BS: Problems with U.S. Electile Dysfunction

Subject: BS: Problems with U.S. Electile Dysfunction
From: Amos
Date: 24 Oct 06 - 11:50 PM

This thread is intended to capture and comment on instances of irregularity in elections in November 2006.

For example:

1. From the IPList newsletter:

"
U.S. Senate candidate James Webb's last name has been cut off on part of
the electronic ballot used by voters in Alexandria, Falls Church and
Charlottesville because of a computer glitch that also affects other
candidates with long names, city officials said yesterday . . . Election
officials attribute the mistake to an increase in the type size on the
ballot. Although the larger type is easier to read, it also
unintentionally shortens the longer names on the summary page of the
ballot.

Thus, Democratic candidate Webb will appear with his first name and
nickname only -- or "James H. 'Jim' " -- on summary pages in Alexandria,
Falls Church and Charlottesville, the only jurisdictions in Virginia
that use balloting machines manufactured by Hart InterCivic of Austin.

"We're not happy about it," Webb spokeswoman Kristian Denny Todd said
last night, adding that the campaign learned about the problem a week
ago and has since been in touch with state election officials. "I don't
think it can be remedied by Election Day. Obviously, that's a concern."


I'm not positive about this, but I'd wager that these are probably the
strongest Democratic-leaning localities in Virginia. This seems pretty
fishy. What's even more outrageous is that knowing of the bug two weeks
before the election, they say it can't be fixed."

2. Ibid, different post:

> Subject: [funsec] Chicago Voter Database Hacked
>
> Via ABC News.
>
> [snip]
>
> As if there weren't enough concerns about the integrity of the vote, a
> non-partisan civic organization today claimed it had hacked into the
> voter database for the 1.35 million voters in the city of Chicago.
>
> Bob Wilson, an official with the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project ?
> which bills itself as a not-for-profit civic organization dedicated to
> the correction of election system deficiencies ? tells ABC News that
> last week his organization hacked the database, which contains
> detailed
> information about hundreds of thousands of Chicago voters, including
> their Social Security numbers, and dates of birth.
>
> "It was a serious identity theft problem, but also a problem that
> could
> potentially create problems with the election," Wilson said.
>
> A nefarious hacker could have changed every voter's status from active
> to inactive, which would have prevented them from voting, he said.
>
> [snip]
>
> More:
> http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2601085

---

It is documented extensively by Greg Palast in "Armed Madhouse" that the franchise was tactically suborned, corrupted, stolen, or otherwise adulterated in critical districts in key states in both 2000 and 2004. These "dirty tricks" are ruthless and often subtle. Diebold is sometimes involved, but other times it is as simple as losing mail-in ballots with the wrong party mark or confusing the names of legitimate voters with the names of felons so their franchise is denied them; or asserting legitimate voters are felons when they are not, same effect. There are lots of dirty ways to water down an election so it gets you the results you desire.

In 2000 and 2004 the results of the dirty tricks Palast documented were uniformly in favor of the Republican side of the slate for some reason.

This is the most critical of the many shenanigans Bush's Gang has pulled in their ruthless quest for power. Undo the franchise and you have empire.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Problems with U.S. Electile Dysfunction
From: Metchosin
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 12:20 AM

well....I did read it as erectile dysfunction and thought it was going to explain why there seems to be soooo much interest in Viagra.......