Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Saturday 9/10/05

[MelissaB]

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

Link to previous Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x392935

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 after several posts have been added.

[MelissaB]

1. Conyers email about the 2004 Presidential election

Dear Friend:

After the 2004 Presidential election, you contacted my office concerning the number of problems surrounding the election, especially in the States of Ohio and Florida. The Committee’s email system was overwhelmed with letters relaying election-related problems and issues. Please accept my apologies for the long delay in responding to your email. My office has never before received such a large volume of correspondence and we have been working diligently to respond to the tens-of-thousands of concerned citizens who wrote to me.

I would like to update you on the election reform work that has been done since the last election. First, in December 2004, I convened a Democratic forum both here in Washington, DC and in Columbus, Ohio to hear first-hand accounts from voters. Second, my colleagues and I have written a number of letters to Ohio state election officials, the Department of Justice, the General Accountability Office, and several of the voting machine companies requesting information to uncover the extent of the voting problems. Third, my staff released a report, “What When Wrong in Ohio”, which was the basis for challenging the certification of the Ohio electors on January 6, 2005. On that day, I joined a number of my colleagues during this floor debate to voice the election concerns many of you shared with me, and to challenge the Congress to enact meaningful election reform so that our next election will be one all of our citizens can be proud of.

We have not yet completed our search for the truth in Ohio and in Florida, and we have just begun to fight for serious changes to the way we conduct federal elections. To that end, I am proud to have introduced, H.R. 533, the Voting Opportunity and Technology Enhancement Rights Act, (VOTER Act ) as a means to comprehensive election reform on a national level. This legislation mandates a voter verified paper ballot, allowing each voter to confirm their vote before their ballot is cast, and requires every state to establish a same day registration process, permitting any eligible citizen to register and participate in a federal election on election day. The VOTER Act also calls for increased protections of your civil rights, uniform standards for absentee and provisional voting, and early voting opportunities in all 50 states. Sponsored by Senator Chris Dodd on behalf of the Senate Democratic Leadership, the VOTER Act represents a renewed commitment to an electoral process that is both just and crystal clear.

While I look forward to fighting for these changes, the simple passage of Inauguration Day cannot make me forget the past. I continue to press both the Department of Justice and the Republican leadership to investigate Ohio voting irregularities and bring to justice those who would defraud the public of their most basic rights. My staff is continuing the investigation we began last November. “What Went Wrong in Ohio” was a status report. I expect to release a final report in several months. The election is over but election reform efforts will continue until we can ensure that every vote is and will be counted.

Election reform is one of the many issues facing the Judiciary Committee and our Nation. I’d like to communicate with you more regularly about some of these issues. If you would not like to receive these news updates, please unsubscribe.

Again, thank you for your email concerning the past election. I appreciate having the benefits of your views on this important issue.

Sincerely,

John Conyers, Jr.
Ranking Member
Judiciary Committee

[Stevepol]

13. Am I the only one disappointed that Conyers ignores AUDITS!!!!

We already have paper in most of our elections. Optical scanners use paper and the paper is there to check the validity of the machine count, but AUDITS ARE NEVER DONE BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT REQUIRED.

The key is to AUDIT EVERY ELECTION WHERE THE VOTES ARE COUNTED ON ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES.

Until that happens, we don't have a democracy. It's as clear and simple as that. You have to have transparency in the vote counting process in order to have a democracy.

[MelissaB]

2. The War on Errorism

Published on Saturday, September 10, 2005 by CommonDreams.org

The War on Errorism

by Blair Bobier

The Errorists have struck again. This time it was New Orleans; next time it could be your city.
Make no mistake about it: these insidious Errorists are deadly and determined to destroy the American way of life. They are the greatest threat to our nation’s survival.

Do not give the Errorists aid and comfort. Do not buy their lies and excuses. By no means should you vote for them.

George Bush is an Errorist. Dick Cheney and Karl Rove are, too.

...snip

Errorists are everywhere. You have to be very, very careful. They look like regular, law-abiding, patriotic American citizens. It’s easy to be fooled. John Kerry is an Errorist. Joe Biden, John McCain and Hillary Clinton? Errorists, all of them.

Errorists have infiltrated the media; they control what you read in the papers, what you watch on television. Remember that quirky election from last year? The one where the usually accurate exit polls were wrong for the first time in history? The one where all those electronic voting machines malfunctioned; lost some votes and unexplainably recorded more votes than voters? Not to worry, folks, nothing sinister at work here. It was all just an Error.

more: http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0910-24.htm

[MelissaB]

3. Elections officials warn paper is no better

Elections officials warn paper is no better

Agency says e-voting machine printouts still vulnerable to fraud
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER



Elections officials throughout California are waging 11th-hour opposition to using paper records for verifying electronic ballots, partly arguing that the printouts — as well as the electronicvoting machines themselves — are vulnerable to fraudulent programming.
Writing to the governor recently, the California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials suggested that fully computerized, touch-screen voting machines, known as Direct Electronic Recording devices, or DREs, should not be checked by recounts, the method used for all other voting technologies in the state.

