Democracy for New Mexico

Saudis, Enron Money Helped Pay for US Rigged Election?

If true, this could be the "smoking gun" investigators have been looking for in the search for evidence about fraudulent activities during the presidential election:

Special Report
By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer.

November 25, 2004—According to informed sources in Washington and Houston, the Bush campaign spent some $29 million to pay polling place operatives around the country to rig the election for Bush. The operatives were posing as Homeland Security and FBI agents but were actually technicians familiar with Diebold, Sequoia, ES&S, Triad, Unilect, and Danaher Controls voting machines. These technicians reportedly hacked the systems to skew the results in favor of Bush.

The leak about the money and the rigged election apparently came from technicians who were promised to be paid a certain amount for their work but the Bush campaign interlocutors reneged and some of the technicians are revealing the nature of the vote rigging program.

Go to Online Journal for the entire article and a link to a follow-up on the rigging scheme. (Thanks to Andrea Sterling for this article.)

Update: This story has been debunked by Keith Olbermann in one of his Bloggerman posts.

GAO Agrees to Investigate Election Irregularities

One for us. Press Release cited on Common Cause Blog:

(Washington, DC) Reps. John Conyers, Jr., Jerrold Nadler, Robert Wexler, Robert Scott, and Rush Holt announced today that, in response to their November 5 and 8 letters to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the GAO has decided to move forward with an investigation of election irregularities in the 2004 election. The five Members issued the following statement:

"We are pleased that the GAO has reviewed the concerns expressed in our letters and has found them of sufficient merit to warrant further investigation. On its own authority, the GAO will examine the security and accuracy of voting technologies, distribution and allocation of voting machines, and counting of provisional ballots. We are hopeful that GAO's non-partisan and expert analysis will get to the bottom of the flaws uncovered in the 2004 election. As part of this inquiry, we will provide copies of specific incident reports received in our offices, including more than 57,000 such complaints provided to the House Judiciary Committee.

"The core principle of any democracy is the consent of the governed. All Americans, no matter how they voted, need to have confidence that when they cast their ballot, their voice is heard."

The Members listed above were joined in requesting the non-partisan GAO investigation by Reps. Melvin Watt, John Olver, Bob Filner, Gregory Meeks, Barbara Lee, Tammy Baldwin, Louise Slaughter and George Miller.

Keep Ohio Recount Non-Partisan

From Common Cause: Ask Secretary Blackwell to Step Aside

We need to make sure that any recount process in Ohio is totally free of the taint of partisanship. For an Ohio recount to be purely non-partisan, a state official such as Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, whose partisan decision in this election drew comparisons to Katherine Harris, and who led President Bush’s re-election efforts in Ohio, must excuse himself from the recount process.

This is why we are asking you to join us in signing our nationwide petition requesting that Mr. Blackwell remove himself from any and all recount- related procedures. We must ensure any recount is pure and not left open to accusations of partisanship, which tainted the process in Florida in 2000.

With all the problems with voter registration, provisional, and absentee ballots, it's extremely important to our democracy that we protect the integrity of our election process and make sure every vote is counted as cast. Please take a look!

Psalm: The 23rd Sigh

Just to be in vogue, here's a little something that's biblical in nature, to start us off on the right foot as we begin the week:

Bush is my shepherd; I dwell in want.

He maketh logs to be cut down in national forests.

He leadeth trucks into the still wilderness.

He restoreth my fears.

He leadeth me in the paths of international disgrace for his ego's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of pollution and war,

I will find no exit, for thou art in office.

Thy tax cuts for the rich and thy media control, they discomfort me.

Thou preparest an agenda of deception in the presence of thy religion.

Thou anointest my head with foreign oil.

My health insurance runneth out.

Surely megalomania and false patriotism shall follow me all the days of Thy term,

And my jobless child shall dwell in my basement forever.

(Anonymous -- I'm eager to attribute this to the author should one come forward. Thanks to John McAndrew for passing this along.)

Hmmmmmm . . .

