Need short, sweet and easy to digest. Help!

[Pacifist Patriot]

On March 20 I am the guest speaker at a forum and my topic will be Election Irregularities and Voter Confidence. This will not be a hostile group, but may be comprised of quite a few skeptics. I recall a post from awhile back which listed the unlikely things you need to be willing to believe in order to accept that Bush won fair and square. I have not been able to find that post. But since that time there have been other great points made as well.

I wholeheartedly believe that more voters made the effort to go to the polls intending to cast a vote for Kerry, but I'm floundering with how to objectively offer a compelling argument. I think I'm in too deep. LOL!

Is anyone willing to help me compile a list of "sound bite" points around which to frame my presentation? I'm not talking to idiots, but I want to get as much information to them as I can without it being overwhelming.

Thanks!

[jdog]

1. Is this the post you are thinking of?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=22581

[Pacifist Patriot]

4. That's the one and I've bookmarked it. Thank you!

[garybeck]

2. this may help too

you are free to give out copies of this:

http://www.solarbus.org/stealyourelection/articles/voting-facts.pdf

short and sweet, fits on one page

[Pacifist Patriot]

5. Excellent. Added that to my bookmarks too.

[AtLiberty]

3. Only give appetizers...

Use the date of your speech...the 40th anniversary of the march from Selma to Montgomery...in your intro. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 has left us unfinished work.

Talk about the Diebold and ES&S ideology and ties with the GOP, etc. That our votes are now privitized is a good attention grabber. Then, say that given what you know about these companies, the outcome of Nov. 2 comes as no surprise. Highlight the various types of fraud which were implemented. You'd be amazed at how many Dems are unaware of the 10-hour lines in the pouring rain, the rejection of provisional ballots, the massive disenfranchisement and the mysterious "loss" of 80,000 absentee ballots in one Florida county. Throw in the most damning irregularities and emphasize that major glitches favored one candidate across the country.

Explain that a paper trail and opti-scan just aren't good enough...

Offer to answer questions after the program AND have a one-sheet info handout to give everyone there filled with links to do their own homework.

It truly is too big and complex to cover all the info in this type of forum.

ABOVE ALL, CHALLENGE THE AUDIENCE TO TAKE ACTION! GIVE THEM A FOCAL POINT.

Btw, thanks for doing this! Good luck!

[Pacifist Patriot]

7. Precisely. There is so much involved that it really is

hard to condense it for a disinterested party to wrap his brains around. I don't mean an apathetic person, I mean someone who hasn't yet been exposed to the information. This is an opportunity to reach aproximately 20-30 people. No way in hell I was going to pass it up.

[jdog]

10. I think it's important to point out the result too.

That we now have a one-party government with no checks and balances. Maybe then they'd understand why it is so important.

[Pacifist Patriot]

11. Yes, I don't plan to focus solely on the presidential race.

My personal suspicion calls several senatorial races into question as well. I'm sure it goes well beyond that.

I think the single party domination we see today is because of means and opportunity. The Republican party was making tremendous headway in a methodical manner over the last several decades. They saw opportunities to speed up their encroachment and took them. I pray that will be their undoing.

[Pacifist Patriot]

16. Great suggestion. Thank you, I will.

[BeFree]

6. On the afternoon

Of Nov. 2nd, even Fox tv was saying Kerry was gonna win. What happened? Was Fox misled?

Ohio has yet been able to completely end the election. There are many lawsuits to be heard before it is final.

Look, the election 2000, as we all know, eneded up with the loser in the White House. They succeded in 2000, what makes you think they wouldn't try it gain in 2004? They got away with it once, like any criminal they never stop til they are caught and sentenced.


The top secret code which counted most of the votes... Why so much secrecy? Why can't we examine that code? Not even the election officials are allowed to look it over and verify that code.

[garybeck]

8. maybe you could show them the movie?

if you have access to a video projector and a computer, you could show the DU Stolen Election movie

[Pacifist Patriot]

9. I'd have access to a television and VCR/DVD player, but not..

a video projector and a computer.

