Absence of Control
Russian observer Aleksei Ostrovsky declared that he was shocked by what he saw. 'It is enough to say 'I am Mr. Smith' and (the person) is allowed to vote. The same person can exit one polling station and vote again using the same procedure'.
Spoilage
These votes belong principally to African Americans, Hispanics or ethnic minorities, who have not been properly instructed how to vote and more interestingly, would be more inclined to vote for the Democratic Party. On average, these votes account for 3% of the total and can be excluded from the count arbitrarily, or included, depending on the whim of the Secretary of State in the State concerned.
For example, in 2000, Secretary of State Kate Harris in Florida decided to arbitrarily exclude the counting of 179,855 votes, the so-called hanging chads. It was worthwhile: Ms. Harris got a seat in Congress and Bush won the state.
In Ohio, 2000 the spoiled vote accounted for 1,96% of the total, 110.000 votes. Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell stated shortly before the 2004 election, 'the possibility of a close election with punch cards as the state's primary voting device invites a Florida-like calamity'. The Ultra-right Blackwell would therefore have been well prepared for what was going to ensue.
In New Mexico, uncounted spoiled votes in 2000 accounted for 2,68% of the total, translated into 18.000 votes. Bush won the state by 11.620.
The Challenge
In some states, including Ohio, the Republicans adopted the Challenge, in which Republican watchdogs manned the doors of the polling stations and challenged those they thought might be ineligible to vote - mostly African Americans and Hispanics, who would be more likely to vote Democrat. The idea is to block the line, forcing people to lose patience and go away.
Provisional votes
Provisional ballots are often handed to African Americans and Hispanics, rather than the type of vote that will be counted. Provisional and absentee ballots are not always counted and it is the decision of the Secretary of State of the State concerned to decide whether to count them or not. Bush won Ohio by 136,483 votes. There were between 175,000 and 250,000 uncounted votes.
Turning away voters
Santiago Juarez, of the 'Faithful Citizens' Program' in New Mexico, stated that voters were turned away from some polling stations. In Ohio, at the Glenwood Elementary station in Toledo, over 200 people left the station because it opened late and then ran out of pencils - this being in a primarily Democratic district.
Voter Suppression
Before the election, the Baltimore Chronicle reported, 'Through a combination of sophisticated vote rustling, ethnic cleansing of voter rolls, absentee ballots gone AWOL, machines that 'spoil' votes, John Kerry begins with a nationwide deficit that could easily reach one million votes'.
In Ohio, Ken Blackwell tried to force through legislation requiring that registration applications not posted on the correct weight of paper should be discounted, then he sought to suppress the provisional ballots, challenging the validity of 35.000 new voter applications.
Manipulation of votes and results
In Florida, 13 counties reported more votes than voters, these accounting for 39.4% of the vote. In Ohio, at the Gahana 1 Precinct, Bush received 6,253 votes, Kerry 1,916 votes, and the others, 23. This totals 8,192 votes, which is strange, since only 4,346 people voted.
At another Precinct in Gahana, Ohio, 4,258 votes were cast for Bush and only 260 for Kerry, while only 638 people were registered as having voted.
Electronic vote and rigged machines
Hernando Country recorded 0 votes. In Ohio, 14,6% of votes cast were by e-voting machines, which are susceptible to hacking and fraudulent manipulation and the Republicans had worked hard to exclude the possibility of there being a paper trail to provide any proof.
In Florida, electronic scan machines registered a gain of 128.45% for Bush and a decrease of 21% for Kerry, whereas in some places a gain of 400% was recorded for the Republicans and in Liverty County, 700%. Strange.
Ohio purchased e-voting machines from the Diebold Corporation, whose CEO Wally O'Dell is a Bush fundraiser, who promised 'to help Ohio deliver its votes to the President'. What a good professional he appears to have been.
Fewer machines were placed in Democrat areas in many Precincts, causing long queues to form and people to turn away, frustrated. In Ohio, Blackwell held back the distribution of 2000 machines.
Electoral fraud
In Franklin County, Ohio, Ron O'Brien, County prosecutor declared to 10TV that 'people are being paid to register new voters'. One man who died in February was registered to vote and in another case, 25 applications belonged to the same person.
In Chaves County, New Mexico, which has an enormous Hispanic, African American and Native American population (who traditionally vote Democrat), Bush won by 68% to 31%. ??
Lost votes
In a county in North Carolina, 4.500 votes went missing due to software problems - the computer had run out of memory.
Not very impressive, especially for a country that likes to stick its unwanted nose into the electoral affairs of other nations and then to make snide remarks. On the basis of this evidence, the USA had better not ever again make any statement whatsoever about fair voting procedures, anywhere.
In conclusion, does this surprise anyone? Not really, since Bush and his regime have spent four long years telling lies and cooking up tall stories. The question remains, why did John Kerry throw in the towel so soon, since all this was taking place. Didn't he know? Wasn't he informed? Or did something more sinister happen?
Or, could something else be behind both Messrs. Bush and Kerry, such as the neo-conservative clique orchestrated by Cheney, a form of supra-political party eminence grise which really pulls the strings in the USA and dictates Washington's foreign and domestic policy?
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Lord_Piot is only concerned about weather or not the us foreign policy will affect his ability to obtain weed or not... - anewmorning.
Word.
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