No, it does not at all imply a vast conspiracy. There's already evidence being gradually uncovered (by the folks at blackboxvoting.org) of an apparently pretty small conspiracy to keep those tabulating machines (Windows PCs) vulnerable.
The actual vote total fixing could be done by one person -- especially one with months to prepare pre-written scripts ahead of time and who knows what resources.
I could very easily see a whole zombie-net of trojaned Windows PCs being used for this. Possessed machines acting as gateways for controlling other possessed machines, God knows how many layers deep to insulate the actual human puppetmaster at the end of the daisy chain and cover their tracks, while making their traffic seem to come from several different points. I've seen rumors that those networks of thousands of compromised PCs are even rented out to other criminals at a rate of only a few hundred bucks an hour.
Having watched this with you and the rest of our outstanding team on election night - I can only shake my head. And weep. Because if this theory is correct - and it appears that it certainly could be, then we invested 1 million dollars in contributors money, and countless hours of work only to have everything stolen from us. And there is nothing we can do about it. Recount? The campaign that orders the recount is responsible for paying for same. We could easily spend more than we spent on the enire campaign. And even then, we can be sure that the tracks are well covered - that we will never find the perps or the votes.
My heart breaks for us - and for our doomed Republic.
Barb
Interesting. I am as disappointed as anybody.
However, I have some questions. You started off comparing states with auditable trails vs those with e-voting. But you never came back to that.
What % did Badnarik pull in those states with Auditable trails vs the % he pulled in e-vote states?
In order to get 1.2 Million votes, Badnarik would need to have pulled a solid 1%. What states, if any, did he pull 1%.
(I live in a small precinct (~300 votes) in an e-vote state. Normally, I know my vote is counted because my wife and I always vote libertarian and there are always 2 LP votes in our precint. This year, there were three. Somebody else joined us.)
Please *make sure* that you are on the record with the FBI on this.
They are getting lots of things like this. Its a test, maybe they will do something, maybe they won't.
But I have a feeling many must be realizing that Bush will be like Nixon in that afterward, where people stood on him and this thievery will make or break careers.
They must realize that...
Since e-voting began in my county, areas that had traditionally voted down tax and bond measures are now miraculously passing them!
All I can say at this juncture is that we MUST start voting absentee in EVERY election. It's not perfect, but at least it's better than the e-vote alternative.
It really did look like someone had his thumb on the scales election night.
For instance, just before the networks signed off, they erroneously reported that there were 130,000 provisional ballots to be counted in Ohio. A friend watching with me predicted that Bush's final vote total would be just OVER the provisional ballot total.
And whadaya know! Next morning I wake up and Bush wins Ohio by 136,000.
Some coincidence, huh?
Ah yes, this is just the sort of display of critical thinking that the LP needs to shed its reputation for kookiness....
Quoth Brian Holtz:
"Ah yes, this is just the sort of display of critical thinking that the LP needs to shed its reputation for kookiness...."
Ah, yes, kookiness. I don't recall any LP candidates saying that God told them to invade Iraq or that Social Security will be fine if we just leave well enough alone. In the kookiness league, the LP can't hold a candle to the GOP or the Democrats.
Besides, I know what I saw. It is really quite that simple. "Critical thinking" aside, it is really just that simple.
Tom Knapp
You fail to distinguish between a kooky policy and a kooky justification for a policy. Even Kerry on Social Security is less kooky than the five kookiest planks of the LP platform (http://marketliberal.org/FixLP.html#Platform).
What you "know you saw" is just as knowable to any number of investigative journalists who would love to be the next Woodward or Bernstein. How did the conspiracy plan to keep them all silent?
Never mind... As a public intellectual, you're under significant market pressure to be controversial. (To wit: it's only by this hyperbolic claim that you ever came to my attention.) Maybe Richard Posner will add some remarks about the blogosphere in a future edition of his book on the subject...
Dear Thomas,
There is an easy way to check what happened, without running a full recount. Ask to see _when_ each precinct was reported.
