Guest blogged by Ernest A. Canning
For nearly two months, The BRAD BLOG has furnished in-depth coverage and analysis of the contentious WI Supreme Court election. Our coverage not only focused on the horse race, but, more vitally, on the vulnerabilities of the Badger State’s e-voting systems, its lack of transparency, massive violations of basic chain-of-custody procedures revealed during the woeful, nearly-month long “recount” process, concluding with the state Government Accountability Board (G.A.B.)’s certification of the election results as “accurate” despite all of the above, and despite never having received the minutes of the Waukesha County “recount,” as mandated by state law.
Beginning with our April 6 article, “WI Supreme Court Election Virtually Deadlocked, According to the Machines Anyway,” and ending with the May 31 coverage of WI Asst. Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg’s description of a “cascade of irregularities” during her concession speech, followed by Brad Friedman’s exclusive June 1 interview with Kloppenburg on KPFK, we’ve offered an extensive and independently verifiable historical record of the extraordinary and exploitable flaws discovered and exposed in the state’s electoral system.
Unfortunately, as has repeatedly occurred with thousands of election integrity articles published by The BRAD BLOG over the past seven and a half years, the issues concerning lack of transparency, the potential for insider election fraud, and a reliance upon “faith-based” electoral results, with rare, against-the-grain exceptions, have been greeted by a silence within our hollowed-out, corporate-owned mainstream media that has been so deafening as to call to mind an Orwellian suppression of public consciousness.
“If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say…it never happened,” penned George Orwell in his classic 1984, “that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death.”…
When will they ever learn?
“Free and responsible government…can’t exist without an informed public.” – Bill Moyers, Moyers on America
Long before the “recount,” on April 8, Brad Friedman produced “WI’s Supreme Election Debacle (And What We Should, But Probably Won’t, Learn From It).” In it, he noted that “a transparent” election system, “which can be overseen by we, the people, is the key to democracy. Without being allowed to oversee the counting of our elections, it’s impossible to have a democracy that can stand the test of time.”
Later that night, as he guest-hosted the nationally syndicated Mike Malloy Show, Brad added, in a “special comment” at evening’s end:
We need to be able to oversee the counting of our own ballots in our own elections.
That is self-governance. That is what is envisioned in our Constitution. And when we are cut out of that process then our democracy has been taken away from us.
Transparency is best assured by application of Democracy’s Gold Standard: hand-marked paper ballots, publicly hand-counted at the precinct level on Election Night — a process still utilized by many towns in New Hampshire whose results are frequently produced more rapidly and more accurately than those “reported” by their machine-tabulated counterparts.
What investigative journalism and election integrity are supposed to look like
Throughout its coverage, The BRAD BLOG took pains to point to a massive record of e-voting system vulnerabilities and failures — both with regard to the oft-failed and easily manipulated optical-scan and 100% unverifiable, fully faith-based Direct Recording Electronic (DRE, usually touch screen) systems — a record supported not only by numerous academic studies and two U.S. Congressional Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports but by repeated Election Day e-voting system meltdowns and train wrecks.
The most recent study comes from the Vulnerability Assessment Team, led by Dr. Roger Johnson, Ph.D., at Argonne National Laboratory. Johnson has “made it his mission to crack into every security system labeled as foolproof by their creators.” He says that “most voting machines have almost no security to reveal tampering.” E-voting systems can easily be manipulated “while machines are in storage or being transported by the truckload. He…demonstrated how he can turn cheating mechanisms in voting machines on and off by remote control.”
Johnson provides the perfect response to the voting system vendors (such as Sequoia) that claim their optical-scanners and DREs are “tamper-” or “fool-proof” via the “Arrogance Maxim”: “The ease of defeating a security device or system is proportional to how confident/arrogant the designer, manufacturer, or user is about it, and to how often they use words like ‘impossible’ or ‘tamper-proof.'”
That being the case, perhaps it would be appropriate to suggest that a nation that entrusts democracy to these opaque, oft-failed, and easily manipulated systems is governed by fools.
