Elections & Electronic Voting

From: Michael J.

Sent: Friday, November 12, 2004 3:45 AM

Just received this email. please take at least a few minutes to read it and then please make some key calls, take more time if you can. We all face a very dangerous and bleak future. let's not fade away into a depression. it's time to take action! thanks. michael j

On Friday I received a phone call from a good friend who works at CBS - I've known her for years and she is a Producer for some of the news programs, one well known one in particular. She tipped me off that the news media is in a "lock-down" and that there is to be no TV coverage of the real problems with voting on Nov. 2nd. She said similar "lock-down orders" had come down last year after the invasion of Iraq, but this is far worse - far scarier. She said the majority of their journalists at CBS and elsewhere in NYC are pretty horrified - every one is worried about their jobs and retribution Dan Rather style or worse.

My source said they've also been forbidden to talk about it even on their own time but she was pissed and her journalistic and moral integrity as what she considers to be a gov't watchdog requires her to speak out, while be it covert and she therefore asked me to "spread" the word...She said that journalism and the truth is at stake. She said another friend of hers, a producer at MSNBC, said that an anchor by the name of Keith Olbermann had brought it up on his show on Friday eve and the axe came down. He's at least fighting back and talking about it on his "Blog", but she said that people there are worried that he's going to be fired by higher ups. She said at this point the only way that the "real news" was going to be if the people started talking about it and made a big enough stink about it to our elected officials, the FEC, and "noise" to the international media, that our own media won't have any choice but to cover it. (Yes, this is really happening in the good ole' supposed "democratic" free press of the US of A). The only place you'll see this talked about right now is on the internet and on AirAmericaRadio.

Everyone - this is serious....I can't emphasize it any more than saying if there was ever a time to speak up and take action it is NOW. If you are feeling sick to your stomach (like me) about the possibility of 4 more years under Bush and the future of our country, and yet you feel helpless, here's your opportunity to take action. Imagine if you saw a loved one drowning - what do you do? Well, our country's democracy is drowning and she needs us.

Please, find 20-30 minutes today to call and/or email the following list of people and agencies and tell them that you are outraged and concerned about the possibility of election fraud and votes not having been counted properly in your state and others that may have altered the outcome of the election. Mention that you are aware of reports from counties around the country (in particular OH and Florida) that reported the following

a) More votes recorded than there are voters in counties using electronic voting machines

b) that not all military, provisional and absentee ballots have been counted.

Let them know you consider this to be serious violations of your rights as a citizen under the "HAVA - HelpAmericaVote Act" and that you want them to undertake an investigation.

People and Agencies to Contact regarding this matter:

1) Your two Senators & elected Representative - here is the main switchboard number for the House and Senate:

202-224-3121

2) Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader:

202-225-4965

3) These members are allegedly/reportedly looking into the issue -

urge them to introduce a bill to investigate voter fraud:

Rep. Henry Waxman of CA - 202-225-3976

Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones of OH - 202-225-7032

Rep. Dennis Kucinich of OH - 202-225-5871

Rep. Tim Ryan of OH - 202-225-5261

4) Democratic & Republican Members of the House Judiciary Committee:

Rep. Robert A Wexler of FL - A 202-225-3001

Rep. Maxine Waters of CA - 202-225-2201

Rep. Chabot of OH (R)- 202-225-2216

Rep. King of IA (R)- 202-225-4426

5) Democrat & Republican Members (call both) of the Senate Judiciary Committee:

Sen. Patrick Leahy of VT - 202-224-4242

Sen. Ted Kennedy of MA - 202-224-4543

Sen. Joe Biden of DE - 202-224-5042

Sen. Russ Feingold of WI - 202-224-5323

Sen. Charles Schumer of NY - 202-224-6542

Sen. Arlen Specter of PA (R) - 202-224-4254 (thank him also for having urged the Pres. to not choose anti-abortion judges and taking the body blows)