When I got an email last week from the Kerry people saying the votes had been counted here, and implying that this was the end, I believed them. But look at this from the Secretary of State's website:

NM Presidential Race Results as of: 11/14/2004 9:54:01 AM

Kerry: 347,065 - 49.1%

Bush: 352,396 - 49.8%

Vote margin for Bush: 5,331 or .7%

Makes me really uncomfortable about all those provisional and other ballots Bernalillo County Clerk Mary Herrera tossed out because she couldn't determine that Jane Marie Jones and Jane M. Jones were the same person. She rejected about half of the provisional ballots and also many ballots from first-time voters whose driver's licenses didn't exactly, and I mean exactly, match the names they signed in with. I guess it doesn't help that Dem Herrera and Dem Vigil-Giron reportedly are in a cat fight. I recall that Vigil-Giron said Herrera's standards for matching names and IDs were incorrect, being too stringent.

According to the Albuquerque Tribune,

Herrera disqualified 5,796 provisional and in-lieu-of ballots, out of 11,966 such ballots cast  . . . .

And, according to Herrera, hundreds of those ballots were disqualified for errors like nonmatching signatures between voter registration forms and ballots. While Herrera said she was following the lead of the New Mexico Secretary of State's Office, she listened anew to complaints from two Democrat lawyers who had monitored the vote-counting process.

"If somebody failed to put their middle initial down, it was rejected," said Ellen Leitzer, a lawyer. "That is a violation of due process. All of those voters have been denied their right to vote, and that is a travesty."

Bernalillo County Commission Chairman Alan Armijo acknowledged the criticism of the new provisional ballot counting process.

"It was well-intentioned when it was done," Armijo said. "Certainly it's put us in a situation that's a little rough for everybody involved."

Where is the Gov. Richardson on all this? Not a peep. But it is more than a little disconcerting to ponder a situation where Dem votes may have been rejected because of a power struggle between two Dem officials. If this isn't a case of "I've got mine, I want more, and to hell with the voters," I don't know what is.

Please, somebody tell me I'm wrong about all this.

Voting Controversies

Sent in by Andrea and David: We listened to the entire four hours of the Randi Rhodes Show today which was totally devoted to the election and the "irregularities." There is a mainstream media black-out of any coverage about a recount. The only person who is covering this issue on broadcast or cable TV is Keith Olbermann on Countdown (MSNBC). On his program last night, Olbermann talked with Jonathan Alter of Newsweek who encouraged him to keep on top of this story.

This issue is being kept alive because of us bloggers. The Kerry lawyers have gone back to Ohio because we are making so much noise. They are saying that even though Kerry conceded, Edwards said that they wouldn't be satisfied until all the votes had been counted. Kerry's concession is not legally binding and can be withdrawn.

During Randi's program, she talked with Laura Flanders, host of the Laura Flanders Show on Air America Radio and author of BushWomen, and Bev Harris, executive director and author of Black Box Voting. Randi and Laura talked about Ohio. Bush is ahead in Ohio by 136,000 votes. The 155,000 provisional ballots, the absentee ballots, the overseas ballots and the military ballots have not been counted yet in that state.

On election day in Warren County (northeast of Cincinnati) county officials sealed off the monitoring of the count to observers and the media stating that the FBI and Homeland Security had put Warren County on a Level 10 (the highest) terrorist alert. Later, the FBI and Homeland Security said they had never issued that alert. There are also other "irregularities" in the state.

Today, David Cobb, the Green Party candidate for President, and Michael Badnarik, the Libertarian candidate for President, said they were going to file a formal demand for a recount in Ohio. They are being supported by Common Cause for Ohio and the Alliance for Democracy and need $110K ASAP. Please click here  to donate any amount.

Randi and Bev talked about Florida. Black Box Voting is going to be able to do a recount in Florida barring the immediate passage of any legislation in Florida prohibiting them from conducting it. Bush claims he won by 3 million popular votes (giving him his "mandate") but popular votes don't win an election - electoral votes do. Every vote has to be counted and every black box has to be examined in Ohio and Florida.

