In the spirit of “every vote must be counted” that was Al Gore’s mantra, I completely agree with Liz at GOP Progress that the NM-1 and WA-8 House elections must be investigated.
On Tuesday, 7 November 2006, in New Mexico’s First Congressional District, only 150 ballots were supplied to Republican-leaning Precinct 603 in New Mexico’s Bernalillo County by Democrat County Clerk (and Secretary of State-elect) Mary Herrera–despite the fact that there are 2,400 registered voters in Precinct 603. Similar actions were taken in another Republican-leaning precinct in Bernalillo county by Ms. Herrera. These actions, in their totality, led to Representative Heather Wilson requesting via a petition to the House of Representatives’ Administration Committee that election observers be deployed in New Mexico, due to concerns regarding voter suppression based on party affiliation. These actions also constituted a violation of the Voting Rights Act, which the Department of Justice would be remiss not to investigate as a matter of urgency.
On Tuesday, 7 November 2006, in Washington’s Eighth Congressional District, reports abounded that King County Executive Ron Sims had supplied ballots for only 60% of registered voters to certain Republican-leaning precincts in the county, forming part of the Eighth District. Due to torrential rains and flooding, a number of voters, of a demographic that trends Republican, were unable to reach the polls until late in the day, which due to the shortage of ballots prejudiced their ability to vote in the standard fashion. While measures to allow these voters to cast a ballot were put in place, they were not ideal and entailed people voting in a way that did differ from regular procedure (e.g., using ballots printed in Chinese).
Since the election, King County has been inordinately slow in counting its ballots. By some estimates, King County had, as of the end of business yesterday, failed to count as many as 130,000 ballots. This is of concern, given allegations of election fraud committed by partisan Democrats involved in counting ballots in 2004, in the context of the Washington State Governor’s race. There was much evidence to suggest that those who are now responsible for overseeing the counting of ballots in the WA-8 Congressional race did in fact engage in tactics amounting to election fraud in 2004, in order to deliver a win for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Christine Gregoire. The concern is now that they are involved again in this election, and that as days pass following the election, public scrutiny is easing off, meaning that there is a much increased possibility of certain votes being disregarded for partisan motivations, or other ballot counting irregularities benefiting a particular candidate occurring at the hands of those involved in the alleged 2004 fraud.
And there’s this from CT-2…
The recount began yesterday in CT-2, a 64 town district. The first town resulted in a net pick up of one vote for Simmons.
Republicans are licking their chops over one town where they believe the number of votes cast exceeds the number of voters checked in by nearly the number of votes Courtney is leading by.
So where is Al Gore himself demanding that every vote be counted? It seems there was election fraud, but it happened to the wrong people.
Maybe only Democrat votes count in Al Gore/Howard Dean/John Kerry’s America?
Nancy Pelosi – NOT MY HOUSE SPEAKER.
-Bruce (GayPatriot)
For all the whining about stolen elections from democrats over the years, the reality is that the only stolen election I can think of off hand is the one that happened in Washington state over the governors race.
The reality is that the democrats control the voting apparatus, counting methods etc in almost every urban area where complaints are most often made.
Democrats have mastered the dead people voting.
In the end I think whining about stolen elections is a waste of time, the Washington race pretty much taught me that if you call for a recount the democrats in charge will find the votes to put or keep their guy on top.
But it would be nice to know where Al Gore and all the other “stolen election” whiners are, they should be calling for recounts and accountability.
Now that the shoe is on the other foot, we hear the squeals of pain! I could just take the attitude you guys have taken over the elections in 2000 and 2004 and say tough luck but I for one actually want our elections to be honest and so hope you guys will now join the effort to fix the ongoing mess that is the way we conduct them.
Ian, once again, and in pure liberal fashion, fails to grasp the point of GP’s post.
The difference between we conservatives and Ian’s fellow perpetual victims is that we understand that the election process is not perfect, but remains fair. Further, the very notion that few (if any, really) aspects of American life are perfect seem to be what drives the left; a central belief that not only are they alone aware of this fact, but that Divine Providence has determined that anything on the right is woefully incapable of fixing it.
Taken to it’s logical conclusion, this theory explains what is so wrong about liberalism: the almost Quixotic self-serving arrogance that allows them to believe that they (and they alone, mind you) possess the intellect and attendant ability to bring about Utopia.
Note to Ian: nobody here is interested in following in Mr. Gore’s footsteps. Petulance doesn’t look very good on us (although, realizing we’re not perfect, we still may indulge once in a while).
Thus endeth the lesson.
Eric in Hollywood
dusting off his old copy of Ayn Rand’s “The Virtue of Selfishness”
America is not a tool to be used and abused for ideological purposes. As a result, conservatives aren’t tempted to throw away our patriotism (move to Canada), throw away our souls (my fellow citizens are all sheeple), and we don’t need to destroy the democratic infrastructure (end the electoral college, never accept an election turnout, create doubt about all processes) just because we didn’t win. We, unlike the Left, still love America no matter what.
