Issue 9 - Fall 2004 / Winter 2005 page. 75
	Kerry Wins, Bush Rules...  For Now

 BY STEVE MOORE

    John Kerry won the 2004 election, including the crucial Ohio vote. All the election day exit polls confirm this fact. Bev Harris, author of Black Box Voting: Ballot Tampering in the 21^st Century, issued the following statement on her well-respected web site:

"Black box voting has taken the position that fraud took place in the 2004 election through electronic voting machines. We base this on hard evidence, documents obtained in public record requests, inside information, and other data indicative of manipulation of electronic voting systems. What we do not know is the specific scope of the fraud. We are working now to compile the proof, based not on soft evidence – red flags, exit polls – but core documents obtained by Black Box voting is the most massive freedom of information action in history."¹

    On November 1, the day before the election, the Globe and Mail headline was "Split Down the Middle" and the National Post headline was "All Tied up with One Day to Go."² On November 2 election day, the Globe and Mail quoted John Zogby saying that survey data are "not looking good for the President … At the very least, the numbers are razor thin, and at worst, the undecideds are starting to break toward John Kerry."³

Exit Polls

    By November 3, the day after the election, exit polls taken on election day were universal in declaring John Kerry the winner. Exit polls are based on questionnaires completed by voters as they leave the voting stations throughout the country. In the past, exit polls have been in agreement with the official results. According to the New York Times "in 19 cases out of 20, the results from such (exit) polls should differ by no more than plus or minus one or two percentage points nationally…"⁴ These polls were commissioned by a consortium of ABC News, the Associated Press, CBS News, CNN, Fox News and NBC News. The national results obtained were based on 13,047 voters in 28 to 51 randomly selected precincts in 18 states. The result? According to Steve Coll, managing editor of the Washington Post:

"The last wave of national exit polls we received, along with many other subscribers, showed Kerry winning the popular vote by 51 percent to 48 percent – if true, surely enough to carry the electoral college."⁵

    And yet, the official results were just the opposite and beyond the margin of error stated above for exit polls.

    Everyone in Europe retired for the evening thinking Kerry had won. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in an interview with the Times of London, claimed he had gone to bed thinking Mr. Kerry was the next President.

Kerry Takes Ohio

    Kerry’s victory also included the key state of Ohio. Taking Ohio became the crucial battleground for electoral votes on election night. Greg Palast, a contributing editor of Harper’s Magazine writes that,

"Most voters in Ohio thought they were voting for Kerry. CNN’s exit poll showed Kerry beating Bush among Ohio women by 53 percent to 47 percent. Kerry also defeated Bush among Ohio’s male voters 51 percent to 49 percent. Unless a third gender voted in Ohio, Kerry took the state."⁶

    In many ways, Ohio was like Florida in the 2000 election. Ohio is one of the last states in the US to use vote-spoiling punch-card machines, with the famous ‘changing chads’. In the 2000 Florida vote, Secretary of State Katherine Harris excluded 179,855 spoiled votes. Expert statisticians working for the US Civil Rights Commission calculated that 54 percent of the ballots that were spoiled in the 2000 Florida election were African-American votes, which are usually Democratic Party votes.⁷ This is rather shocking considering that Florida Blacks are a small minority of voters in the state. And remember Bush carried Florida by just over 500 votes.

    The number of votes not counted was even greater on election night in Ohio. On November 4, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported a total of 247,672 uncounted votes in Ohio. There were 92,672 discarded votes plus 155,000 provisional votes, which are not counted until 10 days after the election.⁸ Yet, Bush won Ohio by only 136,483 votes according to official results. The vast majority of uncounted votes were Kerry votes, much like Florida. Provisional votes were given to folks who come to the wrong polling station, who had moved recently or who did not have a picture I.D. These are mostly poor folks and minority voters who generally give the Democrats big majorities.

Electronic Voting Machines

    If all the votes were counted, it clearly would have been a very close election. What really turned the tide were the invisible corporate hackers behind the electronic Black Box voting machines. A November 5 Associated Press article by John McCarthy claims,

"An error with an electronic voting system gave President Bush 3,893 extra votes in suburban Columbus (Ohio), elections officials said. Franklin Country’s unofficial results had Bush receiving 4,258 votes in a precinct in Gahanna. Records show only 638 voters cast ballots in that precinct. Bush’s total should have been recorded as 365."⁹

    MSNBC.com reported that "There were scattered reports that some touch-screen machines incorrectly registered candidate choices."¹⁰ In short, there were incidences where a Kerry vote was given to Bush by the electronic voting machines. In other cases, votes just disappeared. According to John McCarthy,

"In one North Carolina country, more than 4,500 votes were lost in this election because officials mistakenly believed a computer that stored ballots electronically could hold more data than it could."¹¹

The Fear and Values Vote

    The corporate media is claiming Bush won the vote because of the fear of another terrorist attack and because of Bush’s "family values." Yet, the people who experienced the most terror and who are more likely to become a future target voted overwhelming against Bush. According to the New York Times: "In both Manhattan and the Bronx, Mr. Bush received 16.7 percent of the vote."¹² According to the Globe and Mail, national "exit polls showed that moral values played a role in the campaign, ranking second only to the economy in voters minds."¹³ Clearly, the state of the economy was the prime concern in Ohio as well. Ohio lost 230,000 jobs and its unemployment rate has gone from 3.9% to 5.9%. A Globe and Mail reporter says that the election "was about Iraq and jobs. If there was any part of the country that should have been receptive to those themes, it was Ohio."¹⁴ And who says supporting one’s family with a decently paid job is not a family value also?