In the 22 articles produced here to date regarding the WI Supreme Court election, The BRAD BLOG did not stop with the April 7 surprise announcement by Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus of her “discovery” of 14,000 votes from the City of Brookfield. It detailed portions of Nickolaus’ horrific record, including her practice of keeping election results only on a circa 1995 personal computer in her office; using the same user ID and password for all of the employees allowed to access it; and refusing to release municipality-by-municipality, much less ward-by-ward election results on Election Night. Brad covered the virtually impossible results reported by Nickolaus and her computer in past elections, such as the 20,000 more votes report than ballots said to have been cast in Waukesha’s 2006 general election, and a remarkable 97.63% voter turnout there in the 2004 Presidential election.
The ‘Judicial Independence’ of Justice David T. Prosser – A BRAD BLOG Special Investigation exposed a hornets nest of corruption dating back to the days when Nickolaus served under Prosser in the WI Republican Assembly Caucus — one which found the sitting Supreme Court Justice, then fighting for his political life, and the Waukesha County Clerk who “discovered” the votes that converted the Kloppenburg lead into a Prosser “win,” as inextricably linked to Prosser’s former number two man in the Assembly, Scott Jensen, and the felonious misuse of state employees and resources for partisan gain.
The BRAD BLOG’s special investigation was launched because the American people were, once again, asked to “trust” unverifiable results coming from the e-voting machines and an election official with insider access to the system, one who had herself received immunity from criminal prosecution in exchange for cooperation with prosecutors investigating the actions of Prosser’s man Jensen.
The circumstance was all too reminiscent of the occasion back in Oct. 2005 when 13-year Monterey County, CA, Registrar of Voters Tony Achundo told Brad about his decision to utilize 100% unverifiable DREs. Achundo responded, when Brad asked about the potential for questions about the machine-reported results: “There is obviously going to have to be some trust and faith in the elections official, or in this case, it’s me.” That was just a few months before “Trust Me” Tony was charged with, and then plead no contest, to 43 criminal counts, including forgery, misapplication of funds, embezzlement, falsification of accounts, and grand theft.
Beginning with its very first article on the WI Supreme Court election, issued when Kloppenburg was said to be leading by 204 votes, The BRAD BLOG warned that a secure chain of custody of the paper ballots that were fed into the easily-manipulated and oft-failed optical scanners was vital to assure reliable electoral results. There was no other way that a “recount” could be trusted, because the absence of a secure chain-of-custody would mean there was no way to ensure that the paper ballots that are examined during the “recount†are the same ones that had been cast on Election Day.
In article after article, The BRAD BLOG documented appalling irregularities, including, but not limited to “wide open” ballot bags in Waukesha’s City of Brookfield or ballots bags with missing or scratched out or changed serial numbers — all in violation of secure chain of custody procedures. The Kloppenburg campaign objected. The objections were noted for the minutes in each county (the minutes which, from Waukesha, were never received or reviewed by the state G.A.B.). The unverifiable ballots were then counted anyway and included in the G.A.B.-certified “correct” results.
During the course of the “recount,” some 2,700 votes from the original tally were found to have been counted inaccurately originally, according to the results posted each day throughout the “recount” by the G.A.B. That number comes as the result of hand-counts of paper ballots in just 31 of the state’s 72 counties. The rest of the ballots cast were re-tallied yet again during the “recount” by the same oft-failed, easily-manipulated computer systems which tallied them, either accurately or inaccurately, on Election Night.
Those computer systems included a DRE in Waukesha’s City of Pewaukee whose “official results report” poll tape is dated March 30, 2011. Just goes to show how much smarter the machines are than human beings. They can produce the official results seven days before the votes were supposedly cast on April 5, 2011.