In Florida’s 13th District
In Connecticut
In Pennsylvania
In Ohio
In Maryland
In Arizona
In Chicago
In Tennessee
In Missouri
(Yawn)
Shall I go on?
Elections are a fraud, pure and simple.
When I voted in Anne Arundel County, precinct 11 (Linthicum Library) on Tuesday, an election judge was helping an elderly lady vote. There is absolutely no privacy at the polling place, so I was able to hear quite clearly when the election judge said “Now, for U.S. Senate, you can vote for Ben Cardin or for Michael Steele.” And that’s all she said! She didn’t mention that the voter could choose Kevin Zeese or a write-in. This is an outrage, and I have shared the information with the nonestablishment candidates who were on the ballot.
The two-party establishment — legislators, election officials, debate organizers — have made it impossible for anyone to compete with them. Minor fringe parties are condemned to stay minor because of the dirty tricks. Their marginal status is a result of the policies of the establishment, not vice versa. I am convinced of this even more after my experience on Tuesday.
See what I mean?
These poor souls make my case in far more cogent a fashion than I could ever HOPE to.
Eric in Hollywood
GP, Nancy Pelosi is everyone’s house speaker. Democrats didn’t say that Dennis Hastert wasn’t their house speaker. He was, whether they liked him or not. That’s what a majority of Congress voted for.
The CT article that you link to doesn’t claim any kind of vote fraud. If there were vote fraud in CT-2, I’m sure Rob Simmons or his people would be more upfront about it.
After what the Republican candidate in Loretta Sanchez’s district did earlier this year, it’s pretty obvious that there is some vote fraud which is far, far worse than some of the examples cited in this story.
“Facing Tuesday’s loss, Resolving to Move Forward with a Positive Attitude”
“Nancy Pelosi – NOT MY HOUSE SPEAKER.”
Schizoprehenia.
#1. One of the stolen election whiners seems to have written this post.
People, people. Nancy Pelosi, if elected by a majority of members of the House of Representative to the post, will become THE Speaker of the House. Not MY Speaker. Not YOUR Speaker. THE Speaker.
3: No, the difference is that conservatives are better at explaining away things than actually looking at / investigating to get to the bottom of things. They are much more accepting of a corrupt system (like the computerized voting system) that they believe, in the end, will benefit them.
Well Kevin several states have used computer balloting for years, I voted in some of them.
But if I had my honest preference it would be the very old fashioned paper ballot, where you mark an X or similar by the name of your candidate. No punches involved, and pretty easy to count, and not much change when it comes to the recount. Not as quick as computers, optical scanners and the like, but probably one of the more reliable methods provided you don’t have some shifless person in a back room marking ballots for their candidate.
Which brings us to the reality-no system of voting is going to be perfect, and mistakes are often just that mistakes not intentional behaviors meant to deprive people of their right to vote. I would be willing to bet that a comparison of all systems would probably indicate a similar “spoiled ballot” rate, and all of them would have ways to cheat the system.
I think if there was a GOP diebold consipiracy, this election would have been the perfect one to use, given the closeness of some of these races. I think in the end, democrat complaints of the Diebold conspiracy can now be relagated to the tinfoil hats.
One, I agree with Carl; although we may not wish her to be, Nancy Pelosi is Speaker of the House, and in that capacity, she represents all of us.
I could just take the attitude you guys have taken over the elections in 2000 and 2004 and say tough luck but I for one actually want our elections to be honest and so hope you guys will now join the effort to fix the ongoing mess that is the way we conduct them.
Good. An excellent place to start would be the requiring of all voters to show photo identification clearly establishing identity and voter registration clearly establishing citizenship.
Furthermore, since you wish for paper ballots, I will allow them under the condition that the voter’s name, address, and signature be placed on them.
In San Francisco, the election process, dominated by Democrats, is simple; you walk into the polling place, tell the registrar your name, and sign the log, then go vote. Once your ballot, which is unidentified, is put into the machine, it is sealed.
However, what they forget to mention is that the name and address of all voters is posted OUTSIDE the polling place — ostensibly so that you can tell if this is the correct one.
Realistically, though, it only facilitates fraud; campaign volunteers or paid individuals can go from precinct to precinct, pick names off the list, and attempt to vote under those names, especially early in the morning. Since it is impossible to identify the ballot cast or the voter casting it, even if the legitimate voter shows up later, nothing can be done.
The requirement of a photo ID to vote and the labeling of the paper ballots would make correcting this quite simple.
But that’s why it will never happen.
Again, my case is made, pure and simple.
Eric in Hollywood
#15: Again, my case is made, pure and simple.
Well, the electoral process is simply not fair. The deck is stacked overwhelmingly in favor of the socialist two-party establishment.
