The plot to rig the 2008 US election

[Echo In Light]

Johann Hari: The plot to rig the 2008 US election
http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/johann_hari/article3204034.ece

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MOONSHINE ELECTIONS – Part III: Collapse of the "Trust Me" model

In 2007, Black Box Voting embarked on a year-long investigative series examining elections in what we call the Moonshine territories – reputedly the most corrupt local governments in America. What we found has staggering implications for the design of American election systems as a whole. Our current system only works if we trust every human link in the chain. In this report we will knock the concept of trust-based elections out the window.

What follows begins with our examination of the "Trust Me" election model as it is implemented in locations like Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas. What we found in these locations quickly unravels into an indictment of faith-based elections in all 50 states.

The very core of the voting machine controversy is not paper trails or spot check procedures. The essence of whether an election system can be trusted is whether it allows the owners of the government, The People, to view the counting and the chain of custody. Votes counted in secret, and secret chain of custody can never work unless we change human nature itself.

http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/70968.html

[Red Zelda]

1. Trust me

there is no fair election in this mess of a country above the vote for local dog catcher.

[here_is_to_hope]

2. The last time I trusted a Zelda, I

..ended up living in a pond and eating flies....:hi:
I do not trust the system much but I do trust my dog catcher.

[Auntie Bush]

4. True...Maybe it's ridiculous for candidates to spend millions on an election when

all the Rethugs have to do is flip a switch and they get the results they want. Maybe that's why they've collected less money. The smart rich ones are in the know. Well...it's sounds good anyway.

[cali]

10. I vote with paper and pencil

and put the folded up ballot in a box. I've been a vote counter here. Most of the towns in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont vote in the same way.

[Red Zelda]

11. Oh, how I miss VT

[cali]

12. come back. n/t

[Wilms]

3. I'm perplexed.

A link to a Johann Hari story and snips and link to a Bev Harris tome.

I'm a bit slow today. What is the relationship?

[The River]

5. They Have to Have a Reasonable Cover Story

to explain why vote totals don't add up to the pre election polls.

Can anyone think of a plausible scenario where millions
of votes could be flipped and sound believable?

Could they claim a record turn out by Republicans
who came out just to vote against Hillary? (Plus all the
right of center Democrats who just couldn't vote for a woman)

Maybe the official spin will be to many closet racists (in both parties)
who just couldn't vote for a black for President?

An unlikely scenario at best but if we nominated DK could the media
claim America wasn't ready to move that far left?

What other scenarios could account for 3 - 4 - 5 or even 10 million votes
going republican?

[Echo In Light]

8. It'll be interesting to see the "cover story"

No doubt though that some version of a 'black man' and/or a 'woman' coupled with how "America just wasn't ready for a..." will play largely in the MSM scenario "instruction." And as usual, no matter the turn out, a vast majority of brainwashed Americans won't react or respond accordingly.

[riqster]

13. Close elections are key to effective fraud

As in the AZ contest referenced in this thread, a contest with an outcome that is far removed from the polls is hard to hack, at least if one expects to get away with it. a margin of 3-5% is very easy to fiddle, because it seems plausible. Anything above 8% is harder to sell.

Solution? GOTV, in a big way. And, to the extent that Dems are capable, Unity. Those two can overcome most hacks. We saw that in 2006.

[flashl]

6. Demonstration elections

Demonstration elections are "free elections" as a tool of public relations.

Elections have been used by the United States as an instrument of management in Third World client states since the turn of the century. The functions which they have served, however, have changed in accordance with the shifting demands placed upon the managers. The aim in holding such elections has always been to ensure 'stability'.

Now, the "demonstrations" are not limited to Third World client states.

[Swamp Rat]

7. Rigged elections = global problem

Who the HELL to we trust anymore?

[annabanana]

9. Please take a good look at what is happening in Arizona as we speak.

http://www.alternet.org/rights/69418/

Arizona Lawsuit a Crystal Ball Into 2008 Presidential Vote Count

Democrats and others say access to electronic voting records may prove fraud. But local officials say releasing the data will show hackers how to rig votes.

Whether Americans will be able to verify electronic vote counts in 2008's presidential election will vary from state to state, as underscored by a little-noticed lawsuit that goes to trial this week in Pima County, Ariz., where Tucson is located.

There, in a fast-growing region, the local Democratic Party is suing the Pima County Board of Supervisors -- including its three Democratic members -- to release the complete electronic records of a 2006 election that included a ballot question on raising taxes for a $2 billion transportation bond. The measure, favored by developers, won even though it lost in prior elections and was trailing in pre-election polls.

The county's Democratic Party and local election integrity activists believe pro-growth local officials may have tampered with the electronic vote count to win. They have sworn evidence a long-time county employee who tallies the electronic vote totals took home backup tapes of the 2006 vote and accessed those vote count files before the official election results were announced. It is seeking the complete electronic voting record to determine if vote count fraud occurred.

[flashl]

14. During 2004, using precinct level voting info revealed great

disparities between county results at the Ohio Sec. of Election website and the roll-up totals of county precincts. There were also differences between precinct roll-up totals to election results at the county level.

Armed with this information, the Ohio hearings did not reveal the extent of this known problem.

Sorry, I do not have an answer, but thought I would share.