ERD News 8/7/06: $270 Million in Bribes for in Mexican Election - $270 mil

[autorank]

Prensa Latina: August 2, 2006
New Type of Mexican Election Fraud

http://tinyurl.com/ohkhf

Mexico, Aug 2 (Prensa Latina) Independent trade union leaders have denounced an alleged fraud in the July 2 elections orchestrated by the president of the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE), Elba Esther Gordillo.

The leaders of the National Coordinate of Education Workers (CNTE) assert that the government of President Vicente Fox diverted funds from social programs to be handled by Gordillo for election ends.

Artemio Ortiz told a news conference in the western state of Michoacan that the funds amount to more than 227 million dollars, which were initially allocated to educational programs.

Ortiz added that the money was used to finance the New Alliance Party of grassroots educators, to support the official presidential candidate, Felipe Calderon, and to set up a network of representatives at the polling stations.

Ed. Note:

Gordillo promoted an ultra right wing candidate with these funds.

These funds were used primary with Governors in Northern Mexico, where Calderon won by 70-20% margins.

This was reported to the Federal Attorney General’s Office AND the Election Court o that just said that there was NOT ENOUGH corruption present to warrant a full recount.

All of which is why these people are here and planning to stay until justice is done.

This information has been mentioned even in some CM sources. The evidence was presented to the Election Tribunal. Yet with this and all of the other incidents of election fraud, they say THEY LACK THE EVIDENCE OF FRAUD TO ORDER A FULL RECOUNT, “ballot by ballot, precinct by precinct.”

[autorank]

1. "We won't back down!" The Mexican People

http://www.alternet.org/images/managed/Blog+Image_thumb_mex.jpg
“We won’t back down!”

The Mexican People – Heroes of Democracy

Michael Collins

The people of the Mexican democracy movement and their leader Andrés Manuel López Obrador are modern heroes of democracy and the movement for clean elections. They recall the heroics of the Ukrainians but with one important difference, there are no “great powers” supporting them. In fact, the American regime is hostile to a victory by Obrador and the Party of the Democratic Revolution(PRD) however it is achieved. The Mexican people are alone, on the street, fighting the valiant fight for people everywhere who believe in the inherent, inalienable, natural right of people to determine their own destiny through free, fair, and transparent elections.

Supporters of democracy in Mexico lead by Obrador are making a stand in the nation’s capitol. They’ve had their third major million people plus demonstration. The American press tried a theme of “demonstrators weary” recently, just before the latest seven figure demonstration. The demonstrations were designed to let the country know that the election is so questionable there should be an investigation through direct evidence – a “ballot by ballot, precinct by precinct” recount.

The short history of this election has a wealth of evidence pointing to fraud. The PAN party of Vincente Fox engaged in a number of questionable activities. $270 million in funds were reportedly diverted form social programs were used to sweeten the pot in Northern Mexican states via Governors. Calderon defeated Obrador by margins of 50% and there were charges of massive election fraud. The “independent” election authority tipped its hand by reporting Calderon the winner only to face shame when citizens pointed out there were 2.5 million uncounted ballots. The election institute totaled these and, by a remarkable “coincidence,” Calderon’s victory margin remained in tact. Opening seals on ballot boxes was reported frequency on election day, with accusations almost exclusively leveled at PAN activists. Obrador supporters found ballots discarded, unreported, and uncounted in dumps and other hideaways.

Mexican citizens armed themselves with video cameras and other recording devices. We have yet to see this evidence. Why? Because our press is complicit, part of the corporate shilling that goes into those razor thin victories that the right wing seems to pull off at all times.

Obrador is convinced that he won the election as are many others. It’s a carbon copy of the 1988 presidential election that many were sure the left had won. Obrador and his supporters are not going to take that outcome again without fighting. There have been three major demonstrations of over a million people each in Mexico City. Obrador has called for and is supported in acts of civil disobedience at airports and in major sections of Mexico City. In the states, women recently took over a government seat of power in protest to the outrages of corrupt rule in the State of Oaxaca.

