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For those of you that remembered I told you I was doing my own independent investigation into 2004 irregularities for my 9th grade composition class. Well I got a B on it and believe I deserve better, but anyways here it is, a summary of information found.
Also I used alot of work from others across the net and including from here on DU and especially from Will Pitt, Credit was given in my bibliography I assure you.....
"In an American Election, we must be confident that when the election results come in they reflect the will of the people; not the whim of mechanical error and human obstruction." There has been much controversy surrounding the legitimacy of the 2004 Presidential Election. After numerous investigations by independent investigators as well as the state and federal government, one must wonder the validity of its results. The past two Presidential Elections now have been hampered with allegations of fraud. The process we have used to elect our leaders for so long has now become subject to many errors, some mechanical, and some human obstruction in an attempt to flaw the American government.
It has now become clear that the electorate system in which we use to designate our Nations leaders has become flawed and failed. We send our troops into harms way and they are dying all over the world, for what reason? To bring democracy to the far corners of the world, yet we cannot even guarantee it here at home. Every citizen of this country who is registered to vote should be guaranteed that their vote matters, that their vote is counted, and that in the voting booth of their community, their vote has as much weight as the vote of any Senator, any Congressman, any President, or any other cabinet member.
SNIP-
It was 5 p.m. on Election Day 2004, and everything seemed to be going as planned. As expected the votes were pouring in and there seemed to be a decisive winner. In Florida, New Mexico and Ohio exit polls showed Democratic candidate John Kerry leading ( Electionfraud2004.org) In fact exit polls showed Kerry leading in nearly every battleground state, in many cases by sizable margins. In fact at 5pm on Election Day expert exit pollster John Zogby of Zogby International called all Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania in the Kerry column, initially predicting him as the 44th president of the United States. Then in key state after key state counts began showing very different numbers than the polls had predicated; and all of the differentials favored the George Bush. Since electronic voting machines do not produce paper trails exit polling is one of the only true ways to test the accuracy of the results. In the state of Florida the amount in which predicted that George Bush would receive, shifted up 4.9 %, in Ohio the pattern continued with Bush's margin shifting upwards of this time and even higher number of 6.9% as it did in Pennsylvania with an upwards shift of 6.5%. (Freeman) "The likelihood of any two of these statistical anomalies occurring together is on the order of one-in-a-million. The odds against all three occurring together are 250 million to one" as concluded by independent investigator and journalist Steve Freeman.
The numbers of mishaps that occurred on Nov 2, 2004 were absolutely astonishing. It was reported in many precincts around the country that it appeared that their vote had been switched from one candidate to the other, not surprisingly enough almost 100% of the switched votes favored Bush. In the essential state of Ohio there was an overwhelming amount of errors. In Gahanna, Ohio where only 638 ballots were casts, Bush received 4,258 votes, while Kerry received only 260. While in Carteret County, NC a single voting machine used to store 4,438 votes ran out of space, losing all processed votes. In a small Nebraska town an electronic voting machine recorded 10,000 extra votes, conveniently enough favoring Bush. It has been proven that Fewer voting machines were available in low-income precincts, creating long lines for the elderly an inconveniencing the working class. Some people never received their absentee ballots, yet in direct violation of The Help America Vote Act, Ohio Secretary of State, who also happens to be the co chair person for the Bush Cheney campaign, Kenneth Blackwell refused to issue provisional ballots to those claiming they never received their absentee ballot (Adams).
Those that had accurately register came to find that they had been removed from voter lists and had to fill out provisional ballots, of course not guaranteeing their vote would be counted. Some polling places were moved at the last minute, and voters were sent to the wrong polling places causing confusion and disruption, ultimately inconveniencing the Americans right to vote. Also a group of nearly 25 men calling themselves "Texas Strike Force" made intimidating phone calls to predominately Democratic and low income voters from a hotel across the street from the Ohio Republican headquarters in Franklin County, Ohio. A hotel worker reported hearing the caller threatening a likely voter that if he were to vote, he would be arrested by the FBI, conveniently enough the room in which these men were staying was paid for by none other than the Ohio Republican Party (Associated Press).
