GOP Forging Names of Dead on Recall Petitions

[mzteris]

MADISON-News is breaking that the Republican Party of Wisconsin is forging signatures of dead people on recall petitions against Democratic senators.

Following is the statement of Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate, who will be available to the press for comment tonight at the Milwaukee Athletic Club.

"The Republican forgery of dead names on recall petitions represents a new low for Wisconsin. It is voter fraud at its most abhorrent and it must be investigated and explained. In coming days we doubtless will learn more of the Republican plot to use the signatures of dead names, but we said at the outset that their recall efforts were dangerously unethical and dangerously fraudulent. Here now is the fruit of that poisoned tree."

http://www.wisdems.org/news/press/view/2011-04-gop-forging-names-of-dead-on-recall-petitions

[AllyCat]

1. Can we Voter ID just the Republicons if they are the ones committing voter fraud?

Did we think they would do this legitimately? They are crooks through and through and will stop at nothing to do the bidding of their corporate masters.

[Sadena Meti]

2. A statement made by one person from a biased (well, admit it, Democrats have an anti-Republican...

bias) organization which he doesn't back up with any facts. Not one name and one certificate of death. That would be a story. No wonder none of the news outlets picked this up. It would make great press if it were true.

[mzteris]

3. Signature of lawmaker's dead father on recall papers

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/121008009.html

Bill Pocan - father of state Rep. Mark Pocan - may have died long ago.

But that doesn't mean he can't sign the recall petition against state Sen. Bob Wirch of Kenosha.

Just check page 362 of the Wirch recall petition, and you will find the signature and address for Bill Pocan, also the father of Milwaukee County Judge William Pocan. The petition says Bill Pocan penned his support of the recall effort on March 3.

Wirch is one of 14 Democrats who left the state to block a vote on Gov. Scott Walker’s budget-repair bill. He is one of at least three Dems and six Republicans targeted for recalls.

In an affidavit provided state Democrats, Corinne Pocan said her husband Bill couldn't have signed the Wirch papers. She said he has been dead for two decades. She also said she lives at the address listed on the recall document.

[PeaceNikki]

5. That troll has been sent back under his bridge.

[midnight]

4. I suppose those who follow the law will have to somehow bare the burden for their

election fraud....

[Mitchs Mule]

13. wisdom for takers

even a sword, a fine work of steel cannot be to hard or too soft it has to be Tempered

[mojowork_n]

6. I saw that report on the TV news

The jelly head slicked back Republican dude in the shiny sport coat was most passionate in HIS pronouncement
that, 'it must have been a deliberate effort by Democrats to sabotage the recall, because no Republican would
ever, ever -- ever -- use the name of another person (living or dead) on an official petition.'

Until someone checks finger prints on the actual document.

...Which doesn't seem too likely to happen, given the report today on how things are going with the GAB:

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8507

[PeaceNikki]

7. Brad blog is not on the ground. It's not a mess.

[mojowork_n]

8. No claims they're "on the ground."

Which he admits in the first part of his report.

But to whatever extent it is or is not a mess, there are legitimate concerns about the integrity of the optical scan vote counting machines:

Where Minnesota counted every vote by hand with full public scrutiny, including photographs and video cameras, Wisconsin is tabulating ballots, often by the same oft-failed, easily-manipulated computer systems that counted them in the first place, behind barriers that preclude broad public oversight, under an agreement between both campaigns which disallows the use of video cameras by observers.

The count, which began last Wednesday, often feels as if it's happening in virtual darkness, at least to those of us trying to observe from afar, but the same sentiment has been shared with us by many we've spoken to who are there on the ground.

<snip>

...As you'll see when following almost any of the reporting on this "recount", or usually any other, the only numbers reported are generally net gains or losses for each candidate.

Of far more interest to The BRAD BLOG --- and likely, election integrity advocates in general --- is the number of votes originally miscounted by the oft-failed, easily-manipulated electronic tabulating systems which are rarely checked for accuracy except in post-election contests such as this.

So if a hand-count discovers that Joe Candidate received 50 more votes in Ward 1 than originally reported by the machines on Election Night, but in Ward 2 Joe Candidate lost 49 votes, the county and the media would both end up reporting: "Hand count finds machines work almost perfectly! Only 1 vote lost by Joe Candidate!"

That, even though some 99 votes were actually miscounted for poor Joe in just two precincts. Had the hand count found that he'd lost a full 50 votes in Ward 2, the county and media would have reported that the "recount" found the original machines results were perfect!

