Get out and vote
Recipe for a Cooked Election
Published by Greg Palast October 19th, 2006 in Articles
by Greg Palast for Yes! Magazine
A nasty little secret of American democracy is that, in every national election, ballots cast are simply thrown in the garbage. Most are called “spoiled,” supposedly unreadable, damaged, invalid. They just don’t get counted.
This “spoilage” has occurred for decades, but it reached unprecedented heights in the last two presidential elections. In the 2004 election, for example, more than three million ballots were never counted.
-snip-
In Ohio, during the 2004 Presidential election, 153,237 ballots were simply thrown away — more than the Bush “victory” margin.
In New Mexico the uncounted vote was five times the Bush alleged victory margin of 5,988. In Iowa, Bush’s triumph of 13,498 was overwhelmed by 36,811 votes rejected.
The official number is bad enough — 1,855,827 ballots cast not counted, according to the federal government’s Elections Assistance Commission.
But the feds are missing data from several cities and entire states too embarrassed to report the votes they failed to count.
-snip-
Provisional Ballots Rejected.
An entirely new species of ballot debuted nationwide in 2004: the “provisional ballot.”
These were crucial to the Bush victory. Not because Republicans won this “provisional” vote.
They won by rejecting provisional ballots that were cast overwhelmingly in Democratic precincts.
The sum of “the uncounted” is astonishing: 675,676 ballots lost in the counties reporting to the federal government.
Add in the missing jurisdictions and the un-vote climbs to over a million: 1,090,729 provisional ballots tossed out.
Spoiled Ballots.
You vote, you assume it’s counted.
Think again. Your “x” was too light for a machine to read.
You didn’t punch the card hard enough and so you “hung your chad.” Therefore, your vote didn’t count and, crucially, you’ll never know it.
The federal Election Assistance Commission toted up nearly a million ballots cast but not counted.
Add in states too shy to report to Washington, the total “spoilage” jumps to a rotten 1,389,231.
Absentee Ballots Uncounted.
The number of absentee ballots has quintupled in many states, with the number rejected on picayune technical grounds rising to over half a million (526,420) in 2004.
In swing states, absentee ballot shredding was pandemic.
Voters Barred from Voting.
In this category we find a combination of incompetence and trickery that stops voters from pulling the lever in the first place.
There’s the purge of “felon” voters that continues to eliminate thousands whose only crime is VWB - Voting While Black.
It includes subtle games like eliminating polling stations in selected districts, creating impossible lines.
No one can pretend to calculate a hard number for all votes lost this way any more than you can find every bullet fragment in a mutilated body.
But it’s a safe bet that the numbers reach into the hundreds of thousands of voters locked out of the voting booth.
-snip-
Much more here : *
Published by Greg Palast October 19th, 2006 in Articles
by Greg Palast for Yes! Magazine
A nasty little secret of American democracy is that, in every national election, ballots cast are simply thrown in the garbage. Most are called “spoiled,” supposedly unreadable, damaged, invalid. They just don’t get counted.
This “spoilage” has occurred for decades, but it reached unprecedented heights in the last two presidential elections. In the 2004 election, for example, more than three million ballots were never counted.
-snip-
In Ohio, during the 2004 Presidential election, 153,237 ballots were simply thrown away — more than the Bush “victory” margin.
In New Mexico the uncounted vote was five times the Bush alleged victory margin of 5,988. In Iowa, Bush’s triumph of 13,498 was overwhelmed by 36,811 votes rejected.
The official number is bad enough — 1,855,827 ballots cast not counted, according to the federal government’s Elections Assistance Commission.
But the feds are missing data from several cities and entire states too embarrassed to report the votes they failed to count.
-snip-
Provisional Ballots Rejected.
An entirely new species of ballot debuted nationwide in 2004: the “provisional ballot.”
These were crucial to the Bush victory. Not because Republicans won this “provisional” vote.
They won by rejecting provisional ballots that were cast overwhelmingly in Democratic precincts.
The sum of “the uncounted” is astonishing: 675,676 ballots lost in the counties reporting to the federal government.
Add in the missing jurisdictions and the un-vote climbs to over a million: 1,090,729 provisional ballots tossed out.
Spoiled Ballots.
You vote, you assume it’s counted.
Think again. Your “x” was too light for a machine to read.
You didn’t punch the card hard enough and so you “hung your chad.” Therefore, your vote didn’t count and, crucially, you’ll never know it.
The federal Election Assistance Commission toted up nearly a million ballots cast but not counted.
Add in states too shy to report to Washington, the total “spoilage” jumps to a rotten 1,389,231.
Absentee Ballots Uncounted.
The number of absentee ballots has quintupled in many states, with the number rejected on picayune technical grounds rising to over half a million (526,420) in 2004.
In swing states, absentee ballot shredding was pandemic.
Voters Barred from Voting.
In this category we find a combination of incompetence and trickery that stops voters from pulling the lever in the first place.
There’s the purge of “felon” voters that continues to eliminate thousands whose only crime is VWB - Voting While Black.
It includes subtle games like eliminating polling stations in selected districts, creating impossible lines.
No one can pretend to calculate a hard number for all votes lost this way any more than you can find every bullet fragment in a mutilated body.
But it’s a safe bet that the numbers reach into the hundreds of thousands of voters locked out of the voting booth.
-snip-
Much more here : *
posted by Damiel | 8:05 PM
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