Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News WEDNESDAY, 9/21/05

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“What is finished is the idea that this great country is dedicated to the freedom and flourishing of every individual in it.
It's the individual that's finished.
It's the single, solitary human being that's finished.
It's every single one of you out there that's finished.
Because this is no longer a nation of independent individuals. It's a nation of some two-hundred-odd million transistorized, deodorized, whiter-than-white, steel-belted bodies, totally unnecessary as human beings and as replaceable as piston rods.
Well, the time has come to say, "Is 'de-humanization' such a bad word?" Because good or bad, that's what is so.
The whole world is becoming humanoid -- creatures that look human, but aren't. The whole world, not just us. We're just the most advanced country, so we're getting there first.
The whole world's people are becoming mass-produced, programmed, numbered, insensate things....”

Never forget the pursuit of Truth.
Only the deluded & complicit accept election results on blind faith.

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News WEDNESDAY, 9/21/05

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1. Free Press (Fitrakis & Wasserman) Nails It: Carter-Baker=Suppression

Here is ½ of the book ends. The Free Press of Ohio, the beacon of election fraud efforts at ground zero for 2004 has some things to say about the Carter Baker Commission Report. BTW, can someone tell me how Baker, who lead the Florida 2000 recount suppression effort got to be ½ of the commission. That should have tipped us off form the start.

Carter/Baker Report can't face how the GOP stole America's 2004 election & is rigging 2008

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1462

“Unless our electoral system gets a total top-to-bottom revamp by an informed public willing to deal with the systematic poisoning of American democracy, there is no reason to bother printing the ballots or plugging in the voting machines in 2008.
Carter/Baker Report can't face how the GOP stole America's 2004 election & is rigging
2008.”

by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
September 20, 2005

The stolen elections of 2000, 2002 and 2004 are nowhere to be found in the milquetoast Carter-Baker Report now passing for wisdom on America's broken electoral system.

And unless the public is ready to face the reality that we no longer live in a nation with credible elections, the 2008 balloting is all but over.

As investigative reporters and registered voters living in central Ohio, we witnessed firsthand the outright theft of the 2004 election. We also endured the unwillingness of the Democratic Party to face up to a carefully choreographed "do everything" strategy that gave the presidency to George W. Bush for a second time, and which could make all elections to come virtually moot.

The just-issued report of a special commission headed by former President Jimmy Carter and Bush family consigliore Jim Baker is of little real value.

The report warns that public confidence in the electoral system is disappearing. But it fails to point out the most obvious cause: in both 2000 and 2004, the presidency was stolen, and the Republican Party made a mockery of those who took the time and effort to vote. It did the same in Georgia in 2002, when it overrode the public will to install a Republican US Senator and Governor. The US Senate races that year in Minnesota and Colorado are also suspect, to say the least.

Much controversy surrounds the Carter-Baker report over its recommendation that photo IDs be required of all voters. This is the electoral equivalent of blaming the people of New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina (which, of course, this administration has essentially done).

A wide range of critics have pointed out that this requirement is racist and repressive. It is the equivalent of a poll tax and discriminates against people of color, the poor, the elderly, and civil libertarians who object on principle to a national identification card.

The report also recommends that officials who run elections should not be aggressive partisans. But the horse is already out of the barn on that one. Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004 were administered by co-chairs of the state Bush-Cheney campaigns. Secretaries of State Katherine Harris and J. Kenneth Blackwell were both extremely outspoken Republican advocates allegedly running non-partisan elections. It's now clear that their fraudulent, illegal vote fixing twice gave George W. Bush the White House.

Among the panel's 87 recommendations is also a warning that electronic voting machines must have verifiable paper trails. On paper this is important. But there are many ways to use electronic voting machines to steal elections, even with a paper trail, if the likes of Karl Rove and Dick Cheney are running the show.

In the most laughable Carter/Baker punch line, the commission warns that "had the margin of victory for the <2004> presidential contest been narrower, the lengthy dispute that followed the 2000 election could have been repeated."

In fact, in our own preliminary report, we have unearthed more than 180 bullet points dealing with exactly how the GOP did steal the presidency in Ohio. A "do everything" Republican assault on democracy used intimidation, fraud, vote theft, computer rigging, machine distribution manipulation, a fake Homeland security alert, trashing of provisional ballots, denial of a recount and dozens more "dirty tricks" to produce a 118,775 "official" margin for Bush that was an utter fiction.

Exit polls in nine swing states showed Kerry a clear winner as late as 12:21 am on election night. Nationwide exit polls showed him with a 1.5 million vote margin in the popular vote.

