Update [2005-1-5 12:15:33 by Armando]: Promoted from the diaries by Armando. Yes, this is the infamous "Armando Challenge." Just a couple of words. This promotion is my decision solely and does not imply or express agreement with this decision, or with the arguments made in this diary, by anyone other than myself. And for myself, I agree with much of the work, certainly the discussion of voter suppression is top notch. The whole work is top notch, though I may disagree with many parts. But that will be for my comments in the thread.
And that is not the point. I applaud Georgia for writing it in a way, independently, that does address my concerns - the lack of confidence engendered by an electoral system that can only be described as a disgrace. As for what happens tomorrow in Congress, I (and I speak for me only) support Rep. Conyers' efforts to use that opportunity to emphasize the disgrace that is our electoral system - forget motive, just on competence and confidence grounds. I would welcome the support of a Senator for that cause. I will blame none if they don't. This issue, as we know now, in the context of this Presidential election result, is a difficult one to manage, as we have surely learned here amongst friends.
Bravo Georgia, a job very well done.
Tomorrow, the 109th Congress will be certifying electors for President Bush. When it comes time to approve the Ohio slate of electors, thousands of Americans will be on the edge of their seats.
Two months after the election, what has become clear is that the Ohio election was nothing short of a tragedy. Voters were stripped of their rights, capricious rulings by a partisan Secretary of State suppressed votes, and private, partisan companies had unprecendented access to vote tabulation equipment.
A determined group of Representatives will be objecting to the approval of the Ohio electors. For the objection to be considered and for Congress to debate it, that objection requires the signature of one Senator.
Where is Senator Kerry in all this? Kerry, always the Statesman, will be in Iraq, on a
13-day fact finding mission for peace in the Middle East. Why the notable absence from the elector certification? Some say the answer is simply human. It would be too painful for him to have to cast a vote denying him the White House and making the man who spit so much vitriol at him for two years President again. Others say it has a much more strategic reason. If there were to be an objection, Kerry's absence would avoid a Representative asking the Distinguished Senator from Massachusetts what he think should be done.
In any event, Kerry will not be objecting, and most believe it would be in poor form to do so anyway. All eyes will be on Senator Boxer (D-CA), who has said she is "considering it", Senator Byrd (D- WV) (as it may be his last term, does he have nothing to lose?) and freshman Senator Obama (D-IL) (will he set the tone for the rest of his political career and stand up for the Party?)
Bob Fritakis and Harvey Wasserman of FreePress, who has been closely following the developments in Ohio, has complied a fascinating list of "Ten Reasons Why The Vote Does Not Compute, and Why Congress Must Investigate Rather Than Certify the Electoral College." :
- More than 106,000 Ohio ballots remain uncounted. As certified by Blackwell, Ohio's official results say 92,672 regular ballots were cast without indicating a choice for president. This sum grows to 106,000 ballots when uncounted provisional ballots are included. There is no legal reason for not inspecting and counting each of these ballots. [...]
- Most uncounted ballots come from regions and precincts where Kerry was strongest.
- Of the 147,000 combined provisional and absentee ballots counted by hand after Election Day, Kerry received 54.46 percent of the vote. In the 10 largest Ohio counties, Kerry's margin was 4.24 to 8.92 percent higher than in the certified results, which were predominantly machine counted. As in New Mexico, where George W. Bush carried every precinct whose votes were counted with electronic optical scanning machines, John Kerry's vote count was significantly lower among ballots counted on Election Day using electronic tabulators.
- Turnout inconsistencies reveal tens of thousands of Kerry votes were not simply recorded. [...] Most striking is a pattern where turnout percentages (votes cast as a percentage of registered voters) in cities won by Kerry were 10 percentage points or more lower than in the regions won by Bush, a virtually impossible scenario.
