GOP Dirty Election Tricks in Texas

[McCamy Taylor]

Something stinks in Houston.

On Aug. 27, all of the Democratic stronghold’s 10,000 voting machine were destroyed in a fire which is described as probably arson. Houston is the (huge) home city of Mayor Bill White who is giving Gov. Rick “Goodhair” Perry a run for his money this year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/us/politics/11voting.html?_r=1&ref=politics

Polls show that Perry and White are in a tight race. A Zogby poll from Sept 8 shows incumbent Perry leading White by only 3 points.

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/09/zogby-poll-shows-tight-gov-rac.html

That may be why Perry is up to his usual election year tricks. Recall that in 2006, the Teamsters, who supported Perry, declared a bus strike inside the city of Fort Worth, Texas a couple of days before the election. While other cities in Texas had huge turnouts on election day, Fort Worth’s voting that day was relatively slow----probably because the Democratic voters who relied on the city bus system to get to the polls had no transportation. The strike ended abruptly without any gains for employees immediately after the election.

If you pay attention to Texas news, you also know that Perry’s chief of staff Mike Toomey was caught trying to get a Green candidate on this fall’s ballot, presumably to either siphon off Democratic votes or (more likely) to allow election officials to shift some votes from White to the Green. The e-voting system in Texas is notorious for its inaccuracy.

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/07/no-candidates-an-island-but-pe.html

In another story, the Rick Perry campaign was paying the salary of a staffer, Stuart Moss at the same time he was getting Green candidates in the Texas ballot.

http://www.oaoa.com/articles/texas-50656-austin-connection.html

Back to the integrity of Texas elections. Just how bad is e-voting in Texas? Check this out:

http://texaspopulists.org/book/export/html/996

In 2009, state Democrats managed to derail plans for a Poll Tax in their state. By “poll tax” I refer, of course, to a strict voter ID law, of the kind that was ruled illegal in Georgia. Republicans vow to try again next year.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/06/14/2264586/voter-id-bill-to-re-emerge-as.html

Despite not having a poll tax, it looks like Perry will have an easy election, now that voters in White’s own city of Houston will have to scramble for election machines. Shades of Ohio, 2004.

[TBF]

1. White was a very popular mayor here in Houston -

Perry will do all he can to suppress the vote because he loses if Houston's votes are accurately counted.

[DFW]

2. Republican corruption in Texas voting?

What next? Water in the ocean?

[tanyev]

3. I was immediately suspicious of that fire.

I know a lot of people on DU thought it was great news that voting machines burned, but it makes me very suspicious that it happened in Houston, which should be delivering a ton of votes for Bill White.

[BolivarianHero]

4. The destroyed voting machines are an excellent metaphor for the Perry regime...

Like the one warehouse in which all the machines were stored, the Perry administration is a single point of monumental failure for Texas and its people.

[Toots]

5. Fuck the Teamsters

They built their new Union Hall in Houston with Scab labor because they said Union Labor was too expensive. They rallied behind Bush* against Kerry which led to America being driven to it's knees. Fuck the Teamsters and the Horse they rode in on..I will never support that Union ever again.

[formercia]

8. Teamsters=Mafia

been that way for a long time.

[defendandprotect]

19. But... let's make clear...that infiltration doesn't benefit the members, nor the union .....

it benefits elites --

[formercia]

24. Organized Crime steals from the members of the Union

and makes sweetheart deals with the Owners, and banksters for the money in the Pension Fund.

The rank and file members are victims.

It's not just the Teamsters either.

[defendandprotect]

25. And, as far as I'm aware, government has never moved to rid unions of Mafia ...????

Just another way to destroy the effectiveness of the unions --

thanks for the added info!!

Unfortunately, the rw propaganda on this doesn't provide for any clear thinking

about what's really going on -- just shortcircuits it!!

[formercia]

28. We can use Jimmy Hoffa as a case study.

We all know how that turned out.

If you even think of squealing and risking the elites' cash cow. you will be ratted out.

[defendandprotect]

29. Were you this smart to begin with . .. .

or were you compartmentalized and got smart later???

