Nader in FL - press conference on e-voting fraud and minority voters

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

Nader Urges Florida: Protect Voters from Paperless Electronic Voting and Stop Abusing Voter Registration

Washington, DC: Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader visited Tampa, Florida today to address two issues of importance in the upcoming election – paperless electronic voting, which limits the confidence voters will have that their vote is counted correctly; and efforts to limit the number of African-American voters through manipulation of registration rolls.

Regarding electronic voting, Nader noted that some of the most populous counties in Florida will be voting with paperless electronic voting machines this November. Nader noted that the Miami-Dade County Republican Party sent out a mailer this month urging Republicans to vote by absentee ballot in order to avoid the paperless voting machines, warning that the machines do not have a paper ballot in case a recount is necessary. Nader announced two actions on electronic voting:

1. “I am offering my campaign as a vehicle for individual democracy activists who want to be poll-watchers. They can be credentialed to be inside every precinct in Florida, to monitor and report the observable problems with e-voting. This is an offer I am making to citizen activists throughout the country,” said Nader. In many states, citizen poll watchers are required by law to represent a candidate or party to be granted access to the schools and city halls where voting takes place. Whenever people are given incomplete ballots, machines crash, or touch screen systems record votes for someone beside the voter’s selection, credentialed poll-watchers will be there to record the information.

2. “I have sent a letter to President Bush and Senator Kerry urging them to encourage their poll-watchers to do the same. We need to create a Democracy Activist Corps on Election Day, to ensure that this election produces results we can trust,” said Nader. Nader wrote Bush and Kerry this June 2nd urging them to join him in calling for a paper record of every vote cast this November 2nd. There has been no response from either candidate.

Nader also expressed concern about recent reports that Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood was using a list of “potential felons” in order to remove voters from the registration lists. The flawed list was filled with errors that would keep legitimate voters from voting. The list did not include Hispanics, who coincidentally tend to vote Republican, but did include African Americans, who vote heavily Democratic. Nader applauded the media in Florida for uncovering major errors in the list that favored Republicans and urged their continued vigilance.

“We need to avoid even the appearance of election manipulation, especially in Florida, after the 2000 experience. If anything, we should take steps to err on the side of letting as many Americans as possible vote and making sure every vote is counted accurately. This election is too important to risk with faulty registration lists and inaccurate vote counts,” said Nader.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

1. Great.... Perfect day for it. He's been pre-epmted by the hurricaine

(said sarcastically, of course.)