Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News THURSDAY, 9/22/05

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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 THURSDAY, 9/22/05

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1. CA: Distinguished Legal Scholar Calls Voter ID “Partisan” and Wrong

Well, here’s the Christian Science Monitor, well respected paper that it is, showing the way through this guest column by Rochard Hasen of Loyola University Law School. Hasen calls the voter ID cards an “onerous” burden on the poor. I wonder how this passed by the “tin ear” of the Carter Baker Commission without comment. Maybe they think it’s just fine, maybe Carter’s bizarre logic that it’s “uniform” therefore “fair” prevailed, or maybe that’s what happens when you have a committee director who signed off on the famous 1998 letter to Clinton demanding an invasion of Iraq because you know who had WMD. This is a sad day. My former idol, Carter, has feet of clay.

Carter-Baker election reforms imperiled by its partisan voter ID mandate

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0922/p09s01-coop.html

September 22, 2005
By Richard L. Hasen

LOS ANGELES - The United States is in desperate need of serious election reform. We had an election meltdown in Florida in 2000, and a near-meltdown in Ohio in 2004 that was narrowly averted. Fortunately for the country, there were too many votes separating candidates Bush and Kerry in Ohio to make election litigation over the state's many problems worthwhile. Nonetheless, voter confidence in our election system is declining. And in the increasingly polarized US electorate, the possibility of another razor-thin presidential election ending up in court in 2008 is far from negligible. Indeed, the number of election cases in courts have more than doubled in the period since 2000 compared with the period right before 2000.

From this perspective, the National Commission on Federal Election Reform headed by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker looked perfect: a high profile, bipartisan effort to identify ways to fix America's decentralized, increasingly politicized, and under funded election system. Unfortunately, by taking sides in a fight over voter identification requirements, the Carter-Baker Commission squandered its political capital, perhaps even setting back the cause for reform. That is unfortunate for the country.

There is much good in the Carter-Baker report, issued Monday. Most important, the commission recommended a move toward nonpartisan election administration. (The US is one of the few democracies that use partisan election officials to run their elections.)

<snip>

But the commission blew it by taking a strong partisan position requiring voter identification at the polls. The recommendation is aimed at preventing voter fraud, but doesn't properly target that problem. Here is what we know: Some voter fraud (probably not much) occurs on the local level; some voters cast ballots twice, in two separate states; and the bulk of fraudulent voting appears to occur through absentee ballots. Requiring voter identification at the polls addresses only the first (and least significant) of these problems. In addition, voter IDs tied to drivers licenses (as the commission suggests) will place an onerous burden on the poor and those (especially the elderly) who lack driver's licenses.

<snip>

The commission compounded the problem with its voter ID endorsement by appearing to stifle dissent. It prevented commission member Spencer Overton from publishing a 597-word dissent, imposing a cap of 250 words. In response, Professor Overton has set up his own website (www.carterbakerdissent.com) to disseminate his important objections to both the voter identification recommendations of the commission and to the process by which the commission reached its decision.

If the Carter-Baker commission report is dismissed as a failure, and election reform issues are swept under the rug until 2008, it will be too late to fix problems in time to avert a potential election meltdown. Like dealing with hurricanes or earthquakes, advanced planning is the key to avoiding disaster.

• Richard L. Hasen is the William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles.

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

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2. TX: Words of Wisdom From Leesville Texas, a Great Read.

George Frasher has it exactly right: “If any, some or all of these recommendations bother you, don't lose sleep. The politicians will find methods to get their own way just as President Bush and Vice President Cheney did.” A fun read from an old salt.

From the Back Porch
Flaws in the elecoral process? You have to be kidding me
http://www.leesvilledailyleader.com/articles/2005/09/21/news/news7.txt

September 21, 2005
by George Frasher

<snip>

Reading that (the Carter Baker Report), I as reminded about a song from the musical Camelot in which the ideal situations of the make-believe place were spelled out. Sure, what the panel members are saying is true, but it does not take two important things into consideration. First, those elections are politics and politics are the actions of politicians. Second, politicians are individuals who are subject to the sins as are all people but have a greater opportunity to commit those sins than some others.