[formercia]

30. In 1970, I attended a meeting between Mafia and a member of Ronnie Raygun's inner circle.

It was about disposing of some of the US Strategic Stockpile and converting it for personal enrichment. At the time, I wasn't aware of the Mafia connection, but when I did, I got away from there as fast as I could.

There is a long-standing connection between The GOP and Organized Crime. The Dems aren't a bunch of Angels either, but the Right-Wing Reactionary elements in the USG are cozy with some very bad actors.

[defendandprotect]

31. Well, actually, I mean overall ....as foremercia.....

to be clearer . . . did you know what you were getting into when you joined CIA?

Or did you learn later?

. . . but Sarah McClellan, long time Washington, DC journalist -- and I think a native Texan?

And, one of the USHR's . . . simple name -- can't recall -- maybe Jack Clark???

They used to work hard to try to get that info out -- the idea of "suits" behind Mafia.

Once in a while, they'd getting some of that out on C-span ... long time ago!

Obviously, as with the Drug War, if law enforcement is doing its job, drugs don't move and

Mafia doesn't move and profit.

Operation Gladio where US government resurrected the MAFIA in Italy to keep right wing

government in place -- and left out -- another example of elite use.

Some say, we also encouraged Mafia in Russia since wall fell --



PS: Are you watching AMC's Rubicon by any chance?

[formercia]

34. My father was in the OSS in WWII

I grew up listening to stories. I never intended to apply for a job at CIA. They recruited me during the Iranian Hostage Crisis, otherwise I wouldn't be here talking with you now.
I discounted what was being said about the CIA, but, as I was drawn deeper and deeper into covert operations, I began to see the truth.

I rarely watch TV any more,the propaganda and manipulation is too wearing. I feel a lot less stressed even from not watching the News.

I just tend my garden and only tell the real secrets to my Kitteh, and she's not talking.

[defendandprotect]

39. Understand ....

There are long periods of time when I have withdraw from "news" and TV ...

Best wishes!!

[MikeMc]

35. Sergio Leone's Movie 'Once Upon a Time in America'

was fictional, but said this: post-Prohibition, the bootleggers had a ton of trucks with nothing to haul. Repug politicians got together with organized crime people and a union organizer nick-named Jimmy Clean Hands, and they bought the trucks cheaply, to form a national trucking syndicate with unionized drivers.

Our WASP power brokers (suits behind mafia) didn't create the groups (Italian, Irish, Jewish, Greek, etc.) that combined in the national organized crime organization, (the Luciano Costello Lansky Seigel org.) but the suits influenced the growth and direction of that org through murder, selective prosecutions, and joint business ventures conferred on favored crime factions.

Charles Nicoletti was a 'prestigious' hit man for Chicago, and he said publicly that he was quitting organized crime because 'the CIA was taking it over', after the joint CIA Mafia assassination operations started in the late '50s.

[defendandprotect]

40. Thanks . . .

Agree there seems to be some natural talent and inclination for some criminals --

Read some things Jack Ruby said about how he got involved - humorous -- but even he,

I don't think, expected to be murdering people. Once you're in, you're in for it all.

But those people with natural inclinations are always of interest to elites who need

jobs done. I think they're always watching for someone they might need -- I think

John Dean was an example of that -- had a questionable background. Think that's why

Nixon took an interest. Sometimes they also work for the "good guys" -- at least

sometimes. Remember reading that Bobby Kennedy had someone he went to for info on

the assassination of his brother immediately. Allegedly, after three days the guy

came back noting how violent the three days had been and saying it was a "very powerful

coup."

Used to talk with a lot of people when I was working in various campaigns -- everyone

is interesting -- especially Vietnam vets. But I remember a guy who was relating why

he wouldn't vote -- and he likened it all to the Royal Palace and its intrigues. And,

really, that's what it still is. Elites simply morphed into capitalists/corporatists,

but it's still the Palace and still about killing the King -- and as Jim Garrison said,

we're still all "Hamlet's" walking around and wondering.

[MikeMc]

44. Ruby - Dean - RFK - Vietnam

Do you mean how Ruby got involved in Dallas, or in organized crime? It seems like he had to be hapless, holding a gun in a station full of cops. But his nickname 'Sparky', from his Chicago 'union organizing' days, smells like one of our School Of the Americas alumni being nicknamed 'Commondante Blowtorch', for his Central American 'pro-democracy' efforts.

