Elections
"The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.” - Stalin
Who counts the votes in America? Machines.
In Alaska, and probably most other states, poll workers are not allowed to hand count the votes to verify the machine totalled them up correctly. Let me reiterate- Humans are not allowed to verify the machine results.
Most people in America believe we live in a Democracy. After 2000 and 2004 I had my doubts about the integrity of our elections... Now, after the Aug 22nd Alaska primary I am positive- our Democracy is a sham.
Alaskans were asked to choose between candidates that they had never heard from- because the Division of Elections DID NOT send out the Official Election Pamphlet. The Deadline was July 22nd, a month before the Primary, I sent in my position statement and $300, and was counting on this booklet to get my name and platform into every town in the state.
But that never happened, the Division of Elections never sent out the booklet! Sure I thought they might stall, but to never even send it out...? I went to vote yesterday thinking that perhaps it was just my neighbors and I that had not received the booklet, but it seems that nobody had. I thought surely they'd have a booklet on hand, so voters could at least read the candidate statements before voting- there was no booklet.
Dear Readers, what I am about to tell you may shock you. You won't believe it, because surely, nothing so absurd could happen in America. Unfortunately, it is all too true, it's in the public record, the state is not denying it, just merely refusing to allow for a public inspection of the records.
The issue in question is the 2004 election, the following is from an email from Rich McClear of KUDO 1080, Anchorage:
The State of Alaska website shows 16 of 40 house districts with more than 200% voter turnout, Also, if you add up the vote totals from each district they come to more than 100,000 votes for state wide candidates than the summary reports show.
More than 7 months ago the Democrats asked for an explanation. The state said it could not release the data files because they were proprietary to Diebold.
Diebold gave the state permission to release the files.
The state still refused.
Read on to see the simple solution
Dear Rep. Schakowsky,
Regarding your recent revelation,
'Was the 2004 Election Stolen?', I am convinced that the only answer is yes.
First off I'd like to say thanks for speaking the truth. Secondly, I must note that you did not discuss holding the crooks accountable, only an upcoming effort to "ward off a repeat performance." If the election was stolen, why should we be forced to live one more day with BushCo's idiotic policies? If you're convinced the election was stolen why don't you introduce articles of impeachment? Today!
And last but not least, here is a simple, yet effective solution to the election fraud, and it can be implemented nationwide immediately, with virtually no extra cost. If you truly wish to prevent election fraud in 2006- then please introduce this bill into the House ASAP.
The Transparent Elections Bill
(This is for all elections, primaries too!)
1. Precincts will print and post the vote totals at the voting location.
2. Counties will post the precinct totals from every precint in the County.
3. States will post the County totals.
4. The results will remain posted for two weeks after the election.
That's it. A solution to the election fraud.
Even with Diebold, the vote can only be stolen when the votes are counted in secret and the statewide results are posted, but not the local precinct and county results. It's impossible for Honest Election Advocates to canvas the whole state, but it is possible for us to canvas a local precinct- like Bob Fitrakis and friends did in Ohio, 2005.
In Miami County, Blackwell certified a 98.6% turnout in the Concord Southwest precinct, comprised of 520 votes for Bush and 157 for Kerry. This statistically improbable turnout has all but 10 of the 689 registered voters casting their ballots on Election Day. A preliminary canvas by The Free Press of less than half the precinct found 25 registered voters admitting they had not voted, meaning the official tally was almost certainly fraudulent.
The basis of a democracy is a free a fair election. We cannot change the voting machines before the next election but we can implement a system of checks and balances where We the People can easily verify the election results. This system would provide an auditable trail so that Honest Election Advocates can check their local results and make sure that we really do live in a democracy.
Is there any reason not to? Any reason that posting the results as successive locations is a bad idea? It's time for We the People to demand simple, logical solutions such as this- to confront the phony Politicians and demand a response, on video camera.
The Alaska Election Results from 2004 don't add up, yet the state won't release the records so a transparent examination can find what happened to the missing votes. According to the State Div. of Elections, it's Diebold's software and we have no right to access their trade secrets.
How can any intelligent American accept that as an answer? We cannot verify the validity of our election results because a Private (Republican Owned) Corporation owns the machines. This makes no sense in "the land of the free".
Kurt Vonnegut in his "last speech for money":
“The only difference between Bush and Hitler, is that Hitler was elected... You all know, of course, that the election was stolen. Right here." [Columbus, Ohio]
Howard Zinn, Dec 2004:
Yes, Bush was reelected President, and whether there was fraud in the voting process or not, John Kerry, quickly threw in the towel. The minnow called for reconciliation with the crocodile...
Ask a political person about how to judge a candidate's viability, electability and potential and often, very often, the first criteria they use is the ability to raise money. That means the willingness to sit for four, six, eight hours a day, in a room, making phone calls asking for money.
This is probably the number one criteria most beltway politicians judge candidates to be good or not.
Let's take this a bit further. What do they use the money they raise for? The number one cost of a campaign is TV advertising. It can suck up millions of dollars.
So, what we have is a bizarre, obscene reality-- the number one criteria for a candidate for public office is his or her ability to buy TV advertising. This is not bizarre. It is insane. But it's the exact model that the DCCC, it's head Rahm Emanuel and the leaders of the both parties in Washington embrace. One problem. It's not what the majority of Americans want.
First there was the surreal sight of the Bush family on national TV, as staged and phony as Susan Smith's tearful plea to return her "kidnapped" children. Then came the well-groomed thugs, sent on Enron and Halliburton planes to stop the Florida recount. But it wasn't just James Baker's ploys or the Supreme Court's ruling that signaled something was amiss -- it was the attitude of ordinary citizens who were more concerned about their "team" winning than about democracy itself.
How can I possibly hope to win without getting monetary donations?
