Posted on 11/07/2008 2:47:02 PM PST by Caleb1411
When the polls closed Tuesday evening, Minnesota's Secretary of State's office showed that Norm Coleman had a 725-vote win in his closely contested race against Al Franken. By the next morning, however, Coleman's victory was already shrinking. As various precincts and county auditors have "corrected" their totals, Coleman's lead has dropped to a mere 237 votes. Minnesota Republicans are concerned that the fix may be in.
An example of the kind of thing now going on was reported in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Just as Secretary of State Mark Ritchie was explaining to reporters the recount process in one of the narrowest elections in Minnesota history, an aide rushed in with news: Pine County's Partridge Township had revised its vote total upward -- another 100 votes for Democratic candidate Al Franken, putting him within .011 percentage points of Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman.
The reason for the change? Exhausted county officials had accidentally entered 24 for Franken instead of 124 when the county's final votes were tallied at 5:25 Wednesday morning.
Currently, the Minnesota Secretary of State's office shows the Franken's total in Partridge Township as 129, not 124. Still, the Partridge story is the most coherent explanation we've gotten so far as to why vote totals have repeatedly been adjusted to Franken's advantage.
Optical scan ballots are used nearly everywhere in Minnesota. The system is simple: once the polls close, absentee ballots are run through the machines with Republican and Democratic poll watchers both present. The machines are then locked down. The machine prints a tape that looks like a grocery store printout that summarizes the number of votes cast for each candidate in each race. At the same time, the totals are uploaded electronically, via a secure phone line connected to the box, to the county where the precinct is located; from there, they are reported to the Secretary of State. The tape showing the precinct's vote totals is signed by the precinct's election judge and is required to be publicly displayed.
There is essentially no human input here. There is no room for new ballots to be "discovered," or for counting "errors" to be corrected. The process is electronic. My understanding had been that optical scan voting is in use in every one of Minnesota's several thousand precincts. Based on the Strib's account of what happened in Partridge Township, it appears this may not be the case.
Some very basic questions need to be answered. What are the precincts that have allegedly "corrected" the vote totals they originally reported? On what basis were the alleged corrections made? Did both Republicans and Democrats participate in the alleged corrections? Have the original paper ballots been securely maintained since the polls closed? What assurances are in place to prevent Democrats from fraudulently adding new paper ballots? Do the precincts that have revised their vote totals use the optical scan system that is, as I understand it, nearly universal? If not, why not? If so, what do the ballot machines' tapes show? If the totals now being claimed are inconsistent with the tapes that were signed by the precinct's election judges, on what basis can they be accepted? Why is it that each "correction" seems to favor Franken?
The Coleman campaign has reportedly dispatched volunteers to try to guard the security of ballots in some locations. The danger, of course, is that they could already be too late. Minnesota's Secretary of State, a left-wing activist who was elected in 2006 after MoveOn.org and other nationwide groups targeted the Minnesota Secretary of State race, has yet to certify vote totals. If fraud is to be committed, it most likely has taken place already, or will occur before the recount begins.
UPDATE: Hot off the press, the first apparent evidence of fraud. Last night at around 7:30, a precinct in Mountain Iron, St. Louis County, mysteriously updated its vote total to add 100 new votes--all 100 for Barack Obama and Al Franken.
Mountain Iron uses optical scanning, so the Coleman campaign asked for a copy of the tape documenting the ballots cast on election night. St. Louis County responded by providing a tape that includes the newly-added 100 votes, and is dated November 2--the Sunday before the election. St. Louis County reportedly denies being able to produce the genuine tape from election night, even though Minnesota law, as I understand it, requires that tape to be signed by the election judges and publicly displayed.
Maybe there is some legitimate explanation for these events, but I haven't thought of one yet. More to come.
“An angry mob of enraged Republicans is beautiful to watch.”
It takes alot for a pubbie to take time off from work to engage in such activities.
It’s much easier for the rabbit people.
Obviously you have a need for more compassionate conservatism training. As punishment you must perform 2 weeks of community service by watching 4 hours a night of demasculinizing training via prime time network television.
do what you want, it is your time. I don’t think you really want to waste it with some guys with suits, clipboards, and pistols.
Well, that's for sure.
And I certainly don't advocate armed revolution at this point. But... the second amendment was put there specifically so that that option would always be on the table.
FRegards,
LH
First two things are to purge the voting rolls and make it mandatory to show ID in every state.
agreed, but I think telegraphing any possible intentions would be unwise.
If the MN AG allows this election to be stolen, there needs to be repercussions.
Er... why not? You think a system this broken can be made to "fix" itself? Wake up and smell the vote fraud. We've done been couped.
Wow. First Jessie Ventura. Now Al Franken.
Minnesotan’s clearly are too stupid to be granted the franchise.
Well... half of us at least. If you could see the number of Wellstone stickers still on idjits cars up here...
Regretably, it also seems that the only path to regaining the great vision our Founding Fathers bestowed upon this magnificent land will be by the same method they were required to employ. Just as in their day, some majority of the citizenry will not be willing to sacrifice all that it might take to accomplish that worthy task and the burden will be borne by the brave few.
We're seeing the wisdom of the Founders in having the Second Amendment placed in the founding document. As others have noted, the 2004 WA state governor's contest went almost exactly as we're seeing played out here. Two separate recounts, each time the recount had the 'Rat candidate gaining votes until enough were "found" for the 'Rat to "win". Then everything stops, the 'Rat is declared the winner, and the media starts on the "be a good loser" and "accept the will of the majority" crap for the "losing" 'Pub.
In WA state, the 'Pub filed suit, and of course an idiot judge threw it out. He admitted that the election was "flawed" (fraudulent), but he didn't have the power to fix it, he said "the voters have to fix the problem", presumably by voting. What kind of idiot is that? How can the voters fix a problem with the election system by voting when the system itself is effed up? Ever try to fix something with a broken tool? Doesn't usually go too well. So where do you turn for justice when the courts are corrupt? Where do you go for honest representation when the electoral system is corrupt? Where can you go for protection when the criminals run the police forces?
This is precisely the situation our ancestors found themselves in around the end of the 1700s. They tried everything working within the system at the time, and all it got them was further insult and injury. It would have gone on that way if the patriots hadn't started shooting at people on a bridge in Concord. It may come to that again.
That’s similar to how I remember it in Fairfax County, VA several years ago, when we used the Shouptronic machines. the machines arrived sealed with metal bands stamped with a number which matched the number in our documents. Also, our documents recorded the “protected counter” number, which was a mechanical counter that recorded every vote the machine tallied since it was built.
Same process as you described with the unbroken tape and the cartridges. When we were finished, things were handled strictly, in accordance with the procedures. Even to pack the machines up and seal them with number stamped metal bands which were also recorded on official results.
On that point of calling in the numbers....seems they would have called in the numbers based on what they wrote down. The article seems to think they called in a lower number and then wrote the correct (higher) number.
Very suspicious. The Coleman campaign/RNC should be talking to those election officers and poll watchers if they are smart.
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