Election Reform, Fraud, & News Sunday 09/10/06 - Heck of a job HAVA!

[freedomfries]

Election Reform, Fraud, & News Sunday 09/10/06

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.

If you can:
:argh:

1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.

2. Post stories using the "Election Fraud and Reform News Sources" listed here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x371233
:argh:

3. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU, providing a link to the original thread with thanks to the Original Poster, too.

4. Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.
:argh:

Please "Recommend" for the Greatest Page (it's the link just below).
:kick:

[freedomfries]

1. Scoop: William Rivers Pitt: A Day of Chicken-Counting

William Rivers Pitt: A Day of Chicken-Counting
Scoop/Truthout
Friday, 8 September 2006

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0609/S00098.htm
A Day of Chicken-Counting

The Labor Day weekend is traditionally considered the starting gun for Congressional midterm races. The work to gain or hold seats has been going on for months, of course, but Labor Day is when everyone is supposed to start paying attention. Only 63 days remain until the votes are cast. Remember, remember the seventh of November.

Anyone reading the newspapers over this past weekend, however, may have been left with the inescapable sense that the outcome of these midterms is a fait accompli. The printing press punditry appears to have decided that the GOP is doomed, that the Democrats will at minimum regain control of the House of Representatives, if not the entire Congress. One could not turn around on Monday without bumping into an article predicting blood on the moon for the Republican Party.

The New York Times's article was titled "G.O.P. Seen to Be in Peril of Losing House," and read, "After a year of political turmoil, Republicans enter the fall campaign with their control of the House in serious jeopardy, the possibility of major losses in the Senate, and a national mood so unsettled that districts once considered safely Republican are now competitive, analysts and strategists in both parties say."

The Washington Post's headline was "More GOP Districts Counted as Vulnerable," and the article beneath read, "Facing the most difficult political environment since they took control of Congress in 1994, Republicans begin the final two months of the midterm campaign in growing danger of losing the House while fighting to preserve at best a slim majority in the Senate, according to strategists and officials in both parties. Over the summer, the political battlefield has expanded well beyond the roughly 20 GOP House seats originally thought to be vulnerable. Now some Republicans concede there may be almost twice as many districts from which Democrats could wrest the 15 additional seats they need to take control."
...

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0609/S00098.htm

[freedomfries]

2. MD: How much can state trust electronic voting?

How much can state trust electronic voting?
Tuesday's primary is 1st in Maryland to be held entirely on computers
Melissa Harris
Sun Reporter
Sunday, September 10, 2006
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-id.issues.vote.10sep10,0,6456225.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines

This Tuesday, for the first time, every voter in Maryland will cast a ballot on a voting system that is entirely electronic. Apart from the important public offices being filled, the stakes are substantial.

Since the controversial outcome of the 2000 presidential election, when the state of Florida laid bare the need to discard outdated voting systems - especially punch-card ballots - more and more states have turned to computers with mixed results.

Voters love their ATM-like ease, but every now and then, they're reminded that the voting machines are just as susceptible to unintended corruption as their home computers.
...

Some computer scientists argue that the machines are vulnerable to more than isolated and unintentional glitches. More damage could be done, they say, if expert hackers are able to alter the machines' computer code.
...
A Maryland election official's worst nightmare might play out like this: A low-level worker responsible for the final security check on dozens of voting machines in Baltimore is paid $100,000 by a rogue political operative to insert malicious memory cards in them.

When the machines are activated on election day, these cards erase the voting program on the machine and replace it with one identical in every way except one: Every fifth vote for Candidate X is switched to Candidate Y.
...
:argh:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-id.issues.vote.10sep10,0,6456225.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines

[freedomfries]

3. VT: Is Vermont's voting system secure ?

Is Vermont’s voting system secure?

Kathryn Casa
Vermont Guardian
Friday September 8, 2006
http://www.vermontguardian.com/local/092006/VTVoting.shtml

With none of the controversial touch-screen voting systems that have raised red flags in other states, and a safeguard mechanism in place, Vermonters can be assured of secure election results come November, according to Secretary of State Deb Markowitz.