- Many certified turnout results in key regions throughout the state are simply not plausible, and all work to the advantage of Bush. In southern Perry County, two precincts reported turnouts of 124.4 and 124.0 percent of the registered voters. These impossible turnouts were nonetheless officially certified as part of the final recount by Blackwell. But in pro-Kerry Cleveland, there were certified precinct turnouts of 7.10, 13.15, 19.60, 21.01, 21.80, 24.72, 28.83 and 28.97 percents. Seven entire wards reported a turnout less than 50 percent. [...]
- Due to computer flaws and vote shifting, there were numerous reports across Ohio of extremely troublesome electronic errors during the voting process and in the counting. [...]
- In Miami County, two sets of results were submitted to state officials. The second, which padded Bush's margin, reported that 18,615 additional votes were counted, increasing Bush's total by exactly 16,000 votes. [...] Two Miami County precincts were certified with reported turnouts of 98.55 and 94.27 percent. In one of the precincts this would have required all but ten registered voters to have cast ballots. But an independent investigation has already collected affidavits of more than 10 registered voters that did not cast ballots on Nov. 2, indicating that Blackwell's officially certified vote count is simply impossible, which once again favoring Bush.
- Democratic voters were apparently targeted with provisional ballots. These ballots require voters to fill out extensive forms at the poll. Under extraordinary rules established by Blackwell these ballots were set to be discarded if even minor errors were committed. [...]
- Ohio's Election Day exit poll was more credible than the certified result, according to intense statistical analysis. In-depth studies by Prof. Ron Baiman of the University of Illinois at Chicago shows that Ohio's exit polls in Ohio and elsewhere were virtually certain to be more accurate than the final vote count as certified by Blackwell. Ohio's exit polls predicted a Kerry victory by percentages that exceeded their margin of error. [...] The stark shift from exit polls favoring Kerry to final results in Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio all went in Bush's direction, and are, according to Baiman, a virtual impossibility, with odds as high as 150 million to one against.
- The Ohio recount wasn't random or comprehensive and may have involved serious illegalities. [...] In many districts, Republican Secretary of State Blackwell chose the precincts to be counted in a partisan manner, weighing the choices toward precincts where there were no disputes while avoiding those being contested. Moreover, there have been numerous confirmed instances where employees of the private companies that manufactured the voting machines had access to the machines and the computer records before the recount occurred. [...]
As explained in the link below, which is a comprehensive report on Ohio "irregularities", it is clear that the election there was characterized by blatantly paritsan officials, suspicious activity by those counting the votes, inexplicable vote totals, discriminatory machine allocation, impossible turnouts upwards of 125% in Bush precincts, and deliberate, calculated intimidation and suppression of Democratic voters. Added to Fritakis' and Freeman's list of 10 Reasons are the following:
1. Partisan Election Officials: Conveniently enough, Bush had the Secretaries of State (and Chief Election Officials) in three battleground states as his Bush-Cheney '04 Campaign Chairs. Kenneth Blackwell (OH), Terry Lynn Land (MI) and Matt Blunt (MO) all employed strikingly similar tactics in placing unreasonable restrictions on provisional ballots (which are heavily used in Democratic areas), new voter registration, and felony voting rights. All three have come under fire from the public and from the courts for their efforts to obstruct and deny voters their rights.
2. Long lines were intentional, and meant to suppress the Democratic vote. Ohio had upwards of 68-90 extra machines available on election day, and despite frantic calls from poll workers asking for more machines, the State refused to release them. The initial allocation of machines were deliberately designed to decrease Democratic turnout; Nearly one out of three (31%) Democratic precincts had less voting machines in 2004 than in 2000 compared to less than one out of six (16%) Republican precincts. Of the 217 precincts where voting machines were subtracted, 184 (85%) were Democratic. Videos documenting the suppression can be viewed here.
Did long lines violate the right to vote? One Ohio judge, on Election day, ruled that waiting in an excruciatingly lone line and being forced to choose between waiting to vote or leave "imposes an undue burden on the right to vote and in effect could amount to a denial of that right."
3. The hijacking of our elections by private interests is well documents and distrubing. Every American should read 20 Amazing Facts about U.S. Election. The most disturbing fact? 80% of our votes are counted by hard-core fundamentalist Bush loyalists.