All of this culminated with Kloppenburg’s concession speech, during which she said [emphasis added]:
(Keep in mind that there are 72 counties in WI and that 31 of those counties were ordered to do a hand-count of some, if not all, of the ballots cast in each. In one county, Waukesha, there were twice the number of chain-of-custody violations than all other counties combined, according to Kloppenburg’s assessment.)
Waukesha was the only county in the entire state which failed to turn in its “recount” minutes prior to the G.A.B.’s certification of the results (though it is unknown if minutes from any county were actually reviewed by the G.A.B. prior to their certification. G.A.B. General Counsel Michael Haas has said there is no statutory requirement for them, the state’s top election agency, to do so).
When we inquired how the G.A.B. would be able to confirm that ballots counted during the “recount” were actually the ones cast on Election Day, given the extraordinary number of ballot bags and security procedures which were found to have been in violation of the state’s secure chain-of-custody procedures, the G.A.B. cited the correlation of the hand-count and the computer-printed results from Election Night.
The G.A.B.’s rationale was nothing short of Orwellian. The purpose of a hand-count is to determine whether or not the the otherwise unverifiable machine count was accurate. The gross violations of the chain of custody were precisely the type of cover-up an objective observer would expect to find if the machine-count had been gamed to begin with and an effort was made to manipulate the paper ballots in order to cover it up posthaste.
Was it a coincidence that the same county (Waukesha) whose partisan clerk “discovered” the 14,000 votes two days after the election had, according to Kloppenburg, “twice as many torn, open or unsealed bags as every other county in the state combined”? And what are we to make of that unusually high number of chain-of-custody violations when, according to the Asst. Attorney General, municipal clerks in Waukesha testified “the bags weren’t torn when they left cities, towns and villages”? Why were ballot bags, properly sealed when they left the cities, towns, and villages to be later found opened wide, torn, or re-serial numbered after they were received by the Waukesha County Clerk’s office and before they were to have been officially opened by the “recount” Board of Canvassers in the presence of both parties and their public observers.
Instead of a transparent election where everyone can know that the results are both verified and accurate, there was an opaque election that produced a result that no one can say is accurate with certainty. That is the story of the 2011 WI Supreme Court election — a story that the corporate-owned media failed to report.
Whatever it is that the corporate media do, it isn’t journalism
In New York Times vs. United States (the “Pentagon Papers” case), Justice Hugo Black observed: “In the First Amendment the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy…The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government.”
Measured against those standards, the corporate media’s performance in “covering” the WI Supreme Court election should be ranked as somewhere between dismal, bleak, and utterly dishonest.
While we can appreciate the adverse impact of newsrooms, depleted in numbers to meet the corporate bottom line, the plain and simple fact is that the leg work on this story had been already performed by scores of on-the-ground election integrity advocates, the Kloppenburg legal team and, of course, by The BRAD BLOG. The full story was always no further away than a link on a “reporter’s” computer.
Yet, none of the WI corporate “news” outlets so much as mentioned the issue of e-vote tabulator vulnerability or the fact that the G.A.B. certified the results without ever having received or published, much less reviewed, the minutes of the recount in Waukesha which are said to include more than 800 documentary exhibits of evidence.
As we previously reported, the Journal Sentinel shamefully published an editorial which mocked the need for a recount at all. The article failed to mention the massive irregularities or the fact that the paper had endorsed Prosser. To its credit, the Journal Sentinel embedded a TMJ4 TV video containing the full Kloppenburg concession speech. The printed version mentioned Kloppenburg’s statement that “150 ballot bags with tens of thousands of votes were found open, unsealed or torn,” but it conveniently neglected mention that more than half of those bags were from Waukesha County. As in its previous editorial, the primary focus of their concession speech article was the cost of the recount — a cost which, like that of the Badger State’s overpriced e-voting systems, could have been avoided if WI elections were conducted in accordance with Democracy’s Gold Standard in the first place.
The caption beneath the TMJ4 TV video placed a “(D)” after the name “Kloppenburg.”