I think you're right, Nixon was always on the lookout for 'talent' like Dean. Dean was guilty of a lot of felonies, he just didn't want to be Watergate's Ruby, so he ratted a lot of other Executive Branch felons out. He isn't trustworthy, and didn't see the light, but he substantiated his accusations to save his own behind, and helped get rid of Nixon.

There were Dems in the Kennedy coalition that RFK could have gone to for info, people who were either connected to active organized crime types, or who were relatives of organized crime members that got legit power structure jobs post-WWII in the FBI, CIA, military intel. The Kennedys' organized crime crack-down targeted people that weren't political allies of Joe Kennedy. But the repugs could never connect John and Bobby's generation to any organized crime activity, unlike Nixon's completely mob tainted personal track record with Be Be Rebozo during WWII and afterward. I thought it was hilarious when the Kennedy brothers grabbed Carlos Marcello and deported him to Guatemala. And even though possibly representing the interests of some organized crime factions, the Kennedys opposed US military actions in Cuba and Vietnam, unlike mob-tainted repug politicians such as Poppy bush and Nixon.

I met a great homeless Viet vet when I was working an anti-repug leaflet distribution (Iran Contra stuff against Reagan and Bush in '88, U. Pitt campus). He was selling Bud Tall boys in the park to make some money. He told me that he opposed all social programs, even for starving US kids, because he 'could find enough food to feed himself 20 meals' in garbage cans between where we were standing and 3 blocks away, where a famous hot dog restaurant sells to Pitt students. He talked about seeing a roomful of starving Viet kids during the war, and tossing a sandwich in, saying 'the strongest one got it', in a matter-of-fact Social Darwinism. I still liked him. He wasn't hateful or angry, he did give one kid his food, and that was all he could do, and 20 years later he was picking through the trashcans for food himself. Politically he was totally wrong in my book, but at the same time, I had zero political power to help a homeless Viet vet like him.

About Garrison, two striking statements from his investigation: He gave a run-down on one suspicious individual named Guy Bannister, describing him as 'Ultra right-wing, Ex-FBI, 'ex'-Naval Intel, World Anti-Communist League member, White Citizens' Council -- I used to have lunch with him.' He also gave a statement about lunching with Dean Andrews, a lawyer who had represented Oswald in a military discharge suit, and who told the FBI that someone was trying to hire him to defend Oswald after the assassination -- 'We've been thick as molasses pie since law school.' We are currently getting this same kind of 'head-spinner' from Fox news, who is attacking the 'terrorist funder' of the 'ground zero' mosque, while the same funder is the second largest share-holder of Fox news.

The Stone movie 'JFK' strongly backed the Garrison investigation. In the movie, Stone and Garrison showed the Life magazine cover photo of Oswald posing with rifle and commie newspaper. It was a stone-age photo-shopped image that Garrison said convicted Oswald in the public's eye. The movie also showed Garrison playing video footage of the assassination from Zapruder, with Garrison remarking that Time had purchased the film and kept it from being shown. In both cases, Garrison is (ostensibly) indicting the Time-Life company for being involved with the assassination cover up. It should be noted that the movie 'JFK' was made and distributed by Time-Life-Warner.

[Dr.Phool]

42. Not to mention MacArthur, US Intel, and Yakuza in Japan.

To keep unions out of the Japanese economy, post WW2.

[olegramps]

10. Unfortunately, the Teamsters have discredited the union movement.

[Jakes Progress]

15. I've always believed this was by design.

Two hundred unions of hard-working, progressive, dedicated workers. One conservative backed, mafia driven, money-scamming union. Guess which one the people hear about?

[Snotcicles]

23. Here is some of that conservative backed Teamster crap you hear about.

My BA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSTpeOEuc4Q
We worked as hard as anybody to get Obama elected.

[defendandprotect]

20. The unions have been infiltrated to DESTROY them and the concept of unions ....

the highest we ever attained in unionization was 39% in America --

down to 7% or less now --

Think elites did that without help from Mafia?

