Wapo article on "lost votes" in Ohio

[november3rd]

Euphemism, spin.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1803&e=1&u=/washpost/20041215/pl_washpost/a64737_2004dec14

[whistle]

1. Spin, I'll say, big smile and oh well the daughter waited 4 hours

...in a democratic precinct while her mother in a predominately reThug precinct was in and out in 15 minutes. But, the article goes on, you really hope that is just poor planning! :wtf:

It's like the radio spots that advertise a special Christmas Show and add, "but hurry, seating is limited" in that sweet melodious tone of voice.

[pa28]

13. Well

At least the article did not accuse this woman of exaggeration or paranoia. It's small but it's a start.

[WildClarySage]

2. From the article

"Viewed dispassionately, the national elections ran much more smoothly than in 2000," said Charles Stewart III, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (news - web sites) and a specialist in voting behavior and methodology. Because of improved technology "nationwide, we counted perhaps 1 million votes that we would have lost four years ago."


The problem is, they were all for *.

[Blue State Blues]

6. What he didn't say in his quote ... but should have

BEGIN MIND READING

"In fact, we counted votes for which there were no actual voters. Remember in the 2000 election, there was that debacle in Florida about the importance of deciphering the voter's intention with those silly paper punch card ballots. Well, let me tell you, this new technology is so much better than than the old -- it can not only determine voters' intentions, it can determine how they SHOULD have voted and adjust the tallies appropriately. Yesiree, voter intention is a thing of the past. Soon we expect amazing enhancements to the technology that will even make voters obsolete."

END MIND READING

[Pirate Smile]

3. Here is a good part

"In Florida, ground zero for 2000's election meltdown, professors and graduate students from the University of California at Berkeley studied this year's voting results, contrasting counties that had electronic voting machines with those that used traditional voting methods. They concluded, based on voting and population trends and other indicators, that irregularities associated with machines in three traditionally Democratic counties in southern Florida may have delivered at least 130,000 excess votes for Bush in a state the president won by about 381,000 votes. The study prompted heated critiques from some polling experts.

Stewart of MIT was skeptical, too. But he ran the numbers and came up with the same result. "You can't break it; I've tried," Stewart said. "There's something funky in the results from the electronic-machine Democratic counties." '

[chalky]

7. Good, but I'm still pissed that

it's buried DEEP, DEEP, into a long article.
Long past the part where people begin to skim.

[Pirate Smile]

10. I know but there is a lot of information in that article that most people,

including most Democrats, haven't even heard yet and it will piss them off. They should be pissed.

They mention a ton of problems. It is like they saved all the e-mails people have been sending and dumped a bunch of it in one article.

A lot of people are not going to assume the difference in the waits in predominately Dem areas v. predominately Repub areas are just chance. They will know it is premeditated.

[chalky]

11. True. I'll take a deep, calming breath and repeat my new mantra--

"It's reached the MSM."
"It's reached the MSM."
"It's reached the MSM."

[Blue in the face]

14. Yep!

The NY Times and the Washington Post start to take serious note of this issue on the same day, after 6 weeks of waiting?!?!?!

It's starting to happen. Keep it up, DU, you guys are making it happen!

[Griffy]

4. UM.. if people only knew what this line really means...

"25 electronic machines transferred an unknown number of votes for Sen. John F. Kerry (news, bio, voting record) (D-Mass.) to the Bush column."

UNKNOWN NUMBER!!! if its more than 60,000 then we have a diffent prez.. and they dont think its worth investigating!

[GetTheRightVote]

5. Thank you for the info on the WA ruling, I hope the 561 give it to her

The republicans do not wish for all voter to have their vote count

[Pirate Smile]

8. Pretty good article - very long and includes a lot. Here is more

"In Knox County, some Kenyon College students waited 10 hours to vote. "They had to skip classes and skip work," said Matthew Segal, a 19-year-old student.

In northeastern Ohio, in the fading industrial city of Youngstown, Jeanne White, a veteran voter and manager at the Buckeye Review, an African American newspaper, stepped into the booth, pushed the button for Kerry -- and watched her vote jump to the Bush column. "I saw what happened; I started screaming: 'They're cheating again and they're starting early!' "

It was not her imagination. Twenty-five machines in Youngstown experienced what election officials called "calibration problems." "It happens every election," said Thomas McCabe, deputy director of elections for Mahoning County, which includes Youngstown. "It's something we have to live with, and we can fix it."

-snip-
But that official view contrasts sharply with the bubbling anger heard among rank-and-file Democrats. While some promote conspiratorial theories, most have a straightforward bottom line. "A lot of people left in the four hours I waited," recalled Thivener, the mortgage broker from Columbus. "A lot of them were young black men who were saying over and over: 'We knew this would happen.'

"How," she asked, "is that good for democracy?"

[JohnnyCougar]

9. This is really good, especially for the Washington Post

Rate it up, people!

[Straight Shooter]

12. Who the hell is Edward B. Foley? Another mouthpiece for Blackheart?

"There isn't enough to prove fraud, but there have been very significant problems in running elections in Ohio this year that demand reform," said Edward B. Foley, who is director of the election law program at the Ohio State University law school and a former Ohio state solicitor. "We clearly ended up disenfranchising people, and I don't want to minimize that."

I want to know if Gawd has died and Foley has taken his place, that he can pronounce unequivocally that "there isn't enough to prove fraud."

[ClintCooper2003]

15. Well, if they're trying to rile up Democrats with that article, they

have succeeded brilliantly! Yeah, the two things that really stand out: The 25 machines basically switching votes and the unknown number of voters leaving.

If you add 15,000 Kerry voters to the totals, count the 8,000 totally disenfranchised Kerry voters from Cuyahoga, then swtich the tens of thousands of voters from Bush back to their rightful owner, you've got yourself a brand new President!

[understandinglife]

16. My letter to WaPo reporters Powell and Slevin

15 Dec 2004

Good evening Mr Powell and Mr Slevin,

"OH offers lessons for 2008" - perhaps, but much more immediate issues should be the focus of your journalism and should have been since 2 Nov 2004.

The national election of 2004 is far from over, gentlemen. And, many, many of us have every intention of bringing the process to a halt by 6 Jan 2005. We must not allow the systematic attack on our American franchise of democracy to succeed; we will not permit systemic disenfranchisement to prevail.

Where have you and all your media colleagues been since the 'red shift' of 2 Nov 2004? Where were you when folk from OH to NM were being disenfranchised? Why have you not been at the front of the line demanding Mitofsky release all raw exit poll data from 2 Nov 2004? Why have you not been reporting on the extensive Republican linkage to Diebold, Sequoia and ES&S? Why have you not been reporting to the 30 % of voters on 2 Nov 2004 that they have no way of knowing if their vote was recorded as they intended; counted as they intended? Where is your outrage over what was done to African American and student voters?

I suggest you listen to what Congresswoman Waters had to say on Randi Rhodes on 14 Dec 2004. Read the full text of Moss v Bush. Study carefully Congressman Conyers letter to the FBI regarding Triad. Begin defending our Constitution; our franchise of democracy before it is too late.

Sincerely,
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