The Constitution really is quite incomplete in establishing the procedure. It only states that each state shall have electors in the Electoral College equal to the number of Representatives and Senators from that state. On the proper day those electors will first cast their votes for the President with the only restrictions being the person they vote for must be a native born citizen in good standing and be at least 35 years old.

After they have voted for president then they are to cast ballots for a Vice President with the requirements being the same as for president with one addition. The person they vote for is not to be a resident of the same state as the person they voted for as president. President Bush and Vice President Cheney even found a way around that. The day before George W. Bush announced that Dick Cheney would be his vice presidential running mate Mr. Cheney changed his voter registration from Texas where he had been a long-time resident back to his native state, Wyoming. And those two talk about strict adherence to the Constitution.

There is nothing said about how candidates are chosen thus no mention of primaries and/or caucuses. There is no mention as to how each state shall choose electors, or even a mention of voter registrations. The Constitution leaves those matters up to the states except for voter registration, which is left up to local jurisdiction. There is not even a mention of any involvement of political parties. In fact, no where in the Constitution is there any authorization for political parties.

The commission recommendations include the following. States, not local jurisdictions, should be in charge of voter registration. State registrations should be interconnected so that voters could be automatically removed from one state list when they register in another state. Voters should be required to present picture I.D. at the polls and states should provide free cards for voters who do not have drivers licenses.

<snip>

If any, some or all of these recommendations bother you, don't lose sleep. The politicians will find methods to get their own way just as President Bush and Vice President Cheney did.

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3. GA (via UNC paper): GA Voter ID Law Subject to Suit by Voting Rights Orgs

ACLU and others are filing suit against the Voter ID requirements set out by the Georgia legislature and implemented about five days later in a Georgia county election. There is evidence directly available from that event so this should be interesting. This comes at a time when the Carter Baker Commission is recommending a National Voter ID Card (with your SSN on it!). Thanks to the three Jims: Jim Baker, Jim Carter, Jim Crow.

Groups angered by voter ID law

http://www.dailytarheel.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/09/21/4330de6a9b488

BY KRISTIN PRATT
STAFF WRITER
September 21, 2005

Several voting rights organizations filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday against the state of Georgia, claiming that a recent House bill requiring citizens to present photo identification when they vote is unconstitutional at the state and federal level.

The requirement in Georgia that you have to have a photo ID is definitely regressive for a variety of reasons, said Daniel Levitas, Ira Glasser Racial Justice Fellow with the American Civil Liberties Unions voting rights project. It amounts to a modern day poll tax.

ACLU is providing legal counsel to the plaintiffs in the case.

Georgia officials contend that an official ID is not an onerous requirement.

<snip>

Georgia and Indiana are the only states with a photo ID regulation.

But if lawmakers follow the recommendations of an American University-organized commission, the practice could be implemented nationwide.

The Carter-Baker commission, headed by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, advised that for national elections, all citizens should present a photo ID.

The concern with the idea, voting rights advocates say, is that it could seriously disenfranchise poor, elderly and minority citizens.

It’s a wrong-headed proposal, a chilling effect on voter participation and access to the ballot, Levitas said.

Making the photo ID a requirement diminishes voting participation and further disenfranchises voters who already have difficulty participating, he added.

But the commission held that a photo ID requirement would enhance ballot integrity.

Elections are at the heart of our democracy, Carter said in the press release. The American people are losing confidence in the system, and they want electoral reform.

Levitas said the recommendation is a reversal from 2001, when a Carter-Ford commission found that requiring identification for voting would be discriminatory.

ACLU also takes issue with the possibility of a privacy invasion because the cards could include Social Security numbers, he said.

The Carter-Baker commission proposal is fraught with problems, including various complications that arise when you try to issue national ID cards in a nation where most forms of IDs are given locally.

George Frasher, an independent columnist, is a retired News-Leader editor and may be contacted at 337-238-3433, E-mail [e-mail].

