Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Weekend 8/6-7/05

[Melissa G]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Weekend 8/6-7/05

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.

If you can:

1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.

2. Post stories using the "Election Fraud and Reform News Sources" listed here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x371233

3. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU, providing a link to the original thread with thanks to the Original Poster, too.

4. Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.



If you want to know how post "News Banners" or other images, go here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=371233#371391

Link to previous Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x387686

All previous daily threads are available here:
http://www.independentmediasource.com/DU_archives/du_2004erd_el_ref_fr_thr_calenders.htm





Please "Recommend" for the Greatest Page (it's the link just below).

[Melissa G]

1. Phony GOP 'Voting Rights' Group Delivers Onslaught of Disinfo Today!

Phony GOP 'Voting Rights' Group Delivers Onslaught of Disinfo Today!
'Non-Partisan' Republican Front Group, American Center for Voting Rights Releases Report, Six Press Releases Focusing on Democratic 'Election Fraud'
Massive Republican Voter Disenfranchisement Virtually Unmentioned, Phony Quotes by 'Democrat' Used in Releases

In a massive new attempt today to disinform the American Voting Public and sidetrack the true bi-partisan Election Reform movement in this country, the phony "voting rights" group -- calling themselves deceptively "American Center for Voting Rights" (ACVR) -- issued a new report today charging that Democrats were "Far More Involved In Voter Intimidation And Suppression In 2004."

Five different heavily Democratic-leaning cities were cited in each of six different Press Releases issued at once via US Newswire within the last hour as being amongst the "top Election Fraud Hotspots" in the country. The sixth Press Release was focused on pushing the ACVR propoganda claim: "Democrat Operatives Far More Involved In Voter Intimidation, Suppression In 2004".

The deceptively-self-described "non-partisan" ACVR, as previously exposed in a series of exclusive articles on The BRAD BLOG, is a Republican front group created by high-level GOP operatives expressly for the purpose of spreading disinformation to sidetrack the Election Reform movement in this country.

Both of ACVR's main players continue to be tied to the upper echelons of the GOP and are longtime Republican partisan operatives. Executive Director Mark F. "Thor" Hearne, has been a backroom player for years in the Missouri and national GOP parties and was most recently the National General Counsel for Bush/Cheney '04 Inc. Their Press Spokesman Jim Dyke was the RNC Communications Director during the 2004 election responsible for arranging to have operatives dress up in "Flipper" costumes at John Kerry election events.

Thanks to Carolab for the post and DU discussion
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x387856


http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001650.htm

[Melissa G]

2. California experience should prompt concern for Utah elections

Thanks to Helderheid for DU post and discussion
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x387222

Electronic Voting Machines: California experience should prompt concern for Utah elections

California, after extensive testing, has rejected as unreliable the type of voting machine that Utah has decided to use to comply with the Help America Vote Act.
That, by itself, is enough to cause concern, but what has us even more worried is that Utah election officials are unwilling to take seriously the report from the nation's most populous state that the failure rate for the Diebold electronic voting devices is about 10 percent. California's secretary of state said the expensive touch-screen system that includes a paper record experienced printer jams and screen freezes during a mock primary that was the most rigorous test yet of the Diebold system.
Diebold is "not good enough for the voters of California," said Bruce McPherson. Nevertheless, Utah's election division director, Michael Cragun, said he is confident the machines that arrive in Utah will be more reliable than those tested in California. "The decision has been made," Cragun said.
That kind of dogged refusal to consider new information could cost Utahns more than money. Diebold appears to have bugs the size of Buicks, and if they can't be worked out, they could end up casting doubt on the outcomes of Utah elections. "

<snip>

more

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_2909141

[Melissa G]

3. Fewer precincts doesn't help voters

Fewer precincts doesn't help voters
08/06/2005

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14988836&BRD=2703&PAG=461&dept_id=555110&rfi=6

OurPosition: Absentee ballots aren't the improvement system needs

For some Cass County voters, it is, unfortunately, already too late. Voters in Pottawattamie County have at least one more opportunity - on Aug. 15 - to let elected officials know their feelings regarding a proposed reduction in the number of polling sites in the county.

snip

The Cass County measure was introduced to save the county money as it seeks to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act passed by Congress in the wake of the 2000 presidential election, an election ultimately decided by the Supreme Court. The act requires that voting machines be available to handicapped voters, including the blind, and that the machines allow all voters the opportunity to review their ballot before its submission. The new machines are expected to add about $10,000 per precinct.

