NPR evaluates voting irregularities

I was listening to NPR in the car this afternoon and they had a story on all the voter irregularities that have been uncovered. They provided an explanation for all the theories that they talked about and why those theories are inaccurate.

1) Districts that had heavy concentration of Democrats voted overwhelmingly for Bush.

     Reason not accurate: Dixicrats have voted more Republican lately.

2) 200,000 more votes in Florida than actual voters.

     Reason not accurate: The Florida elections website did not have accurate data at the time. NPR claims it now has accurate data and there are more actual voters than votes for president now.

3) Exit polls favored Kerry but Bush won.

     Reason not accurate: They were just a sampling and could be wrong. That is why Florida was called for Gore in 2000 and then pulled back when the actual votes were finished being counted.

But the co-founder of Air America Radio has a different take on the accuracy of exit polling.

http://www.zogby.com/Soundbites/ReadClips.dbm?ID=10385

4) Zogby called the election for Kerry.

     Reason not accurate: He has since backed down and issued an explanation on his website. He basically said that he is a pollster not a person who can predict things and he apologized for stepping over the line into something that he was not familiar with. I have not found this on this website though.

5) Diebold and other electronic voting companies rigged their machines for Bush.

     Reason not accurate: It is well documented that an executive at Diebold said that he would deliver Ohio to Bush. But, Diebold machines were not used in Ohio. Other electronic voting machine companies do not favor either party. They have given money equally to both Republicans and Democrats.

6) Certain districts in Cuyahoga County Ohio had more votes than registered voters.

     Reason not accurate: Absentee ballots that actually belonged to other voting districts.

Here is how it is explained on the Ohio Democrats website:

The discrepancy was caused, though, when the board's computer attributed absentee ballots, which are printed and sorted by legislative districts, to several towns within those districts when calculating voter turnout. They were counted only once in election results, Bartlett said, meaning Kerry's 217,638-vote victory in Cuyahoga County is unchanged.

Here is that status of the vote counting in Ohio according to the Ohio Democratic party:

http://www.ohiodems.org/index.php?display=ReleaseDetails&id=191201&PHPSESSID=309f54a7712c116 885232f7ca2350fe0

Vote fraud or irregularities in Ohio can be reported to the Ohio Democratic Party.

You can leave a message at [phone] ext. 134 or email [e-mail] This information will be shared with their legal counsel as the official election tabulations are being made.

There are still some other leads that need to be tracked down. For example: Voting Files Manually Edited.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/11/10/133948/06

Keep plugging away looking at the results and finding any other discrepancies.

Your emails have prodded various media outlets to address this issue. At least we got their attention. Hopefully when we get more concrete evidence they will cover that also.

One last thing. Don't shoot the messenger. The last time I put up a description of what ABC News said about this situation I got my head bitten off. I was just reporting about the story and echoing what that diehard liberal, Al Franken, suggested we do. That is focus on rebuilding the party's message and not on fraud. Those are his words not mine. I apologize for any clumsy wording on my part.

Hopefully this poll is structured better this time.

By the way please reccomend so that this is seen.

•  Argh...

  Why do they keep going over stuff we've already debunked ourselves? It's really a pisser.

  1) Districts that had heavy concentration of Democrats voted overwhelmingly for Bush.

       Reason not accurate: Dixicrats have voted more Republican lately.

  This is severely underestimating the situation in Florida, and the exit polls specifically in Florida (they mentioned that seperately.) See a recent diary I made about this, I am not typing it all again, but i've yet to see anyone debunk it.

  by nephalim on Wed Nov 10, 2004 at 10:14:06 PM PDT

•  Oh, and recommended...

  It's important for us to see what's been debunked and how it's been debunked, even if most of us know this already (as in at least one case it's not looking at the full recent picture of Florida.)

  by nephalim on Wed Nov 10, 2004 at 10:15:43 PM PDT

•  Regarding Diebold:

  What about the Diebold machines in other battleground states such as Missouri, NM, and FL? Many people here have raised the possibility that these machines may have been hacked becuase of known security flaws. How do you answer these arguements?

  by Eternal Hope on Wed Nov 10, 2004 at 10:16:12 PM PDT

•  npr's story

  not accurate- and incomplete.

  diebold machines were used to tabulate the votes in ohio, not to cast them.

  how about warren county- which claimed a homeland security emergency and counted the votes in secret behind locked doors. bush did 12,000 better here than in 00.

  exit polls- were dead nuts on in all the states except the swing states.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_U.S._Election_controversies_and_irregularities#Evidence_of_electro nic_voting_bias

  move along, nothing to see here..

  by warbly on Wed Nov 10, 2004 at 10:16:28 PM PDT

•  I heard this story

  too.  It seemed to me a reflexive defense.  The tone, just the way that the message was delivered, sounded weird, not like NPR at all.  They said 'Conspiracy Theory' quite a bit.  It was strange.

  They spoke very little in regards to a paper trail, they surely did not advocate one like you would think that they would.

  This really disappointed me.  Made me feel like we were all left hanging.

  Thanks for posting it.

  by k9disc on Wed Nov 10, 2004 at 10:22:37 PM PDT

•  Much better diary

  "One last thing. Don't shoot the messenger. The last time I put up a description of what ABC News said about this situation I got my head bitten off. I was just reporting about the story and echoing what that diehard liberal, Al Franken, suggested we do. That is focus on rebuilding the party's message and not on fraud. Those are his words not mine. I apologize for any clumsy wording on my part."

  This diary didn't make sweeping claims of debunking and stepped through each situation it covered. Also it covered the largest verifiable issues.

  At this stage of the game I think it comes down to finishing sorting the questions out there, but short of bev turning up something major or a miracle in OH from the provisional/absentee we should expect another 4 more years of Bush.

  Note: Dixiecrats may not be the final answer in those counties however lacking other potential large scale problems at this time I don't see a reason for investigation. HOWEVER if something calling for investigation does turn up dixiecrats should be verified at the same time.

  by Ranger CN on Wed Nov 10, 2004 at 10:27:17 PM PDT

  •  Thank you

    I am learning.

    by shark on Wed Nov 10, 2004 at 10:48:34 PM PDT

•  the National Petroleum Republican network

  is in the pocket of their corporate sponsorship.

  Yes, they throw us a bone or two--like the wonderfully boney--and insightful Bill Moyers--

  BUT on an issue of this magnitude, they are NOT the voters friend.  

  by Einsteinia on Wed Nov 10, 2004 at 10:50:23 PM PDT

•  NADAR RECOUNT IN N.H. DAVID COBB IN OHIO?

  I heard about the Nadar recount on NPR and checked the Web. See Keith Oberman's latest about Nadar and David Cobb. I'd like to donate to David Cobb's effort because we need to know that the election really happened the way Fox News called it. If not, why bother to donate to campaigns or work for them if the elections are rigged?

  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6368819/

  I'd like for there to be a thread about the Nadar and Cobb recount efforts. This is the first time I've posted, and I don't know how to start a thread.

  -Candice

  by candice on Wed Nov 10, 2004 at 10:55:44 PM PDT