But somehow, against all statistical probability, Bush wound up with a popular vote victory of nearly 3.5 million. And somehow, against all statistical probability, he carried Ohio and three other states (Iowa, Nevada and New Mexico) where he had been the clear loser in the exit polls. Ohio alone was sufficient to give him a second term, just as Florida had been in 2000.

Such an outcome is beyond implausible -- unless you saw how the Rove-Blackwell machine stole the vote.

The tactics the GOP perfected in Ohio 2004 are now being honed for re-use in 2008. Neither Al Gore nor John Kerry nor the core of the Democratic Party has been willing to face the reality that elections in the United States are all but over. This latest wimp report from the Carter-Baker whitewash commission does no better.

Unless our electoral system gets a total top-to-bottom revamp by an informed public willing to deal with the systematic poisoning of American democracy, there is no reason to bother printing the ballots or plugging in the voting machines in 2008.

--
Harvey Wasserman & Bob Fitrakis are co-authors of HOW THE GOP STOLE AMERICA'S 2004 ELECTION & IS RIGGING 2008, now available in a special release at http://freepress.org and http://harveywasserman.com.


CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

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2. The NYT Says Voter ID Cards Will Suppress Poor & Minority Vote

Here’s the other ½ of the book end. The NYT points out that the voter ID card will suppress the vote. What more do we need to know than this to question the entire motivation of all involved, except the author of the dissenting report.

Denying Access to the Ballot

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/20/opinion/20tue2.html?oref=login


September 20, 2005
Denying Access to the Ballot

It has been clear since 2000 that the election system is in serious need of reform. But the commission led by James Baker III and former President Jimmy Carter has come up with a plan that is worse than no reform at all. Its good ideas are outweighed by one very bad idea: a voter identification requirement that would prevent large numbers of poor, black and elderly people from voting.

<snip>

But the bombshell recommendation is for the states to require voters to have drivers' licenses or a government-issued photo ID. That would not be a great burden for people who have drivers' licenses, but it would be for those who don't, and they are disproportionately poor, elderly or members of minorities. These voters would have to get special photo ID's and keep them updated. If they didn't have the ID's, their right to vote would be taken away. The commission recommends that the cards be free. But election administration is notoriously underfinanced, and it is not hard to imagine that states would charge for them. Georgia is already charging $20 and more for each of its state voter cards.

There is very little evidence of voters' claiming to be people they are not, and the commission admits that its members are divided about how big a problem it is.

<snip>

The disappointing report made public yesterday was not a complete surprise. There have been red flags waving around the commission for some time; Mr. Baker is remembered by many for his fierce fight to stop the counting of votes in Florida in 2000. There have also been complaints about the commission's process. Spencer Overton, a George Washington University law professor and commission member, complains that he was told he had to limit a dissent on complicated voting issues to just 250 words.

The purpose of election reform should not be making it harder to vote. We all have a duty to make our election system as good as it can be - and not to disenfranchise people in the name of reform.

CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

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3. The WH Reacts … Sort of…Scott McClellan Speaks

This was the only question about Carter Baker at the Press Conference. McClellan wishes every question had been this easy. There is no WH comimitment on the recommendations. They want to “study” it. Uh oh!

19 September 2005
White House Daily Briefing, September 19

http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2005&m=September&x=20050919161249xrsmada0.2391016&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html

Q: And also on voting rights, the Carter-Baker Commission. What's going on as far as the administration? We know that you're in support of voting rights items that are up for renewal. But I also understand the administration is looking at possibly tweaking --

MR. McCLELLAN: There is really not an update from what we've previously said. In terms of the reforms put forward by President Carter and Secretary Baker, the President appreciates their work. He received the report this morning in the Oval Office and thanked the two for their work, as well as the other members of the 21-member commission. And we will be reviewing it carefully. We want to make sure that we continue to move forward on steps to protect the integrity of the voting systems and things of that nature.


CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

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4. Why is the Carter Baker Commission Commenting on Primaries: NH Gets Nod to

New Hampshire is happy. They get to be the first election. The Republicans did a good job there with their illegal phone banking, etc. Even got prosecuted and convicted. A question that must be asked is, why is this commission recommending anything relating to primaries? That has nothing to do with the process of accessing the ballot booth, voting, and having those votes count in a free and fair election.

Commission backs Granite State’s first-in-nation primary

http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/09202005/news/63766.htm

September 20, 2005
By Shir Haberman
[e-mail]

PORTSMOUTH - A commission headed by former President Jimmy Carter and former White House Chief of Staff James Baker has recommended some sweeping changes to the way federal elections are conducted, but supported the role of New Hampshire as the first-in-the-nation primary state.