Young Voters and Independents Go For Kerry

    10 to 15 million more voters turned out for the 2004 election. Young people and new voters chose Kerry over Bush "by a 60 to 40 margin nationally, as well as in the key battleground states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to several exit polls."¹⁵ In Ohio 21 percent of the electorate voted for the first time. Also in Ohio "exit polls in the state said 60% of independent voters were turning to Kerry."¹⁶ The New York Times also reported that new voters were 60% for Kerry.¹⁷

Bush Knows A Secret

    None of these facts worried President Bush. Clearly, he knew the election was in the bag. After all, had not Walden O’Dell, the CEO of Diebold electronic voting machines told Bush he was committed "to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes for the President next year."¹⁸ Speaking in Columbus, Ohio, Bush said,

"I am confident we will carry Ohio, I am confident we will carry the nation… I think it’s very important that it end tonight. The world watches our great democracy function, and there would be nothing better for our system for the election to be conclusively over tonight so that – I think its going to be me – so I can go on and lead this country."¹⁹

Diebold’s Political Machine

    As Bush was speaking in Columbus, Ohio, Walden O’Dell, CEO of Diebold, was only several miles away in Upper Arlington, a Columbus suburb. Last September, O’Dell packed a $1,000 per head GOP fundraiser at his 10,800 square foot mansion. Later he was feted as a guest at President Bush’s Texas ranch. Another Diebold director is Tim Tinken. The Tinken family has contributed more than a million dollars to the Republican Party and $350,000 for Bush’s re-election bid. The Diebold machines have performed miracles for the Republicans in the past, including giving the GOP a Senate majority in 2002. Take the Georgia 2002 election where Diebold machines are used exclusively. According to a poll taken by the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the democratic Governor Ray Barnes was ahead of his Republican challenger Sony Perdue by 11% just two days before the election. Yet, the Republican won. The Georgia Senate race had the same result. Just two days before the election, the incumbent Max Cleland was five percentage points ahead of the Republican Challenger Saxby Chambliss. Yet Chambliss won by 7 percent, an amazing 12 point shift in 48 hours.²⁰

Election Systems & Software Voting Machines

    ES&S based in Omaha is another electronic voting machine manufacturer with strong Republican ties. In fact, the current Republican Senator of Nebraska is Chuck Hagel, a former chairman of ES&S. In another surprise victory Chuck Hagel beat Benjamin Nelson, the states popular former Governor in the l996 Senate race. Interestingly, 85% of the votes cast in the l996 election were tallied on ES&S machines. Hagel won in 2002 by a far bigger margin. The Democratic opponent, Charlie Matulka tried to make Hagel’s ties to ES&S an issue in the race and asked the State Election Office to intervene. The request was denied.²¹

Ohio: A Republican Voting Machine Heaven

    Both Diebold & ES&S voting machines leave no paper trail. There is no way to re-check by hand count. Both Machines are easily subject to outsider (or insider) hacking.

    John Dill, a Stanford computer scientist says, "I think the risk of (a stolen election) is extremely high."²² Avi Rubin, a computer security expert at John Hopkins University claims:

"We have put our trust in the outcome of our elections in the hands of a few companies (Ohio-based Diebold Election Systems, Sequoia Voting Systems and Election Systems and Software in Omaha, Nebraska). They are in a position to control the outcome of our election and there’s no way anyone can know if they, or someone working for them did something underhanded. And meaningful recounts are impossible with these machines."²³

    Before the 2004 election, Ohio Republican Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell signed $100 million in agreements to purchase voting machines from Diebold and ES&S. Blackwell insisted that there is no need for paper receipts.²⁴

Swing States & Black Box Machines

    Keep in mind that 35 million voters used these no paper trail black box voting machines; roughly 28% of all US voters. ES&S will account for more than half of these votes. Another 8 to 9 million votes will be tabulated by Diebold. Interesting that the swing states of Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and Louisiana all have computer voting machines. All these states were carried by Bush.

    Only two swing states with electronic machines – Delaware and Pennsylvania – went for Kerry. Ronnie Dugger of Harper’s Magazine writes that "in a close election – and Ohio is expected to be close indeed – any of the DRE’s (Black Box machines) could swing the state one way or the other."²⁵ And that is exactly what happened.