And that's precisely what they do. Watch for it as you're reading reports on the "recount" progress in Wisconsin. We'll endeavor in the weeks ahead to pull together a report on the real number of miscounted votes to give you a better idea of how well the machines made by Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia actually worked, or didn't, in Wisconsin's April 5th election.

Unfortunately, in this contest, just 31 of the 72 counties will actually see some or all of their ballots counted by hand. So we'll only be able to get a limited sample. But it'll no doubt provide an interesting set of numbers to consider for the future as these very same systems are set for use in upcoming state Senate recall elections in Wisconsin, as well as set to tally millions of votes in next year's Presidential election cycle.

And, oh, for those interested, to date, according to the G.A.B.'s latest numbers as of 6pm CT today (Tuesday, May 3rd), Prosser has gained 245 votes net and Kloppenburg has gained 414 votes net. His unofficial, unverified 7,316 vote lead after the statewide canvass is now an unofficial, only-slightly-less-unverified lead of 7,147 votes.

[PeaceNikki]

9. He's totally wrong about the hand count.

Yes, it's 31 of 72 counties, but 78% of the optiscans in the state are bring hand-counted. 78%.

It's NOT in darkness, the public can be and is there. The entire thing is livestreamed from Waukesha County as well. Brad seems to think that the recount is meant for fraud investigation and he's dead wrong, it's to count the ballots and get any and ALL anomolies entered into evidence. We are doing that.

The recount itself is not a mess, it's actually run quite well. The mess we see is in the processes of the local election officials. The recount is exposing this.

The anomalies and they are being noted in great detail on the official record. What more do you/does he want? Should we tackle the Board when they rule in a manner we don't like?

[mojowork_n]

10. So the bottom line is...

"...any and ALL anomalies <will be> entered into evidence."

But it's NOT a fraud investigation. It's dead wrong to think that it should be.

The hand recount of 78% sounds like a very high percentage, but it's also not
part of any overall agreement or understanding to hand check any and ALL optiscan
results.

Only the results from one very specific make and model opti-scanner are being
verified, those from OpTech Eagle machine vote tabulators...? According to dKos
anyway:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/21/969066/-GAB:-Partial-Hand-Recount-in-Waukesha-County,-Wisconsin-Supreme-Court-Race

The flagship of the E.S. & S. voting machine flotilla, it's a relatively new design
that has only had reported problems from compatibility issues with older systems,
leading to tabulation delays... as first reported in Waukesha County in 2006:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sequoia_Optech_III-P_Eagle

It still reminds me of the Red Herring gambit -- Getting Mesmerized by the shiny object
in the Left hand, while the right is doing all the cover up, that Jackpine Radical
and others had:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x872933

http://upload.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x875142

In this case, instead of just accounting for the missing/delayed Brookfield vote
totals, the end result will only end up vetting what the Thugs need to have vetted.



...and, getting back to the original issue at the top of this thread, if there
are bogus signatures on recall petitions -- agreed, the anomalies will be entered into
evidence -- but is it a mistake to assume anyone will ever assign actual members of
law enforcement to check them out?

Who's in charge of that decision-making process? Van Hollen, who may have
originally gotten into office because of..... those same........?

[PeaceNikki]

11. OK, taking issue with what's done with what is discovered in recount is a different topic than Brad

claims to address. He states that the recount is a mess. It's not and he's confused about what a recount is altogether. If you want to speculate about what will be done with the evidence discovered, fine - do that. But the recount is NOT a fraud investigation and people should stop acting like it should be. In addition, taking issue with what's done with the evidence before we're done collection it is speculation at this point. We don't know whether anything will be done. By AG, GAB, Feds... whatever. So, kinda early to get all hot n bothered by that at this juncture. Unless he's The Amazing Kreskin.

I take offense when outsiders make blanket accuations about our processes being a "mess" when A) they clearly misunderstand what the process is and B) they haven't looked at it themselves.

I've been there. Everyday. Brad hasn't.

[mojowork_n]

12. and THANK YOU

…for being there every day.

It’s an important election and the recount’s critical. No two ways about that.

Last weekend I was at a BBQ with some Brooks Brothers Blue Blazer with Topsider's type Republicans and the one guy said, when I brought up the “anomalies” recorded in previous Waukesha County elections, “But you know, those people who hold stock in the voting machine companies, they’d be looking at having the value of their investment fall to practically nothing overnight, if there was some kind of fraud demonstrated (emphasis and italics mine).”

That’s one of the Very Big differences between those guys and us. For them, it’s all about money in the bank. The value they treasure, cherish and prize above every other. I’m just concerned that too many times for us, following the rules, looking out for the needs and responsibilities of Other People, and all that stuff – gets us left behind.