The rub is that in setting the rules and establishing a mandated time line for states and states' voting subdivisions to comply, Congress shortchanged American voters. Funding allocations to the states, which, in Iowa's case, dole out cash to counties, were inadequate to meet actual costs.

snip
The goal of the Help America Vote Act - enacting legislation that would ensure that every voter's choice counts - was clearly laudable, but the funding stream that accompanied it failed to account for the hardships that would be created in largely rural states with aging populations.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14988836&BRD=2703&PAG=461&dept_id=555110&rfi=6

[Melissa G]

4. Counties urge residents to test touch-screen voting

Counties urge residents to test touch-screen voting

Coming elections will use system

By Emma Ritch

The Sun News


Horry and Georgetown county residents will be able to test-drive new touch-screen voting machines in several locations along the Grand Strand before this fall's city elections.

The machines, which arrived early this year, will be in use at every S.C. voting location by June.

Elections will be held in several cities this year, including Aynor, Loris, North Myrtle Beach, Georgetown and Myrtle Beach. The city of Georgetown will hold Democratic primaries Tuesday.

Local election boards are making the machines available months in advance of the general election to speed up voting and eliminate confusion.

"They're very simple, but it's new technology, which is sometimes scary for people," Horry County spokeswoman Lisa Bourcier said. "So we wanted to make sure that people got a chance to play around with them."

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/local/12318387.htm

[Melissa G]

5. Clark hustling to ease concerns over voting machines

Clark hustling to ease concerns over voting machines


Saturday, August 6, 2005 5:28 PM CDT



JACKSON (AP) - The secretary of state's office says 20 counties have signed up to obtain the new touch-screen voting machine system.

No counties had opted out of the statewide program by Friday, said David Blount, spokesman for the secretary of state's office.

Counties have until Aug. 19 to notify the secretary of state's office of whether they will be part of state's purchase of about 5,000 voting machines from Diebold Election Systems.

As of Friday, the counties that have joined in the program were Alcorn, Amite, Attala, Choctaw, Clay, Covington, Itawamba, Kemper, Leake, Lincoln, Newton, Quitman, Smith, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tishomingo, Wayne, Webster, Winston and Yazoo.


Secretary of State Eric Clark has been hustling since June to sell the program, ease concerns some have about the company he selected and counter a public relations effort by rivals to sell their systems to the counties.

http://www.picayuneitem.com/articles/2005/08/06/news/10machines.txt

[MelissaB]

6. Bush campaign did well plugging into potential donors in Ohio

Bush campaign did well plugging into potential donors in Ohio

Sunday, August 07, 2005

President Bush relied on a network of well-connected supporters to tap their large Rolodexes for wealthy donors who potentially could make the maximum individual contribution of $2,000.

Those supporters who solicited, or bundled, checks totaling $100,000 for the campaign were named Bush "Pioneers;" those who brought in $200,000 were named "Rangers."

...snip

Toledo coin dealer Tom Noe's activities as a Bush Pioneer have landed him in trouble with federal authorities, who are investigating whether he illegally funneled money to the Bush campaign by reimbursing several people who contributed to the president, helping him achieve his elite fund-raising status. Noe also is at the center of a widening state investigation into whether he misappropriated millions from a $50 million state investment into rare coins and collectibles.

The Bush re-election campaign, citing Noe's investment troubles, pledged to give to charity $4,000 the amount equal to two contributions from Noe and his wife. The campaign has no plans at this time to return to the money he raised.


More: http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1123407182212321.xml&coll=2

[MelissaB]

7. Coin dealer raised chunk of change for Bush

Coin dealer raised chunk of change for Bush

Sunday, August 07, 2005
Mark Naymik
Plain Dealer Politics Writer

In 2003, Tom Noe collected something possibly more valuable to his coin and memorabilia business than a wooden nickel or LeBron James rookie card: checks for President Bush's re-election campaign.

