This crap is NOT going away. The good thing is that the MSM is sort of hobbling along, trying to at least pay lip-service to the incredibly serious issue of election irregularities.
I mean, it's only our democracy, right?
ANYway, so, amazingly enough, CNN.com actually did report on voting problems--kinda. If you have a look at that screengrab there, you'll see the headline as being worthy of the "Duh Award". Come on, guys--you think something might go wrong when half-the-country votes for president next week?
GOSH YOU'RE SMART, CNN.COM! Geh...
All that said, here are some links and headlines for election irregularity coverage around the web today:
Voting machines could bring Election Day glitches
http://www.cnn.com/…index.html
More than 3,000 registered Coloradans barred from voting
"Thousands of Coloradans have been denied the right to vote because of a policy that may violate federal law.
Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman has authorized county clerks to purge newly registered voters under the so-called 20-day rule. Here, county clerks must send non-forwardable letters to newly registered voters. If the mail bounces back to the clerks, then they must remove the voter applicants' names from the rolls."
http://coloradoindependent.com/…coloradans
This is some scary stuff--it's been going on for years--even back in 2004. It's called "voter caging" and whether it's illegal or not, it's a form of voter suppression and because we humans are imperfect and make mistakes, so does this system and plenty who should be able to vote end up not being able to. (Though voter caging really is an absurd and unfair way to judge whether a person has registered legally or not.)
Listen Up Karen Handel!
http://www.ireport.com/…DOC-129137
This is a video of a voter in Atlanta waiting in line for hours to vote. Isn't that great? HOURS. I've missed one presidential election in my entire adult life and have never spent more then 40 minutes in line.
Lawsuits, Machine Malfunctions and Missing Absentee Ballots Among Voting Rights Issues Facing Jittery Election
"Early voters across the country are reporting long lines and problems with electronic voting machines. Republicans, meanwhile, continue to file lawsuits that could stop thousands from voting. We speak to Harvey Wasserman of Free Press and Brad Friedman of the Brad Blog."
http://www.democracynow.org/…g_absentee
Good stuff from yesterday's Democracy Now broadcast. They interview two guys who know a LOT about election irregularities--both having appeared in a documentary I helped with called "Stealing America". Check it out (in full!) at StealingAmericaTheMovie.org.
Court Backs Penn. Voter Rights Suit on Electronic Machines
"A federal judge has ordered state election officials to provide emergency paper ballots if half or more electronic voting machines become inoperable at any polling site in the state."
http://www.democracynow.org/…/headlines
Personally, I don't get why we shouldn't all have the right to vote on paper over a machine if we so choose. It seems like it would be unconstitutional to force us to use voting equipment we don't trust. Still this is good news--just a shame that Penn voters need to wait until half of the machines fail to get to vote with something more trustworthy.
Speaking of which, here's another story on this from BradBlog.com:
Federal Judge Rules in Favor of Plaintiff Demand for Emergency Paper Ballots in PA
http://www.bradblog.com/
According to this post, PA law says county clerks can give out paper ballots if just one machine fails. Though this ruling seems to supersede that law. Still, this ruling is better than nothing. Though if it inspires voters to "discover" their machines "break"ing down violently, we know which judge to blame for not going far enough. ;)
Not that I'm endorsing any violent acts, of course.
Election Protection by Amy Goodman
http://www.truthdig.com/…rotection/
This is a blog post from Democracy Now's Amy Goodman and it focuses on all of the issues facing us regarding our ability to vote. Whether you agree with her or not, it's just good people are having this discussion.
Tool Developed to Detect Possible Fraud in Election Tabulating Software
"Pima County, AZ Election Integrity Group Creates Software to Analyze Diebold GEMS Databases, Wants to Share Capability With Others..."
http://www.bradblog.com/
This is more good news--software has been developed that can scan databases from Diebold-brand voting machines and find errors. For now it's only used in Arizona--why this software hasn't been developed sooner is anyone's guess. However, I'm going to guess that it's because Diebold always claimed their technology was proprietary (aka they could tell us, but then they'd have to charge us a lot of money).
Vote-Flipping Diebold Machine Removed, Quarantined in CO
"Karen Long, Adams County Clerk Takes Action After Voter Sees Vote Flip Repeatedly to Republican Candidate in State With Long History of E-Voting Failures"
http://www.bradblog.com/
Won't our leaders ever learn? Or maybe they have and like this kind of confusion? While this is good news, it points out serious issues with our leaders' ability to decide what is right for us. If Colorado has had a history of e-voting problems, why are they failing to learn from that history? OH yeah, it's all part of the "All History Left Behind" program spear-headed by the White House. Bush ignored his own father's history in a war with Iraq, so I suppose it's contagious to other government types, too.
In closing this post, I'd like to point out a couple new sites I've come across that are concerned with election irregularities:
http://www.projectvotecount.com/
http://voteraction.org/
Check out both sites if you had trouble voting or if you want to get involved.
WHEW. This stuff is tiring! I hope all of these problems magically go away on November 4th!
:P
For more links to coverage of election irregularities and commentary on the situation, please check out ThePete.Com. I've been working my ass off :)
Mobile post sent by thepete using Utterli. I mean, it's only our democracy, right?