Or can we?

A handful of local activists have their doubts, and last week a national voting watchdog pointed to what they say are serious problems with the Diebold optical scanner system used in Vermont.

Calais resident Jim Hogue, who helped propel the state’s ban on paperless electronic voting in 2003, said he thought at the time that the battle was over. “I thought ‘OK, we’ve won’ … and then I started discovering how vulnerable the optical scanners were.”
...
Because the system’s removable memory card contains an executable program which acts on the vote data, changing the program on the memory card can change the way the optical scan machine functions and the way the votes are reported, Hursti wrote.

“The system won’t work without this program on the memory card. Whereas we would expect to see vote data in a sealed, passive environment, this system places votes into an open active environment. With this architecture, every time an election is conducted it is necessary to reinstall part of the functionality into the optical scan system via memory card, making it possible to introduce program functions (either authorized or unauthorized), either wholesale or in a targeted manner, with no way to verify that the certified or even standard functionality is maintained from one voting machine to the next.”

http://www.vermontguardian.com/local/092006/VTVoting.shtml

[freedomfries]

14. TN: Lawsuit Challenges Electronic Voting Machines

Lawsuit Challenges Electronic Voting Machines Used In Shelby Co. Election

Memphis Eyewitness News
Saturday September 9, 2006

http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=9B7B76E7-C9E2-40FF-93EF-47E9B0736221

A federal lawsuit contends the electronic voting machines used in the August elections are "fundamentally flawed and unreliable" and prevented Shelby County voters from casting their ballots in private.

The suit was filed electronically Monday against the county's election commissioners and officials of Diebold Election Systems. It is an amended version of a complaint originally filed in July by a Memphis minister and four other plaintiffs.
...
The suit claims the Diebold AccuVote Machine is subject to tampering and denies voters the right to cast secret ballots. It also contends that election workers weren't properly trained on using the new equipment.
...
http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=9B7B76E7-C9E2-40FF-93EF-47E9B0736221

[freedomfries]

4. OH: Voting machines unusable

Voting machines unusable
Cincinnati Enquirer
Saturday, September 9, 2006
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060909/NEWS01/609090361/1056

PAINESVILLE, Ohio - A northeastern Ohio county that adopted electronic voting seven years ago has taken a huge financial loss over the state's requirement that voting machines produce a paper record.

The law made Lake County's first set of electronic voting machines outdated.

The 549 machines, purchased in 1999 for about $3 million, were sold back to California-based Sequoia Voting Systems on Thursday for roughly $27,500.
:argh:
...
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060909/NEWS01/609090361/1056

[freedomfries]

5. UK: The myth of fair elections in America

The myth of fair elections in America

Paul Harris
The Guardian.uk
Thursday September 7, 2006

The debacle surrounding the Republican victory in 2000 demonstrated to the world that America's electoral process is wide open to abuse. But as Paul Harris discovers, the system has actually worsened since then.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/columnists/story/0,,1866780,00.html

One person, one vote. Count the totals. The one with the most wins. The beauty of democracy is its simplicity and its inherent fairness. It equalises everyone, even as it empowers everyone. What could go wrong? In America, it turns out, quite a lot.
Everyone remembers the debacle in Florida, 2000. The recounts, the law suits and the eventual deciding of a presidential election - not by the voters - but by the Supreme Court. The memory still causes a collective shudder to America's body politic.

Which makes the fact that America's system of voting is now even more suspect, more complicated, and more open to abuse than ever before so utterly shocking. Across the country a bewildering series of scandals or dubious practises are proliferating beyond control. The prospect of a 'second Florida' is now more likely not less. There are many - and not all of them are conspiracy theorists - who believed it may have happened in Ohio in 2004.

