Yale Law School Dean
Rebukes Kerry For Conceding
Confessions Of An Unwitting Accessory
By Ian H. Solomon
Associate Dean, Yale Law School
11-11-4
Could we have been so naive? Thousands of the country's most credentialed
lawyers flocked to Florida to guarantee a fair election. Did we
inadvertently miss an election debacle even greater than that of 2000 and
negligently allow our client to concede?
I am a Kerry supporter and a Bush critic. I went to Florida because my
mother, a Florida resident, asked me to help protect the right of all
citizens to vote and to ensure that all votes counted. I walked the polling
lines for early voting in Daytona Beach, distributing sample ballots and
helping citizens understand their rights. I tried to ensure that poll
workers obeyed the laws about provisional ballots and that ballots were
correctly fed through the optical scanner machines. And by my presence,
along with other Democratic lawyers, I lent an air of legitimacy to the
voting process, which, by and large, seemed fair enough.
But one thing really troubled me: Who was checking to make sure the data
contained in the digital memory cards actually matched the voters'
intentions marked on the paper ballots? Could we take the accurate counting
of computer votes for granted, since the CEO of the leading voting machine
manufacturer promised to "deliver" Ohio's electoral votes for Bush?
At first, the question didn't matter, because I, like most others, thought
Kerry would win. In fact, I was shocked when the official election results
started coming in so different from historically reliable exit poll results
and my own gut sense of the results in Florida.
But then the stories of voting irregularities poured in. There was the Ohio
county where a memory card showed several thousand more votes for Bush than
there were total votes cast. There was the machine in North Carolina that
"lost" several thousand votes. There were the reports of several counties
in Florida, all using optical scanner machines, where democratic precincts
voted overwhelmingly for Bush. There was the realization that exit poll
errors were correlated with the use of electronic voting machines. There
was the sense that the data from the precincts where I had worked
understated what felt like a Kerry landslide. And there were the increasing
allegations of machine vulnerability to hacking made public by
Blackboxvoting.org and others.
And that's when I realized that I might have been an unwitting accessory to
fraud. Like every other Democrat, I had prepared to avoid the problems of
2000 only to be blindsided by new problems in 2004. We had been so worried
about the safekeeping of paper ballots that we neglected the security of
digital memory devices. We had been so worried about voting law that we
neglected voting technology. Most important, we had been so worried about
voter suppression in poor and minority areas that we didn't pay attention
to voter inflation in Republican areas.
We should have had trained observers - computer scientists, not lawyers! -
verifying the integrity of polling data from machine upload through the
tabulation of countywide and statewide results. Somehow we neglected the
most vulnerable step in the vote-counting process, leaving a gaping hole
for error and fraud, casting in doubt the validity of election results in
many states.
So what is to be done now? My client conceded the race on the belief that
the results were clear. The results are anything but clear, however, and
American democratic legitimacy requires an honest reappraisal of the events
in Florida and around the country. Three members of Congress have already
requested that the General Accounting Office conduct an investigation into
the troubling reports of problems with voting machines. The mainstream
press must immediately realize that this issue rises above partisanship and
demands attention. The time is now for voters from all states that used
electronic voting machines to request an audit of results and a manual
recount of ballots if possible.
We have a duty as Americans to fix these problems for the future and make
sure there is a transparent and trustworthy voting system. What's at stake
is not merely the outcome of a close election; what's at stake is our faith
in democratic government and the rule of law.
Ian H. Solomon is associate dean at the Yale Law School.
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Left Wing Claims Exit Polls Were Accurate, Bush Stole Election
By Marc Morano
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
November 11, 2004
(CNSNews.com) - An emerging conspiracy theory among some political left
wingers acccuses Republicans of stealing the 2004 presidential election.
While many Americans wonder why Election Day exit polling was so inaccurate
and showed Democrat John Kerry winning, liberal bloggers and activists
insist the exit polls were correct and that Republican forces used fraud to
help President Bush win re-election on Nov. 2.
But the controversy isn't confined to bloggers and activists.
Greg Palast, a contributing editor to Harper's magazine, conducted an
investigation into voter fraud for BBC television's Newsnight.
"I know you don't want to hear it. You can't face one more hung chad. But I
don't have a choice. As a journalist examining that messy sausage called
American democracy, it's my job to tell you who got the most votes in the
deciding states. Tuesday, in Ohio and New Mexico, it was John Kerry, Palast
said in his investigation reprinted at TomPaine.com.
