How the GOP Bought, Rigged, Stole and Lynched the 2014 Election by Bob Fitrakis, Harvey Wasserman
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/11/11/how-gop-bought-rigged-stole-and-lynched-2014-electionSince the Bush-Cheney-Rove theft of the 2000 election in Florida, the right of millions of American citizens to vote and have that vote counted has been under constant assault.
In 2014, that systematic disenfranchisement may well have delivered the US Senate to the Republican Party. If nothing significant is done about it by 2016, we can expect the GOP to take the White House and much more.
The primary victims of this GOP-led purge have been young, elderly, poor and citizens of color who tend to vote Democratic. The denial of their votes has changed the face of our government, and is deepening corporate control of our lives and planet.
Theres no doubt the Democrats have alienated their core constituency and given millions of their former supporters little reason to vote. Perpetual war, blank checks for mega-banks, stiffing the working poor while giving away the planet to the richthese are all part of the malaise. Our political landscape is currently defined by corporate personhood and its gutting of the Democratic Party.
Part of that is the destruction of our electoral rights, and the refusal of the Democrats to even face the issue, let alone do something about it. Our voting system is, to put it mildly, bought and rigged, further feeding the deadening sense of public futility and frustration.
As the GOP moves toward total control of our governancethe media, the internet, the Supreme Court, the Congress, local government and, in 2016, the presidencyour future depends on knowing the nuts and bolts of how the destruction of our democracy proceeds, and what we can do to stop it.
In this years takeover of the US Senate and many statehouses, barely more than a third of the eligible citizenry was credited with having voted. Official vote counts gave the GOP a consistent bonus of about 5% over pre-election polls. In the US Senate race in North Carolina and the Governors race in Florida, that margin clearly gave the Republicans their victories, and probably did the same in many other close races.
The GOPs Jim Crow disenfranchisement campaign has outright robbed millions of citizens of their right to vote. Its deliberately created an air of confusion and doubt thats further suppressed the turnout.
Greg Palast, for example, has reported extensively on the Kansas-based cross-check technique, used in 28 states, where Republican secretaries of state denied voting rights based on arbitrary judgements that allowed them to eliminate several million potential Democratic voters. (Greg will discuss this on the Solartopia Show at prn.fm Tuesday, 11/11, 5pm EST; the show will be archived for later listening).
Deliberate (and often illegal) disinformation campaigns, destruction of voter registration forms, outright intimidation, repressive photo ID requirements and other suppression techniques made things worse. Its by design, not accident, that Americas voter turnout is ranked 120th among all nations.
In evaluating the actual vote count, manipulation of untrackable electronic voting machines must also be accounted for.
Over the years, Bev Harris, Brad Friedman, Jon Simon, Richard Charney and many others have added vital research leading to the inevitable conclusion that the 2014 electionlike 2000 and 2004was essentially bought, rigged, stolen and lynched.
We do not believe the Republican Party legitimately won the US Senate or many of the statehouses theyve been granted, any more than George W. Bush should have been handed the White House in 2000 and 2004.
Unless we finally face the core issues of election protection, history could repeat itself in 2016 as both tragedy and farce.
Because the dust is still settling, many of the specifics about 2014 remain hidden. In the coming weeks well present as much of the evidence as we can gather.
In the meantime, we welcome President Obamas new statements supporting net neutrality. Theres no more important foundation for what shreds of democracy remain to us than the ability to freely communicate. Handing control of the internet to mega-corporations, as proposed by the current (Democratic) head of the Federal Communications Commission, would be catastrophic. As with reclaiming our elections, our future on this planet demands an open global highway for unfettered communication. We must do everything we can to preserve and expand it.
We also congratulate US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for proposing that election day become a national holiday. After the 2004 debacle, we proposed a four-day election holiday to cover the first Saturday, Sunday, Monday & Tuesday in November. (The Constitution requires that voting happen the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November). This four-day stretch would help enshrine access to our election process as the sacred ritual it should be.