This week the venerable New York Times was the latest of many organisations and institutions to declare that America's democratic system is simply starting to fail. Not in terms of its democratic ideals, or some takeover by a Neocon cabal, but by a simple collapse in its ability to count everyone's votes accurately and fairly. The Times is editorialising on a shocking government report into electoral rules in Ohio's biggest county, Cuyahoga, which contains the city of Cleveland. It details a litany of errors and a large discrepancy between the paper record of a ballot and the result recorded by the new Diebold electronic voting machines the county has just installed. It also worried that 31 per cent of black people were asked for identification as they voted compared to 18 per cent of other voters. ' report should be a wake-up call to states and counties nationwide,' the paper thundered.
...
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/columnists/story/0,,1866780,00.html

[Joe Chi Minh]

9. You don't have an electoral process, period. You don't have

voting machines, polling stations, anything. And you won't have, until the voting-machine fraud and voter intimidation and suppression are eliminated.
All those things are ultimately defined by a real goal. If the goal is pureley notional, and bears no relationship to reality, they are simply not, in the least degree, what they purport to be. You should preface every reference to them with the term, "virtual, until they become "real".

Major new initiatives, such as a federalisation of the whole process, will be required. An approximation of a fair process - even when the result might be substantially correct - is too risky, and would leave the process open to further chicanery in later years. A change in the political culture can only take place subject to a 'root and branch' clear-up. From an unregulated blood sport to a civilised civic procedure is a big leap.

It seems to be possible to almost eliminate a distortion of the true vote, in most of Western Europe. I'm not sure about the UK any more. Though there was some chicanery in the last election, remedied I believe in the courts, I think the record of the voting system is sound, but there have been too many good Socialist leaders who have died in strange circumstances, not to speak of the villainy of our historically perjurious media, to be sanguine about our set-up. The damage is done before the elections, it seems. I even wonder if the sudden onset of a very debilitating illness of the Australian, Socialist former fire-brand, Latham, was all that it appeared to be.

[freedomfries]

6. LA: Shreveport Times discusses Zogby poll on e-voting

Electronic voting won't be denied
Saturday, September 9, 2006

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060909/OPINION03/609090358/1007

The results of a recent Zogby poll have been heralded by opponents of electronic voting as an overwhelming denunciation of computer voting machines.

But while any system, be it mechanical, electrical or hanging chad-able, is subject to problems, rejecting a logical progression of technology doesn't really make sense. It's more about perfecting the technology and giving voter attitudes time to catch up.

When asked in the Zogby poll to choose between "Citizens have the right to view and obtain information about how election officials count votes" or "Citizens do not have the right to view and obtain information about how elections officials count votes," 92 percent of respondents agreed with the first statement (leading one to wonder what the other 8 percent may have been thinking). When asked about how aware they were that tampering with a computerized voting machine could change the results of an election, 60 percent claimed to be "aware."

A recent report on problems with an Ohio county's May primary gives additional pause with problems found with paper trail backups succumbing to printers loaded backwards, some crumpling and gaps in the paper. The culprits: careless election administration, printer failures or both. Most could be corrected with better training of poll workers and, as one analyst notes, if the manuacturer hadn't backhandedly engineered the paper loading system.
...
But rather than junking voting machines, it may be worth considering making the confidential code they run "open source," or available to public review. That way concerned citizens, computer nerds and everyone in between could see exactly what voting machines are doing. The hitch there is that manufacturers consider such information proprietary.
...
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060909/OPINION03/609090358/1007

[freedomfries]

7. PBS/NOW: Will New Voting Machines Cause an Election Day Debacle

Will New Voting Machines Cause an Election Day Debacle?
PBS/NOW
Friday, September 8, 2006
Original DU Post:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x448557#448688
Thanks for the heads up kpete!
Program link:
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/236/index.html
Thanks Land Shark!
Will new voting machines cure election headaches or cause them? The Help America Vote Act divided 3.1 billion dollars among all 50 states to update their voting systems with new technology. On Friday September 8, at 8:30 pm, NOW takes a close look at one Michigan county on Primary Day to see how the new machines are working, but also checks in on other states, including Texas, Iowa, New Mexico, and - you guessed it - Ohio. What we found was alarming - computer and human error, nonexistent contingency plans, and extreme vulnerability to tampering.

"We are no more certain today than we were in 2000 that we will not have an embarrassing moment and a tragic outcome in this year's election," Deforest Soaries, former Chairman of the Election Assistance Commission, told NOW.