Without an organized plan of attack and infiltration over decades?

[defendandprotect]

26. Looks more like the Teamsters have had their union stolen by organized crime ...!!

And, obviously, government must have been aware --

no one stepped in to rid the unions of Mafia???

Mafia are an elite tool -- Mafia exists and operates at the pleasure of elites -- !!

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Skink]

6. vote early.

Texas makes voting easy.

[defendandprotect]

21. Aren't ALL votes still counted by computer ... even early or "absentee"....???

[blogslut]

7. While the wee tricks by Perry concern me

I do not think this will be an easy election for Mr. Goodhair. The lean towards Bill White isn't entirely due to lower-income voters. Rick Perry has stayed too long at the fair and that, perhaps more than any other factor, is why Perry and White are virtually tied in most recent Texas polls. In 2006, even with dirty tricks and spoiler candidates, Chicken Rick barely squeaked by with 39% of the vote. Texans are tired of him.

[elehhhhna]

9. His Guardasil "mandate" and TransTexas Corridor Landgrab attempt

pissed off liberals AND conservatives.

He's blatantly on the take.

[Aaria]

11. The fire was a good start. There needs to be a HUGH push to get mail in ballots to everyone.

If there was a push for mail in voting our elections would be much more real. Right now they are a farce, look at NC senatorial race. Remember what Stalin said about voting.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

13. TX has serious fraud problem with mail ballots. ALL mail would increase it

google Texas + absentee ballot + fraud


Lots of vote buying, vote harvesting, and fraud.

Voting by mail opens the flood gates to voter coercion and vote buying and selling.

And I think you mean the SC (meaning South Carolina) senatorial race.

I'm in North Carolina and we didn't have an issue here, and not since 2005.

[defendandprotect]

27. Wait a minute . . . hasn't there always been questions of vote buying and selling?

That's even been portrayed in some of our American movies!

That takes workers on the streets finding some one --

or drunks knowing who to go to to sell their vote =

Finding citizens who will do "early" voting or "absentee" would seem a

bit more difficult than that --

Re "coercing" -- are gangs beating down doors of invalids and elderly knowing

they presumably don't go to polls? Threatening their families NOT to deliver a

legitimate mail in ballot?

Mailing address is one of the most legitimate ways to identify a voter --

that's why GOP used the "caging" scheme to try to discredit voters -- many of them

overseas at the time in Iraq!

[Aaria]

32. Mail in ballots give you a paper trail.Vote will always get bought off. flipping a switch

and flipping the whole election is better. And with the race in NC too many faulty machines reported and the 65-35 for Greene was reversed when the mail in ballots were counted. To Hell with all the machines count the mail in ballots by hand.

[defendandprotect]

33. Agree --

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

37. Greene contest was in South Carolina, NOT North Carolina!

They are two different states.

Alvin Green ran for the democratic nomination in SOUTH Carolina.

I live in North Carolina, we passed a paper ballot law in 2005.

[Aaria]

43. My mistake, thank you.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

38. Vote By Mail Problems in the News

Vote By Mail Problems in the News
permanent link here http://votingnews.blogspot.com/p/vote-by-mail-problems-in-news.html

There are voters who need to be able to vote by mail. The option should but should be utilized carefully. If you can vote in person, you do have a better chance of having your vote cast and counted.

What could possibly go wrong with absentee by mail voting? Voters disenfranchised by clerical or technical issues, wrong postage, delivery issues such, fraud, vote buying; vote selling. Recently 1 in 10 Minnesota absentee ballots were rejected recently because of technical issues. 4,000 Lee County Florida voters may be disenfranchised because a mail sorting system failure. 12,500 mail ballots in Riverside CA were received past the deadline because of communication failure btwn election officials and post office. Fraud is easier to commit with absentee ballots as seen in Bell, CA.
Here are some news and commentary articles from this past year about problems that can arise with absentee by mail voting.

National Commentary

Chapter 5 — Lies, Damn Lies, And Mail In Elections
http://www.ejfi.org/Voting/Voting-77.htm
Dr. Charles Corry You can have an honest election, or you can have a mail in/absentee ballot election, but you can't have both at the same time.