ANYway, so, amazingly enough, CNN.com actually did report on voting problems--kinda. If you have a look at that screengrab there, you'll see the headline as being worthy of the "Duh Award". Come on, guys--you think something might go wrong when half-the-country votes for president next week?
GOSH YOU'RE SMART, CNN.COM! Geh...
All that said, here are some links and headlines for election irregularity coverage around the web today:
Voting machines could bring Election Day glitches
http://www.cnn.com/…index.html
More than 3,000 registered Coloradans barred from voting
"Thousands of Coloradans have been denied the right to vote because of a policy that may violate federal law.
Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman has authorized county clerks to purge newly registered voters under the so-called 20-day rule. Here, county clerks must send non-forwardable letters to newly registered voters. If the mail bounces back to the clerks, then they must remove the voter applicants' names from the rolls."
http://coloradoindependent.com/…coloradans
This is some scary stuff--it's been going on for years--even back in 2004. It's called "voter caging" and whether it's illegal or not, it's a form of voter suppression and because we humans are imperfect and make mistakes, so does this system and plenty who should be able to vote end up not being able to. (Though voter caging really is an absurd and unfair way to judge whether a person has registered legally or not.)
Listen Up Karen Handel!
http://www.ireport.com/…DOC-129137
This is a video of a voter in Atlanta waiting in line for hours to vote. Isn't that great? HOURS. I've missed one presidential election in my entire adult life and have never spent more then 40 minutes in line.
Lawsuits, Machine Malfunctions and Missing Absentee Ballots Among Voting Rights Issues Facing Jittery Election
"Early voters across the country are reporting long lines and problems with electronic voting machines. Republicans, meanwhile, continue to file lawsuits that could stop thousands from voting. We speak to Harvey Wasserman of Free Press and Brad Friedman of the Brad Blog."
http://www.democracynow.org/…g_absentee
Good stuff from yesterday's Democracy Now broadcast. They interview two guys who know a LOT about election irregularities--both having appeared in a documentary I helped with called "Stealing America". Check it out (in full!) at StealingAmericaTheMovie.org.
Court Backs Penn. Voter Rights Suit on Electronic Machines
"A federal judge has ordered state election officials to provide emergency paper ballots if half or more electronic voting machines become inoperable at any polling site in the state."
http://www.democracynow.org/…/headlines
Personally, I don't get why we shouldn't all have the right to vote on paper over a machine if we so choose. It seems like it would be unconstitutional to force us to use voting equipment we don't trust. Still this is good news--just a shame that Penn voters need to wait until half of the machines fail to get to vote with something more trustworthy.
Speaking of which, here's another story on this from BradBlog.com:
Federal Judge Rules in Favor of Plaintiff Demand for Emergency Paper Ballots in PA
http://www.bradblog.com/
According to this post, PA law says county clerks can give out paper ballots if just one machine fails. Though this ruling seems to supersede that law. Still, this ruling is better than nothing. Though if it inspires voters to "discover" their machines "break"ing down violently, we know which judge to blame for not going far enough. ;)
Not that I'm endorsing any violent acts, of course.
Election Protection by Amy Goodman
http://www.truthdig.com/…rotection/
This is a blog post from Democracy Now's Amy Goodman and it focuses on all of the issues facing us regarding our ability to vote. Whether you agree with her or not, it's just good people are having this discussion.
Tool Developed to Detect Possible Fraud in Election Tabulating Software
"Pima County, AZ Election Integrity Group Creates Software to Analyze Diebold GEMS Databases, Wants to Share Capability With Others..."
http://www.bradblog.com/
This is more good news--software has been developed that can scan databases from Diebold-brand voting machines and find errors. For now it's only used in Arizona--why this software hasn't been developed sooner is anyone's guess. However, I'm going to guess that it's because Diebold always claimed their technology was proprietary (aka they could tell us, but then they'd have to charge us a lot of money).
Vote-Flipping Diebold Machine Removed, Quarantined in CO
"Karen Long, Adams County Clerk Takes Action After Voter Sees Vote Flip Repeatedly to Republican Candidate in State With Long History of E-Voting Failures"
http://www.bradblog.com/
Won't our leaders ever learn? Or maybe they have and like this kind of confusion? While this is good news, it points out serious issues with our leaders' ability to decide what is right for us. If Colorado has had a history of e-voting problems, why are they failing to learn from that history? OH yeah, it's all part of the "All History Left Behind" program spear-headed by the White House. Bush ignored his own father's history in a war with Iraq, so I suppose it's contagious to other government types, too.
In closing this post, I'd like to point out a couple new sites I've come across that are concerned with election irregularities:
http://www.projectvotecount.com/
http://voteraction.org/
Check out both sites if you had trouble voting or if you want to get involved.
WHEW. This stuff is tiring! I hope all of these problems magically go away on November 4th!
:P
For more links to coverage of election irregularities and commentary on the situation, please check out ThePete.Com. I've been working my ass off :)
Orignal From: Democracy In Danger: Election Irregularity News
No comments:
Post a Comment