[helderheid]

13. or these

http://www.udpc.org/evote.htm

http://www.udpc.org/diebold.htm

http://www.udpc.org/evotelaugh.htm

PLEASE don't bombard this site though guys - I can't afford to buy more bandwidth (unless you donate). Thanks!

[emlev]

12. Try this Free Press article, too

Ten reasons;

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1065

[Pacifist Patriot]

15. Bookmarked, thanks! One of the things I do plan to do is

have a packet of material available for anyone interested in learning more to take with them. List of websites, pertinent articles, etc. This will make a great piece to include!

[Zan_of_Texas]

18. You can give them this bibliography.

And read some of it yourself.

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY - ELECTION REFORM ISSUES
February 2005
by Pokey Anderson
[e-mail]


Ellen Theisen:
"Myth Breakers: Facts about Electronic Elections.
Essential Information for Those Entrusted with Making
Decisions about Election Systems in the United States,"
Second Edition, January 2005
http://www.VotersUnite.org/MB2.pdf

Bruce F. Cole:
"How To Fix a Broken Electoral System In Six Easy Steps,"
CommonDreams.org
November 19, 2004
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1119-29.htm

Ronnie Dugger:
"How They Could Steal the Election This Time,"
The Nation, Cover Story
August 16, 2004 issue
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040816&s=dugger

Teresa Hommel:
"Statement Against the Use of Money Allocated under the
Help America Vote Act for the Purchase of
Electronic Voting Systems for New York,"
October 18, 2004
http://www.wheresthepaper.org/NYCChearing10_18.htm

Stephanie Desmon:
"Md. Computer Testers Cast a Vote: Election Boxes Easy to Mess With,"
January 30, 2004
Sun (Maryland)
This test by former National Security Agency experts showed that Diebold DREs could be attacked by someone with a modem and a laptop; they could enter the database, change vote totals, and exit without a trace.
http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-te.md.machine30jan30,0,4050694.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

Pokey Anderson:
"Even a Remote Chance?"
Voters Unite
January 10, 2005
http://www.votersunite.org/info/evenaremotechance.htm

Chuck Herrin:
"How to Hack the Vote: the Short Version,"
http://www.chuckherrin.com/hackthevotedemo.htm

Chuck Herrin:
"Empathy Training for Compassionate Conservatives: Why the Democrats Are Still Whining About the Election (and Why Maybe We Should Be, Too),"
http://www.chuckherrin.com/ConservativeEmpathy.htm

Endorsement of Over 2000 Technologists
for a Voter-Verified Audit Trail
Verified Voting.org
http://www.verifiedvoting.org/endorse.php?in=1&etype=Technologists

Rick Dawson and Loni Smith McKown:
"Will Your Vote Count?"
WISH-TV Indianapolis - An I-Team 8 Investigation
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/category.asp?C=49590&nav=LymHKrIq
One notable portion of the series is:
"Excerpts from Interviews with MicroVote Executives"
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1647598&nav=0Ra7Jxq2

Lynn Landes:
"Voting Systems Organizations and Companies,"
Extensive Notes
http://www.ecotalk.org/VotingMachineCompanies.htm

Voters Unite.org:
"Malfunctions and Miscounts, Sorted by Vendor,"
http://www.votersunite.org/info/messupsbyvendor.asp

Bertell Ollman:
"Should The Left Ignore The 'Stolen Election,'"
January 26, 2005
ZNet
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=90&ItemID=7110


OHIO, NEW MEXICO, N.C., WASHINGTON STATE, THE NATION - 2004

EIRS:
"Election Incident Reports"
Over 40,000 reports for November 2004, including map of frequency
https://voteprotect.org/index.php?display=EIRMapNation&tab=ALL

Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman:
"Ten preliminary reasons why the Bush vote does not compute, and why Congress must investigate rather than certify the Electoral College,"
Free Press (Columbus, Ohio)
January 3, 2005
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1065

Michael Keefer:
"The Strange Death of American Democracy: Endgame in Ohio,"
Global Research
January 24, 2005
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/KEE501A.html

Daily Kos online community in response to Armando's Challenge:
"Eye on Ohio: The Informed Citizen's Guide to the 2004 Election,"
December 2004
http://hamburgsteak.sandwich.net/mirrors/EyeOnOhio

