Posted on 10/22/2004 1:58:20 PM PDT by winodog
The Associated Press (AP) will be the sole source of raw vote totals for the major news broadcasters on Election Night. However, AP spokesmen Jack Stokes and John Jones refused to explain to this journalist how the AP will receive that information. They refused to confirm or deny that the AP will receive direct feed from voting machines and central vote tabulating computers across the country. But, circumstantial evidence suggests that is exactly what will happen.
And what can be downloaded can also be uploaded. Computer experts say that signals can travel both to and from computerized voting machines through wireless technology, modems, and even simple electricity. Computer scientists have long warned that computer voting is an invitation to vote fraud and system failure. An examination of Diebold election software by several computer scientists, including Dr. Avi Rubin and his staff, proved that secret backdoors can be built into computer programs that allow votes to be easily manipulated without detection.
ES&S, the nation's largest voting machine company that will reportedly count 50% of all votes, describe on their webpage how "accessible" their results are, "At ES&S, we know election administrators and the public want fast and accurate election results. That is why we have developed several election management system software solutions to make the reporting process easier, more reliable, and more accessible." Diebold, the second largest voting machine company, advertises a similar service. Both ES&S and Diebold have close ties to the Republican Party.
But, can't the AP be trusted? Isn't it an objective non-partisan news organization? Some say no. The AP is batting for a Bush presidency.
In Online Journal, Stephen Crockett and Al Lawrence, the hosts of Democratic Talk Radio, wrote, "...the Associated Press ran a story that was widely published in newspapers and on the Internet, headlined "Bush Leads Kerry In Electoral Votes," that could have been written by the Bush campaign. The assignment of states to candidates, the headline and the conclusions were all simply wrong. The Associated Press should print a retraction and work to see that it is widely published."
And on WBAY TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin ran an AP article reporting that Bush has won the election, weeks before the election is to take place. The AP reported, "At this hour, President Bush has won re-election as president by a 47 percent to 43 percent margin in the popular vote nationwide. Ralph Nader has 1 percent of the vote nationwide. That's with 51 percent of the precincts reporting." According to reports, the AP is now saying the article was a "test article," a never-heard-before journalistic practice.
Who is the AP? The Associated Press was founded in 1848. It is a not-for-profit news cooperative, some would say ‘monopoly’, that rakes in about $500 million dollars a year. The AP is owned by its 1,500 U.S. daily newspaper members. Their board of directors is elected by voting ‘bonds’. However, it is not clear who controls the bonds. AP spokespeople would not give out information on who sits on their board, however AP leadership appears quite conservative.
Burl Osborne, chairman of the AP board of directors, is also publisher emeritus of the conservative The Dallas Morning News, a newspaper that endorsed George W. Bush in the last election. Kathleen Carroll, senior vice president and executive editor of AP, was a reporter at The Dallas Morning News before joining AP. Carroll is also on the Associated Press Managing Editors (APME)’s 7-member executive committee. The APME "works in partnership with AP to improve the wire service's performance," according to their website. APME vice president, Deanna Sands, is managing editor of the ultra conservative Omaha World Herald newspaper, whose parent company owns the largest voting machine company in the nation, Election Systems and Software (ES&S).
Many Americans believe that polling organizations and the broadcasters will raise the red flag on any election shenanigans. But others have their doubts.
The Collier brothers, authors of the book, VoteScam: The Stealing of America, wrote about vote fraud and the role the news media and polls played. In 1970, Channel 7 in Miami projected with 100% accuracy (a virtual impossibility) the final vote totals on election day. When asked where they got their exit poll data, both Channel 3 & Channel 7 claimed that the League of Women Voters sent it in from the precincts. But, the League's local president tearfully denied it, say, "I don't want to get caught up in this thing." The broadcasters then told the Colliers that a private contractor used the data from a single voting machine to project the winners, but the contractor said he got the data from a University of Miami professor, who in turn denied this. In the end, the news broadcasters appeared to have got the polling numbers out of thin air.