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

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4. GA: Carter-Baker Commission Paper Trail Pushes Dems & Republicans to Act

Georgia is a state to watch. There is the 2002 double loss of Governor and Senate seats despite pre-election polls showing substantial leads for both Democrats. Then there is the strange case of Democratic Secretary of State Cox, who hated paper trails and wanted Wal-Mart like voting centers. Now, with the Carter-Baker Commission Report recommending a paper trail, Cox has changed her tune. The Republican candidate for Secretary of State immediately endorsed the paper trail recommendation. The “devil is in the details” but this is interesting. It shows the power verification has, even if the application is wanting in this instance.

Paper trail for e-votes back in play

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/0905/21papervote.html


By CARLOS CAMPOS, JAMES SALZER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/21/05

Georgians may soon get to see paper evidence of how they voted on electronic machines each election day.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle Tuesday endorsed the idea of providing voters with a paper trail confirming their choices. Among those agreeing was Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox, who had previously opposed the idea.

<snip>

Several respected computer security experts have suggested the machines' software can be tampered with to change the outcome of elections. Cox and others have argued that they have security measures in place to prevent such electronic chicanery. Still, academics and activists have suggested that paper receipts verifying a voter's choices would help ease some of that suspicion.

Cox, the state's top elections official, announced Tuesday that her office is working toward such a system.

Also Tuesday, Sen. Bill Stephens (R-Canton), a former Senate majority leader and a candidate next year to replace Cox when she gives up her office to run for governor, told reporters he will seek legislation to move Georgia toward paper receipts in 2006. Stephens' bill will probably be considered when legislators convene in January.

<snip>

A paper audit trail might work something like the system in Nevada, where Cox's staff has traveled to observe the process. There, voters cast a ballot by electronic touch screen on a machine similar to Georgia's. Before a voter presses "cast ballot," a paper receipt on a printer wheel appears under glass, listing the voter's choices — similar to purchases in a grocery store.

If the voter confirms that the choices on the electronic screen match those on the paper receipt, he presses a button and the receipt disappears into a small locked box. If the screen and receipt do not match, the voter can cancel the transaction and try again. Voters would not be allowed to leave the polling place with the receipt. Those receipts can then be counted in the event of a recount or close race.

Nevada runs random audits on its machines to make sure the machines and the paper receipts match.

<snip>

Cox, who pushed the statewide conversion to electronic voting in 2002, has long opposed retrofitting Georgia's 24,000 voting machines with a printer capable of producing paper evidence of a cast ballot. Last year, she said, "It really adds nothing to the system, the people who think it will don't understand the history of voter fraud we've had with paper."

<snip>

"No, she didn't flip-flop," Riggall said. "If she believed there is no way you'd ever want paper receipts, she wouldn't have had her staff investigating" systems to provide extra verification.

<snip>

Cox has been dogged in the past two years by a small but vocal group of activists opposed to electronic voting, including Forsyth County computer programmer Roxanne Jekot.

Jekot said Tuesday "it's about time" the state went to receipts. But she said the move isn't enough and that paper ballots should be counted as the official tally. "What good does it do to print paper if no one looks at the paper? We have never implemented a system that voters can trust."

<sinp>

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

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5. NJ: Republicans Claim 5000 Dead Democratic Voters, 11000 Doubles

This one bears watching. The Republicans announced a stunning charge that there were thousands of cases of “vote fraud.” Usually this means fraud by the individual who votes improperly. This mass fraud has been followed up with a lesser claim as indicated in this article. So far, the Republicans in this city have not provided the Board of Elections with their evidence. They’ve thrown down the gauntlet, so let’s see if they can produce. We will follow this.

Fraud charges need response

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050920/OPINION/509200307/1029/POLITICS

Published in the Asbury Park Press 09/20/05

Republican allegations of possible widespread voter fraud in New Jersey may or may not have merit. Attorney General Peter C. Harvey, who has been sitting on information provided him by the state Republican Committee since May, needs to find out — before the Nov. 8 election.