A report by the 21-member Commission on Federal Election Reform also confirmed that Iowa should remain as the first state in the nation to vote on presidential candidates via a caucus system, but was not as strong in making that recommendation.

"Most members of the commission accept that the first two states should remain Iowa and New Hampshire because they test the candidates by genuine ‘retail,’ door-to-door campaigning," the report released to the president on Monday stated. "A few other members of the commission would replace those states with others that are more representative of America’s diversity and would especially recommend a change from Iowa because it chooses the candidate by a public caucus rather than a secret ballot, a prerequisite of a democratic election."

<snip>

The real news associated with the commission’s report was that it recommends that, after New Hampshire and Iowa hold their contests, the remaining state primaries be lumped together into regional primaries, Splaine said.

<snip>

Source: Commission on Federal Election Reform report released Sept. 19.
CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

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5. NYT: New Primary System

Well, they really planned it out for us, miserable sheeple who can't organize their own political parties. This has nothing to do with voting rights or fair elections.

Panel Proposes New Calendar for

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/19/politics/19elect.html


September 19, 2005
Primaries
By DAVID E. ROSENBAUM

WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 - A private commission led by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III is proposing new steps to strengthen state election procedures and recommending that Congress require the political parties to hold four regional presidential primaries in election years rather than allowing states to hold primaries whenever they wish.

The bipartisan panel, called the Commission on Federal Election Reform, said it was responding to flaws in the system exposed by the elections of 2000 and 2004.

"We should have an electoral system," the commission declared, "where registering to vote is convenient, voting is efficient and pleasant, voting machines work properly, fraud is deterred and disputes are handled fairly and expeditiously."

<snip>

The new panel was organized by American University to address those problems. Its 21 members include politicians from both parties and others with election experience.

In the 2004 campaign, state primaries and caucuses were held earlier than ever, and the nominees were effectively chosen by March.

Everything happens so quickly nowadays in primary campaigns, the commission asserted, that "most Americans have no say in the selection of presidential nominees."

The commission said it was worthwhile for Iowa and New Hampshire to continue to vote first because "they test the candidates by genuine retail, door-to-door campaigning." But four regional contests afterward, the panel said, would "expand participation in the process" and "give voters the chance to closely evaluate the presidential candidates over a three- to four-month period."

If the parties do not change the primary and caucus system by 2008, the commission said, "Congress should legislate the change."

The idea of regional primaries has often been broached over the years but has never been adopted because states have been unwilling to surrender the freedom to have their primaries when they pleased.

CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

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8. Huffington Post Commentary on Primaries: Walter Shapiro

Huffington Poster On Primary Activity of CB Commission

Walter Shapiro: Primary Calendar Choler

Walter Shapiro Tue Sep 20, 1:07 AM ET

Sick puppy that I am, I was thrilled to discover that a high-minded presidential commission, led by Jimmy Carter and James Baker, cares about the schedule of presidential primaries for 2008. Just reading that prior sentence may tell you more than you need to know about my passions which, if this were the 19th century, might well have included Esperanto as a universal language.

Okay, I'm a hopeless goo-goo when it comes to improving the ways we nominate presidential candidates. Beginning with the 1996 campaign, the primaries and caucuses have all been clustered into a maddening blur after Iowa and New Hampshire. What this means is that most primary voters are effectively disenfranchised, since the rush to judgment causes any nomination fight to be ludicrously condensed. As the Carter-Baker Commission pointed out in its report issued Monday, "Less than 8 percent of the eligible electorate in 2004 cast ballots before the presidential nomination process was effectively over."

Before you sneer "So what?" think about this. In 2000, the fast-forward primary schedule drove John McCain from the race before he could test his maverick Republican appeal before a national audience.

Last time around, John Kerry was mostly nominated because he won Iowa and New Hampshire and was perceived as the de facto nominee. With the 2004 Democratic nomination race artificially foreshortened, the Bush campaign and its allies had plenty of time to target Kerry as a flipping-flopping windsurfer who probably bought his Vietnam medals on ebay.

<snip>

While the commission proposal is far from ideal (the winner of the first 13-state regional primary may well become the de facto nominee), it does preserve the sainted first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary and tries to give the voters (and candidates) a chance to catch their breath. Of course, reform in time for the 2008 campaign is as likely as a balanced Bush budget. The Democrats currently have their 733rd internal party committee examining the presidential nomination rules, but Chairman Howard Dean predicted to a New Hampshire audience recently that "there will be a little surgery, not major surgery." This continuation of a front-loaded calendar probably means that if Hillary Clinton can survive Iowa and New Hampshire then she's the 2008 nominee, regardless of the verdict of Democrats in the other 48 states.

