20 "Amazing" Voting "Facts"

I got this email forward recently and I thought I'd share it with you. It claims to contain 20 amazing facts about voting in the US. I'd say more like 15 or so, but here's the list with a bit of commentary from me...

>Did you know....
>
> 1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies:
> Diebold and ES&S.
>
> http://www.onlinejournal.com/evotin...2804landes.html
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold

Actually, I did not know that. To be perfectly honest, I'm not so sure wikipedia.org is the greatest of sources, is it? Isn't that the encyclopedia site where anyone can make changes to pages? Then again, it's not like the mainstream US news isn't full of crap, so maybe Wikipedia.org is perfectly reasonable...
>
>
> 2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or
> oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.
>
> http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htm
> http://www.onlinejournal.com/evotin...2804landes.html
>
To be fair, there is no federal regulatory authority with the specific job of regulating and overseeing the US voting machine industry. Essentially, the Department of Justice, the same body that oversees all businesses in the country. They're the guys that took on Micro$oft (not that they did a good job, mind you.) Personally, I think the DoJ is doing a truly shitty job of it over the last few years as Bush and his admin have been caught violating many Federal laws. So, my point in criticizing this point on the list of 20 amazing facts is that these "facts" are phrased in a way to be somewhat misleading. It's not like the Election Machine Industry can kill small babies and steal your TV and get away with it. Of course, if Republicans own the election industry AND the DoJ, it could be possible.
>
> 3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.
>
> http://www.americanfreepress.net/ht...te_company.html
> http://www.onlinejournal.com/evotin...2804landes.html
>
That's a pretty weird coincidence. Talk about a copycat! I always hated when my little brother would do what I did. While this seems fishy, I honestly don't see how two brothers in the same industry equates to a conspiracy to let Repubs win. (Remember, I'm a guy who believes the last two elections were fixed at least a little bit.)
>
> 4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign
> organizerand donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to
> helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."
>
> http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004...ain632436.shtml
> http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1647886
>
>
> 5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He
> became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.
>
> http://www.motherjones.com/commenta.../03/03_200.html
> http://www.onlinejournal.com/evotin...04fitrakis.html
>
THAT is fishy--I agree with this one...VERY fishy...
>
> 6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush
> family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S
> by the Senate Ethics Committee.
>
> http://www.blackboxvoting.com/modul...=article&sid=26
> http://www.hillnews.com/news/012903/hagel.aspx
> http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/000896.php
>
OnLisaReinsRadar.com?? You actually trust that site for news? Heh, just kidding!! ;) No, this doesn't surprise me, either--there are many Repubs who have had trouble with the Senate Ethics Committee. Remember Tom DeLay?
>
> 7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's
> vice-presidential candidates.
>
> http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_28/b3689130.htm
> http://theindependent.com/stories/0...ew_hagel27.html
>
It's a shame he didn't get chosen--at least then we'd have a human VP and not a cyborg from the future.
>
> 8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and
> counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.
>
> http://www.essvote.com/HTML/about/about.html
> http://www.onlinejournal.com/evotin...2804landes.html
>
So, big equals bad? ...actually, that is usually true. :)
>
> 9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail
> of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that
> the data
> coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put
> in by voters.
>
> http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
> http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/04...es/pfindex.html
>
The thing is, even if they did, that slip of paper is no proof at all that your vote was counted the way you wanted it to be counted. Do you know how easy it is to build/program a machine that will let you fake a paper trail? Press a button for Kerry, have it show on the screen that you voted Kerry and print out a slip of paper that you voted Kerry but then record a vote for Bush and it can all be done without visibility. The code can exist for a vote to be registered normally but on election day, a different piece of code can be automatically be run. It could even be run off and on all day depending on the number of voters or the time of day.