The millions of Mexican activists, the leaders, and the candidate are all engaged in a plan with high risks. The Fox government broke up a peaceful vigil by teachers in Oaxaca a few months before the election. The teachers were sleeping in the town square as part of their protest. At dawn while the teachers still slept, the shameless Fox government dispatched helicopters which tear gassed the peaceful demonstrators as the lay unguarded, sleeping.

That is how the ruling elite respond to a protest in the provinces. What can we expect in the capitol city when civil disobedience is used to assure a fair chance at wining the presidency?

The ghost of the 1968 Tlatelolco Massacre haunts the demonstrations today. Three hundred innocents were killed and many more injured in the main square of Mexico City. The Mexican government, in a deliberate act to stop a student movement for social justice, surrounded the square where 5000 demonstrators were peacefully assembled along with tourists and locals simply passing through the area. Troops opened fire with live rounds and many were killed, many more injured. Premeditation with the intent to harm was acknowledged much later (1997) by the man in change, then minister of the interior (and later president) Luis Echeverría. In addition, there is direct evidence of United States concern about the demonstrations and the student movement. US Government representatives in Mexico City gathered intelligence on the students and their plans, passing that to the Mexican Government.

Does this sound familiar? The White House and the Fox government are strongly aligned. The names and reportedly addresses, phone, and passport numbers Mexico’s 65 million voters was purchased by Choicepoint after 911. Was this detailed information used by the Fox government and PAN to target specific voters for special “benefits” in those areas with cash-rich Governors? Will the Fox government adopt the “shock and awe” approach used by their predecessors in the violence of 1968? The demonstrators are aware of all of this. It’s a different political environment. People there are actually informed and find no shame in that.

The acts of the demonstrators are fully conscious acts of civil disobedience with awareness of the violence against sleeping women recently and the history of premeditated violence by previous government against protesters who threatened much less than the democracy advocates threaten today; an end to decades of corruption that steals the wealth, lives, and soul of a nation of intelligent, hard working, creative people.

It is incumbent upon all of us to support the heroic efforts of the Mexican people in any way we can, even if it is simply taking inspiration from their real-world battle against corporate fascism. Another way to honor these sentinels of democracy is to redouble our efforts to make voter suppression, voter disenfranchisement, and nonsensical outcomes a thing of the past in the United States.

We owe the Mexican people a great debt.

[autorank]

2. Mexico: A Full Recount would “Violate Mexican Law” – Panel Turns it Down

The election tribunal has now passed through the looking glass. There is a great deal of evidence that fraud took place, so much so that a recount is the only way to satisfy the nation that the correct victor rules. I knew the game was rigged when a few days ago; PAN (President Fox’s party) came out and said they’d accept a full recount. Now way I thought, this makes no sense. Sure enough, the word was out, forget the election tribunal.

Basque News and Information Channel 08.06.06
DISPUTED PRESIDENTIAL RACE
Mexican tribunal rules full recount violates electoral laws

The election has divided the nation along class and social lines. Lopez Obrador has promised to govern for the poor, while Calderon has the backing of the nation's growing middle classes and ruling elite.



Mexico's leftist presidential candidate said he will not relent in his demand for a full recount in the country's disputed presidential race - despite the Federal Electoral Court's ruling that only a partial, ballot-by-ballot review was necessary.

The tribunal ruled Saturday that granting Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's request for a full recount would violate electoral laws that prohibit recounts unless there is evidence of irregularities or fraud.

Instead, the tribunal's seven judges voted in favour of a recount of 11,839 polling places - about 9 percent of the more than 130,000 nationwide - where they determined problems were evident.

The decision angered Lopez Obrador's millions of supporters. In a speech late Saturday, he urged them to remain calm and fortify protest camps that have blocked Mexico City's main Reforma Avenue and Zocalo square, snarling traffic for a week.

[autorank]

3. Mexico: Crucial Background on Fraud in this election

These are quotations from a very long article. The article is the best summary of the various strands of election fraud in this election. You would think that the NYT might run something like this. Think again.