Republicans say their review of voter rolls in the 2004 elections found that nearly 11,000 people voted twice and nearly 5,000 ballots were cast under the names of people officially listed as deceased.

<snip>

"If the Republican Party conducted the investigation, it's safe to assume that the facts and figures are wrong and that the findings are suspect," Democratic State Committee spokesman Richard McGrath snidely remarked. "If an investigation is needed, it should be done the right way, not the Republican way."

Wilson said the state Republican Committee has only verified a handful of the names of duplicate or dead voters that emerged from its study. And he refused to provide any of the names to the county election boards or to the Asbury Park Press for independent verification. But he says he provided Harvey with thousands of instances in which double ballots were cast.

<snip>

"The attorney general has been loud and clear about his commitment to fair and lawful elections," Moore said. Good. Harvey can affirm that commitment by acting swiftly on the election fraud allegations.

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

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6. Nation: Reid, Dem Senate Leader Ready to Rumble

So why is this in the Election news thread. Because we want to encourage our leaders to fight back. I’ve been waiting for Reid to show his cards. Well, this is the cherished issue of the Republicans and he’s in fighting form. Lets lobby him in behalf of all the people for free and fair elections, a return to paper period! Go for the knock-out Harry!

Reid: Bush, roll back tax cuts
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Sep-20-Tue-2005/news/27236581.html

Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

By TONY BATT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON -- After returning from a trip to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada on Monday said he will not consider offsets in the federal budget to pay for damage caused by Hurricane Katrina until President Bush agrees to roll back tax cuts.

Congress already has approved $62.3 billion in relief funds this month, and Reid said he expects lawmakers to authorize more money this week.

"We're spending a lot of money in the Gulf," Reid said. "We have to do that, but is there anyone in the world that can justify $70 billion in tax cuts? I don't think so. So before I talk about offsets, let the president focus on that."

<snip>

Reid said he will not negotiate with Republicans who are seeking Democratic input in forming a joint select committee in Congress to investigate the disaster. Instead, Reid renewed his call for a probe by an independent commission.

Reid made his comments after briefly appearing at a hearing by the Democratic Policy Committee on rising gasoline prices.

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

[Wilms]

7. RawStory: Carter says Gore won 2000 election

9/22/05

Carter says Gore won 2000 election

John Byrne

Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter delivered a shocker at an American University panel in Washington Monday: RAW STORY has learned he told the crowd he was certain Al Gore won the 2000 presidential election.

There is "no doubt in my mind that Gore won the election," the erstwhile President declared, saying the 2000 election process "failed abysmally."

He also snubbed the Supreme Court for getting involved, saying it was "highly partisan."

-snip/more-

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Carter_says_Gore_won_2000_el_0922.html

ERD Thread:

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Other discussion threads:

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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4848471

[FogerRox]

8. Municipalities Must Choose Between DRE and Optical Scan Machines

Fights Ensue Over Voting Machine Selection
Municipalities Must Choose Between DRE and Optical Scan Machines

By Amanda Erickson
Spectator Staff Writer
September 22, 2005
As New York City gears up for the mayoral race on Nov. 8, the State and City Board of Elections are preparing for a much bigger challenge: figuring out what machines voters will use to cast their votes in the future.
While the state legislature’s “Help America Vote Act,” passed late in this session, provides federal funds for states to update their voting equipment once they develop a plan to implement the changes, it has left the major issue of what type of voting machines the city will buy.

Under the state’s new rules, each municipality, including the City, will be able to choose what type of machine to use. This choice has concerned several legislators and good government groups, who worry that not regulating machine choice will result in certain counties choosing less secure machines.

Barbara Bartoletti, executive director of the New York State League of Women Voters, is pushing the state to purchase optical scan machines, which require voters to fill out a paper ballot and then scan it into a machine, creating a verifiable paper trail.

http://www.columbiaspectator.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/09/22/43324d53bee23

GD thread--
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[Wilms]

9. kick n/t