We also propose universal automatic voter registration, universal hand-counted paper ballots, abolition of the Electoral College, and a massive reform of the role of money in politics.
We hope Sen. Sanders initial proposal opens the door to a bottom-up remake of our electoral system. Without it, our democracy is nothing more than a hollow shell.
Over the coming weeks, well explore how that shell was cracked yet again in 2014.
All indicators are that it could be definitively crushed in two years if we dont act now.
To be continued....
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MasonDreams
(756 posts)Samantha
(9,314 posts)I look forward to reading what is going to be reported that happened in 2014. However, it occurs to me that we need to review all evidence of how Republicans have stolen elections at least since 2000 to prepare an offensive against this happening again in 2016. Election 2016 is probably our last chance (and I am being very serious) to stop dead in its tracks the purloining of the Presidency.
In that regard, I would like to throw in a review of What When Wrong in Ohio: The Conyers Report on the 2004 Presidential Election presented here:
http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2005/06/what-went-wrong-ohio-conyers-report-2004-presidential-election
Given this, consider the Conyers Commission reports summary that:
"There were 93,000 spoiled ballots where no vote was cast for president, the majority of which have yet to be inspected."
"We learned of improper purging and other registration errors by election officials that probably disenfranchised tens of thousands of voters statewide."
"In Miami county, voter turnout was an improbable and highly suspect 98.55 percent, and after 100 percent of the precincts were reported, an additional 19,000 extra votes were recorded for President Bush."
And, preceding a long list of specific, documented crimes committed by Ohio Secretary of State (and, thus, chief election official) Kenneth Blackwell, the charge that: "In the run-up to Election Day, the following actions by Mr. Blackwell, the Republican Party, and elections officials, disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of Ohio citizens, predominantly Minority and Democratic voters."
This article recommends purchasing the full Conyers Report available in paperback entitled: What Went Wrong in Ohio.
The longstanding DU members are pretty familiar with the details of the Election 2000 "irregularities" as well as the Supreme Court decision handing the Oval Office to George W. Bush*.
We jump from there to the 2004 "irregularities" in Ohio.
In 2008 and 2012, the Obama campaign team was totally aware of these types of problems, and through very creative methods offset expected irregularities with unexpected gains legitimately achieved through innovative research and getting out the vote in obscure but rich voter terrain. I will leave this statement at that.
We are posting on a thread which informs us soon 2014 election "irregularities" will be detailed and reported soon.
All of this begs the question, how do we launch a -- to borrow a Bush* term -- "pre-emptive war" on election theft in the United States in 2016....
And another question that needs an answer is this: why haven't any of the perpetrators of these thefts been prosecuted?
Perhaps we need a separate forum to accumulate information on this subject.
Sam
questionseverything
(9,658 posts)Samantha
(9,314 posts)Thank you for sharing.
Sam
zentrum
(9,865 posts)longship
(40,416 posts)And of course one can see this for decades of mid term elections.
I vote Democratic every fucking election. What is everybody else's problem that they stay home? 2014 is the inevitable result.
msongs
(67,441 posts)Vincardog
(20,234 posts)Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)and religion.
mountain grammy
(26,648 posts)love_katz
(2,584 posts)niyad
(113,552 posts)questionseverything
(9,658 posts)http://fatallyflawedelections.blogspot.com/
John Brakey on Wake Up Tucson: Pima County Tried to Rig Another Bond Election
This is what cheating with impunity looks like. Yesterday and nine years after the RTA debacle, an employee at the Pima County Elections Division broke into a sealed part of the central tabulator to hook up an ethernet connection. This occurred after the Logic and Accuracy (L&A) Test was completed and seals were placed prominently on the vulnerable parts of the system. Since live video feeds show a running total of the number of viewers during transmission, they probably did it when Pima County's video feed left the impression that no one was looking. This, of course, was hours after John Brakey had left the observation room. Brakey drove five minutes from his house, spent a couple of hours writing and emailing a number of people about the L&A Test and, by habit, hit the hot link to the election department's live feed. Moments later, he was watching the act take place before him.