Why 'Vote-by-Mail' Elections are a Terrible Idea for Democracy
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6003
Many are unaware that their mailed-in ballots will be scanned by the same error-prone, easily manipulated optical-scan machines which handle paper ballots for precinct-based voting. But even worse, ballots mailed in, if they arrive safely, and are counted at all, are usually counted "in the dark," versus ballots scanned either at the polls on Election Day, or at county headquarters after the close of polls when citizens are often there to watch.

Vote-by-Mail Doesn't Deliver
Michael Slater and Teresa James, Project Vote http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/06/29/votebymail_doesnt_deliver.php
VBM reinforces the stratification of the electorate; it’s more amenable to both fraud and manipulation than voting at polling places; and it depends too much on the reliability of the U.S. Postal Service.

Americans deserve an equal opportunity to participate in democracy; vote by mail doesn’t deliver that.

BY STATE, in 2010

AL: Hale County officials worry voter fraud is back
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20100528/NEWS/
100529584/1007/news?p=1&tc=pg http://is.gd/ctHNb
05/28/2010 Faye Cochran, head of the Hale County Board of Registrars, said many of those casting absentee ballots got help from a man convicted of voter fraud in 1998 and a woman now awaiting trial on voter fraud charges.

AR: Only ‘minor problems’ in election, officials say* (central count/M650) http://thecabin.net/news/local/2010-05-19/only-%E2%80%98minor-problems%E2%80%99-election-officials-say 05/19/2010 ...Faulkner County ...
Twenty-one of the absentee ballots were set aside due to discrepancies, which included missing or mismatched signatures. These will be reviewed by the commission Wednesday.


AZ: Voters need assurance of fair elections * (March election in Yuma County) http://www.yumasun.com/opinion/election-60930-ballots-news.html
05/13/2010 The 10 percent rejection rate for early ballots due to signature problems is much higher than other parts of the state,

CA: Bungled ballots imperil election * http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/Bungled-ballots-imperil-election-94227469.html
05/18/2010 A blunder has left thousands of San Francisco voters holding the wrong mail-in ballot for the June 8 election, in which pivotal primaries for statewide offices are at stake, along with the outcomes of local and state propositions.
...
Last week, K&H Integrated Print Solutions, based in Everett, Wash., mailed out ballots with the wrong names to at least 1,000 voters
...
In addition, the company sent out duplicate ballots to 1,317 absentee voters
...
Arntz said they are working to contact voters...

CA: Vote-by-mail misprint in San Fernando Valley * (Los Angeles County) http://www.glendalenewspress.com/articles/2010/05/18/politics/gnp-ballots051910.txt
May 18, 2010...election officials on Tuesday acknowledged sending vote-by-mail guides to as many as 1,100 Democrats that erroneously listed candidates for the 43rd Assembly District in the same space as votes for or against a controversial parcel tax

CA: Thousands of mailed ballots too late to be counted in California * http://www.sacbee.com/2010/06/15/2822821/thousands-of-vote-by-mail-ballots.html
06/15/2010 (Late by county breakdown)


CA: Verifying vote-by-mail ballots is vital but time-consuming
http://www.mydesert.com/article/20100615/OPINION02/6140335/Verifying-vote-by-mail-ballots-is-vital-but-time-consuming 06/15/2010 As of Friday, more than 50 of the state's 58 county elections offices had more than 1 million ballots combined still to verify

CA: More mail-in votes counted, election results largely unchanged
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/elections/ci_1529872006/15/2010 Santa Cruz. At least 11,000 ballots still need to be counted, County Clerk Gail Pellerin reported Monday. The county has until July 6 to report official results, and elections officials don't expect to update the tally until closer to that deadline.

CA: Miscommunication with post office cited for 12,500 late ballots *
http://www.pe.com/politics/gang/stories/PE_News_Local_D_ballots15.246469b.html06/14/2010 A miscommunication between Riverside County and the U.S. Postal Service may have led to as many as 12,500 ballots arriving too late to be legally counted, officials said Monday.