Already a prodigious fund-raiser for Ohio's top Republicans and their causes, Noe solicited checks totaling at least $100,000 for the campaign, earning him the attention of the Bush team and entrée to a celebrated and elite network of fund-raisers, many of them millionaires.

A one-time chairman of the Lucas County Republican Party, Noe had long relied on his politics to help build his business.

For instance, here is how he described his chairmanship in 1993 court records: "Essentially, it was added credibility. And it also opens doors that I couldn't get into -- it would enhance my business."


More: http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1123407111212321.xml&coll=2

[MelissaB]

8. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney spoke at the Voting Rights Act Rally

Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney spoke at the Voting Rights Act Rally August 6th, along with other icons of the civil rights movement Saturday morning in the streets of Atlanta to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act and to build support for extending the law's protections.

“We are here to celebrate one of the most important pieces of fruit shaken down from America's tree of opportunity.

But what do you do when you have no more tree shakers and all your fruit is gone?

If we are to avoid the strange fruit of powerlessness, we have to pass the torch of leadership to a new generation of strong, uncompromising tree shakers.

We can no longer be satisfied with leaders, hand-picked for us, and not by us. Because it's that strange fruit that wrecks our dreams and kills our community.

More: http://www.thuglifearmy.com/news/?id=1765

[MelissaB]

9. Activists seek extension of ’65 voting rights law

Activists seek extension of ’65 voting rights law

Published Sunday, August 7, 2005

ATLANTA (AP) - Thousands of demonstrators streamed down Martin Luther King Jr. Drive chanting, singing and marching yesterday in support of extending the 40-year-old Voting Rights Act.

Organizers hope the "Keep the Vote Alive" march will pressure Congress and President George W. Bush to extend key provisions of the landmark law, which expires in 2007.

"Forty years later, we’re still marching for the right to vote," said U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who participated in the civil rights struggle that helped secure passage of the law in 1965.

"Don’t give up; don’t give in. Keep the faith; keep your eyes on the prize," he said.

Activists from across the country joined Lewis, NAACP President Bruce Gordon and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who heads the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, at yesterday’s demonstration.


More: http://www.columbiatribune.com/2005/Aug/20050807News030.asp

[MelissaB]

10. Former president (Clinton) blasts Georgia Voter ID law

Posted on Sun, Aug. 07, 2005

Former president blasts Georgia Voter ID law

Associated Press


ATLANTA - Former President Bill Clinton said a Georgia law that requires voters to show picture identification at the polls and wipes out other currently accepted forms of ID is "just wrong."

"They're cutting lots of folks out of that vote," said Clinton, a guest on the Rev. Jesse Jackson's syndicated radio show.

The bill eliminates 12 of the 17 forms of ID currently allowed, including Social Security cards, birth certificates and utility bills. Critics call it the most restrictive in the nation and fear it will unfairly impact the elderly, the poor and minorities.

The law's mostly Republican backers said it was aimed at preventing voter fraud, not hurting poor voters. They point out that state IDs would be given free to people who couldn't afford the fee.


More: http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/local/states/georgia/counties/houston_peach/12325970.htm

Discussion here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x387998

[MelissaB]

11. Clinton Blasts Ga. Voter ID Law

Clinton Blasts Ga. Voter ID Law

Provided By: The Associated Press
Last Modified: 8/7/2005 9:22:14 AM


ATLANTA (AP) -- Former President Bill Clinton called a Georgia law that requires voters to show picture I-D at the polls—quote -- “just wrong.”

Clinton, a guest on the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s syndicated radio show this morning, said the bill could cut people out of the vote.

...snip

The former president said the Georgia bill is a reminder that key provisions of the landmark Voting Rights Act should be extended beyond 2007, when some requirements are set to expire.

It is a sentiment that was echoed yesterday by more than 10,000 demonstrators who flocked to Atlanta to join a massive civil rights rally.

More: http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=67381

[MelissaB]

12. Marchers Celebrate Voting Rights Act in Atlanta

Marchers Celebrate Voting Rights Act in Atlanta

By Hamil R. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 6, 2005; 1:51 PM

ATLANTA, Aug. 6 -- Thousands of marchers joined many of the icons of the American civil rights movement Saturday morning as they walked through the streets of Atlanta to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act and to built support for extending protections from that bill.