AlterNet
Evidence of Election Fraud Grows in México

As the U.S. media distorts the aftermath of the July 2 election, evidence suggests there may be an attempted theft in progress.
By Chuck Collins and Joshua Holland
. Posted August 2, 2006.
http://www.alternet.org/story/39763/

Growing evidence of irregularities and fraud

But he overstepped this line many times in the 2006 campaign, including dozens of speeches reinforcing candidate Felipe Calderón's basic message that López Obrador was a "danger to México." In a well-publicized speech, candidate López Obrador responded, "With all respect, Mr. President, shut up. You sound like a chattering bird." Fox continued with these speeches until election authorities and public commentators warned Fox he was violating election laws.

Under Mexican law, ruling party interference is a serious charge and grounds for annulling an election. In the last ten years, the same Electoral Tribunal judges that are reviewing AMLO's complaints annulled governors' races in Tabasco and Colima, based on ruling party interference.

López Obrador's campaign and hundreds of independent election observers documented several hundred cases of "old fashioned" election-day fraud in making their case for a recount.

The PRD's strongest case for a recount comes from the fact that ballots in almost one-third of the country were not counted in the presence of independent observers. One analysis of IFE results found that there were 2,366 polling places where only a PAN observer was present. In these districts, Calderón beat López Obrador by a whopping 71-21 margin.

Other elements of PRD's legal challenge include documentation of several ballot boxes found in dumps in the PRD stronghold of México City. They also point to evidence such as the nonpartisan Civic Alliance's report documenting 17 polling sites in PAN-dominated Nuevo León, Michoacan and Querétaro, where the number of votes cast vastly exceeded the number of registered voters at a site.
Luis Mochan, a physicist at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México … Calderón began the day building a large percentage lead -- seven points -- that decreased steadily throughout the day. The large early lead would have been handy from a psychological and political perspective, allowing Calderón to claim that he led all day long, but the results had to end in a close result given that polls conducted a week before the tally showed a statistical dead heat.

[autorank]

4. Mexico: Reaching The Critical Moment – the Truth. Laura Carlson on site

Laura Carlson on the International Relations Center, America’s Program is in Mexico City going to every demonstration, interviewing participants, and documenting events. I’m jealous! She has given permission for her articles to be reprinted in full. What an experience.

Reprinted with permission.

Mexico’s Critical Moment

Laura Carlsen, IRC | August 2, 2006 Americas Program, International Relations Center (IRC) americas.irc-online.org
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/3404

Since the start of Mexico's presidential campaigns, the race has opened up latent but profound fissures in Mexican society. The present post-electoral conflict not only hinges on legal issues of how the elections were run. It brings to the fore deep concerns about transparency, social justice, and the future course of a nation at a critical juncture in its fledgling transition to democracy.

The post-electoral conflict reached a higher pitch this week as round-the-clock encampments were installed in Mexico City's central square and surrounding streets. Supporters of center-left presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador have vowed to remain in the camps until the Federal Electoral Court rules for a full recount of the votes.

Despite the daily downpours typical of Mexico's rainy season, protesters from all over the country have set up community kitchens, workshops and classes, children's activities, and cleaning crews through their own initiative. Citizens have organized to deliver food, blankets, and shelter to the protesters. The encampments have predictably caused major traffic problems in the city and elicited irate comments from downtown businesses.

They could be in for a long haul. The Federal Court has until the end of the month of August to decide on a legal course of action to resolve the controversy.

But those calling for a “ballot by ballot, polling place by polling place” recount demonstrated their determination and endurance on July 31 when some two million people waited for hours packed in the plaza to hear López Obrador speak at the third “informative assembly.” When people visibly affected by the heat of the midday sun began to leave the plaza before López Obrador arrived, others urged them “not to cave in” and offered water. For many it's a matter of pride—both to defend the candidate they believe really won the elections and to resist what they view as another attempt by the rich and powerful to cheat them out of their just dues.

Meanwhile, pressures from the conservative wing to declare Felipe Calderón president-elect have also intensified, but through very different tactics. Calderón's National Action Party (PAN) has been meeting with editorial boards of major foreign media and mobilizing groups of some of the nation's most powerful businessmen. Calderón told a group of foreign correspondents that he will not go head-to-head with López Obrador in the streets since his opponent has a distinct advantage in mobilizing masses, but instead will defend his election through other means. The PAN plans to publicly present tally sheets and Calderón continues to announce policy decisions among specific sectors as if he were already the president-elect.