TMJ4 TV is owned by the Journal Broadcast Group. The Group owns and operates 33 radio and 13 TV stations in 12 states. Too bad with all those resources, TMJ4 TV couldn’t figure out that Kloppenburg is not a Democrat. She’s an independent.
The Huffington Post provided only a scant three paragraphs in which it mentioned the concession and the fact that Kloppenburg “picked up only 300 votes” as a result of the “recount.”
Channel 3000 of Madison WI discussed the fact that Kloppenburg found miscounts in every county, as she noted during her concession speech. It furnished an appropriate quote that not only were 150 ballot bags torn, open, or unsealed, but that twice as many such bags were found in Waukesha County as in the rest of the state combined. It “balanced” that coverage by including Prosser’s unsupported assertions about people making errors and “the number of errors is really very small,” but made no effort to dig behind the “small” assertion or to discuss “machine errors.”
If your only source of information were the LaCrosse Tribune, you’d have no knowledge of the massive irregularities that emerged during this “recount,” for its Kloppenburg concession article fails to mention any despite the fact the statewide election was for a 10-year seat on the state’s highest court, a seat that is likely to determine the balance of the court for years at one of the most politically tumultuous moments in state history.
WFR5 Green Bay furnished only cursory coverage, and WKOW Madison, while noting the Kloppenburg reference to the 150 ballot bags, displayed photos on-screen of properly sealed bags instead.
The Wisconsin State Journal reported [emphasis added]: “Kloppenburg, an assistant state attorney general, said problems uncovered during the recount should serve as a ‘wake-up call to improve Wisconsin’s election processes,’ but there was no compelling proof that the integrity of ballots had been compromised.”
Apparently, the Wisconsin State Journal does not see the photo at right as compelling “proof that the integrity of the ballots had been compromised” despite the fact that such a gross chain-of-custody violation eliminates the ability of any objective observer to ascertain whether the ballots inside such an open bag were the “same” ballots that had been cast on Election Day.
In either event, when you compare MSM “coverage” with ours, you come away with the disturbing recognition that whatever it is that the corporate media are engaged in, it isn’t journalism.
UPDATE: On April 15 the Wisconsin State Journal reported that the G.A.B. was investigating “vote irregularities in Waukesha County” that “stretch back at least five years…”
Yesterday, the Journal Sentinel reported that the G.A.B., which previously promised a detailed report of that investigation by the end of June, is now refusing to “comment on whether there is an investigation, or when an investigation might be complete.” A G.A.B. spokesperson went on to state that the G.A.B. would decide “whether to make the results [of any investigation] public,” according to the Journal Sentinel.
As a testament to the fact that election integrity is not about Left or Right, but right and wrong, we find it appropriate to quote the words of Fox “News” legal analyst, Judge Andrew Napolitano:
Ernest A. Canning has been an active member of the California state bar since 1977. Mr. Canning has received both undergraduate and graduate degrees in political science as well as a juris doctor. He is also a Vietnam vet (4th Infantry, Central Highlands 1968).
Also
The so called progressive websites either gave little attention to the Wisconsin recount or ignored it.Or disinformation from HuffPo. But this is not a surprise since AOL bought them out..their former HQ was in Langley , Va.
Was so happy that guilesgoatboy on Daily Kos seemed to be covering it. Then when I compared his coverage to Brad’s, it was easy to see that this was another gate keeping attempt.(or guiles didn’t understand the importance of the minutes. I didn’t either until I read it on BradBlog.) Benefit of the doubt? Time will tell..because right now with Daily Kos’s history, it doesn’t look good.
Just hope that word reaches the great protesters in Wisconsin who are working so hard for recalls. I have to ask, what good are recall elections if they are going to be fixed as well.
#14 in 14 points of fascism. Most plausable (sp?)explanation to me..esp. when looking at the other 13 points.
14. Fraudulent elections
Elections in the form of plebiscites or public opinion polls were usually bogus. When actual elections with candidates were held, they would usually be perverted by the power elite to get the desired result. Common methods included maintaining control of the election machinery, intimidating and disenfranchising opposition voters, destroying or disallowing legal votes, and, as a last resort, turning to a judiciary beholden to the power elite.