Sen. Mike DeWine of OH (R) - 202-224-2315

Sen. Chuck Grassley of IA (R)- 202-224-3744

6) Federal Elections Commission:Audit Division

Joseph Stoltz, Assistant Staff Director

Telephone:

800-424-9530 (press 0, then ext. 1200)Inspector General

Lynne McFarland, Inspector General

Telephone: 800-424-9530 (press 0, then ext. 1015)

7) The news media - we have to put pressure on them: (this is all I could find for now)

NBC/MSNBC- Nightly(a)NBC.com & viewerservices(a)msnbc.com

CNN- http://www.cnn.com/feedback/ <http://www.cnn.com/feedback/>

CBS- 212-258-6000 - 60II(a)cbsnews.com, evening(a)cbsnews.com, 48hours(a)cbsnews.com,

earlyshow(a)cbs.com

8) Call the Secretary of State's office in the state of OH and FL -

Tell them that you demand under the HAVA law to have all votes counted - especially the absentee, military and all provisional ballots counted and verified - tell them you suspect foul-play.

Phone # to OH Sec. of State Kenneth Blackwell's Office: toll free - 1-877-767-6446 or email: election(a)sos.state.oh.us

or 614-466-2585

Phone # to FL Sec. of State Glenda Hood's Office: 850-245-6500

9) Donate $5 to Bev Harris at http://www.blackboxvoting.org/ <http://www.blackboxvoting.org/> - she has been filing 1000's of information requests under the "FOIA-Freedom of Information Act" to account for the various voting machines across the country.

10) Email or Fax Ralph Nader - Yep, you heard me, good ole Ralph....here's his opportunity to make up for any feelings of bad will after the 2000 election and the current one. Ralph has been a lifelong advocate for us, the consumer and little guy and he is actually in the unique position right now to do something since he was a Presidential candidate and has the ability to be listened to. He has actually already filed a challenge in NH (not that he is looking to overturn the results, but because he can prove there may have been bigger problems and he qualifies there as having been on the ballot). http://www.votenader.org/media_press/index.php?cid=400 <http://www.votenader.org/media_press/index.php?cid=400>

Urge him to do this across the board on a national level. Heck, the media seemed to have such a lovefest with him before the election, could they possibly ignore him now? Contact Ralph at - 202-265-4000

11) Call/email Jimmy Carter at the Carter Center: carterweb(a)emory.edu or call at (800) 550-3560

Former President Jimmy Carter and the Carter Center are considered to be the most experienced in the election process and conducting fair democratic elections - urge him to get involved and investigate possible fraud and the unexplainable discrepancies throughout the election involving the computer voting machines, especially in swing states.

In an email I sent you last night, I used the F-word - FRAUD and mentioned to you that I felt strongly that there is a lot of mounting evidence that this election was not clean. I say that not only out of a result of my observations while out in the field as a poll watcher in the key battleground state of Ohio, I say it with the knowledge and information of reports that have been circulating around the country in various voting precincts involving irregularities and problems with the voting machines and numbers not matching up with the exit polls or actual numbers of registered voters in various precincts. I've been busy researching this issue and compiling for you below some details of these reports and where you can get more info:

To believe that Bush won the election, you must also believe:

1- That the exit polls were WRONG...(remember - they have been used for over a decade and considered reliable)

2- That Zogby's 5 pm election day calls for Kerry winning OH, FL were WRONG. He was within a less than 1/2 % point margin of error in his 2000 final poll and previous polls for other elections.

3- That Harris Poll last minute polling for Kerry was WRONG. They were also within a 1/2% point margin of error in their 2000 final poll.

4- The Incumbent Rule #I (that undecideds primarily break at the end for the challenger) was WRONG.