Program link:
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/236/index.html

[freedomfries]

8. NPR: Listen to Avi Rubin's Brave New Ballot Interview on Diane Rehm

Brave New Ballot: The Battle to Safeguard Democracy in the Age of Electronic Voting
Diane Rehm Show
Wednesday September 6, 2006
10:00-11:00
http://www.wamu.org/programs/dr/06/09/06.php#11126
Original DU post:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x448361
Thank you dmesg!

Aviel Rubin: "Brave New Ballot" (Morgan Road Books)
The author discusses his 2003 report on serious security flaws in electronic voting machines, the controversy it stirred up, and the state of electronic voting security as elections approach.

Guests
Aviel Rubin, professor, computer science, Johns Hopkins University and author of a forthcoming book, "Brave New Ballot: The Battle to Safeguard Democracy in the Age of Electronic Voting"

http://www.wamu.org/programs/dr/06/09/06.php#11126

[freedomfries]

10. MO: Missouri judge hears voter ID case; federal suit filed

Missouri judge hears voter ID case; federal suit filed

Kelly Wiese AP
Belleville News Democrat
Wednesday 9, 2006

http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/state/15454147.htm

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - A judge hearing a lawsuit Wednesday challenging a new requirement that voters show a photo ID raised concerns about the costs some people may face to obtain the identification.

Under a law passed this spring, voters must present photo identification issued by Missouri or the federal government starting with November's elections.

Supporters say it's needed to prevent fraud and increase confidence in elections, but opponents have challenged the law as an unconstitutional infringement on the fundamental right to vote.

Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan said he planned to rule by the end of next week.

Separately, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, along with other groups and voters, filed a federal lawsuit in Jefferson City on Wednesday asking a court to block the law from taking effect and to declare it unconstitutional. The groups raise similar claims that the photo ID requirement harms people's ability to vote, violating federal laws and the U.S. Constitution.
...
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/state/15454147.htm

[freedomfries]

11. GA: Judge considers throwing out Georgia's voter photo ID law

Judge considers throwing out Georgia's voter photo ID law

Access North GA
The Associated Press
Sunday September 19, 2006

http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=80108

A judge being asked to throw out Georgia's photo ID requirement for voters showed uneasiness about the law from the bench Friday as he heard arguments in support of the measure from the state's attorneys.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford Jr. didn't rule at the end of a four-hour hearing and didn't say when he might issue a decision, but he was clearly concerned the law may be a burden on some voters.

The hearing was part of the latest effort by former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes and others to block enforcement of the law, which took effect July 1 and was enforced for the first time this past week in early balloting for a special election Tuesday in Twiggs County.

Bedford asked the state's attorneys to explain how requiring a voter to take the extra step of obtaining government-issued photo identification to cast a ballot serves the public interest.

"I'm struggling with that. That's bothering me, that one step," the judge said. "That might be, arguably, a burden on the right to vote. ... The problem here is that the state is putting the burden on the voter."
...
http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=80108

[freedomfries]

16. GA: Common Cause sues to halt voter ID law

Group sues to halt voter ID law

Carlos Campos
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday September 9, 2006

http://www.ajc.com/wireless/content/metro/stories/2006/09/06/0907metvoterid.html

A group opposing Georgia's photo voter ID requirement asked a federal court judge on Wednesday to stop enforcement of the law for a handful of special elections scheduled this month, according to court filings.

About 20 county and nine city special elections, including a bond referendum in Decatur, are set for Tuesday, Sept. 19. One special election in Twiggs County is set for Sept. 12.

The law, passed by the Legislature earlier this year, was not in effect for the July primary and August runoff elections. Judges in both state and federal court halted enforcement, saying there was evidence that the law posed an unnecessary impediment to voting. But those orders were temporary, and the judges have yet to rule on the merits of the law.
...
But a group, led by Common Cause Georgia, is claiming in a federal lawsuit that there is no evidence of in-person voter fraud, and that the law places an unnecessary burden on the right to vote.
...
http://www.ajc.com/wireless/content/metro/stories/2006/09/06/0907metvoterid.html

[freedomfries]

17. GA: Former Georgia Gov. Barnes Sues to Stop Voter ID Law

Former Georgia Gov. Barnes Sues to Stop Voter ID Law

Valerie Hoff
WXIA-TV Atlanta
Saturday 9, 2006

http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=84427

Will Georgians have to show a state-issued picture identification when they go the polls in November?