CA: Registrar's resignation sought over vote-counting delay (Riverside) http://www.inlandnewstoday.com/story.php?s=14704
06/15/2010 Forty-three percent of the votes cast in the election remained to be counted the day after the election. Most were vote-by-mail ballots that voters put in the mail the prior weekend. 20,000 were ‘quarantined’ and not counted because they failed to reach the county election headquarters by the time the polls closed Tuesday evening.

CA: Bill seeks to redefine vote-by-mail deadline
http://www.inlandnewstoday.com/story.php?s=14919
06/02/2010 RIVERSIDE – Assemblyman Bruce Nestande wants to correct the ‘wrong’ over the 12,500 vote-by-mail ballots that were not counted in the June 8th election.

Nestande has submitted a bill that would require future ballots postmarked on Election Day to be tabulated before the final election results are certified.


CA: County to purchase better election devices (Riverside County)
07/16/2010 County supervisors authorize equipment to avoid future election gaffes http://www.myvalleynews.com/story/49444/ "Sixty-two percent of ballots cast in this election were by mail. That has a whole lot of implications," Supervisor John Benoit said during a 90-minute hearing on an Executive Office report detailing what went wrong during and after that election.

"It takes seven steps (to process) every single vote-by-mail ballot," said Benoit, who represents desert communities on the five-member board..


CA: Residents in troubled SoCal city allege vote fraud * (absentee ballot) http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_15689668
08/05/2010 Some residents of Bell say city officials asked them to fill out absentee ballots which city council members said they would submit on the voters' behalf, according to a Los Angeles Times report published Thursday

CA: L.A. County D.A. expands probe into Bell government* (absentee ballot) http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/28/local/la-me-bell-elections-20100728 07/28/2010 Investigators are looking into allegations of voter fraud and conflicts of interest, as well as the $100,000 salaries paid to four council members. The D.A. says several elections are targeted.
...
Sources with knowledge of the investigation said that among the subjects that prosecutors are looking at is the use of absentee ballots during the March 2009 City Council election...

CA: Former Bell police officer alleges serious voting irregularities in 2009 election* http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/07/former-bell-cop-alleges-serious-voting-irregularities-in-2009-election.html 07/27/2010 A retired Bell police sergeant claimed in a lawsuit filed this week that off-duty Bell police officers in the 2009 election distributed absentee ballots to voters and told them which candidates to select.

The allegations are contained in a lawsuit filed by James Corcoran, who says he was forced out of his job for informing authorities about the officers' actions as well as for a variety of other actions that he says top city leaders did not like

CA: DA investigates allegations of voter fraud in Montebello
http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_14438007#ixzz0gJIxeN7n
also at http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Vote_fraud_in_California#cite_note-3
02/19/2010 "I actually went to someone's door regarding an absentee voter and I learned the person hadn't lived there for two years," Veneziano said. "It seems like there is a lot of voter fraud concerning absentee ballots."

CO: Guest opinion: Keep Colorado's voting integrity http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_14680272#axzz0iMCdFUqO
03/16/2010 As County Clerks and Recorders around the state work to garner support for all-mail ballot elections, it is worth reviewing the vulnerabilities of this method of voting and how voting by mail weakens the integrity of our elections.

CO: Ballot TRACE glitch sends Denver voters wrong message* http://www.denverpost.com/election2010/ci_15582318
On Wednesday night, a glitch caused the wrong message to go out to 177 of the 233 people signed up. Somehow, data were transposed in the system, which caused the wrong messages
to go out, said Denver Election Commission spokesman Alton Dillard.

CO: Vote early and...not at all? Ballot TRACE glitch has some worried * http://www.examiner.com/x-41664-Denver-Top-News-Examiner~y2010m7d22-Voter-early-andnot-at-all-Ballot-TRACE-glitch-has-some-worried

CO: Uh-oh, technical glitch baffles Denver voters * http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=144870&catid=188 That "hiccup" sent emails to approximately 170 voters telling them that their completed ballots had already been received by the Post Office despite the fact that those voters had yet to receive the actual ballots personally.
CO: Be mindful when voting
http://bit.ly/8YiJNY
If a citizen receives a mail ballot, he or she must use that ballot to vote