Then run your own spot check. Do you see the same pattern as was reported on election night? What precincts were our "undercounts" in, and can we find any small precincts where we know how many votes there should be (because there are only 2 Libts in them.) that do not match.
I accept your report of the evidence, but I don't think you have proven your thesis yet. As a computer programmer, I can think of lots of ways reality could be mimicking a stolen election.
The LP is still unknown to a large % of people. If those areas coincide with later reporting precincts, (both of them being rural perhaps) then that alone would explain what you saw, and the effect would be nationwide, so your assertion that the formula is correct on average is not tennable. The same bias would be in each state, and the effect would be magnified.
Badnarik got 1% in Texas, which is my state.
We vote by paper ballot.
As a computer programmer, I can tell you WE SHOULD ALL VOTE BY PAPER and COUNT THEM BY HAND, ONE BY ONE.
Even paper trails can be made worthless to the talented....
In the 3rd comment, Will Blumentritt asked in which states did MB pull at least 1%. According to a press release on the campaign's website: Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Texas.
Thomas, can you answer his other question about auditable trail states vs. e-vote states?
Thomas, I dont know why this is being done, but I do know this course of action will only succeed in getting some short term publicity and draining the LP coffers down even farther than they already are.
If Kerry could have pointed to a e machine voting glitch as having the number of votes needed to throw the vote into question, he would have contested the election for sure. He didnt.
That tells me that the finest election pros on the Democratic side knew that a recount would not have come close enough to justify the effort. Besides, the Democrats would have trumpeted any evidence found of voting suppression of Badnarik by their pros. They didnt do that.
I have yet for someone to come up with a answer: How does this help the Libertarian Party win in 2006 and 2008?
I might add that I work on the exact same touchscreen hardware in my profession as used in the Diebold voting machines - the company I work for make touchscreen Windows computers for police cars and hospitals. They break a LOT, and it's not a conspiracy. They are very subseptable to static shocks. Takes em right out - makes em touch in the upper right corner when you are actually touching in the lower left corner. If left unchecked you could register a lot of bad votes, but there would be no rhyme or reason to the pattern.
At around 60% of the precincts reporting in Ohio, I saw David Cobb's votes go from around 10,000 down to ZERO.
After that, I started taking screenshots of the Ohio state departments website. You can view them here:
http://64.71.168.78/
Tim West said:
"Thomas, I dont know why this is being done, [snip]
If Kerry could have pointed to a e machine voting glitch as having the number of votes needed to throw the vote into question, he would have contested the election for sure. He didnt."
That assumes Kerry wanted to win, and as you said he could prove it. There is another explanation. A deal was struck to put a Demo in in 2008, using simular voting manipulation mechanisms.
Anyone who knows the relationships between Clinton and Bush1 can see things were not as they should be
when Bush1 threw the election to his
"nephew" Bill Clinton in 92.
When one understands "The nature of the Relationship" everything falls into place.
This is about Power.
For that, men will kill.
An election is of so much less
concern to men like these.
I think it can be said the American people have been screwed. For a very long time.
Watch out for a devils choice between Hillary and Arnold in 2008. Goodby 2
" he would have contested the election for sure. He didnt."
Only if no deal was made when his twits finally figured out what was happening and that proving-theft in the new e-vote methods was beyond them at that late date. Plus remember Kerry must still mingle with them at the trough after the election.
That tells me that the finest election pros on the Democratic side knew that a recount would not have come close enough to justify the effort. Besides, the Democrats would have trumpeted any evidence found of voting suppression of Badnarik by their pros. They didnt do that.
They were barely prepared for regular old GOP paper ballot rip-offs much less modern e-voting and they still thought the old tricks like having the dead walk again would count.
Note that it may be late now even for the final redress option of the 3rd ballot box as Govt' troops being trained for (and practising in Iraq invasion) war against civilians/militias.
you are your own enemy. The number of "other" candidates running for President - The fact that not all candidates were listed on the ballots depending where you lived. ie:Nader & MB not on same ballot.
"other" parties received less votes because its divided among the 4-5-6 candidates. If the "other" agree to one person running against REP and DEM you would have a strong number of votes to scare REP & DEM !!!
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