During Election 2004 many of us worked with many different organizations to defeat George Bu$h, such as Election Protection, MoveOn, ACT, environmental groups like the League of Conservation Voters, civil rights groups, union groups, women's rights groups and a host of others. We phone-banked, we flyer'd, we stood in the rain all day on Nov. 2 observing polling places. We did everything we could to get the vote out. But, on Wednesday morning we woke up to the re-selection of George Bu$h, surrounded by controversies over long voting lines in Democratic precincts, stories of not getting provisional ballots, more votes than registered voters and more.
All this resulted in the Ohio Recount effort, brought on by the Green/Libertarian Parties' candidates, which finally culminated in an historic challenge to certify the Ohio Electoral Votes in the Senate (sponsored by California Senator Barbera Boxer). Today, many questions still remain as to the validity of the vote count in Ohio and other states. Rep. John Conyers'
"What Went Wrong in Ohio" is just one of many, many reports, websites and blogs reporting on this crucial issue. (FYI,
Directory of the 2004 Election Fraud Articles at the Yurica Report.)
How did this happen? Who was involved? A friend of mine has spent countless hours researching this topic and has now launched a new website:
Who's Counting?Let me let her explain, in her own words...
Successful election campaigns are sated, squelched and nourished by
grassroots efforts.
Grassroots are planted in and sprouted from the soil of
election integrity.The heartbeat of any election, or any election integrity issue, is
vote tabulation – THE COUNTING—and yet, it is curiously the
most disregarded topic, virtually absent from today’s legislative and public conversation on election reform. On the other hand, the CASTING of the vote has been addressed ad infinitum, and is covered in my study as well. But it is the COUNTING that all Americans need to be better informed about— electronic vote tabulation is but one of the perpetrators quietly placing America’s representative democracy on the endangered species list...in peril of extinction.
Despite the fact that many states’ constitutions guarantee that vote counting be a transparent and publicly observable function, when HAVA ushered us into digital-invisible votes, many simply accepted that loss of transparency with an apathetic shrug. For the first time in history, the American electorate has lost the ability to observe the counting of the ballots...as in many cases there are no more ballots.
At times like these when voter confidence is eroding on a downslide scale parallel to George Bush’s approval numbers—the vital question becomes;
Who’s counting your vote, and how?
Qu’est-ce que c’est?For clarification, the website linked to this diary is the result of nearly one year of careful, painstaking research and compiling. It’s no whimsical, baseless theorizing, but is instead an in-depth 16 Chapter overview of election integrity or lack thereof, present in our current election systems. And as such, is a
non-partisan issue.I am indeed shouting
“FIRE!!” in the proverbial crowded theatre....but there is in fact smoke rising from the rafters and sparks spotted in the loges. So I can’t be arrested. First Amendment’s spoiled brat exception to the rule. Proceed with caution-- Guaranteed; you will emerge from this read with your hair on fire.
Prepare the extinguishers .
What’s Inside:There is detailed, backed up information within covering everything from the close-up profiles of nine prominent election systems’ corporations -- their Board members and affiliations -- to the technology of the tabulation systems, explained in a layman’s non-geek fashion. There are chapters offering the many case examples of “glitches” from this past Presidential election and those prior; lists of Information Technology specialists on board to completely overhaul the systems as they exist; extensively chronicled Defense and Intelligence connections to elections over the years—of particular interest given our involvement in multiple national wars; comparisons of election solutions employed by other countries; documented multi-pronged attempts at voter disenfranchisement; Congressional bills and arguments over paper trails; studies of polls and polling examined; and a look at the current search for solutions-- from the low-tech practical Parallel Elections, to promoting Open Source Code, to insisting on paper ballot random hand recounts, and more.
There is even an entire chapter devoted to the examination of
“Conspiracy Theorists” over the ages, who they were and are, and how to separate the wheat from the chaff. There are stirring, juicy anecdotes, rivaling any good Soprano’s episode, of corporate crime, murder, suicide and mayhem surrounding the players...The election business never being as benign or dull as it appears on its surface.
Raison D’etreMy goal in writing this was first to comb through the archives of everything available on the subject, cull the most credible sources, and assemble it all into one user-friendly format so readers might draw their own conclusions.
My other goal was to embody the spirit of the
Town Crier, minus the velvet knickers, and plunk myself onto this busy cyber street corner – clang my virtual bell, crying out-- Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
Please refer this website link to anyone who may be interested in the subject. Or to anyone not interested. And to all those undecideds in between. In other words, grab your bell and join me in being the Town Crier.Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! Who’s counting your vote?http://www.whoscounting.netAs we move forward in our efforts to get the
Reform Ohio Now ballot initiatives passed and get Democrats elected to statewide and federal offices in 2006, we should all be aware of what is going on in the election reform movement. After all, if we don't have an honest, transparent voting process, we're only spinning our wheels.
Please direct all your friends, family, co-workers to this website!
:patriot:
http://www.whoscounting.net :patriot:
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