CT. Absentee Ballots Can Be Decisive – yet Unaudited
September 24, 2009 Story in ConnPost, Primary loser declines to challenge absentees...As we and others have pointed out, there are many issues and risks with any type of mail-in voting, including absentee voting. http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2419

FL: Ballot blunder could keep votes from counting; envelope design to blame* http://www.winknews.com/Local-Florida/2010-08-11/Ballot-blunder-could-keep-votes-from-counting It could be happening across Lee County. Over 40,000 absentee ballots were requested, and all sent out with the same faulty return envelope design. Lee County Elections officials are working with USPS on the problem. Still, the ballot blunder is a sorespot for many, who are trying to make their vote count in the upcoming election.

FL: Absentee ballots returned to sender * (Lee Co)
Votes boomerang thanks to automatic sorters http://www.news-press.com/article/20100811/NEWS0107/8110373/1075/Absentee-ballots-returned-to-sender Turns out a design flaw in the envelopes causes post office machines to scan a voter's return address instead of the destination address

FL. Editorial: The votes are in the mail
http://www.pnj.com/article/20090924/OPINION/909240309/1006/NEWS01
September 24 Given the choice between a mail election and a special election that asks voters to go to the polls to decide on the proposed new Pensacola city charter, voting by mail is more likely to draw a higher turnout, which is needed on such a crucial decision...The City Council's committee of the whole approval of a mail ballot makes sense...But there are drawbacks.
Voting by mail is vulnerable to fraud. No one can know for sure who is filling out a mail ballot.

FL. Early voting reshapes campaigning in St. Petersburg elections
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/early-voting-reshapes-campaigning-in-st-petersburg-elections/1040813 October 4. The growing numbers of people voting by mail has changed the strategies and timing of campaigns for mayor and City Council in St. Petersburg. More than half of the 37,360 ballots cast in the Sept. 1 primary were done by mail ballot.

GA: Voter Fraud Alleged in Brooks County (opposition to absentee ballots) http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/99140784.html
Brooks County residents are concerned there may be irregularities with the outcome of several local races. And now the GBI has launched a probe into these allegations.

MN: Voting absentee? Better have a witness address* (1 in 10 ballots rejected)
http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/99671194.html
Statewide, at least 10 percent of absentee ballots cast in advance of the Aug. 10 primary were rejected on first pass. Some counties neared a 20 percent initial rejection rate.
...
If any of the envelopes don't include the proper information, such as the voters' address, their signature, the name of their witness or their witnesses' address, the ballots will be rejected, and the voters will be sent a replacement. Closer to the election, officials will call or e-mail the voters to let them know to try again

NJ: Investigators probe overturned election (mail-in ballots)
http://www.northjersey.com/news/politics/passaic_politics/97135704
_Investigators_probe_overturned_election.html http://is.gd/d49GE
State investigators questioned Passaic County Democratic Chairman John Currie this week about the 49 uncounted votes that, discovered 21 days after the city's municipal election, reversed the election's results.

NY: 9 targeted in vote conspiracy (DNA evidence sought) http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/9-targeted-in-vote-conspiracy-594751.php
Court records filed in connection with the investigation include allegations that the officials, and several political operatives for the Rensselaer County Democratic Party, may have conspired to file dozens of fraudulent absentee ballots last year in an attempt to seize the Working Families Party line for the general election.

The officials identified as targets of the investigation are: Rensselaer County Board of Elections Commissioner Edward G. McDonough; city Councilmen Michael LoPorto, Gary Galuski, Kevin McGrath, and John Brown; City Council President Clem Campana; City Clerk William A. McInerney; and political operatives Dan Brown, who is John Brown's brother, and Anthony DeFiglio, a former Troy Housing Authority clerk.

NY. Update: Absentee ballots running late for 23rd Congressional District * http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/update_absentee_ballots_runnin.html
October 02, 2009 FORT DRUM, N.Y. (AP) — Military and election officials insist that hundreds of deployed Fort Drum soldiers will have enough time to return their absentee ballots in next month’s special election in New York’s 23rd Congressional District, even though they won’t be mailed out for another two weeks...For this election, county boards will accept ballots until Nov. 16, although they still must be postmarked by Nov. 2, elections officials said.

