Election fraud?

[blackheart]

With links to the data used in the article too!

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/10432334/was_the_2004_election_stolen

Article itself is too long to post.

 

[Kozmos]

Elections rigged? In America? NO WAI!

OK seriously now, I doubt this will get Bush out of the White House.

 

[.Shane.]

Well, the thing that struck me at the time was the exit polling. Exit Polling is a very exact science. And, no, I don't mean the local paper. In recent history Exit Polling has almost completely matched the election results. However, in 2004, it was substantially off.

I never really looked into it much after that.

Also, I'm surprised that so little is made about the fact that Diebold has a near monopoly on voting machines and they are an extremely right-wing company in terms of ownership and political giving. They also keep their refuse to give their code to non-partisan groups for vetting/code review.

 

[Sidhe]

Compulsive reading, there is something rotten in the country of Denmark, Even if 1/10th of that is true that's a traversty. Not qualified to comment on how the system works I'm afraid, but it seems to me this is an appalling misuse of power, is America a democracy any more? After reading that it sounds like a totalitarian dictatorship?

I can't honestly believe that, it's really disturbing, is this a joke cause genuinely I'm at a loss to explain four pages of sworn testament? erm what do you US citizens think? I'm looking at a conspiracy theory that actually rings true for a change.

Bush is out next election but is he going to have some republican replace him because of this sort of underhand ballot fixing?

 

[Sahkuhnder]

Well, the thing that struck me at the time was the exit polling. Exit Polling is a very exact science.

Maybe I'm easily amused but I always get a thrill telling pollsters lies.

I usually say I am voting/did vote for some underdog. Elections are private, who I vote for is my business not some public information entitlement as pollsters seem to assume.

Who did I vote for? Mr. Nunya F. Nenbidnez.


There are many reasons not to trust polls.

 

[Atropos]

Robert F. Kennedy Jr thinks that Bush stole an election? Surely not!

For those of you who haven't read the news much over the last forty years, the Kennedy clan is not traditionally known for its warm Republican sympathies.

 

[Atropos]

Sample quote from article:

The long lines were not only foreseeable -- they were actually created by GOP efforts. Republicans in the state legislature, citing new electronic voting machines that were supposed to speed voting, authorized local election boards to reduce the number of precincts across Ohio. In most cases, the new machines never materialized -- but that didn't stop officials in twenty of the state's eighty-eight counties, all of them favorable to Democrats, from slashing the number of precincts by at least twenty percent.(136)

So... the Republicans didn't deliver as promised (according to this highly unbiased source), and the Democrats went ahead anyway. Obviously the Republicans bear the main responsibility for the resulting chaos.

Will someone please explain to me how the devilish GOP created those lines? My intellect is apparently feeble.

 

[malclave]

Well, the thing that struck me at the time was the exit polling. Exit Polling is a very exact science. And, no, I don't mean the local paper. In recent history Exit Polling has almost completely matched the election results. However, in 2004, it was substantially off.

I never really looked into it much after that.

From one of the articles provided in RFK, Jr.'s piece:

Our investigation of the differences between the exit poll estimates and the actual vote count point to one primary reason: in a number of precincts a higher than average Within Precinct Error most likely due to Kerry voters participating in the exit polls at a higher rate than Bush voters. There have been partisan overstatements in previous elections, more often overstating the Democrat, but occasionally overstating the Republican. While the size of the average exit poll error has varied, it was higher in 2004 than in previous years for which we have data.

http://www.exit-poll.net/election-night/EvaluationJan192005.pdf, p. 3

 

[blackheart]

While there may not have been electrion fraud per se, I find that the breakdowns in the election structure in several places disturbing. How is democracy supposed to work when people can't properly cast their ballots?

 

[malclave]

I don't know.

On the other hand, the article in Rolling Stone certainly doesn't support democracy. It only looks at one side of alleged fraud.

If it was to be taken seriously, it would also include discussions of fraud by pro-Kerry elements. As written, it is nothing more than a biased op-ed, and should be given no more credence than one of Limbaugh's rants.