The point is, ANY ELECTRONIC MACHINE (or machine, period) CAN BE BUILT TO FAKE RESULTS.
>
> 10. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket
> machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a
> paper trail.
>
> http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
> http://www.diebold.com/solutions/default.htm
>
And we all know how reliable those things are even WITH a papertrail. Can you say Identity Theft, being overcharged at the supermarket and getting fake tickets from scalpers?
>
> 11. Diebold is based in Ohio.
> http://www.diebold.com/aboutus/ataglance/default.htm
>
Ironically, Diebold doesn't have any clients inside of Ohio. Dennis Kucinich said this in a piece he wrote for CommonDreams.org. This doesn't mean Triad Systems didn't screw things up on purpose. Triad Systems is a company with MANY clients in Ohio--check out a PDF map of the counties in Ohio they handle. They also appeared to violate election law, but that's another post.
>
> 12. Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as senior managers and
> developers to help write the central compiler computer code that
> counted 50% of the votes in 30 states.
>
> http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,61640,00.html
> http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/301469.shtml
>
Well, were they in prison when they were employed by them? If they served their time, it's really not fair of us to assume that once a criminal, always a criminal. So, like, when George W. Bush goes to prison for violation of a handful of Federal and International Laws I'll not assume that he's still a criminal, too--although he really has to go to prison first. ;)
>
> 13. Jeff Dean, Diebold's Senior Vice-President and senior
> programmer on Diebold's central compiler code, was convicted of
> 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree.
>
> http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
> http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf
>
OK, maybe that guy is still a criminal--23 counts??? That's a LOT...
>
> 14. Diebold Senior Vice-President Jeff Dean was convicted of
> planting "back doors" in his software and using a "high
> degree of
> sophistication" to evade detection over a period of 2 years.
>
> http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
> http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf
>
That does seem odd to hire a guy to do something that he was convicted for intentionally screwing up previously.
>
> 15. None of the international election observers were allowed in
> the polls in Ohio.
>
> http://www.globalexchange.org/update/press/2638.html
> http://www.enquirer.com/editions/20...loc_elexoh.html
>
That's definitely fishy, too. I remember MSNBC reported about a lockdown where an entire floor of a public building was sealed from the press and observers because of a supposed warning from Homeland Security. HS, later said no such warning was given.
>
> 16. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the
> security was so bad. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit
> logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee was able to do it. (See the
> movie here.)
>
> http://wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,63298,00.html
> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4874190
>
Seriously? I gotta download that!
>
> 17. 30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable touch
> screen voting machines with no paper trail.
>
> http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004...ain632436.shtml
>
Didn't we already cover this fact? Maybe not the 30% part, but that certainly could have been included in the earlier point.
>
> 18. All - not some - but all the voting machine errors detected and
> reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican
> candidates.
>
> http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65757,00.html
> http://www.yuricareport.com/Electio...esBushIsOut.htm
> http://www.rise4news.net/extravotes.html
> http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.p...article&sid=950
> http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0411/S00227.htm
>
In my research, I've come to believe that in most cases across the country, the Repub candidate (or the non-Dem candidate) was the winner when things were tight. Look what happened in Washington state governor's race--Dem loses by a hair, but wins in the recount--still think the Presidential results couldn't change with a recount?
>
> 19. The governor of the state of Florida, Jeb Bush, is the
> President's brother.
>
> http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tall...cal/7628725.htm
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...-2004Oct29.html
>
If you needed a stupid email forward to inform you on this, you need to climb out of the rock you live under. I do think it should be illegal for any sitting governor to have a brother run for president. This is clearly a conflict of interest--especially since Florida in 2000 was so tight and in 2004 Bush won fine. (In other words, they got it "right" the second time 'round.)
>
> 20. Serious voting anomalies in Florida - again always favoring
> Bush have been mathematically demonstrated and experts are
> recommending further investigation.
>
> http://www.yuricareport.com/Electio...esBushIsOut.htm
> http://www.computerworld.com/govern...1,97614,00.html
> http://www.americanfreepress.net/ht..._thousands.html
> http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1106-30.htm
> http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/110904.html
> http://uscountvotes.org/
>
OH MAN--this is NOTHING--Check out Greg Palast's book The Best Democracy Money Can Buy--in it he talks about how back before the 2000 election, Jeb Bush (governor of Florida, if you weren't paying attention) threw out 93,000 voters from the voter rolls illegally. Most of them were black and therefore Democrat voters. This problem was never fixed.
>
> And, in closing
>
> FYI: Man of the Year for Time Magazine...
>
> Adolph Hitler, Man of the Year [Time] Jan. 2, 1939
>
> George W. Bush, Person of the Year [Time] Dec. 19, 2004
>
I already blogged on this over ten days ago :)
>
> "Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war to whip the citizenry
> into a political fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged
> sword.
>
> It emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the
> drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with
> hate and
> the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the
> rights of
> the citizenry. Rather the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded
> by
> patriotism, will offer up all their rights unto the leader and
> gladly so.

>
> How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar."
>
> Julius Caesar (101-44 BC)
>
This is bullshit--this quote was never said by Caesar, Shakespeare or anyone else that historians can think of. I just checked this out at Snopes.com, the urban legend debunking site and they say it's fakey. In fact, I've heard before that this quote is fakey. Here's a tip--when writing an email forward, don't stop doing your research when you reach the final quote. Oh and if you're thinking about forwarding an email forward you got--you might think about checking out the sources the email forward quotes. This one got it mostly right, but had some major phrasing problems and of course a few major falacies.

My advice: Don't forward email forwards. No matter how cool or neat they may seem to you, you don't want to be forwarding inacurate information, do you? You don't want to fact check everything, do you? So, don't bother forwarding. If it's THAT good, it's probably full of crap. Save yourself and your friends the effort and just hit that delete button.

I, for one, will thank you for it.