Scrap the "secret" ballot - return to open voting
The problem is worldwide. From the Ukraine to the United States, many voters no longer believe that their votes are counted correctly. And that's regardless of whether paper ballots or voting machines are used. The problem is the "secret" ballot.
Secret ballots are anonymous ballots. They can be easily replaced, altered or destroyed, particularly if voting machines are used. Even if voters 'verify' their ballots and even if audits are performed, widespread vote tampering can still occur with relative ease and little risk of discovery because there still remains no effective method to 'certify' the authenticity of ballots, no way to identify an individual ballot and link it to an individual voter.
With few exceptions, election officials around the world are certifying election results based on anonymous and untraceable ballots. And contrary to a growing legion of election statisticians, exit polls are not an adequate check on election results. It's ridiculous when you think about it, using anonymous exit polls to verify anonymous ballot results.
Secret ballots are anonymous ballots. They can be easily replaced, altered or destroyed, particularly if voting machines are used. Even if voters 'verify' their ballots and even if audits are performed, widespread vote tampering can still occur with relative ease and little risk of discovery because there still remains no effective method to 'certify' the authenticity of ballots, no way to identify an individual ballot and link it to an individual voter.
With few exceptions, election officials around the world are certifying election results based on anonymous and untraceable ballots. And contrary to a growing legion of election statisticians, exit polls are not an adequate check on election results. It's ridiculous when you think about it, using anonymous exit polls to verify anonymous ballot results.
Clarification of NEDA's withdrawal of Ohio exit poll paper
On November 2, 2005, NEDA released an analysis of the 2004 precinct level Ohio exit poll data entitled “The Gun is Smoking: Ohio Exit Poll Data Provides Virtually Irrefutable Evidence of Vote Miscount”. The analysis used data provided in the Election Sciences Institute (ESI) report of June 6, 2005.
On November 3, 2005 NEDA realized that its interpretation of the definition for the term “nonresponders” to the exit poll, as used by ESI, was incorrect.
What this means is that it is most likely that the Ohio exit poll data is:
1. inconsistent with voter exit poll response explanations as put forth wrongly by Mitofsky in his Jan 19th paper
2. highly suspicious and very consistent with vote fraud explanations
but does "not" contain "virtually irrefutable" evidence of vote fraud.
On November 3, 2005 NEDA realized that its interpretation of the definition for the term “nonresponders” to the exit poll, as used by ESI, was incorrect.
What this means is that it is most likely that the Ohio exit poll data is:
1. inconsistent with voter exit poll response explanations as put forth wrongly by Mitofsky in his Jan 19th paper
2. highly suspicious and very consistent with vote fraud explanations
but does "not" contain "virtually irrefutable" evidence of vote fraud.
Are Republicans willing to take this global warming pledge?
Republicans, before I ask you to take a pledge I would like you to read about the consequences of global warming, greenhouse gasses, and depletion of the ozone layer. If we do not act to reduce the use of fossil fuels your children will inherit a world which is hotter, which has dirtier air and water, which has severe floods and droughts, increasingly intense hurricanes, and more wildfires. Also, the level of the ocean will rise dramatically causing massive flooding along the entire coastal areas of the United States. And as the ocean warms the intensity of hurricanes will become more severe causing great losses in lives.
FEMA Chief Brown Paid Millions in False Claims to Help Bush Win Fla. Votes
Michael Brown, the embattled head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, approved payments in excess of $31 million in taxpayer money to thousands of Florida residents who were unaffected by Hurricane Frances and three other hurricanes last year in an effort to help President Bush win a majority of votes in that state during his reelection campaign, according to published reports.
“Some Homeland Security sources said FEMA's efforts to distribute funds quickly after Frances and three other hurricanes that hit the key political battleground state of Florida in a six-week period last fall were undertaken with a keen awareness of the looming presidential elections,” according to a May 19 Washington Post story.
Homeland Security sources told the Post that after the hurricanes that Brown “and his allies [recommended] him to succeed Tom Ridge as Homeland Security secretary because of their claim that he helped deliver Florida to President Bush by efficiently responding to the Florida hurricanes.”
“Some Homeland Security sources said FEMA's efforts to distribute funds quickly after Frances and three other hurricanes that hit the key political battleground state of Florida in a six-week period last fall were undertaken with a keen awareness of the looming presidential elections,” according to a May 19 Washington Post story.
Homeland Security sources told the Post that after the hurricanes that Brown “and his allies [recommended] him to succeed Tom Ridge as Homeland Security secretary because of their claim that he helped deliver Florida to President Bush by efficiently responding to the Florida hurricanes.”
Ohio recount lawsuit set for trial; election workers indicted
On Tuesday August 30, a federal district judge set a trial date for the Green Party’s Ohio Recount lawsuit and indictments were handed down against two Cuyahoga County elections officials for their roles in the bungled election audit. The timing was coincidental; the two actions are not related though they both stem from charges that the recount was conducted in violation of state and federal law.
Judge James Carr set the trial date for August 22, 2006. The lawsuit was initiated by Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb and his Libertarian counterpart, Michael Badnarik.
Judge James Carr set the trial date for August 22, 2006. The lawsuit was initiated by Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb and his Libertarian counterpart, Michael Badnarik.
Death by Public Relations
WAR MADE EASY
How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death
By Norman Solomon
John Wiley & Sons ISBN 0-471-69479
$24.95 314 pages
In "War Made Easy" Norman Solomon demolishes the myth of an independent American press zealously guarding sacred values of free expression. Although strictly focusing on the shameless history of media cheerleading for the principal post-World War II American wars, invasions and interventions, he calls into question the entire concept of the press as some kind of institutional counterforce to government and corporate power.