One thing is clear. The air will be thick with distrust and doubt on Election Night 2004.
> Wouldn't ... put a stop to some of this crap?
Sure, but the Democrats have no interest in honest democracy,
except where they are assured a win.
When it's close, they want to cheat.
When they lose by a hair, they want to litigate.
When they lose solidly, they sabotage the legislative
process, as in TX, where they evacuated the state in
order to prevent a quorum.
If they ever get majority control of this country again,
there will be no credible elections after that.
Booooooo!
This article may be left leaning and planting the seeds of discord in the election but does anyone doubt that voting and counting those votes with a computer cannot be rigged one way or the other?
I am sure there is fraud and cheating with the paper ballot but at least there is a record. With the way things are going we will soon turn over all our votes to a computer and I prefer a paper trail even if it takes two days to count.
These guys evidently know some computer experts that like to mess with their heads. I'd never dream of that, of course.
FemEcoNazi: "Mr. Drill, we hear that signals can travel between voting machines using simple electricity. Is this true?"
BtD: "Why yes, my dear. It's a well-known fact that all the 802.x protocols are heavily dependent on electric particles that travel through the wires at high pressures. If their flow is restricted by Republican ethernet waves they form little clumps called "packets." Now, you hear about "lost packets" all the time, but have you ever heard of anyone even trying to find them again? I thought not. And that's why Gore lost the election."
Yeah that's when I started laughing....AP pro-Bush? What kind of far-left rag is this place. And what drugs are they on?
"PARANOIA MAY DESTROY YA!!!!"
read later
The Heisenberg principle strikes again!
or perhaps with my observation it no longer has, er ... yes...ummm maybe ... no....hmmm
THE dEMOCRATS ARE SETTIMNG UP FOR A CHALLENGE BASED ON THE WELL KNOWN RABID RIGHT WING NATURE OF THE AP.
He's right. Magically, all of these posts show up on my computer through simple electricity...it's inexplicable. I bet someone could harness that electricity and manipulate votes if they were just crafty enough. ; )
The Dems consider them a form of discrimination (well, they're meant, after all, to discriminate against fraudulent "voters") and voter intimidation (again, they'd intimidate would-be frauds).
AP for Bush??????????
You are nuts!!!!!!
Is not AP a groupie of MSM? Certainly!!!!!
To much Kool-Aid for you snookems!!
"The Dems consider them a form of discrimination (well, they're meant, after all, to discriminate against fraudulent "voters") and voter intimidation (again, they'd intimidate would-be frauds)."
Are you serious? Clearly, I'm out of the loop on this (hanging head in shame) debate. How can asking for a picture ID be any form of discrimination? This is a joke, right? I'm not sure about other states- but here in Florida even if you don't have a driver's license- you must have a photo ID.
Hey...I'm not a Kool Aid drinker...you've mistaken me for someone else. I'm the one concerned about this new "electricity" and how it might impact our lives. : )
ELECTRICITY temporarily inconveniences millions of electrons every time you touch a key!!
From the article:"And what can be downloaded can also be uploaded"
Stupid comment, which makes the rest of the article suspect.
Stupid comment, which makes the rest of the article suspect.
No, this stupid comment makes the rest of the article suspect:
Computer experts say that signals can travel both to and from computerized voting machines through wireless technology, modems, and even simple electricity.
Actually, the only necessary and sufficient indicator of stupidity is the link: ecotalk.org
"Te AP is batting for a Bush Presidency..."
Yeah, right. The AP hates Bush's guts, which is why they joined with CBS is in the fake memos story. If anything, they are going to fix it for Kerry.
That is an absolute lie. I recall specifically seeing articles posted here prior to the 2000 election where AlGore had won the vote a couple of weeks beforehand. I'm sure it's in the archives here somewhere.
Where is the audit trail in electronic voting?
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