The controversy about the new voter ID law was back in court on Friday, with former Gov. Roy Barnes arguing that it's unconstitutional and unfair.

The voter ID law was on hold during the July primary, but Rosalind Lake says that didn't matter in her case.

Because it was her first time voting in Georgia, she was asked to supply a photo ID. The disabled 60-year-old had a MARTA card and an expired Florida driver's license.

“I feel so frustrated,” Lake said. “I tried everything I knew how to get the ID that I needed.”

“Should voting really be that complicated?” Barnes asked. “What is it that we're so afraid of that makes its so complex?”
...

http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=84427

[freedomfries]

24. Pelosi: "a GOP-conspiracy to defraud voters"

Liberals Accuse GOP of Conspiring to Defraud Voters

Kate Monaghan
CNSNews.com Correspondent
Friday September 08, 2006

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/viewstory.asp?Page=/Politics/archive/200609/POL20060908a.html

(CNSNews.com) - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) joined other Democratic lawmakers and liberal activists at a roundtable discussion Wednesday, accusing Republicans of interfering with voters' rights, especially those of minorities.

"There was a concentrated effort by conservatives to warp the legislative process, to make it more difficult for people to vote,"said Jon Greenbaum, director of the Voting Rights Project at the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Pelosi believes the right to vote is in jeopardy and argued that "there is a force conspiring against those who seek to uphold it."
...
"The president came to the NAACP earlier this year, and he talked about how some in the African-American community did not have confidence in the Republican Party," Pelosi said.

"He extended a hand of friendship, but his own party has initiated statutes in states across the country that involve crippling registration requirements, felony penalties targeting voter registration groups, and photo identification laws that amount to modern-day poll taxes," she added.

"Ironically," said Becker (PFAW), "it's easier for some Iraqis to vote than for some American citizens right now."

A report published by the PFAW Foundation and distributed at the event claimed that, "the radical right wing in America has developed an array of subtle and overt methods to suppress voter registration and turnout. The methods are targeted to constituencies most likely to oppose right-wing causes and candidates: low-income families, minorities, senior citizens and citizens for whom English is a second language."
...
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/viewstory.asp?Page=/Politics/archive/200609/POL20060908a.html

[freedomfries]

12. AL: D-SoS Nancy Worley besieged - Kevin Shelley redux in AL!

Voter registrar files complaint against secretary of state

Phillip Rawls AL
Saturday, September 9, 2006

http://www.al.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/politics-0/1157583294150790.xml&storylist=alabamanews

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A leader of the state voter registrars' organization has filed an ethics complaint against Secretary of State Nancy Worley, which she said is a baseless attempt to damage her in an election year.

Lester Sellers of Equality, legislative chairman of the Alabama Association of Boards of Registrars, accused Worley of not making a proper accounting of money received from the federal government to update Alabama's voting records and voting equipment.

The ethics law bars public officals from using their office for personal financial gain, and Worley questioned whether anything in the complaint fell under ethics rules.
...

http://www.al.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/politics-0/1157583294150790.xml&storylist=alabamanews

[Peace Patriot]

23. Holy crap! Alabama Democrats (and honest Republicans), get on this NOW!

DON'T WAIT! DON'T let them take an honest Secretary of State down! It sounds hauntingly similar to Calif/Kevin Shelley. The main charge against Shelley was "misuse" of HAVA funds, but what that mostly meant was his refusal to turn federal funds over to corrupt county election officials for purchase of extremely insecure Diebold touchscreens (which had been de-certified). He was forced out of office by this harassment--a total "swift-boating" scene--and later exonerated of all charges. Then Schwarzenegger APPOINTED Diebold shill Bruce McPherson to that office (Shelley was elected.) McPherson has now ILLEGALLY RE-certified Diebold touchscreens and is undoing all of Shelley's reforms. State Democratic leaders hid under their desks while this horror was perpetrated, or actively colluded with the Bushites and corrupt county officials (mostly Republican counties, but including Los Angeles and its highly corrupt elections head, Diebold shill Connie McCormack). Democrats are not immune from the corruption of the electronic voting boondoggle that Tom Delay and Bob Ney unleashed upon the nation--with that piece of crap bill, the so-called "Help America Vote Act"--and the Bushites are using stealth tactics of every kind to remove any remaining honest election officials, because they can't win open, honest elections. Beware! Beware!