How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death
By Norman Solomon
John Wiley & Sons ISBN 0-471-69479
$24.95 314 pages
In "War Made Easy" Norman Solomon demolishes the myth of an independent American press zealously guarding sacred values of free expression. Although strictly focusing on the shameless history of media cheerleading for the principal post-World War II American wars, invasions and interventions, he calls into question the entire concept of the press as some kind of institutional counterforce to government and corporate power.
Diebold's failure in California
Who approved such a deeply flawed system and what must be done in the future?
On July 29, 2005 it was reported that certification of the Diebold TSx GEMS v. 1.18.22 had been denied by the Secretary of State, Bruce McPherson. The initial report told of a 10% failure rate due to jammed printers and computer “crashes”. [1]
Just 5 days later, the newspapers reported that the failures were twice as bad as originally reported, and the failures were not centered in the printers but were instead software issues. Of the 96 voting machines tested, 19 failed with a total of 21 crashes resulting in a blue screen and messages about an "illegal operation" or a "fatal exception error." Also, 10 machines had a total of 11 printer jams. Nearly one-third of the test machines failed in one way or another. [2]
On July 29, 2005 it was reported that certification of the Diebold TSx GEMS v. 1.18.22 had been denied by the Secretary of State, Bruce McPherson. The initial report told of a 10% failure rate due to jammed printers and computer “crashes”. [1]
Just 5 days later, the newspapers reported that the failures were twice as bad as originally reported, and the failures were not centered in the printers but were instead software issues. Of the 96 voting machines tested, 19 failed with a total of 21 crashes resulting in a blue screen and messages about an "illegal operation" or a "fatal exception error." Also, 10 machines had a total of 11 printer jams. Nearly one-third of the test machines failed in one way or another. [2]
Conyers-Kaptur seek special counsel for Noe probe
The Honorable Alberto Gonzales
Attorney General of the United States
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530
Dear Mr. Attorney General:
We write to request that the U.S. Department of Justice immediately appoint an outside special counsel to assume the Department's investigation into alleged illegal contributions by Mr. Thomas Noe to federal and state political campaigns. In light of recent disclosures that Governor Taft's office, which is a subject of the investigation, made a direct political appeal to Karl Rove for Gregory White, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio to receive his job, there is little doubt that this is a textbook case for the appointment of a special counsel.
Attorney General of the United States
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530
Dear Mr. Attorney General:
We write to request that the U.S. Department of Justice immediately appoint an outside special counsel to assume the Department's investigation into alleged illegal contributions by Mr. Thomas Noe to federal and state political campaigns. In light of recent disclosures that Governor Taft's office, which is a subject of the investigation, made a direct political appeal to Karl Rove for Gregory White, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio to receive his job, there is little doubt that this is a textbook case for the appointment of a special counsel.
None dare call it stolen - Ohio, the election, and America's servile press
While commentators, prompted by Republicans, claimed Bush won the 2004 election through the votes of a silent majority concerned with “family values,” Mark Crispin Miller writes that when voters were asked to state, “in their own words the most important factor in their vote,”only 14 percent named “moral values.” He details how the press (except for Keith Olbermann on MSNBC) ignored “the strange details of the election—except, that is, to ridicule all efforts to discuss them…It was as if they were reporting from inside a forest fire without acknowledging the fire, except to keep insisting that there was no fire.”
Then he lists the copious evidence pointing to a stolen election, easily available on the web or in paperback, from Michigan Representative John Conyers’ report, Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio. More than dirty tricks, it covers “the run-up to the election, the election itself, and the post-election cover-up,” listing “specific violations of the U.S. and Ohio constitutions, the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1968, the National Voter Registration Act, and the Help America Vote Act.”
Then he lists the copious evidence pointing to a stolen election, easily available on the web or in paperback, from Michigan Representative John Conyers’ report, Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio. More than dirty tricks, it covers “the run-up to the election, the election itself, and the post-election cover-up,” listing “specific violations of the U.S. and Ohio constitutions, the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1968, the National Voter Registration Act, and the Help America Vote Act.”
Civic Engagement and the Restoration of Community from a voter activist’s view
Cincinnati, OH. Close to fifty grassroots leaders from around Ohio showed up for a three-hour interactive seminar presented by author, Peter Block, from his Civic Engagement Series. Block is an engaging public speaker who has published six books. The free event was sponsored by independent candidate John Eastman for Secretary of State, the only candidate in any Ohio race with a strong and well-articulated election reform platform.
The day-long seminar broke for about 75 minutes for a varied and well-prepared buffet, assisted by four hard-working teenagers. The afternoon session provided attendees with practical application of the principles raised in “Changing the Nature of the Conversation.” Note-taking was replaced with a 32-page booklet, the cover of which captures an older African American woman indicating her unity and demanding her voice be heard. Block reframes George Lakoff’s “debate” to a conversation, with questions.
The day-long seminar broke for about 75 minutes for a varied and well-prepared buffet, assisted by four hard-working teenagers. The afternoon session provided attendees with practical application of the principles raised in “Changing the Nature of the Conversation.” Note-taking was replaced with a 32-page booklet, the cover of which captures an older African American woman indicating her unity and demanding her voice be heard. Block reframes George Lakoff’s “debate” to a conversation, with questions.