A story of 2 brothers

[Twist_U_Up]

Great rundown on the 2000 and 2004 elections.
How could Kerry ignore this ?
He should be screaming from the top of his lungs every person in America should !!!!
Why are so many higher ups so quiet ?
WTF


"Back in 2002 Diebold supplied the state of Georgia with brand new electronic voting machines. That was when incumbent Democratic Governor Ray Barnes was defeated and the Republicans won for the first time in 134 years. The poll results showed an amazing 12-point shift that took place in the last 48 hours.



Diebold was subsequently sued for applying a last-minute code patch to the machines that was never reviewed. In another strange turn of events, that code was also deleted right after the election and the suit fell through."

http://nightweed.com/3_november_2004.html

[Eloriel]

1. Very good article. Thanks. n/t

[stirringstill]

2. I agree someone should probe this further

That was the election Max Cleland was beaten in an 6-8 point shift in the final 48 hours (at the time people thought the ads showing Cleland as a supporter of OBL and Saddam worked). That 2002 election in GA was eerily similar to the national election of 2004. In 2002 I first thought that maybe it was the magic of Ralph Reed who was serving as state Republican Party Chair. Georgia had recently trended Republican in votes for President and Sen. but still something felt amiss. It was the first time since reconstruction that a republican govenor was elected and the state house flipped to Republicans for the first time in 134 years too. Solid gains were made in the state senate as well for the Republicans. It was a solid defeat for Dems. I was quite proud of and miss dearly our one party state. I thought we had one of the better state governments around. The state government was efficient, there were surpluses, little corruption, and those religious right divisive issues remained hidden in committees. Not any more.

Besides the noted swing between opinion polls and the final votes there are some other things worth noting. Roy Barnes was in my opinion a terrific gov. I think he may have roughed up some people along the way but he got things done. He pushed through quite an agenda and change doesn't always win friends. But he was respected and he had one hell of a war chest, $20+ million compared to I think a couple of million by his challenger (Sonny Perdue). Barnes was apparently defeated by this surge of rural voters (similar to Bush 2004). Barnes possibly pissed off a lot of the rural vote by changing the state flag, but frankly this was something of a red herring. The grass roots organization of Ralph Reed may be at work here, plus the frequent visits by Bush (when he was still popular)couldn't have hurt. Had Barnes won that election, he would have thrown his hat into the ring for a bid for the president. He would have been a two term Dem Gov. from the south and he had proven to be one hell of a fundraiser. Alas, he was defeated.

One clue that something darker might have been at work though was the defeat of Bubba McDonald for Public Service Commisioner. McDonald had held statewide office before and had even run for governor. He was endorsed by every paper and raised a couple hundred thousand dollars for his campaign. He had money, a degree of name recognition, and had glowing job performance reviews--and guess what? He was soundly defeated by a Ms. Speir, a Republican who had never run for office and who did not campaign. She spent less than $1000 dollars and had little more than a sign in her own front yard--and she won! The only thing she had going for her was an (R) beside her name. The McDonald race sent ripples through the Democratic Party in Georgia and many Dems actually changed parties because that race proved how important an (R) beside one's name really is.

2002 was the year Diebold was introduced to Georgia, and now everyone in GA votes on a touch screen. At the time I was glad there weren't going to be hanging chads, but I have since learned from Bev Harris about the rob-Georgia.zip patch. 2002, the rise of the machines.