It is vitally important that we stay on top of this in order to have clean elections now and in the future. Please help in any way you can. Please forward this to friends and supporters.
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Editor's Notes: You can also contribute to the ongoing efforts of Black Black Voting and the National Ballot Integrity Project via Help America Recount, a 527 organization formed by these two groups.

Cam Kerry, John's brother, has sent out an email stating that if anyone has specific factual information about voting problems that could be helpful to the lawyers doing their job, they should send it to vri@dnc.org.

Finally, providing an alternate view, here's a New York Times article that takes on some of the the accusations and tries to debunk them.

New Mexico: From Blue to Red

Vote counting has ended. The unofficial results from the New Mexico Secretary of State's website:

Results as of: 11/12/2004 12:08:03 AM
Counties Reporting: 21

KERRY & EDWARDS	341,841	48.9%
BUSH & CHENEY	349,255	50.0%
COBB & LaMARCHE	001,164	00.2%
PEROUTKA & BALDWIN	000,771	00.1%
BADNARIK & CAMPAGNA	002,196	00.3%
NADER & CAMEJO	003,766	00.5%

A sampling of counties won by Kerry:

Bernalillo County (Albuquerque) 51.3% to Bush's 47.5%, or 128,531 to 119,161;

Santa Fe County 71% to Bush's 28%, or 46,553 to 18,315;

Taos County 74% to Bush's 24.8%, or 10,814 to 3,616;

Sandoval County (Albq. Metro) 61.6% to Bush's 37.4%, or 1,720 to 1,045;

Socorro County 51.3% to Bush's 47.1%, or 4,025 to 3,696; and

Dona Ana County (Las Cruces) 50.8% to Bush's 48.2%, or 30,602 to 29,023.

For other counties, click on the link above.

I feel blue.

Bush Blessing, Kerry Curse?

I know there's been alot written about evangelicals believing Bush is guided by a supreme being, but a Beliefnet article provides some absolutely astonishing quotes from leaders of the Christian right. Excerpts:

“This was Providence,” evangelical leader and presidential adviser Charles Colson told Beliefnet. “Anybody looking at the 2000 election would have to say it was…a miraculous deliverance, and I think people felt it again this year.” By allowing Bush to stay in office, Colson said, God is “giving us a chance to repent and to restore some moral sanity to American life.”

Richard Land, a leading Southern Baptist who participates in a weekly strategy call between the White House and evangelical leaders put it this way: “Whoever won, it would have been God’s will.” But because Bush won, Land told Beliefnet, God has clearly shown America his blessings. If Kerry had won, it would have proved God was cursing the United States. “The Bible says godly leadership is a sign of God’s blessings and a lack of godly leadership is a sign of God’s judgment. I don’t see Kerry as a godly leader.”

Meanwhile, Paul Weyrich, founder of the and one of the original engineers of the conservative Christian political revolution, wrote an essay claiming that “God gave this President and this President’s Party one more chance…God heard the fervent prayers of millions of values voters to keep His hand on America one more time despite our national sins of denying the right to life, despite ignoring the Biblical injunction against acts which are ‘an abomination unto the Lord’ and despite the blatant attempt to remove God from the public square.”
[. . .]
Plenty of ordinary American evangelicals also believe that by allowing Bush to be re-elected, God has given the United States another chance. For months leading up to the election, many Christians nationwide prayed and fasted, in an effort led by Intercessors for America, to assist in Bush’s re-election.

Take a few minutes to read the entire article and you may find yourself wondering if we really are living in a secular democracy in the 21st century.  This kind of panicky dependence on almighty intervention to save us from the boogieman is eerie and creepy, at least to me . I guess this kind of "faith" does get you off the hook, freeing you from any need to make an effort beyond praying, fasting and finger pointing at the evil ones -- those who are different, those who are "other."