Molly @1,
“I have to ask, what good are recall elections if they are going to be fixed as well.”
Yeah, that’s a catch-22, over the top Alice in Wonderland, the emperor’s got no clothes aspect of our whole charade about elections that drives me crazy.
We’re told–fixed elections? Stuff and nonsense. We’ve got the ballots right here. If there’s a problem, if the machines make a mistake, though they never have, we can count ’em.
Then when there IS a problem, and another problem, and another problem, first the naysayers start objecting loudly and often—don’t waste time, sore loser, waste of money, trying to steal the election, the votes have been counted, the people have spoken, etc.
If the rare person(like Kloppenburg)has the wherewithall to withstand that tidal wave of public pressure and actually tries to get a recount of some kind, the recount is so invariably flawed as to be useless.
Nevertheless, the flawed recount then provides the next rationale for the naysayers, who are now joined by more people who should know better but don’t, to further mock and deride–see, we told you he won, what a waste of time and money, you liberals are always trying to steal elections like Franken, etc.
So the process we look to with desperate hope to finally reveal to a broader audience the severity of our election problems instead helps to create an atmosphere of even greater resistance to the truth of how dysfunctional and undemocratic our elections are.
And yet, I will continue to believe that at least some small increasing number of witnesses is getting hip to the jive. And I will continue to hope that we are inching our way towards the hundredth monkey.
It is all about preserving the image of a good state within a good nation, a place where only democracy occurs.
In fact, that democracy is so good we impose it on the rest of the world at the point of a gun.
But the illusion has backfired and now we too are the captives of the illusion.
This should be a call to all protestors now residing in Walkerville at the state capitol to not only remain vigilant in tent cities but to also protest outside of the local tv stations. They go on location sometimes or take their broadcast outside to their back patio. Make yourselves visible and heard!
sophia said on 6/6/2011 @ 12:34 pm PT…
REPOST:
I think it’s beginning, folks. This just landed in my email inbox:
WarIsACrime.org
Our Tahrir Square: DC’s Freedom Plaza, October 6thÂ
On October 6th, a Thursday, the Afghanistan War will complete its first DECADE as the United States goes into its 2012 austerity budget.
Tahrir Square in Cairo Egypt translates as Liberation Square. We have in Washington, D.C., a square with the similar name: Freedom Plaza.
This square is located between the Capitol and the White House along Pennsylvania Avenue, and built into its surface is a map of downtown Washington on which nonviolent resistance actions can be conveniently planned.
Today a coalition of organizations and prominent individuals is announcing at http://october2011.org a plan to begin a people’s occupation of Washington, D.C., on October 6th, to build it into something larger on the 7th, 8th, and 9th, and to not leave until we are satisfied.
There is absolutely no reason that our government must be permitted to continue functioning on behalf of Wall Street and a war machine. In Afghanistan, the people protest our bombing of their homes.
We sit inside our own homes complaining about our economy, our banks, our schools. Instead, we now have a chance to have a say, in solidarity with others around the world, with success just as likely – if just as shocking to those in power – as with past U.S. people’s movements and the recent advances in Tunisia and Egypt.
This will NOT be another rally and march on a Saturday, make home movies, pat ourselves on the back, and go home.
We are coming to Washington to STAY.
~~~~~~~
There’s LOTS more in the email, but that’ll give you a taste-I really think this is what we’ve been looking for/hoping for-LEADERSHIP to put a stop to the corporate marauding. SWEET!
Well, I PERSONALLY plan to join with these other brave souls across the country. What about y’all? Obviously, the votes are being stolen, the polls ignored, the media has been coopted. What’s left to do?
Why not give yourself a WEEK or a MONTH or a YEAR to stand up & be counted. Do you have children/nieces/nephews? Parents? Grandparents? Does their future matter? That’s OUR MONEY they are stealing, using it against us, killing the planet & other innocent human beings. They have done broken the contract & they need to be FIRED! (No, not, you Donald Trump-YOU’RE fired, and not a moment too soon either!?)