"Keep Hope Alive, Extend the Voting Rights Act," chanted the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, one of the leaders of the march. He was joined by former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and the Rev. Joseph Lowery, the former president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and a close aide to slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., and a large group of prominent African American church leaders from across the country.

The landmark law, which is set to expire next year, helped transform U.S. politics and led to rising numbers of minorities elected to govern. But some conservatives have suggested that parts of the law are no longer necessary, especially the section that requires nine states, mainly in the South, to seek federal approval of voting rules changes. That section also mandates that states draw minority-controlled congressional districts if black and Hispanic voters dominate certain residential areas.

Some conservatives have also signaled that they hope to change a provision in the bill that requires election officials to assist immigrant voters who don't speak English by providing them with voting material in their native language. The provision, however, is not widely challenged because it benefits Asian Americans, Latinos, Armenians and others on both sides of the political divide.


More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/06/AR2005080600544.html

[MelissaB]

13. The ballot box

The ballot box

Sunday, August 07, 2005
This weekend marks the 40th anniversary of a moment that is both among the proudest in U.S. history and among the saddest. President Lyndon B. Johnson's signing of the Voting Rights Act opened the way to polling places for millions of black Americans. The lasting regret, of course, is that such federal action was even necessary.

But necessary it was. For almost a century, states of the old Confederacy used intimidation, poll taxes, literacy tests, "good character" rules and other devices to exclude African-Americans from polling places.

That changed in the 1960s as civil rights workers across the South -- suffering jailings and beatings, injuries and death -- put the issue before the nation's conscience. The Voting Rights Act, signed on Aug. 6, 1965, was a direct result. It gave federal authorities specific powers to break down barriers to voting.

There is no threat to the Voting Rights Act now, though the Internet is abuzz with talk of supposed schemes to undermine it. A few sections are due for renewal in 2007, but nothing indicates they won't be. And beneath the act is the 15th Amendment, the foundation guarantee of voting rights.

More: http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1123409897307640.xml&coll=6

[MelissaB]

14. Pictures from Voting Rights March

Thanks to cal04 here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4275763

[MelissaB]

15. Live blog by DU's own demodonkey

here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x387802#387809

More pictures for this thread from Cookie wookie here: http://www.gaforverifiedvoting.org/keep_vote_alive/rally.htm

[FogerRox]

16. NYT covers march in Atlanta

By SHAILA DEWAN
Published: August 7, 2005
ATLANTA, August 6 - Thousands of people marched down Martin Luther King Jr. Drive on Saturday to mark the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, in an event organized by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and attended by lawmakers and celebrities, including Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson and Harry Belafonte.

But the mood was more cautionary than celebratory, with speaker after speaker warning in a rally after the march that the law may not be renewed by Congress when some of its critical provisions expire in 2007.

Debate over the law's extension is already under way. Opponents argue that the provisions, put in place to correct Jim Crow-era discrimination, are no longer necessary, while others say that recent voting scandals show that, if anything, the law should be strengthened.

"We must be sure that every vote that is cast is a vote that's counted," said Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader.

DU thread-
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=388041&mesg_id=388041

rest of article-
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/07/national/07march.html

[MelissaB]

17. Audio: Thom Hartmann & Paul Lehto: Corporate Takeover of U.S. Elections

From a presentation by Thom Hartmann and Paul Lehto in Portland on July 16.
These are dynamite in terms of framing the issues of the corporate takeover of elections.

Thom Hartmann...about 33 minutes

www.PhilosopherSeed.org/realaudio/thartman.ram

www.PhilosopherSeed.org/mp3/thartman.mp3

Paul Lehto....about 32 minutes

www.PhilosopherSeed.org/realaudio/plehto.ram

www.PhilosopherSeed.org/mp3/plehto.mp3


Note they will both be presenters at the National Election Reform Conference in Portland Sept. 30, Oct. 1 and 2.
See www.oregonvrc.org


Thanks to Amaryllis here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x387824#388049