For those who want to believe that Karl Rove is responsible for every indignity in the universe, including the lack of leg-room when flying coach, here's another example. The best plan ever devised for reforming the primaries was put together by former GOP Senator Bill Brock and approved overwhelmingly in 2000 by the rules committee of the Republican Party. The smallest states, from Maine to Hawaii, would hold primaries and caucuses in February. Slightly larger states like Oregon and Connecticut would control March. Then pretty big states (think Massachusetts and Minnesota) would vote in April. And then the behemoths of politics (California, Texas, New York) would choose a nominee from the remaining candidates in May.

The Brock plan was set to be approved by the 2000 Republican convention (with the Democrats likely to follow suit) when a few influential states like Ohio objected to be treated like the caboose. Not wanting to do anything to jeopardize GOP unity at Bush's convention, Rove worked behind the scenes to scuttle this sensible non-partisan proposal. So remember this historical nugget in 2008 when the presidential nomination fights in both parties end with an abruptly slamming door around Groundhog Day.

CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

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7. Congressman John Conyers, Jr., D, MI—Stop New Poll Tax

Congressman John Conyers Jr.

Join With Me in Fighting New Poll Tax Proposal

http://www.johnconyers.com/

I have spent my more than 40 years in public service fighting for voting rights and a better democracy. Today, I am sad to say, there are proposals being made that would set us back in that struggle. A privately funded, unaccountable Commission organized by former Bush-Cheney campaign lawyer James Baker, III, and former President Jimmy Carter issued a report today that includes policy proposals that will disenfranchise over ten percent of eligible voters – a national ID requirement to vote. I need your help to fight this 21st Century poll tax today.

The simple fact is that many minority and poor voters do not have the time, money or need to purchase a drivers license. In fact, over ten percent of eligible voters in the last election did not have a photo ID. They vote by presenting other means of identification (a voter registration card, utility bill, or affidavit). This Commission is now asking Congress to deny the franchise to those voters unless they get a national ID card. The Commission makes the implausible claim that, in these times of a multibillion dollar war in Iraq and multibillion dollar restoration of the Gulf Coast, the Congress will pay for ID cards for those who cannot afford to buy them. We know this is not going to happen.

Even if you are not among these vulnerable populations, this affects you. The institution of a National ID card has throughout our history been the tool of every despotic regime the world has known. This recommendation, coupled with the Commission’s recommendation of interoperable data bases of voters, is the first step toward data bases of American citizens.

Make no mistake about it, this national ID voting card is more of the same old Ken Blackwell-style Republican electoral dirty tricks, where Democratic voters are deliberately disenfranchised so that Republicans can win elections. Remember the lack of voting machines in Ohio for Democratic voters? Remember the machines that broke down or registered strange numbers of votes for George Bush or unknown third party candidates? Remember Ken Blackwell’s paper weight requirements for voter registration cards?

Imagine if the Republican Party can, in one fell swoop, legally prohibit more than ten percent of voters, most of them poor, minority and elderly voters, most of them Democratic voters, from being able to vote.

Please help me today. I have made the front page of my website into an action center on this issue. It will be constantly updated with actions you can take to help and up to the minute news on this issue. Thanks for your help and your continued stand for a better democracy.

CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

[GuvWurld]

9. Kicked/Nominated (eom)

[skids]

10. Diebold stock dives.

http://tools.thestreet.com/rmy/quotes.html?pg=intchart&symb=DBD&sid=1604&time=1dy&freq=5mi

http://news.morningstar.com/news/DJ/M09/D21/200509210913DOWJONESDJONLINE000555.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4837607&mesg_id=4837607

[texpatriot2004]

11. kick n/t

[Wilms]

12. Little Confidence in "Building Confidence"

Tuesday, September 20

Little Confidence in "Building Confidence"

The Carter-Baker Report "Building Confidence in U.S. Elections" has generated an enormous amount of attention since its release yesterday. My impression is that the response has been overwhelmingly critical, primarily as a result of its recommendation to require voters to show "REAL ID" if they wish to have their votes counted. Here's a summary of some of the opinion so far:

-snip/much more and links-

http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/blogs/tokaji/2005/09/little-confidence-in-building.html

[Wilms]

13. kick n/t