It's no coincidence that the López Obrador supporters are in the streets and the effort to declare Calderón president is being orchestrated in corporate boardrooms and editorial meetings with Mexico's media monopolies and foreign press.

The built-up resentment of the poor has found expression in the López Obrador campaign. The PRD leader uses language that reclaims social and economic rights enshrined in the Mexican Constitution, and backs policies that reflect an active obligation of the government to level some of the disparities in wealth and power that have grown under the free-market model.

The PAN, true to the model, has governed under the assumption that what's good for business is good for the country. For those who have waited decades for this model to produce tangible benefits to the most disadvantaged sectors of society, the hypothesis is no longer tenable. They believe, with much justification, that society owes them more, and that the windfalls of the wealthy have been at their expense.

The legal process to declare the winner of the race has just begun. The Federal Electoral Court recently agreed on implementing a “special procedure” to review the evidence presented to demand a general recount. It can then either declare a full recount or a partial recount of votes in specific polling places. The greatest number of demands for review and documentation of anomalies pertain to districts where the PAN candidate won with ample margins.

Legal experts have been debating the various ins and outs of the options before the court, generally opining in ways that reflect their political orientation more than by-the-letter interpretation of the laws. The reality is that the laws are relatively new, and few precedents have been set. The tribunal's seven judges, therefore, have considerable leeway to interpret the law and determine procedures as they see fit in what is by far their most important case to date.

López Obrador has repeatedly stated his commitment to respect the results of a full recount. Calderón has waffled on the issue of a recount, at times calling it an illegal and unnecessary measure and at others acceding to the possibility of a partial recount.

With so much at stake in terms of social stability and transparency, the prudent course is to choose the most comprehensive solution possible. This is a full recount. Dispelling doubts in the electoral process not only grants the new president—whoever he is—greater legitimacy, it also restores confidence in institutions.

The solution to the controversy now lies in the hands of the electoral court. But the challenge to attain transparent and credible election results and, even more importantly, to chart a course toward durable social justice is a challenge facing all of Mexican society.

Popular movements around the world often use nonviolent civil disobedience to break impasses at critical moments of transition. Mexico today faces such a critical moment. Manipulated elections held under the one-party rule of the Institutional Revolutionary Party are still well remembered and many fear a return to the past if this election is not cleared up. The encampments intensify the confrontation that has been taking place since the July 2 elections. A decision for a full recount would provide an institutional solution to the stand-off and allow the nation to get on with the larger task of overcoming the divisions to build a more just society.

Laura Carlsen directs IRC's Americas Program, www.americaspolicy.org, from Mexico City, where she has worked as a political analyst for two decades.

[autorank]

5. Mexico: First Story – Trial Baloon. Obrador, “Take a hike.”

Press watchers, you’ll love this. This leaked story is the ‘set up” – get ready for nothing Obrador, go home and stop complaining. Of course, as a man of principal, Obrador knows the truth and could care less about Washington DC like machinations.

Associated Press
Mexican Official Urges Rejecting Recount

By TRACI CARL , 08.05.2006, 12:30 PM
http://tinyurl.com/qju7b

The head of Mexico's top electoral court recommended Saturday that the panel reject a request for a total recount of the nation's disputed presidential election.

The Federal Electoral Court's six other magistrates are considered highly independent and there was no indication of whether they would follow Judge Leonel Castillo's recommendation when they vote on the recount request by the party of leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The vote was expected to take place Saturday.

Castillo did not recommend against a partial recount in his statement, read during the court's first public session on the July 2 election.

If the judges reject a full recount, it will likely anger millions of Lopez Obrador supporters, thousands of whom are occupying Mexico City's center to demand a full recount that they claim will show Lopez Obrador was the real winner. The candidate has said a full, ballot-by-ballot recount is the only way to restore faith in Mexico's electoral system.

