Selection 2004: Tracking the Fraud So YOU Don't Have To!

Note: There are now too many problems to track. A good place to begin would be at Voters Unite. Good luck to everyone and may the Deity(ies) of your choice watch over all of us.

I don't see how the election will possibly be decided anytime in the month of November given all of the information below. Wait, there are a couple of ways. First, the elections could simply be cancelled. I've been surprised we haven't had a vicious trrrrssst attack already.

Secondly, if the Republicans win, and the Dems even think about challenging, you will see some of the most vicious political maneuvering (and a few assassinations, I imagine) we've ever seen. The Dems will be painted as unAmerican, as subverting Democracy or, worse, as SORE LOSERS. I see nothing in Kerry or the current Democratic leadership that would be able to withstand such a barrage.

There will be plenty of evidence of fraud. It's already going on, especially in Florida and Ohio. In fact, a lot of that stuff should be challenged now, before the election. I don't know if such challenges are happening.

Here are the several common themes:

1. Absentee ballots disappearing or absentee voters being challenged.

2. Plans for so many challenges in heavily Democratic areas that voting will be slowed and voters discouraged from voting.

3. Fake voter registration companies (Sproul and Associates) registering Dems and then tossing the forms.

4. Confusing ballots (see last entry in Ohio section for example).

5. Last minute changes of voting precincts.

7. Pre-election challenges by race. Yep. See Georgia for an example. If your name is Hernandez, you might want to bring a passport along. Unless you are in Florida. For some reason, Hispanic voters in Florida were not affected by the fake "felon purges" that so many African-Americans have fallen victim to. I guess Florida is simply sensitive to the rights of Latinos, or maybe it's because the Cuban American community in Florida is extremely rightwing and votes Republican. No, that couldn't be it. Must be sensitivity.

6. And, of course, electronic voting machines that, despite the advice of every human ever consulted on the matter, have no backup paper trail in the event of a recount. That's right, in the tightest race since, well 2000, many, many precincts will not be able to do a recount. Oh sure, they can ask the computer to spit out another report, but there's no way to make sure that the button pushed by the voter was the one recorded by the machine.

Wheeeee, what fun!

Overall Picture

Good report from the NAACP. link

Attempts at voter suppression are summarized. here It's mostly Florida, but scroll down for other states.

Krugman on Sproule and Associates' multi-state effort to screw non-Republican voters. link

Gonna be a looooong night on Nov. 2. link

Slate comes up with five handy ways the '04 elections could be a total disaster. link

General problems noted in swing states. link

More on Sproule and Associates voter registration eating drive. link

The Art of Stealing Elections. THE REPUBLICANS are out to steal the 2004 election -- before, during, and after Election Day. Before Election Day, they are employing such dirty tricks as improper purges of voter rolls, use of dummy registration groups that tear up Democratic registrations, and the suppression of Democratic efforts to sign up voters, especially blacks and students. link

Early problems with early voting. link

Summary of incompetence/abuse in several states. link

Why are the best overall articles on the elections in the U.S. in the FOREIGN press. UK Independent on a country bordering on a nervous breakdown. link

Alabama

Let me start this first state by saying I'm posting twice a day. So far, I've yet to do any of my own research...these are just the ones I'm finding on a few common websites and I'm still having trouble keeping up.

Now, on to Alabama. Things are so bad there, no one knows HOW MANY people are actually registered to vote and the director of the state election office resigned complaining of "harrassment". link

Colorado

Colarado a huge mess. link

Florida

Just because there are 58,000 missing absentee ballots doesn't mean...oh, yeah, it probably does mean..... link

Gore remembers to fight back, this time! Warns of "epidemic" voter suppression efforts in Florida. Too bad you didn't think of this tactic four years ago. link


UK Guardian examines sad state of affairs in Florida. A note to unwary voters, you can't vote by telephone, so have a nice loud whistle ready and when someone calls to say you CAN vote by phone, blow it REAL LOUD! link

Guardian on Florida again. How DARE you live in a precinct that changed! link

Computer voting problems in Broward County...go figure. link

Jeb, tell me again, exactly WHY you don't want a paper trail when people vote? That way, if there is a recount, you could simply go back and count the...oh nevermind. link

Oh, you'll take my absentee ballot for me? That is so nice of you, dear. link

Private investigation firm hired to videotape early voters in a heavily black voting district. link

Mass effort to challenge (intimidate) voters in Florida. Investigative stud Greg Palast. You can watch the BBC Newsnight story on this starting Oct. 27, or so the website says. link

Georgia

GOP tries to outlaw VWH...Voting While Hispanic. This is a radio report. The basic idea is that in a town in Georgia, a Republican challenged virtually every Hispanic voter's eligibility to vote. All are ordered to attend a meeting on Oct. 28th or lose their voting right. link

Hawaii

ES&S fights to control Hawaii vote. Note: Hawaii will be the last state to complete voting...possibly deciding a tie. link

Iowa

Better call to see if you are actually registered, Iowans! link

North Carolina

Not many details yet, but fairly large numbers involved in these registration "irregularities". link

Ohio

Voters receive phone calls informing them that their polling place has been changed. Obviously, it's a scam. link

Republican Brownshirts to intimidate voters. Okay, that's not how THEY put it....they are just protecting the integrity of the vote, which, we learned four years ago, means making sure they don't count. Keep in mind that higher turnouts are expected to benefit Democrats, so efforts to suppress that turnout make sense if you are a Republican. link

Those of you who have home versions of the game can go ahead and color Ohio red for Bush. The fraud there is extremely thorough. link

Nevada

Judge: Just because Dems have their voter registrations torn up is no reason to reopen voter registration. link

Pennsylvania

Sproul and Associates strike again. Workers told to dump voter registration forms from Democrats. link

GOP challenges validity of 35,000 newly registered voters. link

GOP strategy in Philly? Keep (Black) voter turnout low. link

People for the American Way warn of GOP intimidation tactics for election day. link

South Dakota

Several notaries indicted for signing off on absentee ballots without seeing the voter actually sign them. The notaries were all Republicans. link

Tennessee

This is a summary and has links to our local media about an obvious Republican dirty trick. They put out inflammatory and offensive "anti-Bush" flyers and tried to pin it on a local candidate. link

Wisconsin

Milwaukee denied enough ballots to handle expected number of newly registered voters. Voters can register on the same day they vote in Wisconsin (communists!), so the need for enough extra ballots is clear in this hotly contested Presidential election. link