional and overseas ballots have been added to Election Night numbers which originally showed a margin of 136,000 votes.
  • The FBI has confirmed they are investigating the complaints made by Florida congressional candidate Jeff Fisher (partially discussed in this previous BRAD BLOG article) concerning vote-rigging in the state of Florida and elsewhere.
  • The BRAD BLOG congratulates the Chicago Tribune's Geoff Dougherty, Sarah Frank and the other "Tribune staff reporters" who contributed to this investigative analysis of America's democratic voting system. All are to be commended for doing the job for which they are paid, and for which so many in this country and the world desperately rely upon to provide a check and balance to those in the unchecked and corrupt corridors of power.

    (Thanks Fin for the tip!)

    Buzz this story! C2NN: Submit it!


    READER COMMENTS ON
    "CHICAGO TRIB: Dead Voters, Double Voters, Discounted Votes"
    (2 Responses so far...)

    COMMENT #1 [Permalink]
    ... Steve said on 12/4/2004 @ 10:20 pm PT...


    Heh ~ "Poll This"... That is awesome, Brad.

    You rock as always, and we are blessed by this fact.

    One word simply describes it all - this word is "momentum".

    Merry Christmas, all complicent peoples, for your day in the sun has set. Hope you had stock in K-Y Jelly.

    ~Peace. Voice. Action. Truth.

    Remain calm. Relax. Open up . . .


    COMMENT #2 [Permalink]
    ... ed said on 12/13/2004 @ 9:25 am PT...


    Another non story. Dead people have been voting in Illinois for years. Repubs aren't screaming for a recount in the Obama election. He won!!! Move on people!!!


    -=- Comments on this item are now closed. -=-


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    VotersUnite.org's Daily Voting News 'Daily Voting News' For September 07, 2008
    by John Gideon

    Today’s featured article is, again, from Palm Beach Co Florida. The quotes in this article make it clear that failing elections supervisors are going to blame the transition from DRE voting systems to optical-scan voting systems for any failures they encounter this election season.

    “It was extremely challenging to make the transition" from touch screens to optical scanning of paper ballots in just three months, Elections Supervisor Arthur Anderson said”. Yes, I’m sure it was a challenge. Just as much a challenge as the successful move from DRE to Optical-Scan accomplished by the state of New Mexico a couple years ago or the same change made by Cuyahoga Co. Ohio prior to this year’s presidential primary. New Mexico and Cuyahoga Co didn’t seem to have anywhere near the problems that Palm Beach Co had.

    “[County Judge Barry] Cohen said there were no numbers on the documents he signed to certify the judicial race on Tuesday. County Commissioner Addie Greene said she didn't notice whether vote totals were listed.” This judge has now admitted to signing legal documents without having all of the numbers filled-in. Now, I’m not an attorney but this seems to me to be an admission of misfeasance on the part of a county election official and probably the whole canvassing board on which Mr. Cohen serves.

    And then there is this gem; "I decided whatever system (Palm Beach County) buys next time, I'm not buying it," joked Kay Clem, elections supervisor for Indian River County, the only other county in the state with Sequoia equipment. "I feel bad for them, it's tough. I can't imagine dealing with all those paper ballots. It must be a nightmare." This quote from an elections supervisor who allowed an experiment to be done with real votes in a real election and that resulted in over 10,000 votes being mis-reported....

    Click for links to all of today's notable voting news headlines...

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