[Tall_Texan]

And, the number two spot was Buchanan, NOT Gore. Which DOES explain some of the Buchanan-to-Gore confusion.! The democrat operators were telling their voters to vote for the wrong guy.

Actually, you *can* see a number on the computer card that corresponds with a number listed next to each candidate on the ballot. My county used to use the same type of ballot, so I am sure of this.

George W. Bush was hole #3. Pat Buchanan (slightly below and across the page on the butterfly ballot) was hole #4. Al Gore was hole #5. While the names on the ballot are off-set from each other as you go down the page, the holes on the card are in a straight column so #4 is directly under #3 on the card and #5 is directly under #4.

Bush, as the candidate of the ruling party in the state (his brother) had the top spot on the ballot. Gore was supposed to come next and in the sample ballots first distributed by Theresa LePore, then a Democrat and a member of the PBC election board, Gore was indeed supposed to come next. At some point, however, the decision was made that Gore would be more easily found if his name was under Bush instead of across the page so they swapped Gore and Buchanan. Gore was moved from hole #4 to hole #5.

"Vote Number Two" becomes ambiguous, then, since there is no "#2" on the ballot and the voter isn't sure if Number Two would be the one below the first name or the one across the page from the first name.

For a more detailed explanation of my scenario, click here:

The fraud had already been committed before the grannies started voting and if somebody hadn't screwed up and made thousands of votes for Buchanan, there would have been no need to put the cover story into action. The fact that they used telemarketers and the willing media to plant the "butterfly ballot" story BEFORE the polls closed tells me that they realized their error AFTER stuffing the ballots but at a point that was too late to fix. A cover story needed to be hatched and so the "butterfly ballot" caper began.

My scenario differs from yours in one key point and that is that I don't think Buchanan attracted as many voters as you give him credit for and even Buchanan said so. It's one thing for Buchanan to get a lot of support in a Republican primary when he is part of a field of Republicans. It is another thing for him to get a lot of support when he is essentially a spoiler for the Republican most likely to win the White House. I think a lot of his support evaporates when voters know it will be a close vote between Bush and Gore. Even taking the official numbers into account, Buchanan received more votes in Palm Beach County than he did in practically the other 66 counties combined.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Oh, true - "Number two" IS on the separated ballot, after it is removed from the voting machine.

What I meant was, the "name" of the person who is "number two" is NOT on the separated ballot.

An operator told to double-punch "number two" in a stack of ballots, can't independently tell that he is punching a Buchanan ballot spot.

---

You seem rather sensitive about the "Bush brother" image ... Careful. Democrats use that as a false implication Jeb was influencing LOCAL election ballots, counts, and certification.

---

Likewise, the local democrat operator in those four counties Gore chose to re-re-re-recount WERE the source of the fraud. Palm Beach, Broward, Miami are ALL have individually and specifically well-earned reputations for fraud, bribery, and local scandals.

The fraud is perpetrated at the local level. And effective fraud doesn't need to be widespread to be effective in a close race. You need o cheat in only a relatively few precincts in each county to get 1500 votes across the state.

Palm Beach democrat election agents were seen crying, screaming, yelling in their jealous, hate-filled rage at failing to produce enough votes for Gore.

In the manual recounts in these democrat counties, every controversial ballot reviewed by two democrats and one republican was counted by that review 2-1 that it was a Gore vote.

The fraud IS local.

It was stopped in Miami when the poll watchers were denied their legal right to look at the counting method.

[Robert A Cook PE]

I'll keep looking at this though.

More later.