[autorank]

6. Mexico: Election Court Splits Baby … with Chain Saw – The Story for Now.

I love Narco News. It’s one of the gutsiest online journals. They go after narcotic corruption in the Western Hemisphere which, by necessity, involves political corruption. They are honest and fearless. The judicial panel, in place to rule on election fraud cases, had three choices: say there was no corruption and do nothing; say there was not much corruption and do what they did, order a partial recount; or order a complete recount based on the overwhelming evidence that much went wrong. The chose the middle course, denying corruption had taken place (in which case, they should have not recounted a single ballot) but then sampling a portion of the vote, which makes no sense if you want to know what really happened in the entire election. Go figure…maybe something was "lost in translation” when they called the WH for a consultation;)

Narco News
Mexico's Electoral Tribunal Orders Partial Recount to Begin on Wednesday

By Al Giordano,
Posted on Sat Aug 5th, 2006 at 02:22:25 PM EST

In a Solomonic decision, the seven justices of Mexico’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (known as the Trife) cut the baby of democracy in half.

In doing so, they added more uncertainty and drama to an already tense crisis. The court’s decision to allow a recount in only half of Mexico’s 300 electoral districts could still result in an historic reversal of official tallies that gave a razor-thin advantage to National Action Party (PAN) candidate Felipe Calderón (who the Federal Elections Commission, know as IFE, claims won by .58 percent or 240,000 votes), making former Mexico City governor Andrés Manuel López Obrador, of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) the comeback kid of this year’s cloudy election process.

Alternately, it could narrow the margin between the two candidates to an extent that makes evident the need for a full recount.

The judges rejected appeals for a full recount in the country’s 130,000 precincts (where the official tally gives Calderón the advantage by less than two votes per precinct), instead opting to limit the recount to 11,839, about nine percent of the ballots cast. Attorneys for López Obrador supplied documentation of electoral fraud in 72,000 of the country’s 130,000 precincts. In a recount of that many districts, a change of only three votes per precinct would likely reverse the official tally making López Obrador the winner. However, the court has opted for a recount in only 11,839. That means that to reverse the national tally, a difference of 21 votes per precinct toward López Obrador would be required.

The messiest scenario will come if this sample of 11,000 precincts shows a shift averaging more than two or three votes per precinct toward López Obrador. If so, the national clamor for a full recount will boil over into a national rebellion. The court will have to either reconsider the matter of a full or larger recount or the post-electoral conflict will move from the courts to the streets and highways of Mexico.

[autorank]

7. Mexico: Obrador and left – “NOT ONE STEP BACK”

That’s the spirit. He is so clear in his convictions and purpose. No wonder millions show up to support him. When was the last time any political figure in the United States drew a million people to hear him speak….three times over the course of 10-15 days? NEVER

Reuters: 08.06.06
Mexico leftist vows protests after recount setback

By Catherine Bremer, Reuters

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's leftist opposition leader angrily vowed to push ahead with street protests that have paralyzed the capital after a top court on Saturday rejected his demand for a full recount in a presidential vote he says was stolen from him.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says the July 2 election was plagued by fraud and wants all 41 million votes counted again, but the court's seven judges unanimously ruled against him and instead ordered recounts at just 9 percent of voting stations.

He criticized them in a speech to thousands of supporters and pledged to persist with demonstrations that have caused chaos in Mexico City, one of the world's biggest cities.

"We're telling you straight: we're going to continue our movement of peaceful civil resistance," he told his followers in the capital's vast Zocalo square.

"If they refuse to open all the polling stations and count all the votes, it is complete proof that we won the presidential election," he said.

"You are not alone!," thousands of supporters screamed in support. "Not one step back!"

[autorank]

8. Mexico: WSJ - Story of 135 “intellectuals & leaders” supporting Calderon

Oh please, just stop, we can’t bear it. This is so obvious a ploy a joke a piece of blatant propaganda. After you read this, reserve just a moment for real anger at the illusion generators for insulting your intelligence with this crude ploy, then laugh.