Congressman John Conyers' letter to
Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell
detailing 34 questions about the Ohio election
(which Blackwell has declined to answer),
December 2, 2004
http://www.bpac.info/pdfdocuments/blackwellltr12204.pdf

The Conyers Report:
"Preserving Democracy:
What Went Wrong in Ohio"
Status Report of the
House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff,
January 5, 2005
http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohiostatusrept1505.pdf

"Executive Summary of Conyers Report,
Preserving Democracy"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_05/010605Y.shtml

Warren Stewart:
"What Are They Hiding in New Mexico?"
National Ballot Integrity Project
January 19, 2005
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0501/S00152.htm

Joyce McCloy:
"North Carolina's Ballot Blues,"
Raleigh News and Observer
Nov 26, 2004
http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/story/1867424p-8200319c.html

Paul R. Lehto, J.D., and Jeffrey Hoffman, Ph.D.:
"Evidence of Election Irregularities in Snohomish County, Washington
General Election, 2004,"
http://www.votersunite.org/info/SnohomishElectionFraudInvestigation.pdf


EXIT POLLS

Josh Mitteldorf, PhD, Kathy Dopp, MS in mathematics,
Steven F. Freeman, PhD, Brian Joiner, PhD, Frank Stenger, PhD,
Richard G. Sheehan, PhD, Elizabeth Liddle, MA (UK), PhD candidate,
Paul F. Velleman, PhD, Victoria Lovegren, PhD, Campbell B. Read, PhD:
"Response to Edison/Mitofsky Election System 2004 Report,"
US Count Votes
http://www.uscountvotes.org/ucvAnalysis/US/USCountVotes_Re_Mitofsky-Edison.pdf


VOTER SUPPRESSION; VOTING WHILE BLACK

Greg Palast:
"1.9 million black votes didn't count in the 2000 presidential election.
It's not too hard to get your vote lost -- if some politicians want it to be lost,"
San Francisco Chronicle
June 20, 2004
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/06/20/ING2976LG61.DTL


THE 2002 MID-TERM ELECTION

Andrew Gumbel:
"All the President's Votes?"
October 13, 2003
Independent/UK
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1013-01.htm


ONE OF THE FIRST WARNING BELLS - 1988

Ronnie Dugger:
"Annals of Democracy -
Counting Votes,"
November 7, 1988 issue
The New Yorker Magazine
http://www.votefraud.org/ronnie_dugger_dangers_computerized_voting.htm


VISUAL


"Votergate,"
30-Minute video, free online, of voting anomalies, etc.
http://www.votergate.tv

US map of some of the 2004 election anomalies
http://www.votersunite.org/info/mapflyer2004.pdf

Ohio map of some of the 2004 election anomalies
http://www.votersunite.org/info/mapflyerohio2004.pdf

Peter Drekmeier and Amy Adams:
"Election Fraud 2004 SLIDE SHOW,"
December 29, 2004
http://www.electionfraud2004.org/

Billionaires for Bush:
"Block the Vote Heroes" Online Playing Cards
http://billionairesforbush.com/cards.php#4

[EFerrari]

14. I just found a site whose mere existence speaks volumes!

Not sure you can fold it in, but it's here:
http://www.notourpresident.net/

[kitkat65]

17. Try this page as well

http://www.chuckherrin.com/ConservativeEmpathy.htm

[helderheid]

19. 20 Amazing Facts About Voting in the USA

20 Amazing Facts About Voting in the USA


Did you know....
1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.

www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold

2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry. www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htm

www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers. www.americanfreepress.net/html/private_company.html

www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."

www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml
www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1647886

5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.

www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004/03/03_200.html


www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/031004Fitrakis/031004fitrakis.html

6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee.


www.blackboxvoting.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=26


www.blackboxvoting.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&s i d=26 www.hillnews.com/news/012903/hagel.aspx http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/000896.php

7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates. www.businessweek.com/2000/00_28/b3689130.htm http://theindependent.com/stories/052700/new_hagel27.html

