rid of these election theft machines--or get some minimal transparency--the fascists are holding onto these machines with teeth and talons. It's clear they can't win transparent elections. That's the good news--confirmation of what many of us have thought to be true. It's absurd and revealing what lengths they will go to, to defend these extremely hackable, insecure machines, "TRADE SECRET," PROPRIETARY programming code (outrageous!), no paper trail, partisan Bushite vendors, secret industry 'testing' of the machines, lavish lobbying, big money changing hands and what-all. They have installed an election theft SYSTEM--quite intentionally with HAVA, brought to you by the two biggest Bushite crooks in Congress, Tom Delay and Bob Ney. It seems SO WRONG not to have transparent elections. Why don't they want them? Well, it's obvious--and becoming apparent to more people every day. That's the good news.
The bad news is that it's not likely we will be rid of these machines this year. We will win this eventually--and restore our right to vote, and our sovereignty as a people, and our democracy--but it's probably going to be a long hard slog, county by county, state by state, possibly over several election cycles. Some things to consider:
1. We can overcome the fraud with huge turnouts. We need to go for something like a 10% margin of victory, just to win. That means kickass candidates with anti-war, anti-Bush, truthful and unabashedly progressive campaigns. And it means honesty about the election SYSTEM. Tell people what's happening. Involve them in overcoming the fraud. The fascists don't want to expose their election fraud system too much--it's too important to them--and I don't think it's so easy for them to tweak the Bushites' automatic advantage on election day, as the voting unfolds. I think it has to be pre-programmed--or at least that was the case in 2004. (That's why they had to do blatant, highly visible vote suppression in Ohio--in my view.) Again, we need to involve people in beating the fraud, and generate huge turnouts.
2. We need the Democratic Party to fund INDEPENDENT EXIT POLLS at least in all Congressional races. Very important. The war profiteering corporate news monopoly exit polling is NOT to be trusted! And it's the least our corrupt, malfeasant Party leadership can do--after letting Bushite corporations take over our election system with not a word of protest. (Are they insane?) Demand they do exit polls!
3. We need to take other measures ourselves--massive scale monitoring of election officials and returns; quick statistical monitoring, quick response and challenge; "parallel elections" if possible; widespread awareness; and building evidence. The 2004 theft (and especially the doctoring of the exit polls) caught many even smart people by surprise. Never again!
4. Think long term. This is not just one election we're talking about. This is our democracy that is on the line. I think I'll personally beat up on anybody who, after we largely lose the '06 elections (or make only modest gains), complains that we didn't "get our message right." It's mostly NOT a matter of message. It's NON-TRANSPARENT, BUSHITE-CONTROLLED VOTE TABULATION! If you want to get mad at Democratic leaders, get mad at them for THAT. For their lack of vigilance. For their corruption (some of them). For their ignorance. For their silence. For their fear. Make them change it!
5. It's a beautiful idea--democracy--that has held up for a long time. Now it's our turn to save it, and pass it along to the future. We will undoubtedly lose some battles along the way. '06 may be one of them. But history has chosen us for the work of restoring this democracy, beginning with restoring the American peoples' right to vote, and we cannot let ourselves fall prey to demoralization and disempowerment. We MUST restore our right to vote--the very mechanism of our sovereignty as a people--no matter how long it takes.
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Some resources:
www.votersunite.org (MythBreakers - easy primer on electronic voting--one of the myths is that HAVA requires electronic voting; it does not.)
www.verfiedvoting.org (great activist site)
www.UScountvotes.org (monitoring of '06 and '08 elections)
www.solarbus.org/election/index.shtml (fab compendium of all election info)
www.freepress.org (devoted to election reform)
www.TruthIsAll.net (analysis of the 2004 election)
Sign the petition (Russ Holt, HR 550, great bill-has 169 sponsors).
http://www.rushholt.com/petition.htmlwww.debrabowen.com (Calif Senator running for Sec of State to reform election system)
www.votepa.us (well-organized local group of citizen activists in Pennsylvania, where important legal issues are at stake, including state's rights over election systems)
Also of interest:
Bob Koehler (-- four recent election reform initiatives in Ohio, predicted to win by 60/40 votes, flipped over, on election day, into 60/40 LOSSES!--the biggest flipover we've seen yet; the election theft machines and their masters are now dictating election policy!)
www.tmsfeatures.com/tmsfeatures/subcategory.jsp?file=20051124ctnbk-a.txt&catid=1824&code=ctnbk
Amaryllis (Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia lavish lobbying of election officials - Beverly Hilton, Aug. '05)
www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x380340
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Throw Diebold and ES&S election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!
:think: :patriot: :woohoo: :patriot: :think:
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