Remember what Pogo said, oh so long ago? "We have met the enemy . . . and he is us." Doesn't ring a bell with these people. Why bother with analyzing your own part in the problems we face when you can blame it all on "them," while claiming that god is on your side? It's "them" causing the problems, only god can fix it, so why bother with things like stricter environmmental laws or seeking justice for all? And anyway, as long as events play out as "ordained" in the Middle East, stay tuned for The Rapture!

I have alot of respect for spirituality and good deeds driven by a conscience, whether humanist or religious, but this bunch is just beyond belief. Ouch.

(Image courtesy of I Go Pogo)

Help Ensure Every Bernalillo County Vote Is Counted

Patricia Lee, whom many of you may know as a volunteer for the Clark and Kerry campaigns, sends in a message about her experience volunteering at the Bernalillo County vote counting warehouse, and urges us to participate:

This afternoon I spent some fun-filled time at Warehouse H, 2400 Broadway SE.  OK so fun filled-may be an exageration but try it -- you'll like it.

To be perfectly honest I had to force myself to go, there's lots I need to do around the house and there's homework still to be read.  However, I figured if I was going to bitch and moan about people who don't participate, I better go help out.  So now I can say first hand go help -- it was really gratifying to participate in the process.

Also, I think it was good for the morale of the County Clerk's staff who are working 15+ hours a day to know they are not doing all this work in a vacuum. Interestingly, one of my fellow Dem volunteers said that many of the Rep "watchers" were paid staff.

The process is really easy.  Everyone is asked to sign a confidentiality agreement so I can't be specific.  However, you'll get a form to fill out and you sit across from one of the computers that the County staff is working on and just take down the information. 

Warehouse H opens at 7 a.m. and folks will be working until 11 p.m. Any time that you can give will be greatly appreciated and I think you will come away knowing that you contributed to making every vote count.  Even if the outcome isn't altered what really matters is letting voters know that we care enough to spend the time to make their votes count. 

Earlier this week I heard a report on NPR about some Santa Fe high school students who left class to lobby the Governor about counting votes.  We need to let those kids know they have been heard.

Please pass this on.
Thanks. Best,
Patricia Lee

P.S.  It's really easy to get there.  Take I-25 south to Gibson, west on Gibson to Broadway, south on Broadway a short distance to 2400 Broadway SE.  There is construction and the turn into 2400 was just before the south bound traffic had a bit of a zig zag to the right.
*************
Note from editor: A similar plea from the Kerry campaign:

We have now entered the qualifying process of the vote count.  The vast majority of the votes being questioned are Democrats.  The Republicans are here at the warhouse in full force and we need your help to protect our votes.

We are asking for volunteers to please take the time and work one of the following shifts.  We will be working all week to insure every vote gets counted.

8am to 11am
11am to 1pm
2pm to 5pm
5pm to 8pm

Please call me on my cell phone to let me know if you will be able to help with this critical process.

Marci Youngmark
Volunteer Coordinator
505-270-2526

A Mandate?

Mary Ellen thinks it odd that Bush is claiming a "Man-Date" since he's so opposed to gays. And what kind of a mandate does he really have? Compare and contrast. From the Eparch blog:

Past Presidential winners and the percent difference by which they won the popular vote.

Warren G. Harding	26.22%	1920
Ulysses S. Grant	25.46%	1868
Franklin D. Roosevelt	24.26%	1936
Richard M. Nixon	23.16%	1972
Lyndon B. Johnson	22.58%	1964
Ronald Reagan	18.21%	1984
Herbert C. Hoover	17.46%	1928
Franklin D. Roosevelt	17.28%	1932
Dwight D. Eisenhower	15.43%	1956
Ulysses S. Grant	11.80%	1872
Dwight D. Eisenhower	10.75%	1952
Abraham Lincoln	10.06%	1864
Franklin D. Roosevelt	9.95%	1940
George H. W. Bush	7.72%	1988
Franklin D. Roosevelt	7.50%	1944
George W. Bush	3.00%	2004
James E. Carter Jr.	2.06%	1976
John F. Kennedy	0.17%	1960
George W. Bush	-0.51%	2000
Rutherford B. Hayes	-3.01%	1876

(Election data from Ohio Kids)