” Shortly afterward, a group of 135 leading intellectuals signed a letter saying they had found no sign of fraud in the election, and calling for support for the” … what a crock, I’m rolling on the floor laughing my you know what off. LET THE DISINFO BEGIN. It’s like 2000 when the anointed *ler. Wonderful stuff.

[autorank]

9. Mexico: Obrador Ready for Long Battle…He will not back down.

AP in the Guardian: August 7, 2006 4:16 AM
Mexican Candidate Ready for Long Battle

By MARK STEVENSON
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Sunday he was digging in for a long battle to ensure his ruling-party rival is not declared the winner of presidential elections, calling on supporters to demonstrate in front of the court that ruled against his demand for a full recount.

Lopez Obrador told tens of thousands of followers in Mexico City's main Zocalo plaza that they should indefinitely man the sprawling, week-old protest camps that have brought much of the capital's normally thriving center to a halt. The blockades have snarled traffic, costing the city an estimated $23 million a day.

[autorank]

10. Mexico: Obrador Ready for Long Battle…He will not back down.

AP in the Guardian: August 7, 2006 4:16 AM
Mexican Candidate Ready for Long Battle

By MARK STEVENSON
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Sunday he was digging in for a long battle to ensure his ruling-party rival is not declared the winner of presidential elections, calling on supporters to demonstrate in front of the court that ruled against his demand for a full recount.

Lopez Obrador told tens of thousands of followers in Mexico City's main Zocalo plaza that they should indefinitely man the sprawling, week-old protest camps that have brought much of the capital's normally thriving center to a halt. The blockades have snarled traffic, costing the city an estimated $23 million a day.

[autorank]

11. Mexico: Left to take Demonstrations Electoral Tribunal

You have to love the Mexican left. They have such great instincts. They hold rallies, people show up en masse, and then as events change so do tactics. Why not demonstrate at the Election Tribunal. It has a certain Bastille flavor to it. I’m sure like the little that French crowds discovered when then entered the Bastille, the Mexicans entering the propagandist designated august court will find nothing more than a hotline to Vicente Fox and his “friends.”

Dallas Morning News: Posted on Sun, Aug. 06, 2006
Lopez Obrador calls for protests outside electoral tribunal

By Laurence Iliff
(MCT)

MEXICO CITY - Leftist leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced new acts of civil resistance Sunday in an attempt to pressure the Federal Electoral Tribunal to reconsider its decision to recount just 9 percent of all polling places in the July 2 presidential election.

"Even though the tribunal has decided in favor of a partial recount of polling places, we don't accept this partial recount. We want a recount of all the polling places," Lopez Obrador said before thousands of supporters in the downtown Zocalo square.

"We don't want one-tenth of democracy, we want 100 percent," said Lopez Obrador, who has made unproven charges of vote fraud.

Lopez Obrador, who lost by 244,000 votes of more than 41 million cast, called on supporters to gather in front of the tribunal's offices in southern Mexico City on Monday. His "assemblies" have previously been held only in the Zocalo, the city's main square.

[autorank]

12. Nation: One of the Best Articles on Election Fraud, Legal Issues Ever Tri

This is from Trial Magazine and it is one of the very best articles on election issues I’ve read. The author presents a comprehensive essay on the looming catastrophe of 2006 and the legal issues involved. Highly recommended.

TRIAL August 2006. Full article at: http://www.atla.org/homepage/trial.aspx

Lawsuits cast votes against electronic voting machines

By Valerie Jablow, TRIAL Magazine
On the eve of elections that could shift the balance of power in at least one house of Congress, lawsuits filed by voters in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, and Ohio are challenging the use of electronic voting machines.

The cases, filed against various state officials in state and federal courts, contain several allegations finding fault with direct-recording electronic voting machines (DREs): that they count votes inaccurately, pose security risks because of easily manipulated or flawed software, and violate constitutional guarantees of the right to vote when they do not print out voter-verifiable paper ballots for use in audits and recounts.

Snip

Concerns about the security and reliability of electronic voting systems have surfaced around the country. Before Pennsylvania primary elections on May 16, the state conducted a test of its DREs in which a computer scientist hacked into the machines and altered vote totals. At the same time, another researcher detected software vulnerabilities in a different type of DRE. The reports prompted officials in California, Iowa, and Pennsylvania to direct state elections officials to fix the software before elections were held.