NJ: Informant aided vote-fraud case against Atlantic City Councilman Marty Small, report says http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/communities/atlantic-city_pleasantville_brigantine/article_5fcff138-78f7-11df-9dc5-001cc4c03286.html
Edward Colon Jr., assigned by the campaign to collect messenger absentee ballots from the city’s Hispanic community, recorded telephone conversations and secretly videotaped discussions with the councilman and other campaign workers, the report says.

NJ: UPDATE: Passaic County elections secretary charged in $384K ballot mail theft*
http://www.northjersey.com/news/060110_Passaic_County_elections_office
_manager_accuse d_ of_stealing_384000_from_county.html http://is.gd/cAksr
A Passaic County elections secretary was charged Tuesday with stealing $384,000 through a fraud scheme in which she allegedly collected postage on ballots mailed to voters.
...
Di Lella said the alleged fraud was simply a moneymaking scheme and did not harm the integrity of the election process.

OH. Missing ballots cast doubt on Toledo City Council tally *malfeasance*
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090922/NEWS09/909220398/-1/OPINION02
9/22. The Lucas County Board of Elections has 1,092 ballots that could be added to last week's Toledo primary election count, putting the final results for Toledo City Council in doubt.
The additional ballots include 166 absentee ballots accidentally left uncounted last Tuesday, Director Linda Howe said Monday.
...In addition to the 166 uncounted absentee votes, 545 provisional ballots were determined to be valid.

PA: Another Threat to Public Scrutiny of the Election Process
http://coalitionforvotingintegrity.blogspot.com/2010/08 ... The Elimination of Polling Places through Adoption of No-Excuse Absentee Ballots—the First Step to All Mail-In Voting

SC: South Carolina Proves Statewide Unverifiable Voting Cannot Be Trusted http://www.opednews.com/articles/South-Carolina-Proves-Stat-by-Garland-Favorito-100724-239.html Alvin Greene was declared the winner based on a near landslide 60-40% margin in Election Day electronic voting results. However Vic Rawl actually won the mail-in paper ballot absentee voting by a solid 55-45% margin. The near 30% total point differential among the two candidates is unheard of in South Carolina election history and perhaps, nationally as well.

TX: Dallas County Judge: Texas Attorney General is investigating local voter fraud allegations (mail in ballots) http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/04/dallas-county-judge-texas-atto.html

TX: Judge to decide Cameron County voter fraud case
http://www.valleycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=467689
The Precinct 2 Commissioner candidate alleged that mail-in ballot numbers were “blatantly discrepant” with regular in-person voting

TX: Texas Rangers investigate possible voter fraud in Starr County (absentee ballots) http://www.valleycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=430386

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

12. the voting machines weren't trustworthy in 1st place. They could easily hand count the votes

it is more accurate and publicly observable.

The Hart Intercivic voting machines used in Harris Co and elsewhere
have many problems.

If you want an accurate and transparent count, counting by hand with checks and balances is the way to go.

[Joe Chi Minh]

14. What wickedness.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[defendandprotect]

18. K&R --

[defendandprotect]

22. Computers began to come in as America passed the Voting Rights Act ....

large computers used by MSM came in during mid-1960's --

prior to that MSM could only report ACTUAL vote tallies --

afterwards they had new powers to PREDICT and CALL elections --

including Electoral College and presidential winner --

2000 was simply a reversal of those new powers --

Smaller voting computers came in during late-1960's -- and

immediately raised suspicions given questionalbe returns --

two journalists began to investigate this in Florida in late 1960's --

They also passed on the results of their investigation to Democratic HQ's

at the Watergate just before the GOP break in --



For more info on this see: VOTESCAM -- The Stealing of America --

where the book is on line still --

http://www.constitution.org/vote/votescam__.htm


Was there ever a GOP "Southern Strategy" or was there only ever computer steals?

[russspeakeasy]

36. It doesn't stink just in Houston

Texas voting is as corrupt as La. and Ms. The rest of the
states have their problems, but these 3 are the gold standard
for corruption....

[TexasObserver]

41. The GOP is dirty, dirty, dirty in Texas.