Monday, September 22, 2008

As officials are bracing for election woes I am very concerned as I firmly expect this one to be stolen too despite millions of votes already cast!



Election Day will be something of an afterthought for tens of millions of Americans — they'll be voting well ahead of time. In fact, six weeks out from Election Day, some voters in Kentucky, South Carolina and Virginia already are done. Nationwide, about a third of the electorate is expected to vote early this year, thanks to expanded early voting provisions and fewer restrictions on absentee voting, researchers project. In all, more than 30 states allow any registered voter to cast an early ballot, some in person and others by mail. Greg Dearing, of Louisville, Ky., locked in his ballot for Barack Obama on Thursday. "I'm usually a straight party voter," said Dearing, who will be vacationing in California on Nov. 4. "It would take something very far-fetched to make me regret my vote."

Early voting has been on the increase in recent years: In 2004, 22 percent of voters cast an early presidential ballot; in 2000, 16 percent voted early. It's a trend that is fundamentally changing the home stretch of American political campaigns. October surprises? They'd better come in September if campaigns want to influence every vote. Get out the vote operations? They're already under way in some states. Even the presidential debate series, which begins Friday and runs through Oct. 15, will come after many have voted. However, experts say the earliest voters tend to be party loyalists who wouldn't be swayed by debate performances anyway. Across the nation, election officials are reporting high demand for absentee ballots. Ballots already are available in a few states, and they will be ready in about 20 more this week. By the first week of October, absentee voting will have started in all but a handful of states. In most states, all registered voters will be eligible to vote absentee, and a growing number will take advantage.

None of the early votes will be counted until Election Day, and in some states it could take days or weeks to count all absentee ballots. But in most states, the campaigns will be able to determine well ahead of Nov. 4 who's voted early. Want the campaigns to stop bombarding you with fliers and phone calls? Vote early. "That's one less person we need to put a get-out-the-vote call to and one less person we need to send a mailer to," said Nathan Treloar, communications director for the Iowa Republican Party. Oregon is 100 percent vote by mail, and Washington state is getting close. Early voting in Colorado, Nevada, Tennessee and Arizona could top 40 percent or even 50 percent of total votes cast. Absentee voting starts in early October in Minnesota, and thousands already have requested ballots, including a few snowbirds who stopped by the Edina city clerk's office on their way out of town. Early voting is relatively new in hotly contested Ohio. A third of electorate may vote b4 election day!

I won't but every early vote is one more we do not have to worry about being stolen! Despite our many efforts to get rid of all the machines many are still around and I am concerned this election will be the worst yet! Faced with a surge in voter registrations leading up to Nov. 4, election officials across the country are bracing for long lines, equipment failures and confusion over polling procedures that could cost thousands the chance to cast a ballot.
The crush of voters will strain a system already in the midst of transformation, with jurisdictions introducing new machines and rules to avoid the catastrophe of the deadlocked 2000 election and the lingering controversy over the 2004 outcome. Even within the past few months, cities and counties have revamped their processes: Nine million voters, including many in the battleground states of Ohio, Florida and Colorado, will use equipment that has changed since March.

But the widespread changes meant to reassure the public have also increased the potential for trouble. "You change systems and throw in lots of new voters, and you can plan to be up the proverbial creek," said Kimball Brace, president of Election Data Services, a consulting firm that has tracked the voting changes. Both campaigns have lined up teams of lawyers to challenge any irregularities, from registrations to polling place problems to vote counts. And experts say the problems ahead will be formidable, even if they don't rise to the level of the Supreme Court challenge over the 2000 results. "The voting process is going to be tested in a way it has not been in recent history," said Tova Wang, vice president for research at Common Cause, a government watchdog group. Recent local primaries have offered warning signs.

In the District last week, initial tallies were inflated by thousands of votes, causing chaos that night, and officials have yet to explain the problem. In Palm Beach County, Fla., more than 3,500 ballots went missing in an August primary, forcing workers to hunt through bins and leaving a judicial election still undecided. That same day, equipment problems in two other Florida jurisdictions delayed results for hours. Premier Election Solutions, the company that makes many of the nation's voting machines, last month acknowledged that software used in 34 states, including Virginia and Maryland, could cause votes to be dropped. The company, formerly called Diebold, said it has no fix for the problem now, but election officials can catch the errors and recover the votes through a routine process of double-checking electronic memory cards. Any weak spots in the process in November, whether poorly trained poll workers, a confusing ballot design or faulty equipment, will be further stressed by turnout, including many first-time voters. Officials brace for unprecedented mess

Personally I am stunned not that the machines are still around but that we let them get away with keeping them. They are solely designed to steal elections! I expect a host of distasteful scenarios to occur this fall. The right will not stop this agenda no. It is too far along and the abusive power gained can not be allowed in Dem hands! Well now we are hearing increasingly that the election is too close to call. White House says the election too close to call That means a third stolen election! What will they do this time?

