Posted on 08/03/2004 8:51:58 AM PDT by Area Freeper
WASHINGTON, D.C.Thursday's request by New York senator Hillary Clinton for an independent study of the nation's voting system before the November election comes amid growing fears that the Bush administration may try to fix the vote in a tight election. According to Clinton's press aides, Clinton and a group of other top congressional Dems asked the Government Accountability Office "for a thorough independent review," adding, "We already know of the potentially serious problems posed by the widespread use of electronic voting machines."
Clinton's press aides went on, "There are, however, other problems that have received little notice but have great potential to disrupt the election process and cause voters to be disenfranchised on November 2." The group asked the GAO (which just last week changed its name to Government Accountability Office, from General Accounting Office) to take a look at protections for voter registration and requirements for identification and to see whether voter rolls are properly purged of dead people and felonsand also to see what safeguards are in place to guard against "erroneous purges."
There may be more to fear than just those problems. Wayne Madsen, who worked at the National Security Agency (NSA) during the Reagan administration and currently is a journalist, sketches a more plausible scenario than the recent trial balloon floated by the administration-controlled Election Assistance Commission about possibly postponing the vote if there is a terrorist attack. Here's Madsen's scenario, step by creepy step:
If, on November 2, Kerry is ahead in key battleground states, then Bush will announce an imminent terrorist threat in California and maybe Washington state.
By 5 p.m. EST (2 p.m. on the Pacific Coast), Bush HQ will know whether Kentucky and Indianakey statesare lost. If it looks like they are going down the drain, then the White House will flash the go-ahead, and the U.S. Northern Command (which has military jurisdiction over the U.S.) will, along with the Homeland Security Department and California authorities, declare an imminent terrorist threat.
Polls will remain open, but everyone will be trying to get out of urban centers as fast as they can. Traffic jams will cause panic and make people change their plans to vote after work. "A number of working-class voters in urban centers," Madsen theorizes, "will either be caught up in California's infamous freeway traffic and be too late to get to their polling places or be more concerned about their families and avoid voting altogether."
The people mostly likely thrown off balance who will decide not to vote will be middle- and low-income Californiansthe Democratic base. Well-to-do voters (Republicans, more often than not) will likely have cast their ballots early.
By reducing the turnout among urban Democrats, Bush HQ will thus be manipulating the state's 54 votes into the Republican column. If things get worse for Bush as the Eastern vote comes in, the "terrorist alert" can be expanded to Washington state, where panicky rush-hour traffic jams in cities like Seattle can reduce the Democratic vote there, too.
"An accusation is often a subconscious confession"
We used the touchscreen machines in MD in the 2002 election.
I liked them after I seriously believed I wouldn't.
Large fonts, very easy to read, the choices were clear and concise and after I was done voting, it spat out a card which also recorded my votes.
Said card was placed in a locked box and it left a nice little "paper trail" in case of electronic glitches.
What more could anyone want in the way of honesty and dependibility?
[unless of course, *honesty* is a problem for some]...;)
Reading this article had a negative effect on my IQ...definitely.
This bit of fluffy fantasy is in direct contradiction to the experience of the last dozen elections, which clearly show a consistent late Republican surge as working voters get back from the job.
this way they can ease their own pain, and pass the blame of kerry's loss in the election to anything else other than their own failures, just like they've done since 2000 with Gore.
"...to see whether voter rolls are properly purged of dead people and felons..."
OK, I'm confused. I thought this was their base, along with illegal - sorry, undocumented - immigrants.
These of course are the dems favorite tricks...
So she sticks to the Clinton MO...."Make Counter Accusations"
If the dems loose....she can make a big bluserty "I toad you show" (I told you so)
She is already getting ready to run as the hero over a corrupt govt......
The most corrupt vile adminstration and first lady in the history of the U.S.A.
She's already crafting another phony image and a phony campaign....
imo
Bwahahahahahaha.....
I disagree with your rules. I believe that voting should be simultaneous ALWAYS. I even hate the delays due to the time zones. If I made the rules, I would specify that in the event of a terrorist attack on or near election day, no votes would count and the entire voting would take place on the next safe. convenient day.
paranoid
"There is not a single chance in this life or the next that Indiana will go to Kerry."
My first thought too.If these loons consider Indiana a "key" state for Kerry,they're insane.When did we last go dem-1964?
The writer of this piece of trash would suffer bodily injury were they here in Texas. In fact, like the teacher in NM that likes his 15 yr old women students to taste condoms, this joker is worth flying up to visit and have a "discussion..."
These Democrats are on some kind of drugs. BUSH fixing the election??????????????????? Every single case of voter fraud that I can remember hearing about within the last 50 years was done by DEMOCRATS.
>YAWN<
'Rats in the corn crib again...
I think these guys have completely checked out of the program. This is WEIRD.
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