Will no one speak of this?
Greg Palast's An election spoiled rotten.
The total number of votes siphoned out of America's voting booths is so large, you won't find the issue reported in our self-glorifying news media. The one million missing black, brown and red votes spoiled, plus the hundreds of thousands flushed from voter registries, is our nation's dark secret: an apartheid democracy in which wealthy white votes almost always count, but minorities are often purged or challenged or simply not recorded. In effect, Kerry is down by a million votes before one lever is pulled, card punched or touch-screen touched.
Update: There's a few more pieces on disenfranchisement.
Indymedia's election coverage details a lot of irregularities, including in New Orleans, LA; St. Petersburg, FL; Toledo, OH; Columbus, OH; Beloit, WI; and Milwuakee, WI. Other reported voting problems posted to IMCs include Felton, CA; Nashville, TN; Michigan and Ohio; Portland, OR; Boston, MA; Pittsburgh, PA; Florida and Pennsylvania; St. Louis, MO; Tulsa, OK; Manhattan, NY; Urbana, IL; Brooklyn, NY; and elsewhere. originally posted by zagg
Here's one summary:
The following is a list of voting irregularities reported this morning to The League of Pissed Off Voters:New Orleans, LA: There have been over 80 complaints of voting problems in New Orleans so far (10:30 AM). Shana from New Orleans Election Protection and the League of Pissed Off Voters reported that there have been machine malfunctions and in some places there are no backup ballots available. Election Protection says that New Orleans is one of the top sites of voting irregularities nationwide.
St. Petersburg, FL:A voter registered in St. Petersburg in Pinellas County, FL reported to the League of Pissed Off Voters that he had been told he was not registered to vote (10:45AM). He registered in and received voting information from Pinellas County, and then moved to Hillsborough. When he went to vote this morning at the Robinson Recreation Center at 1248 50th St. in Precinct 166 of Pinellas, he was told that he was not registered to vote there and was directed instead to the Hillsborough County Center at 601 East Kennedy St. In Hillsborough he was told that he was not registered there either and that a provisional ballot would not count.
Toledo, OH:Polls opened one half-hour late today at Glenwood Elementary in Toledo, OH, because the ballot boxes were locked in the principal's office and no one had the key, said Evan of the League of Pissed Off Voters. During the wait from 6:30 to 7AM, people left the polls without having voted. An hour and a half after the polling site opened, they ran out of pencils, bringing voting to a halt. Voting could not continue until 11AM, by which time 50 to 100 more people had walked away.
Columbus, OH:The polling site at Sathwick-Good Funeral Home, 3100 North High St. in Precinct 19H in Columbus, OH has announced that a funeral is happening from 10AM to 1PM. During these hours, they said, no groups may distribute literature or talk to voters outside.
Beloit, WI:This morning in Beloit, WI a lawyer for the Republicans was challenging Beloit college students saying that they could not register same day with their Beloit student ID’s. In response, the Beloit college president came down to the polls with a notorized list of the students and lawyers to fight for the students' right to vote. Now students are witnessing registrations, the lines are out the door as they have been since 8 am this morning, and the majority of those in line are college students.
Milwuakee, WI:In wards 72, 314, and 297 in Milwuakee, voting machines are broken. All three wards are predominantly African-American. Luckily, in some of the target wards in Milwuakee, voting turnout has already reached 50% of registered voters at 1PM.
Comments
Yes, I was wondering whether the media would comment on this. But now Kerry has conceded so quickly and unquestioningly, I doubt the media will bother. Unfortunately. Planethalder.
Posted by: Planethalder | November 3, 2004 2:58 PM
And now what happens? Will Kerry's concession cut off all investigation, will we not learn from our mistakes and make sure this doesn't happen again? I'm losing hope -- I thought for sure that after what happened last time, it could never happen again, but it did...
Posted by: ari | November 3, 2004 5:10 PM
I think that the margin here--3.5 million--is probably bigger than whatever disenfranchisement occurred.
That said, it's still a huge disgrace. And it says a lot about the Democratic Party that they're so invested in a flawed system. They'd rather accept defeat than do anything to expose its faults.
Posted by: zagg | November 4, 2004 8:42 AM
Another report.
Posted by: zagg | November 4, 2004 10:11 AM
Zagg, yes, but--that margin is bunk. If the numbers behind these charts are correct:
http://img103.exs.cx/img103/4526/exit_poll.gif
Plus: states with voting machines give Bush a %5 percent advantage.
They stole it again but this time they put Crisco on before they fucked our democracy up the ass. Moral values = red herring.
Posted by: dr. menlo | November 5, 2004 2:48 AM