Palast's assessment is echoed by U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), five
other Democratic congressmen and liberal groups such as Common Cause and
People for the American Way. They are demanding action on what they see as
election fraud in key states including Ohio and Florida. Conyers has asked
the General Accounting Office to probe the election results and hopes to
get congressional hearings on the subject. Kerry's brother Cam Kerry has
also weighed in on the allegations of voter fraud, assuring those concerned
that "we are not ignoring it."
Noticeably missing from the accusers is the George Soros-funded group,
MoveOn.org, and liberal film-maker Michael Moore, whose "Fahrenheit 9/11"
alleged voter fraud on the part of Republicans in Florida in 2000. Both
have opted to stay on the sidelines so far in the current dispute.
Palast, the liberal author of the New York Times' best selling book, "The
Best Democracy Money Can Buy," explained that "Although the exit polls show
that most voters in Ohio punched cards for Kerry-Edwards, thousands of
these votes were simply not recorded.
"So what's going on here?" Palast asked his readers, before following up
with the answer. "[T]he exit polls are accurate. Pollsters ask, 'Who did
you vote for?' Unfortunately, they don't ask the crucial, question, 'Was
your vote counted?' The voters don't know."
Palast is critical of the Democratic Party for not contesting the 2004
election results.
"So here we go again. Or, here we don't go again. Because unlike last time,
(2000 election) Democrats aren't even asking Ohio to count these cards with
the not-quite-punched holes (called 'undervotes' in the voting biz). Nor
are they demanding we look at the 'overvotes' where voter intent may be
discerned," Palast explained.
"Despite the Democratic Party's pledge, the leadership this time gave in to
racial disenfranchisement once again," he added.
Activists alleging massive Election Day voter fraud, point to Warren County
Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati, where the vote count was conducted in secret.
Warren County officials reportedly barred the press and other observers
from entering their administration building during the vote tally, citing
concerns about terrorism.
The liberal activists also point to Bush's better than expected vote
tallies in some heavily Democratic precincts in Florida as evidence that
the results were rigged. But behind the flurry of new charges of election
fraud is little or no evidence of irregularities, much less of wrongdoing.
In Lafayette County, Fla., one of the areas cited as having produced a
suspicious level of support for Bush despite the fact that it is
overwhelmingly populated by registered Democrats, it turns out that the
county also voted for Bush in 2000, voted for Republican presidential
nominee Bob Dole in 1996 as well as Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, in
1992, according to ABC News.
As for the alleged voting irregularities in Ohio mentioned by many of
Kerry's supporters, the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections announced that
it was merely a computer glitch that added excessive absentee ballots to
the final tallies in many precincts, without affecting the outcome of the
voting.
Jacqui Maiden, the coordinator for the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections,
said the computer error did not affect the vote tallies for any candidate,
just the turnout totals, according to Wednesday's Akron Beacon Journal.
Also Wednesday, at least one group alleging voter fraud withdrew its
accusations about Cuyahoga County after hearing Maiden's explanation.
'Need someone with Brass Knuckles'
Many others on the left are also venting their anger at the losing
Democratic nominee, John Kerry.
The liberal website Buzzflash.com blasted Kerry in a headline, discouraging
him from even considering another run for President in 2008.
"Why[?] To Let (Bush political advisor Karl) Rove Steal another Election
from the Democrats. John, We Need Someone with Brass Knuckles Next Time,"
read the Wednesday headline.
Angry Kerry supporters are meeting around the country to plot how to expose
what they see as a stolen election by the Bush administration and the GOP.
"I think we need to protest this election no matter what Kerry does," said
Illinois resident Sue West at a meeting in Madison, Wis., on Nov. 6,
according to the journalistic website, Madison.com. The meeting, titled "No
Stolen Elections," was sponsored by the Madison Area Peace Coalition.
"I think it's fraud, pure and simple," West added.
Austin King, another activist attending the meeting, alleged that erroneous
information on college campuses was "was clearly a coordinated national
effort by Republicans to suppress the college vote," adding that he would
"very much like to see someone put in jail for this, and I'm not a
tough-on-crime guy," according to Madison.com.
Madison.com also quoted John Peck, a recent University of Wisconsin
graduate who expressed a disdain for electronic voting machines.