Reports of votes being subtracted, swapped, and deleted during elections also have tarnished DREs’ image. In recent elections in Virginia and California, officials were not able to report results from electronic voting systems until well after polls had closed because of DRE problems. In the Virginia election, voters in one county noted that their votes were changed as they voted on DREs.

“HAVA was passed so quickly,” said Penny Venetis, a lawyer with the Constitutional Law Clinic at Rutgers School of Law in Newark, New Jersey. “Now we’ve had time to use these machines and see how fundamentally flawed they are.”

[autorank]

13. OH: Race and the Ohio Governor Contest

It’s black versus white on one level, appearance and the question the Columbus Dispatch asks is how voters in the black community will react to Kenneth Blackwell, a Republican who is black, against Kenneth Strickland, a Democrat who is white. The Dispatch is known far and wide for its polling analysis so reading the whole article is recommended.
OH: Columbus Dispatch Analyzes the Race Issue in Governor’s Contest

Columbus Dispatch: Sunday, August 06, 2006
OHIO’S RACE FOR GOVERNOR
How many voters see a black-white contest?
Joe Hallett and Mark Niquette
http://tinyurl.com/g6nd3

According to a Dispatch analysis of the 2002 vote that reelected Blackwell as secretary of state, he garnered about 24 percent of the votes cast statewide in precincts where at least 90 percent of the residents are black. That was more than any nonjudicial statewide GOP candidate in those precincts.

Blackwell won 39 percent of the votes cast in the black precincts in his hometown, Cincinnati, 19 percent in Cleveland and 26 percent in Columbus, the data show.

The same analysis for the 1998 election shows that Blackwell did not do as well in the black precincts, winning 18.2 percent of the vote there. Still, that was better than any other nonjudicial GOP candidate that year.

Ohio Democratic Party spokesman Brian Rothenberg said statistics show that blacks account for about 13 percent of the state’s eligible voting-age population, and of that group, between 7 percent and 8 percent have voted in recent elections.

[autorank]

14. OH: New Voter ID Procedure a Worry in Ohio as Election Looms

Now why would anyone in Ohio be worried about voting procedures, new or old? Of course I’m being ironic. The people of Ohio have as their reward for putting up with THE most corrupt state government since Warren G. Harding, the possibility of having the supreme author of much of that distress placed in the Governor’s mansion.

AP: August 7, 2006
Officials worry about first test of voter ID rule

Connie Mabin
http://tinyurl.com/qpusg

CLEVELAND — More than two dozen Ohio counties are preparing for special elections Tuesday, the state’s first with a rule that requires voters to show identification before casting a ballot.

Among the 27 counties with elections for various local issues, mostly school tax proposals, is Cuyahoga, the state’s most populous county where the May primary was disastrous even without workers worrying about checking ID.

Results from the May 2 primary were delayed six days when roughly 18,000 absentee ballots had to be hand counted because they were improperly formatted for the new optical scan system.

The county, and many others across the state, also had problems at polling places voting electronically for the first time.

[autorank]

15. Nation: Free Resources-Voter ID, Central Reg. DB’s and Shocking News!!!

There are three resources available at www.electionfraudnews.com f

DID YOU KNOW THAT BETWEEN 10-20% OF VOTERS LACK
THE TYPE OF IDENETIFICAITON REQUIRED IN SOME STATES TO VOTE???

WHAT PARTY DO YOU THINK WILL TAKE THE OVERWHELMING HIT
ON THE LOSS OF THESE VOTERS, AND COUNT ON IT, THEY’RE GONE IN 2006?

…I’m waiting…DEMOCRATS, correct for $800, now advance to the bonus round and begin your mourning early. The polls DO NOT take this into account. How about that. Buy a ticket for the ride down the river of tears, launching from docks everwhere right after election returns come in on the evening of November 7, 2006. I hope I’ wrong, taunt me if I am. I just do not see how we can do well with a 10% hit to our base. Based on past history, Florida 2000, etc., the circle will be drawn wider than just the 10-20% of poor who don’t have the IDs. They’ll screw another percentage out of the Democratic base. TIME TO THINK SMART…GET TO DNC WITH THIS.