As you know, we have been living a lie for almost 8 years now! Rove, Bush, Cheney, Ashcroft, Gonzo, Mukasey, Rummy, 9/11, the phony commission hearings, the Government's Anthrax attacks on Democrats and average Americans so Bush could get his abusive power from the Patriot Act so he could subvert our America and the world. Letting our infrastructure fail, manufacturing our financial collapse, etc, etc, etc, we are living a lie and it is coming to a head. What are they going to do this fall? How are they going to steal this one to keep this Fascist agenda going?

James Joiner
Gardner Ma
http://www.anaveragepatriot.com/

21 comments:

Middle Ditch said...

You do have a weird voting system in your country. I remember the first electronic vote went all wrong.

All that I can say is good luck.

Concerning Facebook?

There is no need for you to go out of your way to try to get on but I understand that you solved the problem.

You can always re-register, if you would want to, using another E-mail account. Friends of mine use aol and other american E-mail and they found that registering with any of them was near impossible as the E-mail to confirm just never arrived.

I use hotmail (hotmail.com) solely for Myspace (yes I'm there too, but I'm there as Middle Ditch to promote the radio serial.) and Facebook and have the same password on all three.

Or you can just type in my name in search at Facebook (Monique Caddy) and befriend me. I have the same photograph on Facebook as on my blog, so you should easily recognize me.

lol

Middle Ditch said...

I went to visit Tom and to my horror found the blog removed!!!!!!!!

Why????????

How can I contact Tom now????????

Weaseldog said...

I'm caught between a desire to do two opposing things.

I'm getting angry, and want to cast a useless vote, to feel like I at least, did something.

And I'm getting angry that my vote isn't counted, and thinking I should protest by not voting.

jmsjoin said...

All right Monique!
Yes I got on face book with my g mail account but I tried to switch over to Verizon and got other problems! I have to go there though and punch in your name. I tried it with Monique but that wasn't enough!
As for the machines! I firmly believe they are used to enable a stolen election. I remember before the 2000 election the founder of Diebold said he could guarantee the election for whoever he wanted.
Robert and I talked and knowing he has no idea if or when he can get back on and that someone was sabotaging his site I suggested he delete it before this woman could mess with everyone else the way she did me by getting my E from a comment. Tom said he was going to delete it and I guess he did!

jmsjoin said...

Middle ditch!
I am sorry I didn't see the rest! I promised I would not give out his number but I can tell him you are interested in talking to him if you want! He can not use a computer but does have a cell let me know.

jmsjoin said...

Wease
I don't have to tell you, it is very frustrating. You know I fully expect it to stolen! I will still vote for Obama! It is very frustrating, Trice's best friend likes Palin AAARRRGGGHHH! and is going to vote for McCain because of Obama's pastor and supposedly because he can't talk without a teleprompter. WTF?

Middle Ditch said...

I don't have a cell phone. Am hopeless in using it. Don't understand it and I am getting fed up with people just yelling in it whilst I am in a middle of a conversation. So, no, I won't be able to talk to him but give him my best and I sincerely hope that he will open up another blog.

Still waiting to see a friend request on Facebook.

lol

jmsjoin said...

Son of a gun you make me laugh you are persistent. I will give Tom your best! I was just cleaning up because Trice just made an appointment to go look at a house but You're a riot I will try face book again. Take care!

Robert Rouse said...

I have to maintain my optimism. It's the only thing that's keeping me sane.

Robert Rouse said...

Also, this Friday should prove interesting.

jmsjoin said...

Robert
You have to keep hoping no matter how hopeless! I was looking forward to the debate but I don't think debates are Obama's forte and if the truth can't be unequivocally nailed down I fear the lying scum will come out looking good!

gabrielle said...