If freedom is worth standing for, it’s worth dying for.
Those courageous folks in Libya & Egypt & Yemen are literally being shot at, gassed, detained, raped, and murdered, and they are NOT STOPPING. Will we let them fight this battle alone, or will we kill the many-headed hydra at its core, kill the deadly tree at its roots?
What has this country come to? What has this country DONE?? It’s time to put an end to the Oligarchs. They won’t stop until we’re enslaved, dead, or so ignorant & ill we cannot fight back.
If not now, when? When the last bit of ocean, land and air are so irradiated & polluted that nothing can live?? @Dave Lasagna, I’m not sure either that it isn’t too late, but there is still hope while there is breath, so why not put our energies into recovering control of our beautiful planet. There are millions of ways to restore the Earth, but we’ve gotta do something to prevent the Tipping Point of getting too much further down the line. Tornadoes in MASSACHUSETTS? OVER 600 TORNADOES IN ALABAMA? Ummm.
If not us, who? It sure ain’t gonna be the Banksters & the Wall Street homicidal maniacs.
Ok. Enough.
Take heart. Have hope. DO something!
I will too! I swear, on the life of my nephew, that I’d rather die on my feet than live on my knees…
Sophia, taking a breath now, and asking for courage, determination & the wit to do the Right Thing while it still counts
Oh, come ON, now …
How could the media cover a story about the carefully planned and executed destruction of America’s democratic process AND Sarah Palin’s bus tour at the same time ???
Why bother getting up off the sofa and actually DOING something to preserve what this country stands for when all you have to do is kick back and let Palin mangle history to feel the rapture ?
1. the following in NO WAY denigrates the GREAT JOURNALISM by brad, etc…
however:
2. *given* the situation as outlined by mr canning, as well as the previous interminable train of abuses, fraud, vulnerabilities, and attendant lack of in-depth media coverage; that presupposes that the present korporate media would EVER ‘investigate’ and ‘report’ on the sad state of affairs with ‘our’ election systems…
they will not…
3. *given* that many of the techniques of election fraud are known and auditable, *given* that vulnerable computer-based systems have been ‘exposed’ (by -you know- ‘alternative’ media, yuck) numerous times, *given* that there are known systems -a la the ‘gold standard’- then it behooves a sentient nekkid ape to go past the superficial, and look to the deep politics of *why* this is the case:
*BECAUSE* vulnerable, defraudable, rigged, hackable, disenfranchising, non-gold-standard voting systems *ALLOW* gaming elections by The Insiders…
its not a bug, its a feature ! ! !
3. now, this problem is NOT amenable to ‘reason’, ‘logic’, ‘teaching’, ‘educating’ or any of that boy scout, civics101 horseshit; it is a structural problem with those in charge of society…
power is NEVER given up voluntarily…
4. what does that leave us ? ? ?
we don’t walk like a (well-armed) egyptian, we are headed straight down the 1984-hole…
art guerrilla
aka ann archy
eof
That was a GOOD one, Sophia!!!
@art guerilla#8 @david lasagna#9, THANK YOU and goddess bless us all…
Wisconsin voters have been lulled into a false sense of security thanks to the addition of paper tapes on touch screen voting machines. One would naturally assume that, in the event of a recount, the paper ballots and the paper tape on the electronic voting machines would be used to verify actual voter intent. WRONG!