See my post #28 (on Kevin Shelley), at: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2093787

[freedomfries]

13. IL: Clear Channel to invest $1 million in voter registration drive ?

Clear Channel to invest $1 million in voter registration drive

Demetrius Patterson
Chicago Defender
Thursday September 7, 2006

http://www.chicagodefender.com/page/local.cfm?ArticleID=6885

Clear Channel Radio Chicago announced Wednesday plans to kick off a multi-media public service campaign in an effort to get a high voter registration and turnout for the November elections.

The multimedia blitz, titled "Register & Vote," that will include ads on all six of Clear Channel's radio stations, Clear Channel Outdoor's billboards and Comcast Cable, will cost the company an estimated $1 million, said Angela Ingram, vice president of communications for Clear Channel Radio Chicago.

Additional media, such as newspapers and the Internet, will be utilized to offer Chicagoland residents detailed information on voter registration, voting procedures, voting machine demonstrations, voting locations, early voting, absentee voting, election day voting, and other important information regarding the voting process.
...
http://www.chicagodefender.com/page/local.cfm?ArticleID=6885

[freedomfries]

15. FL: Palm Beach Post Editorial: Correct elections glitches ?

Correct elections glitches

Palm Beach Post Editorial
Saturday, September 09, 2006

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2006/09/09/m12a_Martinvotes_edit_0909.html

When Vicki Davis gave up her seat on the Martin County School Board to run for Martin elections supervisor, her lack of computer experience was an issue. Martin has retired its reliable but old-fashioned mechanical voting machines, as state law ordered. The elections supervisor's job increasingly requires, if not an expert on technology, at least someone willing to hire the "techies" needed to supervise, program and troubleshoot electronic voting equipment. Ms. Davis assured skeptics she would hire the help she needed to bring the Martin office into the 21st century.

So it was particularly disappointing that Tuesday's primary, Ms. Davis' first major test, revealed some computer problems - along with other flaws that changed final vote tallies by nearly 500 votes. While that did not change outcomes in this election, discrepancies that large can be crucial. Recall the 537 margin that gave George W. Bush his 2000 victory over Al Gore. Locally, Martin Commissioner Lee Weberman defeated incumbent Janet Gettig by just 60 votes that same year.
....
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2006/09/09/m12a_Martinvotes_edit_0909.html

[freedomfries]

18. AC: Exit Polling and Election Fraud

Exit Polling and Election Fraud

N. Katers
Associated Content
Saturday September 9, 2006

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/60944/exit_polling_and_election_fraud.html

On Thursday, September 7th, Tracy Costin, the owner of polling firm DataUSA Inc., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a case that has further exposed the questionable reliability of exit polling and opinion polls in general. Costin has to repay over $80,000 to 11 clients from 2002 to 2004 and has worked for clients like President Bush and Senator Joe Lieberman. This story got a small AP writeup and I am not certain how widespread it has been in the media, but I think it is no small incident and anytime such a fraud is perpetrated on the public it should be front page news.
Costin and staff instructed people to doctor polling numbers and generate fake gender, ethnicity, and other statistics when deadlines were looming. If DataUSA Inc. doesn’t demonstrate the tendency in politics to cut corners and frame messages, then America will never realize that they are being tricked by politicians and consultants into buying a false bill of goods. The fact that Costin’s actions were exposed is admirable and does show the ability of the justice system to function correctly.
...
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/60944/exit_polling_and_election_fraud.html

[freedomfries]

19. CO: Pollster Pleads Guilty to Making Up Results

Pollster Pleads Guilty to Making Up Results

AP - AOL News
Thursday, September 7, 2006

http://news.aol.com/elections/story/_a/pollster-pleads-guilty-to-making-up/20060907093409990001

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (Sept. 7) - The owner of DataUSA Inc., a company that conducted political polls for the campaigns of President Bush, Sen. Joe Lieberman and other candidates, pleaded guilty to fraud for making up survey and poll results.