4. There was no Ohio recount. Let's say that again. There was no Ohio recount. As explained in the link below, there were at least 31 violations of Ohio law, ranging from denying public access to voting records to outright vote tampering and fraud. Every action taken by Ohio officials during the recount was meant to obstruct access to records and to, for some reason, prevent auditing the actual vote totals. Under Ohio law, denying access to public voter records, as was the case here, is in and of itself fraud.
5. Every "irregularity" favored Bush. If the "irregularites" were truly due to random chance or error, then they should have benefited Kerry around 50% of the time. But almost every instance of touch-screen "vote-hopping", every claim of a pre-punched ballot, every instance of a glitch awarding extra votes....every irregularity favored Bush.
6. Widespread Intimidation and Supression. As one Ohio official put it, there was an unprecedented "calcualted effort" to misinform voters and trick them into not voting. From a state-wide campaign that "Democrats vote on Nov. 3" to having Democrats and Republicans vote on different machines, to saying if you vote straight Demcoratic ticket your vote won't be counted, there was unquestionably a deliberate attempt to silence the Democratic voice in Ohio.
The saddest fact for our democracy is that Ohio is not unique. The same disgusting intimidation and suppression tactics and the same unexplainable vote totals are echoed throughout the nation, in states like New Mexico and Florida as well. Thus, to object and call for an investigation only into Ohio is to fail to appreciate the magnitude of the problem.
Bush's "decisive victory" of 119,000 votes in Ohio starts looking weaker and weaker when you consider that are still at least 92,000 ballots uncounted, that the deliberate witholding of machines in Franlkin County cost Kerry 22,000 votes, and that there are some 62,513 "extra" absentee ballots. Simply put, there were more votes than voters in Ohio, and "ghost voters" were counted while real voters (and coincidently, primarily Democratic voters) were not.
Has the election of our President become arbitrary? Two elections in a row, we have seen razor thin margins in battleground states. A different rule on provisional ballots here, an extra voting machine there might literally be outcome determinative. Are we comfortable with that as a nation? That our President could essentially be decided by an unexplainable computer glitch or a partisan ruling rather than by the will of the people?
It is these issues which Congress must address tomorrow. Objecting to the slate of electors from Ohio will not make Kerry President. But as William Rivers Pitt writes, "A Senator must stand up so a national dialogue on how we run elections is created and carried forward."
If there is not a discussion of these election problems tomorrow, then once those Ohio electors are approved, Congress will have rubber-stamped a flawed election. Should Congress follow Blackwell's lead and declare this election "tremendously successful," then in the American psyche, a flawed election will be considered a great election. That cannot occur. America deserves better than that.
Below is a link to "Eye On Ohio: The Informed Citizen's Guide To The 2004 Election." My hope is that reading it will continue the dialogue on how flawed our election process is, and how we may remedy it.
You may not be a Senator, but you can stand up for democracy tomorrow. Locally, with your family, friends, and co-workers, engaging in a debate about what went wrong and how to make it right is a necessary, albeit painful, process. Read here about how we can ensure another Ohio doesn't happen in 2008.
Tomorrow @ 1 p.m. ET. Democracy in action. Set your TiVo, folks. It's gonna be some Must-See-TV.
Eye On Ohio: The Informed Citizen's Guide To The 2004 Election 2.2 MB .doc
NOTE: Those who have so graciously offered to mirror or host the file should update the link accordingly. Also, if anyone can convert the new version to .pdf out there, that would be greatly appreciated as well!
Update [2005-1-5 10:50:49 by georgia10]:
PDF version 2.6 MB courtesy of fivesideagon.
PDF version with active hyperlink footnotes (2.7 MB) courtesy of pachacutec.
PDF version 1.2 MB courtesy of Clever
.doc mirrors (2.2 MB)
mirror #1 courtesy of fivesideagon.
mirror #2 courtesy of pachacutec
mirror #3 courtesy of Clever