Florida’s Missing Ballots

    On October 28, 2004, the New York Times reported 60,000 missing absentee ballots in the heavily Democratic Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Ms. Salas, the Deputy Election Supervisor told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel the ballots were sent Oct 7^th & 8^th.. The United States post office "identified no delays" in ballot mailings.²⁶ The ballots never arrived. They were destroyed by someone on the way to the post office. As a result, according to the New York Times, "Broward county election officials mailed thousands of replacement ballots, some as late as Saturday night (for a Tuesday election). Postal officials warned that it was dangerously late." The same thing happened in traditionally Democratic Palm Beach, Florida. According to the New York Times, those residents "who requested, but never received, absentee ballots were having a hard time casting regular ballots at the polls."²⁷ Again, the New York Times confirmed "the originals (ballots) never got to mailboxes."²⁸ So there were 60,000 missing ballots and no one to blame but the poor voters whom were cheated out of a vote in most cases.

Another Stolen Election: So What?

    The United States has now witnessed two stolen federal elections in a row. A one party dictatorship is now firmly in place. The Electronic Black Box no paper trail voting machines insure election victories for the Republican Party in all future national elections. An interesting combination of monarchy-like dynasty and fascism is becoming the mode of elite corporate rule. Jeb Bush in 2008 and 2012 is clearly in the cards. A total of 20 years of Bush family rule combined with pre-emptive wars and the crushing of civil liberties will complete the movement to an outright nazi dictatorship.

    Sad to say, Malcolm X’s choice between the ballot and the bullet no longer exists. Clearly we need to throw all the Black Box computers into the dustbin of history and restore the pencil and paper ballot nation-wide. Unless this is done very soon, a democratic social revolution will become the only alternative to fascism.

Notes

	1. "Consumer Protection for Elections" 11/08/04 www.blackboxvoting.org, p.1.
	2. National Post, 11/01/04, p.1 & Globe and Mail, 11/01/04, p.1.
	3. Alan Freeman, "Mad Dash Caps the Campaign" Globe and Mail, 11/02/04, p.1
	4. "How Election Day Polls were Conducted" New York Times 11/03/04, p 4.
	5. Jim Rutenberg, "Report Says Problem led to Skewed Surveying Data" New York Times, 11/05/04, p. A18.
	6. Greg Palast, "Kerry Won" Internet Posting, 11/03/04, p.1 (Look for Greg’s further thoughts in the December 2004 issue of Harper’s Magazine.)
	7. Ibid., p.1.
	8. Ibid., p.1.
	9. John McCarthy, "Machine Error Gives Bush Thousands of Extra Ohio Votes" Associated Press, 11/05/04, p.1.
	10. MSNBC.com "Ohio was Kerry’s Last Chance" 11/03/04, p.2.
	11. Op.Cit., John McCarthy, p.1.
	12. Ken Wiwa, "New York Under a Cloud, Fallujah Under Fire" Globe and Mail, 11/06/04, p.A21.
	13. Barrie McKenna, "Kerry Unable to Connect with Ohio Voters" Globe and Mail. 11/04/04, p.A19.
	14. Ibid., p. A19.
	15. Joe Friesen "Voters Turn Out – and Wait in Record Numbers" Globe and Mail, 11/03/04, p.A5.
	16. Ibid., p. A5.
	17. Adam Nagourney, "Voter Surveys Show Bush and Kerry Locked in Race with Large Turnout" New York Times, 11/03/04, p.1.
	18. Steven Levy, "Black Box Voting Blues" Newsweek, 11/03/03, p.69.
	19. Caren Bahan, "Bush Confident Leaving Fate to Voters" National Post, 11/03/04, p.A13.
	20. Michael Shnayerson, "Hack the Vote" Vanity Fair, April ‘04, p.160.
	21. Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman, "Diebold’s Political Machine" Mother Jones.com, 03/05/04, p.2.
	22. Op. Cit., Steven Levy, p.69.
	23. Avi Rubin, "An insiders View of Vote Vulnerability" Baltimore Sun, 03/10/04.
	24. Op. Cit., Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman, p.4.
	25. Ronnie Dugger, "No Appeal" Harper’s Magazine Nov.‘04, p.78.
	26. Adam Nagourvey, "Passion and Election Disputes on Rise in Florida" New York Times, 10/28/04, p.1.
	27. Abby Goodnough, "Suit Filed After Delays in Ballots Sent to Voters" New York Times, 11/07/04, p.1.
	28. Abby Goodnough, "Ready or Not, Floridians Gird for Another Close One" New York Times, 11/02/04, p.A20.

Steve Moore is a former teacher of American History now residing in British Columbia. He is a frequent contributor to Global Outlook. All rights reserved. Copyright Belongs to the author. [For more see: www.Nov2truth.org and http://216.138.195.197/pdf/election.pdf]

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