Yes, the Democrats stole the election and all the polls that show Bush to be highly unpopular, they’re just fiction. He actually has an approval rating of 65%.
Right.
In reality, the American electorate stole the election from the GOP, having told President Bush the electoral equivalent of “we’re just not that into you anymore.”
Or you could look at it this way…
On November 7th, the same day Britney Spears filed divorce papers with Kevin Federline, the American people filed divorce papers with President George W. Bush.
That has a nice ring to it. 🙂
#12:
Well, our optical scan ballots here in Phoenix are essentially that except you complete an arrow next to your choice. At least there is actual paper to look at if a recount is required. The idea of a “recount” with a paperless touch-screen machine is ludicrous – it will just spit out its totals again. I would prefer that there be paper ballots that are hand-counted but if you insist on computerized voting, then the software must be open-source and a percentage of all precincts must be selected and random for handcounting.
As for proper voter ID, I have no problem with that as long as there is a fair mechanism such that people can obtain the appropriate ID at no cost. Otherwise it’s just a poll tax by another name. Frankly, the idea that illegals are trying to vote is preposterous since the vast majority go to great lengths to avoid contact with officialdom for fear that they may be found out. I’m far more concerned that a citizen of this country is denied the right to vote either by bureaucratic negligence or malicious intent.
Bruce, thanks so much for linking to my petition on this matter. It is very important, and the fact that previously, the most prominent allegations of election fraud have been leveled at the GOP does not make what has happened this cycle excusable.
I would strongly encourage all of those who have posted comments here, and who are worried about this matter, to email me and add their names to the petition.
The more names I have, the more likely it is that DoJ will take this seriously. Which is an absolute necessity, frankly.
My email: editor@gopprogress.com
Well, this is a fun site full of gay republicans who the real republicans don’t want(talk with some of the christian right and see what they say about homosexuals) and who the army doesn’t want, and who cannot distinquish between supporting the troops and opposing the republican war based on lies and deceiption which is turning Iraq into a killing field ripe for recruiting and training Al Quaeda. I thought after all these years I had heard it all. Have a nice day and watch your back for the “sleeve Christians” and while you are at it check out http://www.leestyle.blogspot.com for reality.
I voted for Heather Wilson. We had paper ballots this year because the Dem governor absolutely insisted. We have voter ID cards without pictures and didn’t have to show ID (if we didn’t have the card? I donno) There was a list of registered voters and we signed it as we checked in. Then we got to fill out the paper ballots by filling in ovals completely with an ink pen so the optical scan could read them. When we were all done we put them in a machine… did it count the votes? No clue. The only information displayed was a counter indicating one more ballot.
Last time was with electronic, touch screen voting. I liked it. This worked too. For me, at my precinct, it was just fine. No lines on election day and we had all the ballots we needed.
But as to how secure the voting method is… it just moves the point of fraud. How do I know that my ballot got counted at all? I just have to trust people. Who’s in power locally? Democrats. And considering the government here, I’d go with the (liberal) local blogger who said of early voting that he felt about as assured that he ballot would go where intended as if he’d just been to a Guatamalan post office.
There were the instances of next to no ballots delivered that is quoted above. I know of people who tried to vote early and had to wait so long they left and never voted at all. They are still recounting ballots, still counting absentee ballots. Who’s in charge of this circus? Do I know my vote was counted? How can I? It’s all done on faith. Paper ballots can be destroyed or “lost” or “found” just as easily as electrons can be added or subtracted.
And as for “Pelosi, not my speaker”… getting all self-righteous about *that* can wait until people start claiming that George Bush is their President, hmm?
Bruce writes: “Maybe only Democrat votes count in Al Gore/Howard Dean/John Kerry’s America?”
Hey, they count twice in Detroit, Benton Harbor, Flint, Pontiac, Lansing, Saginaw, Muskegon and all across the UP.
[Comment deleted. This commenter has been repeatedly banned from this blog.]
Anon1 (aka He Who Must Not Be Named) sniped…
You’ll find him in the same place where all the Republicans were during that election.
Is this some attempt at being cryptically funny, or is it simply the best you could come up in response to the original article?
Just wondering, mind you.
Eric in Hollywood
It was just revealed today that unsecured SACKS of absentee ballots have been found in the WA-8th district. They estimate 20,000 such ballots are in these sacks. This is the same kind of nonsense that has plagued King County elections in 2004, 2002, and even 2000 (not to mention all of the off year local elections in-between).
And yes, King County is under the control of Democrats … top to bottom.
I’m dusting off my “IMPEACH CONGRESS” bumper sticker and putting it on my car just to be on the safe side.
Also, let’s not forget that Nasty Pelosi (aka the Wicked Witch of the West) was SELECTED, not ELECTED. Wonder if the Drive-By Media will have popularity polls on her like they did with Newt Gingrich? Methinks not.
And they say that the media is not biased. Scribes, Pharisees and hypocrites all.
Regards,
Peter H.