8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes. www.essvote.com/HTML/about/about.html

www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters. www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm

www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/041020evotestates/pfindex.html

10. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.
www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
www.diebold.com/solutions/default.htm

11. Diebold is based in Ohio. www.diebold.com/aboutus/ataglance/default.htm

12. Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as senior managers and developers to help write the central compiler computer code that counted
50% of the votes in 30 states.
www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,61640,00.html
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/301469.shtml

13. Jeff Dean, Diebold's Senior Vice-President and senior programmer on Diebold's central compiler code, was convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree.
www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

14. Diebold Senior Vice-President Jeff Dean was convicted of planting back doors in his software and using a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of 2 years. www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

15. None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio. www.globalexchange.org/update/press/2638.html
www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/10/26/loc_elexoh.html

16. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee was able to do it. (See the movie here blackboxvoting.org/baxter/baxterVPR.mov .) http://wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,63298,00.html www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4874190

17. 30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable touch screen voting machines with no paper trail.

www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml

18. All - not some - but all the voting machine errors detected and reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates. www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65757,00.html



www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsO u t.htm www.rise4news.net/extravotes.html


www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=950


www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=950 www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0411/S00227.htm

19. The governor of the state of Florida, Jeb Bush, is the President's brother.

www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/7628725.htm

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10544-2004Oct29.html

20. Serious voting anomalies in Florida - again always favoring Bush - have been mathematically demonstrated and experts are recommending further investigation.



www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsO u t.htm



www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/policy/story/0,10801,97614,00.html www.americanfreepress.net/html/tens_of_thousands.html
www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1106-30.htm
www.consortiumnews.com/2004/110904.html
www.uscountvotes.org/

[Fly by night]

20. I have three handouts and a PowerPoint program.

If you PM me with your email address, I'll send them to you. The first is the "20 Amazing Facts About Voting..." piece, the second is all three of TruthIsAll's "Other Things You must Believe if You Believe Bush Won" pieces and the third is a one page handout of links to facts regarding the election theft. (The first two handouts each fit on the front and back of one page.)

The PowerPoint presentation is 20 slides long and is pretty self-explanatory. I'd be happy to walk you through it.

So just PM me with your other email address and I'll send these on to you. Good luck -- the more we get out there and discuss the election theft, the more we will help this snowball grow until it buries the White House of Cards.

[skids]

21. Don't forget the need for better exit polls.

One of Mitofski's excuses was that the exit polls "weren't meant to detect fraud." Not going to delve into the truth of that matter. However, the fact that the only nationwide exit polling that gets done is payed for by media companies that are not interested in monitoring the integrity of the election, just with collecting sound bites about what ethnic/religious subgroups did and the reasons people gave for voting is something that needs to be brought up.

We can't be confident of the election system unless an exit poll is run that has as part of its mission statement monitoring the accuracy of the vote count. Polls that don't do that should not be allowed to call themselves "exit polls".

Although there are lots of graphs of the discrepancy between the polls and the results, my favorite "sound bite" to get people thinking is this question from the exit polls, which is still posted this way on the CNN website (that is, these are the final "adjusted" results).



This would probably go well as an overhead where you cover the bottom and then expose it. You can couch the argument as "why some people might be suspicious" but really, it will be giving the audience something to be suspicious about themselves.

[Senator]

22. You might start with your "topic"

Few voters will ever have any confidence in elections if we continue to use only Euphemedia placation terms like "irregularities" to discuss them.

Hours-long poll-tax-lines for poor, minorities while none for affluent whites are not "irregular," they're illegal.

And this is not a partisan position, an allegation, or an opinion of any kind. In fact, it is the formal position of the US Gov't in the form of the US Comm. on Civil Rights; who made a legal finding in June 2001 that FL held an unlawful and racist election. 2004 was worse.

If I were you, I'd stay with globals like this. Even non-idiots have been well trained to avoid seeing the forest if they're shown even a single tree. Like this or that "fraud" allegation.

And since I'm trying to inject a few simple memes into all election related efforts, here's the Big 3 I think will "change the frame" to where we need it to be:

Using these themes will help you break down resistance and more quickly change minds. (We've seen it happen. You will too.)