"The Luddites had an answer to machines," Peck said, referring to the
anti-technology movement in 19th century England that advocated the
destruction of automation technology thought to be taking over
manufacturing jobs.
Another Ohio group, calling itself "The League of Pissed Off Voters," is
calling for public hearings in that state to investigate the election
results. Joining the call to action are such groups as Common Cause Ohio
and People for the American Way Foundation.
Conyers: 'Immediately undertake an investigation'
MSNBC television anchor Keith Olbermann picked up on the election fraud
charges on his program Countdown on Monday. Olbermann interviewed Conyers,
who said the voting "irregularities are sufficient in number, and more and
more members are joining me every day on this ... that we need the
Government Accountability Office (GAO) to document each and every incident
and then investigate it."
Joining Conyers in his request for a GAO investigation are U.S. Reps.
Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Robert Wexler (D-Fla.), Rush Holt (D-N.J.), Robert
C. Scott (D-Va.) and Melvin Watt (D-N.C.). Conyers demanded that the GAO
"immediately undertake an investigation into the efficacy of voting
machines and new technologies used in the 2004 election."
Conyers predicted his election investigation efforts "will probably lead to
congressional hearings."
Kerry's brother, Cam Kerry, issued a statement on the allegations of voter
fraud on Tuesday and acknowledged the groups seeking an investigation of
the matter.
"I am grateful to the many people who have contacted me to express their
deep concern about questions of miscounting, fraud, vote suppression, and
other problems on Election Day, especially in Florida and Ohio," Cam Kerry
wrote in a statement.
"I want to you to know we are not ignoring it. Election protection lawyers
are still on the job in Ohio and Florida and in D.C. making sure all the
votes are counted accurately. I have been conferring with lawyers involved
and have made them aware of the information and concerns people have given
me. Even if the facts don't provide a basis to change the outcome, the
information will inform the continuing effort to protect the integrity of
our elections," Cam Kerry explained.
Bush's 'friends in high places'
Theories abound as to how the president allegedly stole the election from
Kerry. BuzzFlash.com columnist Maureen Farrell wrote a Tuesday editorial
explaining how Bush was able to secure victory in Ohio.
"And luckily for Mr. Bush, he had friends in high places in the Buckeye
State, too. After all, Walden 'Wally' O'Dell, head of the voting machine
company Diebold, had already expressed a commitment 'to helping Ohio
deliver its electoral votes to the President' and Ohio Secretary of State
Ken 'Paper Weight' Blackwell appeared to have Bush's back, as well,"
Farrell wrote.
"Pundits have been asking how exit polls, which have historically been
accurate, could have been so wrong. Well, that's easy: There's an elephant
in the voting booth. Now, will someone please alert the media?" Farrell
concluded.
Another article on BuzzFlash.com even accused the Bush administration of
timing the recent offensive in Fallujah to drown out media reports of voter
fraud.
In a Nov. 8 article titled, "Stolen Election. America Hijacked," writer
Chuck Muziani wrote that, "nothing occurred in the day after the election
to elicit the order (to attack Fallujah) at that moment ... except ... the
web bloggers, and blackboxvoting.org, and votergate.tv investigating
reports of vote result discrepancies, and potential fraud in Ohio, Florida,
Pennsylvania, and a (sic) other states.
"In fact, the Fallujah offensive timing was engineered to steal attention
away from voter fraud reports," Muziani wrote.
"Forget planes being hijacked. America, as a whole, has been hijacked. Not
by Islamic-based terrorists. Not by Middle Eastern zealots who 'hate our
freedom,'" Muziani added. "And not by suicidal bomb-packing sycophants
programmed to praise their God by personally delivering their murder
victims to His pearly gate. America has been hijacked by a greedy, power
hungry political machine that could never win an election without stealing
it."
Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway dismissed the election fraud charges.
"To the anti-Bush Left, the so-called 'October Surprise' arrived a few days
late, on November 2. They invested everything they had into defeating the
President. Having lost, they now desperately try to reinvent the results,
revise history and deny reality," Conway wrote CNSNews.com in an email.
"They are touting a conclusion ('Kerry Won!') hopelessly in search of
evidence. Their bitterness and denial consumes them. Defeated above board,
they have taken to the underground to blog and bloviate. But no serious
people are listening; they are just talk[ing] to themselves, much like they
did for the past year," Conway added.
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We, The People Demand