5- The 50% Rule was WRONG (that an incumbent doesn't do better than his final polling)

6- The Approval Rating Rule was WRONG (that an incumbent with less than 50% approval will most likely lose the election)

7- That Journalist Greg Palast was WRONG when he said that even before the election, 1 million votes were stolen from Kerry. He was the ONLY reporter to break the fact that 90,000 Florida blacks were disenfranchised in 2000.

8- That it was just a COINCIDENCE that the exit polls were CORRECT where there WAS a PAPER TRAIL and INCORRECT (+5% for Bush) where there was NO PAPER TRAIL.

9- That the surge in new young voters had NO positive effect for Kerry, even though it was the largest number of youth voters 18-29 ever and a huge jump from 2000 and they were over 55% in favor of Kerry.

10- That Bush BEAT 99-1 mathematical odds in winning the election.

11- That Kerry did WORSE than Gore against an opponent who LOST the support of SCORES of Republican newspapers who were for Bush in 2000.

12- That Bush did better than an 18 national poll average which showed him tied with Kerry at 47. In other words, Bush got 80% of the undecided vote to end up with a 51-48 majority - when ALL professional pollsters agree that the undecided vote ALWAYS goes to the challenger.

13- That Voting machines made by Republicans with no paper trail and with no software publication, which have been proven by thousands of computer scientists to be vulnerable in scores of ways, were NOT tampered with in this election.

Some Examples: (There are many more, but I won't list them all here - this is to give you an idea)

- The City of Gahanna in Ohio discovered a discrepancy that gave 4,000 votes to George Bush. After media scrutiny, city officials have admitted to an electronic "glitch" that caused the problem.

- In Broward County, FL, errors in software code caused a referendum on gambling to be completely overturned. The error caused totals to count backwards after reaching a ceiling of 32,500 votes. The problem existed in the 2002 election as well however the issue was never resolved by the manufacturer of the electronic voting machine.

- In North Carolina, a Craven County district logged 11,283 more votes than voters and actually overturned the results of a regional race.

For more info, go to:

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1106-30.htm

There are key people right now working behind the scenes on this...but meanwhile, we the people at a grassroots level need to start making the corporate media pay attention to the "Real Story" not the "Moral Values" headlines and stories being featured on the news currently including the "Boy Genius - Karl Rove" Cover stories on CNN and Fox. We need to support those that are pursuing this issue to reveal the truth and get an inquiry going. If any of you remember Michael Moore's movie Fahrenheit 9/11, you'll remember the scene where the Black Congressional Caucus members stood up in a joint session of Congress in 2000 and asked for a single Senator to back them in an investigation of "Voter Fraud and Disenfranchisement". Many who saw the film felt ashamed at that moment and many didn't even know this had happened. Well, its happening all over again....History has a funny way of repeating itself if we don't pay attention and learn. Currently there are several members of Congress and the House Judiciary Committee that have requested the GAO (General Accounting Office) to implement an inquiry into computer voting machine problems (http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/gaoinvestvote2004ltr11504.pdf).

There are also folks across the country at the grassroots level filing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to investigate these problems immediately. One of the biggest driving individuals behind this effort is a woman by the name of Bev Harris from Seattle, WA. (her site is http://www.blackboxvoting.org/). <http://www.blackboxvoting.org/).> I became familiar with Bev Harris when I saw her on MSNBC give a demonstration to Howard Dean on how easy it was to "hack" the central tabulator computer for these computer voting systems and change the results. She did it in less than 2 minutes and in a way that no one monitoring the system could tell. I later saw her demonstrate this at a presentation here in Marin County this year. Sadly, no one seemed to pay attention, including in the Democratic Party and now, here we are after one of the biggest elections of our lifetime and with problems surfacing all over the place with no answers or accountability. Worse is that no one is covering what is perhaps the biggest story of all - the fraud involved in this election.

This is not the "Dems" being sore losers...this is real stuff folks. Real problems. If this issue and fraud isn't addressed, our democracy and our votes in the future are dead. Won't even be a point in voting.

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