As the night progressed and reports of widespread irregularities and organized election fraud quietly came in, America watched in wait. Blue states turned red, and red states turned purple, pretty soon all eyes were locked on the deciding factor of this election, Ohio. The same state that just hours earlier Kerry was predicted to have won by almost 7 percentage points. Yet, the results that came in did not reflect the results of the exit polling. While thousands of particularly African American and low income Democratic voters lined the streets of Cuyahoga County, Ohio to cast their vote in their final attempt to take back America, major news networks began calling Ohio and the presidency for George W Bush. Yet even after major news networks deemed Bush the winner, thousands of disenfranchised minority voters stood in line to vote up until 3 am just to let their voice be heard (Drekmeier).
In the end after Ohio was called for Bush and Bush was called President, startling facts concerning the validity of the Election results began pouring in. After many weeks of researching I can confidently conclude there was a sufficient amount of obstruction, errors, and irregularities to overturn the results of the election. I have since found that the misallocation of voting machines led to unimaginable long lines and disenfranchised hundreds of thousand of predominately Democratic voters. I have found suspicious and illegal activity done by the Ohio Secretary of state Kenneth Blackwell, also the acting chairman for the Bush Cheney campaign. His decision to ban the use of provisional ballots to citizens requesting them because they did not receive their absentee ballots was no doubt illegal and as I said earlier, in direct violation of HAVA. (Solvig) Otherwise we have since learned of improper registration irregularities that disenfranchised nearly 10,000 voters of Cuyahoga County of their right to vote, yet in any other state in the country, the potential voter would have received a provisional ballot, nope not in Ohio. In addition 93,000 ballots have since spoiled because no vote for President was cast.
Along with this mounting list of irregularities, in Mahoning County, Ohio, it was found that 25 electronic voting machines switched an unknown number of Kerry votes to Bush votes. In Warren County, Ohio officials locked public observers from watching votes be counted due to an FBI warning citing that potential terror activity was suspected nearby, The FBI denies issuing such a warning. In Perry County, Ohio it was found that more votes were cast for Bush than voters in the entire county. Once again errors in Cuyahoga County, OH led to little known third party candidate receiving twenty times more votes than he should have, in a very reliable Democratic county. In Miami County, OH a voter turnout of 98.55% recorded and additional 19,000 votes for Bush after 100% of precincts had reported. In consistent with the errors in Cuyahoga County, nearly 9,000 provisional ballots were tossed out, the highest amount in the whole state, in the most reliable Democratic county (Harrison)
In the lead up to the 2004 presidential election most agreed that the determining factor would be the state of Ohio and its twenty electoral votes. Both the Democrat and Republican campaigns had spent a considerable amount of time, money and effort in a chance to swing the state. The day before the election Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry appeared to have the winning edge, within hours of the final poll in Ohio closing John Kerry was still ahead, this time by a much wider margin of about 7%. Yet in the end it was George W Bush that came out the victor, how does it all add up?
Through widespread irregularities, malfunction of machines, the overwhelming evidence of fraud, voter suppression, voter intimidation and official misconduct, I must conclude through my research that the workings of this last election should no doubt question its validity, but seek those at fault, mechanical or man, engineering or obstructed. It is vital that I uncover my findings to all of you because without doubt the foundation of our Democracy stands in question. A simple lesson may be drawn from this and that is that elections are imperfect and that the American electoral system does not work. It has become flawed and failed, troubled and terrorize, manipulated and mistook. Voting machines were distributed in uneven ways. In Democratic districts, it took people four, five, 11 hours to vote, while Republicans through in 10 minutes, same voting machines, same process, our America.
"Regardless of the outcome of this last Election, we know that we cannot be certain of the outcome as long as legitimate questions remain." Yet, in an American election, it is vital that every vote count, and that every vote be counted, but the outcome of an American election should not be conceived through protracted legal processes.
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