1st - An election is a survey, not a contest.

Just like the census, an election tries to measure an objective reality: the will of the electorate. There's no reason (maybe cost) why we couldn't conduct them in the same way, with bonded agents going door-to-door collecting private ballots from voters.

The point(of view) being made(changed) is that an election is about the voters (not votes - ever). Candidates, campaigns, Parties, officials, equipment manufacturers, are all nearly-irrelevant. There is only one principle/interested-party/owner and that is the electorate as a whole.

2nd - It's the "ERRR," stupid!

Count every vote! -- ERRR!!! -- Count every vote! -- ERRR!!!

Forgive my stupid illustration, but see how easily we can be nudged away from our most powerful moral position and into their pre-gamed arena of discussing only vote-counts, ballots, chads, etc...

This is not simply a bolstering of the first meme (it may seem so, but only because your mind doesn't need changing). We must always speak of voters, and never votes, because unless we do such things as suppression become "separate issues." We can't allow this.

Victims of poll-tax-lines and "missing" registrations are voters. With the same right to be "surveyed" as everyone else.

3rd - Election manipulation is a capital crime.

(Ok, ok, stop screaming. The sentence can be commuted, all right?)

Yes, this is extreme. Even a bit loony. But it gets your attention, right? That's the power. That and the fact that it's a simple, completely moral proposal.

Election theft is far worse than cop-killing. Worse than 9/11 or any incident of terrorism. It is literally High Treason.

It undermines the only moral principle on which the nation was founded and continues (in theory) to rest. That gov't power can only be derived from the consent of the governed.

So what's so extreme? The truth is that we've been extremely lax in defending our most important of rights. We need to be "born again" as Fundamentalist Americans. That's the way to curb fascism.

------

[Peace Patriot]

23. Here's the whole thing: "To believe Bush won, you have to believe..."

Democratic Underground (TruthIsAll) "To believe Bush won, you have to believe…"

Part 1
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1316010

Part 2
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1358806

Part 3
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x197878

-------

Tell them a story. The story of Election Night. Everybody thinking Kerry was going to win. Bush wacko in the debates, an idiot. His approval ratings in the toilet. Huge Dem voter registration drive--beat the Repubs out 58% to 41% in new voter registration! Plus, Nader voters all defecting to Kerry. Then, huge turnout on Election Day--all the exit polls, all day, saying Kerry was winning. The TV networks then CHANGING THE EXIT POLLS--"adjusting" them to fit the "official tally." And where did that "official tally" come from? ...

...where, indeed?

-------

A really important point to make is not just that the Exit Polls show a Kerry win, but that the skew to Bush is very particularized, to the battleground states. That's why Ph.D.'s in statistics are putting their reputations on the line over this--the SKEW is impossible. Odds against it of 1 in 10 million--in the latest NINE PH.D.'s report (UScountvotes.org).

Another really important point is that IT'S NOT JUST THE EXIT POLLS. The Exit Polls just CORROBORATE all other sets of data--for instance, studies of paper vs. electronic voting. See:

Florida: 130,000 to 230,000 phantom votes for Bush--paper vs. electronic voting:
Dr. Michael Haut & UC Berkeley stats team: http://ucdata.berkeley.edu

and

Democratic Underground (ignatzmouse):
(North Carolina: absentee ballot vs. electronic, inexplicable 9% edge to Bush in electronic:)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x45003
(also at:) http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/11/12/233831/06

and the 9 Ph.D.'s in the UScountvotes report ALSO find electronic skew (it's in their report).

Combine all this with the fraud-friendly conditions in the new electronic voting system--deliberately created conditions--and you have, AT THE VERY LEAST, a supremely INVALID election, one that no one can trust.

-----

Again--context, story. Bush's approval ratings STILL in the toilet. Hovering around 50% since the election, dropping UNDER 50% to 48% (!) on Inauguration Day. Nearly 60% of Americans oppose the Iraq war, now, today. 63% oppose torture UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. It's just unprecedented for the a newly elected president to have so little support. These numbers confirm a stolen election.