Time to bone up on this and other subjects from a trusted source, The Brennan Center of New York University School of Law (where else!).

Link for all three publications: www.electionfraudnews.com

Voter ID Requirements – a list of links on articles and other resources on Voter Identification requirements in the states.

Right to Vote. Research Toolkit: How to survey voting registration procedures for people with felony convictions (free download).

Making the List: Database Matching and Verification Procedures for Voter Registration-50 States (free download).

The last item is a unique resource and highly specific. It covers procedures in the 50 states on procedures in centralized voter registration databases. This is a rich source of voter suppression.

[stellanoir]

16. 5th rec

[Kurovski]

17. Kick to the top.

Thank you, autorank!

[autorank]

22. Thank you Prince Kurovski...

...Serf Auto

[Kurovski]

25. You're more lordly than most, as you toil in the fields of democracy,

bringing in the sheaves.:-)

Sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadows,
Fearing neither clouds nor winter’s chilling breeze;
By and by the harvest, and the labor ended,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

[robinlynne]

18. excellent post. k&r

[Nothing Without Hope]

19. K & R - thanks for this fine thread, autorank! n/t

[freedomfries]

20. K & R

thanks for all the info and resources, auto!

[Nothing Without Hope]

24. Don't miss Greg Palast's series on the Mexican election fraud - LINKS:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=437351
thread title (6-30-06): STEALING MEXICO - by Greg Palast

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=1556158
thread title (7-3-06): Dispatch from Mexico City: Stealing it in Front of Your Eyes - Greg Palast

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x439021
thread title (7-8-06): Mexico and Florida have more in common than heat-Greg Palast/The Guardian

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1631079
thread title (7-14-06): Why Democrats Don't Count - Greg Palast

Here is Greg Palast's site for his articles:
http://www.gregpalast.com/section/articles

Look through and you will find his more recent articles on a variety of topics, including the Mexican election fraud (and the US one), the manipulation of oil supply (and prices) and more. For example, here is an Aug 7 article originally published in The Guardian (UK):

http://www.gregpalast.com/we-dont-need-no-stinkin-recount

“WE DON’T NEED NO STINKIN’ RECOUNT”: Mexico’s Lesson In The Dangers Of The Paper Ballot

By Greg Palast
for The Guardian, Comment is Free
Monday August 7, 2006

In the six years since I first began investigating the burglary ring we call “elections” in America, a new Voting Reform industry has grown up. That’s good. What’s worrisome is that most of the effort is focused on preventing the installation of computer voting machines. Paper ballots, we’re told, will save our democracy.

Well, forget it. Over the weekend, Mexico’s ruling party showed how you can rustle an election even with the entire population using the world’s easiest paper ballot.

On Saturday, Mexico’s electoral tribunal, known as the “TRIFE” (say “tree-fay”) ordered a re-count of the ballots from the suspect July 2 vote for president. Well, not quite a recount as in “count all the ballots” — but a review of just 9% of the nation’s 130,000 precincts.

The “9% solution” was the TRIFE’s ham-fisted attempt to chill out the several hundred thousand protesting supporters of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador who had gathered in the capital and blocked its main Avenue. Lopez Obrador, the Leftist challenger known by his initials AMLO, supposedly lost the presidential vote by just one half of one percent of the vote.

(snip - continues at link)

[autorank]

21. Thank you Hope.

...keep up your wonderful work and I wish you the best!!!

[bonito]

23. Kick &R n/t

[msedano]

26. dang, got here too late

to recommend the post.

here's a tip of my cachucha to the paisans down in Mexico, a tip of my cap to Autorank for raising the issue, and a big abrazo to Michael Collins for an outstanding essay, ese.

mvs

[autorank]

27. Yo bro...

You're wandering into some strange neighborhoods, some might call this place Goofy Street:)

cya soon!!! :party:

[Land Shark]

28. still good links here, gee