For 40 years, California law has required elections officials to perform a manual tally of 1 percent of ballots in any election, to verify the accuracy of computerized vote totals.

As a paperless technology, touch screens until recently provided no record to count. But in the last two years, California and 25 other states have required all touch screens to print out a voter's choices, to be reviewed by the voter and presumably used in recounts. But elections officials say the printouts are jam-prone, create administrative nightmares and shouldn't be used. Rather, they say, touch screens have made California's manual recount law obsolete.

...snip

Unlike other voting methods, which record votes on paper ballots and count them by computer, touch-screen voting systems record and count votes, using software that no state or local official or member of the public can examine.


More: http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/localnews/ci_3017611

[MelissaB]

4. The Bush is Known by its Fruit

The Bush is Known by its Fruit
Evaluating Bush

by Carol Wolman

http://www.opednews.com

Luke 6: 43For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 44For every tree is known by his own fruit.

Let us look at the fruit of the Bush administration:

1) Global warming, ice caps and glaciers melting.

2) Monster storms like Katrina

3) Spreading of radioactive dust all over Iraq, Afghanistan, and into the atmosphere. This dust (from "depleted" uranium weaponry) injures DNA, and remains radioactive for 4.5 billion years.

4) Bankrupting the treasury of the United States.

5) Replacing this country's proud tradition of journalism with a propaganda machine.

6) Corrupting the voting process so that elections are no longer reliable.

7) Killing 100,000 Iraqis and 1900 American troops.

8) Gutting the US Bill of Rights.

9) Spreading an atmosphere of fear and hatred.

This, of course, is a very partial list.

What kind of Bush do we have here?

In the name of the Prince of Peace, Carol Wolman



http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Peacemakers_Bible_Study_2

Carol S. Wolman, MD is a psychiatrist in Northern California. A lifelong peace activist, she has written extensively on the psychology of our times. She is actively working to impeach Bush and Cheney, and invites you to print out a petition to Rep. John Conyers, asking him to proceed with formal impeachment proceedings at http://deependnews.com/memorandum.htm She also suggests you join or form a local group at http://impeachbush.meetup.com/

[MelissaB]

5. Requiem for a reactionary

Requiem for a reactionary

Published Sep 10, 2005 12:02 AM
It is a requirement of capitalist custom in the U.S. that when a Supreme Court justice dies, it is necessary for the entire establishment to genuflect, praise and admire them. It does not matter if he was a racist, misogynous reactionary, like William Rehnquist, or a liberal. Democrats and Republicans alike must fall in line. It is part of the ritual of engendering awe and veneration for the authority of the court.

In the case of Rehnquist, it is a stretch for liberals and moderates. Democrats must summon all the hypocrisy they are capable of for the occasion. After all, it was Rehnquist who stopped the vote recount in 2000 and basically appointed George W. Bush president.

Rehnquist began his career as a Republican operative in Arizona on the team of extreme right-wing militarist Barry Goldwater. He was a thug for the Goldwater machine, participating in Operation Eagle Eye at polling stations during the early 1960s. The goal was to intimidate and block African American and Latin@ voters.

...snip

Bush announced that he intends to appoint Rehnquist’s clerk and political protégé, John Roberts, to take over as Chief Justice. Roberts’ record is as clear as a bell. He is a right-winger all the way. He advised the Reagan administration to restrict the Voting Rights Act and has generally been dismissive of civil rights. He has opposed Roe v. Wade and referred to the “so-called right to privacy” upon which it is legally based. He has opposed family planning. He is opposed to the Endangered Species Act. He opposed protection of the environment against corporate degradation. He denied the right of workers to get disability for carpal tunnel syndrome. He upheld the Bush administration’s right to conduct torture at Guantanamo. And Roberts wants to open the door wide to allow religious teachings in schools and government institutions. And—he was a lawyer for Bush in 2000. At that moment mentor and protégé, Rehnquist and Roberts, worked in harmony to hand Bush a presidency that he had lost.


More: http://www.workers.org/2005/editorials/rehnquist-0915/

[MelissaB]

6. CA: Election paper-trail bill should be vetoed

Election paper-trail bill should be vetoed

ANY BALLOT-VERIFICATION SYSTEM MUST INCLUDE THE DISABLED

By Bruce McPherson


As California's secretary of state, I see my top priority as ensuring voter confidence and the integrity of each vote. State law requires that after an election, officials randomly select and manually recount 1 percent of the ballots cast, as a check against voting machine malfunction and fraud. At issue is how to gather the voting records used for verification.