I too fear the worst. Besides the voting machines, there are all kinds of dirty voter suppression tactics being employed.
In Michigan, they are using foreclosure lists to challenge voters. The Michigan Messenger reported last week that the chairman of the Republican Party in Macomb County is planning to use a list of foreclosed homes to block people from voting in the upcoming election. The Republican plan is likely to disproportionately affect African Americans, who are overwhelmingly Democratic voters. In Michigan, more than 60 percent of all subprime loans were made to African Americans.
The state of Indiana is now requiring the voter to show a driver’s license with a photo on it at the polling place. Turns out that in Indiana, 14% or one in seven residents do not have driver’ licenses. 673,926 adult residents of Indiana have no license. The ultimate impact of this law will be to disqualify poorer, older voters. This law was challenged, went all the way up the Supreme Court, where it was upheld. Seems to me, the driver’s license rule is much like the poll tax, because it means you have to spend time and money going to the motor vehicle bureau to apply for a valid photo id in order to vote.
The Help America Vote Act enacted to clean up the voter rolls, is now wreaking havoc. For example, in Florida, they required people to submit their social security numbers when they registered. 28% of the inquiries made to Social Security came back invalid because the names did not match the numbers. For example, if you change your name due to marriage or divorce, this would happen automatically. While black voters made up 13 percent of the scanned pool, they comprised 26 percent of those who were purged.
The situation with convicted felons is especially egregious. The U.S. has 2 million people incarcerated and even more on probation and parole. Six times as many black Americans fall into this group. Only two states allow people in prison to vote: Vermont and Maine. The other states vary. There are some states where you lose your vote forever if you’ve served time or been convicted as a felon. The disenfranchisement of former felons in Kentucky has reduced its potential black electorate by 24 percent, by a quarter. In many of the Southern states, these felon laws were adopted during the period of Reconstruction. In other words, this was a deliberate effort to restrict black citizens from voting.
In Tampa, students are being told that they cannot vote because they are not permanent residents which is not true.
Lifetime democrats are being mailed documents such as bogus voting cards which identify them as republican.
It goes on and on.
I am volunteering with the Citizens for Election Integrity to monitor the vote. I am terrified that once again this election will be stolen. We cannot survive another 4 years.

jmsjoin said...

gabrielle
I am very concerned and have been since the last 2! Them bastards will pull absolutely every single dirty trick they can and they already started.
They have been allowed to carry this too far and the bankrupting of our America is only a small part. The only question to me now is how they are going to underhandedly steal this one? The alternative is worse! What a friggen mess! You know what stinks is we are not imagining anything and most do not have a clue!

Dave Dubya said...

Well, we can take small comfort in the fact that Johnny the Authoritarian Aristocrat and Sarah the Armageddonist Theocrat will steal the election only to get the collapse of our economy and resulting chaos dumped onto them.

They will have a hell of a time blaming it on democrats and liberals, not that they won't try.

Unknown said...

Good luck, Average Patriot -- I do hope the Republicans will not be allowed to hijack the election this time.

Unknown said...

Also want to say that I find your posts excellent, they go into details and are very informative, something we need where I sit to have a better glimpse of how things are really going during this bruising election season.

jmsjoin said...

Dave
I sometimes feel like an ass hole and I have to laugh my sons lovingly say iv'e always been one but The bankrupting of America, world chaos, it is all part of the whole that is about to come to a head. I see too much coming and you could see it for years. No body seems to get it that there is a new monetary system coming that is why they are spending as much of this as they can. I generally have to keep to our circle because many think I am a war monger or
pessimist, I am just a realist who sees the truth and it is not good. Ohhh I'll shut up!

jmsjoin said...

hillblogger
Thanks Good Luck to the world I say there is a shit load at stake here including the world!
I was just at your site and I hope to have some time to go back tomorrow. Thanks!

jmsjoin said...

Thanks Hillblogger!
I really appreciate that. We are living a total lie today and it is about to come to a head.
I can't stop going through the days lying nightmare digesting it and spitting out the truth no matter who benefits! I just wash to hell we mattered and could make a difference. Take care!

Unknown said...

"I won't but every early vote is one more we do not have to worry about being stolen!"

You're joking, right?

jmsjoin said...

Brother
That is the way I look at it but as I am sure you are I am very apprehensive about this fall. I am already boiling thinking about looking at and listening to McScum at the debate Friday.