According to a federal indictment, the owner of a company that conducted political polls for the campaigns of Sen. Joe Lieberman, President Bush and others told employees to "talk to cats and dogs" when instructing them to fabricate the surveys.

Tracy Costin pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Costin, 46, faces a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when she is sentenced Nov. 30.
...

FBI Special Agent Jeff Rovelli said 50 percent of information compiled by DataUSA and transmitted to Bush's campaign was falsified, the Connecticut Post reported Thursday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward Chang said on several occasions when the company was running up against a deadline to complete a job, results were falsified. Sometimes, the respondent's gender or political affiliation were changed to meet a quota, other times all survey answers were fabricated.
...
http://news.aol.com/elections/story/_a/pollster-pleads-guilty-to-making-up/20060907093409990001

[freedomfries]

20. TIA: ABC Bogus Bush Ratings: 58.2% monthly average is 5% above 10 polls

ABC Path to Bogus Bush Ratings: 58.2% monthly average is 5% above 10 pollsters
TIA
Progressive Independent
Saturday September 9, 2006

http://www.progressiveindependent.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=120&topic_id=3165

Here's further proof that ABC has been the primary Bush shill since 2001.
ABC's 58.2% average Bush monthly rating from 2001 is a full 5 points ABOVE
the 53.3% average of 10 pollsters.

AP (51.2%) and Pew (52.1%) are the ONLY pollsters whose 5.5 year average Bush ratings are BELOW the 53.3% average of the 10 pollsters.

...
http://www.progressiveindependent.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=120&topic_id=3165

[freedomfries]

21. TIA: The Graph: 02/01-08/06 * Job Approval Ratings

http://www.progressiveindependent.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=120&topic_id=3165

[Peace Patriot]

22. MEXICO: "Beaten leader plans 'parallel' rule"

Beaten leader plans 'parallel' rule
From correspondents in Mexico City
September 09, 2006

"DEFEATED presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador plans a shadow government, insisting he is the rightful leader of Mexico even as president-elect Felipe Calderon seeks reconciliation.

"'We will decide if we want to obey an obsolete government that is run by a minority or if we will declare the abolition of this corrupt regime,' Mr Lopez Obrador said in Mexico City's downtown square late Thursday, the 40th day of his campaign of 'peaceful civil disobedience.'

"He announced a September 16 rally, on Mexico's independence day, at which his supporters would decide his title, whether 'chief of the resistance government,' or 'president of Mexico' or merely 'coordinator' of his movement.

"Mr Calderon, the official president-elect, has extended his hand to Mr Lopez Obrador and insists he is open to dialogue.

"However, Mr Lopez Obrador rejected the offer this week, calling his opponent an 'illegitimate president' responsible for a 'coup d'etat' which he said was sending 'Mexico's institutions to hell,' in remarks to hundreds of admirers outside the electoral tribunal in Mexico City.

"Since the July 2 election, which Mr Calderon won by a scant 0.56 per cent, Mr Lopez Obrador has lived in a tent city with backers of his Democratic Revolution Party and kept up a campaign of civil disobedience, blocking traffic and protesting in the capital. (MORE)

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http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20380246-1702,00.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2503253

NOTE: "Beaten"? They refused to recount the votes in an election with thousands of red flags that was "decided" by half a percent of the vote. Does 40 days of massive peaceful civil disobedience, well-organized, grass roots community based "parallel rule," and a concurrent uprising and set-up of "parallel rule" in the state of Oaxaca over local stolen elections and brutal fascist policies, sound "beaten"? Wishful thinking on the part of the corporate despots!

[rumpel]

25. thanks, freedomfries - interesting TIA

:)