A Mercury News editorial Aug. 31 endorsed a bill, SB 370, that would require the sample recounts to use the paper printouts generated by electronic voting machines.

This bill is flawed and should be vetoed by the governor. It creates major technical and legal flaws that must be resolved before becoming law.

My biggest objection in using the paper trail to check voting machine performance is that it denies many in the disabled community the ability to have the same level of confidence in the process that all other voters enjoy.

More: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/12599389.htm

[MelissaB]

7. Ohio: Election-reform challenge denied

Election-reform challenge denied
Issue of signature-collectors unresolved

By JIM PROVANCE
BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU


COLUMBUS — A three-judge panel yesterday threw out a challenge to a massive rewrite of Ohio election law headed for the Nov. 8 ballot, handing opponents their second judicial defeat.

But the question of whether state law permits ballot initiative efforts to use non-Ohioans to stand on street corners and ask registered voters to petition their government remains unresolved.

...snip

Ohio First, the religious non-profit that filed the challenge, said it will drop the court fight and concentrate instead on convincing voters to reject the four proposed constitutional amendments at the ballot.

Reform Ohio Now — a coalition of various Democrat factions, labor unions, environmental groups, and government watchdog organizations — has won certification of its petitions to place the amendments before voters. They would ask voters to:

• Take the process of redrawing congressional and state legislative districts after each U.S. Census out of the hands of elected partisan officials and give it to a panel on which no politician may sit.

• Strip the secretary of state of his election oversight authority and hand it to a new bipartisan elections board.

• Allow voters to cast absentee ballots up to 35 days before an election without having to state a reason.

• Overhaul campaign contribution limits.


More: http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050910/NEWS24/50910061/-1/NEWS

[MelissaB]

8. Ohio: Election reform issues to stay on ballot

(Well, this in new to me. Watch the spin.)

Election reform issues to stay on ballot

Saturday, September 10, 2005
Julie Carr Smyth
Plain Dealer Bureau
Columbus -- A quartet of sweeping reforms to Ohio's election process will remain on November's ballot, following a decision Friday by the 10th Ohio District Court of Appeals.

...snip

State Sen. Jeff Jacobson, representing Ohio First, said the group went to court only because of the tight time frame involved -- and does not intend to appeal.

He took Reform Ohio Now to task for the big donations it has accepted from several organizations -- including Common Cause and Public Interest Projects Inc. -- with financial ties to heiress Alida Messinger and the philanthropist George Soros, who has joined Cleveland insurance magnate Peter Lewis in opposing restrictive drug laws.

"These groups are connected to two things that have failed when they've been taken to Ohioans: John Kerry and drug legalization," Jacobson said. "This exposes RON for what it really is: a front group for wealthy, liberal special interests that have an agenda for Ohioans."


More: http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/112634515312791.xml&coll=2

[MelissaB]

9. Brunner 1st to announce candidacy in Ohio SOS race

Stonewall Democrat runs for Ohio secretary of state

by Eric Resnick

Cleveland--“You can’t referee the game while you’re wearing the jersey of one of the teams,” said Democrat Jennifer Brunner, announcing her candidacy to become Ohio’s next election chief.

Brunner assailed current Secretary of State Ken Blackwell for giving Issue 1 proponents every possible advantage to get the marriage ban on the ballot last year, then campaigning for its passage, and for giving George W. Bush advantage in the presidential race while serving as his campaign co-chair.

Nine hours after resigning from the Franklin County Common Pleas Court bench, Brunner launched her campaign at the Laborers Local 310 hall September 1 in Cleveland, the first stop of a 12‑city tour over five days.

Brunner is a member of the Stonewall Democrats of Central Ohio and has chosen its former president Jason Lansdale, who now lives in Cleveland, to be the campaign’s liaison to the LGBT community.


More: http://www.gaypeopleschronicle.com/stories05/september/0909056.htm

[FogerRox]

10. Restoring Election Integrity- by Rush Holt

Sep 09, 2005 -- 06:16:12 PM EST

I recently joined some of my colleagues and civil rights activists in commemorating the 40th anniversary of enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a watershed moment in American history. This commemoration served as an important reminder of the brave fights that citizens have conducted to obtain and protect their right to vote.
The sacrifices of voting rights activists over the past century - like my friend Representative John Lewis, and those who bravely registered black voters in the south in the 1960s, despite violent opposition - have paved the way for the enfranchisement that we all seek. The Voting Rights Act has made progress possible, but there is still more to be done.

Application of the Voting Rights Act faces challenges in the 21st century. The 2000 and 2004 presidential elections demonstrated that disenfranchisement, though legally abolished, still exists in practice. In order to preserve influence of the Voting Rights Act, key protections of which are scheduled to expire in 2007, we must address voting irregularities that occurred in recent elections.

I take it as one of my most important responsibilities to help foster and restore citizen faith in their representative government. In Congress, I try to conduct all of my activities with an eye towards this goal. That is why it is so important to protect the integrity of the vote, the primary right by which other rights are protected.

Dicussion-
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x392992

More-------

http://warrenreports.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/9/9/181612/7196

[GuvWurld]

11. 4th nomination - who's next? (eom)

[MelissaB]

12. Review: VIDEO: America's Illegitimate Election 2004

Never forget what happened on November 2nd, 2004... Here's a video to help...


We've updated the short video compiled by a few Velvet Revolutionaries from Democratic Underground.

It is our hope that this video may serve as the definitive record of what happened in American during the 2004 Presidential Election. It documents -- in a few short minutes -- how your American right to a free, fair and transparent electoral system has been taken from you by the cynical and un-democratic powers-that-be.

This sort of thing should never happen in the world's most important democracy. And yet -- again in 2004 -- it did. Enough is enough.

It's time for the people to take both our country and our democracy back. If you still have any questions about that, please take a look at this video:

Americans have died for the Right to Vote. November 2nd, 2004 will serve as a continuing reminder that we still have a long way to go in this country before every American has that right.

Please watch the video...And then pass this link...
http://www.VelvetRevolution.us#020505

...to everyone you know so they can remember (or learn) as well!

The mainstream media will not be doing it. Democracy in America is now up to you!

(Thanks to Dzika, Faye and all the patriotic and democracy-loving Velvet Revolutionaries of DemocraticUnderground.com for compiling this video to help us all remember!)

Video here: http://velvetrevolution.us/



Video here: http://velvetrevolution.us/

Scroll 2/3 down the page until you see the picture above.

[Melissa G]

14. NEWSWEEK Eye of the Political Storm

Thanks to Kerrygoddess for the post and DU discussion
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2079950

Eye of the Political Storm

A new NEWSWEEK poll suggests President Bush could become Katrina’s next casualty.
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Marcus Mabry
Newsweek

Updated: 1:31 p.m. ET Sept. 10, 2005
Sept. 10, 2005 - Hurricane Katrina claimed her first political casualty Friday. Michael Brown, the head of FEMA, the federal disaster readiness and response agency, was sidelined from the largest disaster relief project in the nation’s history. Brown was recalled to Washington by his boss, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. But a new NEWSWEEK Poll suggests the post-Katrina political storm may just be rising. And her ultimate casualty could be President George W. Bush.

In Katrina’s wake, the president’s popularity and job-approval ratings have dropped across the board. Only 38 percent of Americans approve of the way Bush is doing his job overall, a record-low for this president in the NEWSWEEK poll. (Fifty-five percent of Americans disapprove of his overall job performance.) And only 28 percent of Americans say they are “satisfied with the way things are going” in the country, down from 36 percent in August and 46 percent in December, after the president’s re-election. This is another record low and two points below the satisfaction level recorded immediately after the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal came to light. Fully two-thirds of Americans are not satisfied with the direction of the country.

But Katrina’s most costly impact could be a loss of faith in government generally, and the president, in particular. A majority of Americans (57 percent) say “government’s slow response to what happened in New Orleans” has made them lose confidence in government’s ability to deal with another major natural disaster. Forty-seven percent say it has made them lose confidence in the government’s ability to prevent another terrorist attack like 9/11, but 50 percent say is has not. (Note: our question asked about “government” in general, so we cannot say whether respondents meant state, local, federal or a combo of any of the three.)

More critical to President Bush—and the GOP’s future as the nation’s majority party: most Americans, 52 percent, say they do not trust the president “to make the right decisions during a domestic crisis” (45 percent do). The numbers are exactly the same when the subject is trust of the president to make the right decisions during an international crisis.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9280375/site/newsweek/site/newsweek/

[Melissa G]

15. State fires lawyer after story on Rove

State fires lawyer after story on Rove
Staff lawyer was quoted in article on Bush adviser's tax deductions.

Thanks to Sonias for the post and DU discussion
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=180x19812

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Saturday, September 10, 2005

A lawyer in the Texas secretary of state's office lost her job after she publicly cast doubt on presidential adviser Karl Rove's eligibility to vote in the state.

Scott Haywood, a spokesman for Secretary of State Roger Williams, confirmed to the Austin American-Statesman on Friday that lawyer Elizabeth Reyes no longer works in the elections division of Williams' agency.

Reyes told The Washington Post on Friday that she was fired Tuesday and told that she had violated the agency's press policy. A superior told her that the office was upset about the article in which her name appeared.

snip

Reyes told the Post in the Sept. 3 article that when someone registers to vote in a place where they don't actually live, the county prosecutor can come after them for voter fraud.

http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/auto/epaper/editions/saturday/metro_state_34227885032410aa00db.html

[Wilms]

16. kick n/t