Wisconsin’s election laws have been written to include very precise stipulations concerning the process that must be followed when counting votes during an election and during a recount. Paper ballots (not recorded votes) are counted very carefully to ensure that the number of ballots matches the number of voters who reported to the polling place. But then those same ballots must, by law, be fed back into an electronic voting machine to tally the actual votes for each candidate if those votes were initially cast on or counted by an electronic voting machine (e.g. touch screen or optical scan reader). [See Wisconsin GAB Recount Manual -http://gab.wi.gov/sites/default/files/publication/65/recount_manual_23968.pdf]
Wisconsin’s rules and regulations related to counting votes during a recount do not allow for a manual count of the actual votes for a given candidate unless “convincing evidence exists which indicates the exact actual total number of votes cast†is different from the number recorded on the voting machine. Note that the language refers to “total number of votes castâ€, but does not address the number of votes cast for each candidate. If no discrepancy is found to exist in the total number of votes placed on the machines when compared to the number of voters who came to the polling place, the tally of votes for each candidate must be taken from the machine – not from a hand count of votes recorded on paper ballots or those printed on the paper tapes.
This procedural requirement makes it virtually impossible to identify any miscounts due to mechanical malfunction or malfeasance (e.g. vote flipping) if the number of voters on the machines matches the number who came to the polling place. If canvassers were permitted to make a visual count of the actual votes cast for each candidate, we would be able to ascertain with 100% accuracy the count of the recorded vote.
Please understand that I am NOT suggesting that voting machines were tampered with during the April 2011 election. I am simply saying that the process Wisconsinites are currently obligated to follow does not afford protection from the real possibility of voting machine tampering. As such, voters are deprived full confidence in the results of their elections no matter how “clean†(or not) they may have been.
In my opinion, Wisconsin’s election law needs to be changed. Until legislators enact meaningful election law reform, I urge Wisconsin voters to protect their votes by conducting citizen audits at key polling places on election day. Instructions on how to conduct a citizen audit are posted at “counttheballots.orgâ€.
Oh, and by the way, the GAB has still not posted (as of 6/6/11) minutes from the Waukesha County recount. (See “County by county page of certified recount results†on Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board’s website.) Both minutes and canvass results have been posted for every other county in the state. Recount minutes provide important details about irregularities documented during the recount process. Let’s make sure the GAB doesn’t “forget†to post Waukesha County’s recount minutes now that Ms. Kloppenburg has conceded the election to Justice Prosser.
Lynn A @11:
I would strongly urge readers to link to the Brad Friedman piece: Memo to Rahm: ‘Appear On the Ballot’ May be Somewhat Misleading in Chicago.
The so-called “voter verifiable paper audit trail” or “VVPAT,” which purportedly permits voters to confirm the system recorded their vote accurately, is a total scam.
In the same piece, Brad appended a U.C.S.B. video that was part of a Sept. 2007 CA “Top-to-Bottom review” of e-voting systems which reveals how “an election insider, in a matter of seconds, armed with little more than a $10 thumb drive, to game the system in such a way that even a 100% hand-count of those so-called ‘verifiable paper audit trails’ would be unlikely to reveal that the election…had been completely rigged.”
That Direct Voting Electronic (DRE, usually touch-screen) systems (with or without VVPAT) are still being used in any jurisdiction, let alone throughout entire states (e.g., GA & SC) is an out-and-out scandal!
Oh, one other point, Lynn.
After closely following events in Wisconsin these past several months, I’ve reluctantly come to the conclusion that the words “Government Accountability” in the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (G.A.B.) are an oxymoron.
Thanks for the great article, Earnest, and for the excellent follow up to my comments. It’s hard to keep from getting discouraged given that change comes hard even when it’s only a matter of choosing to do things differently. But when making a simple, reasonable procedural change to our process of counting votes requires changing state law, and mega-million dollar contracts with voting machine vendors are at stake, it all becomes so much more difficult and complicated. Who can election integrity advocates turn to for support or guidance on how to effectively push for those changes? Where do we even begin, other than keeping a watchful eye on how our elections are run and building awareness via social networking sites like this one?
thank you for summarizing and stating so concisely all that i find so disturbing and malicious. i’m from wisconsin and having lived through the MSM blackout on all these issues, i will say that i can hardly sleep knowing that there is NO recourse right now….the protesters in walkerville are protesting the budget (and RIGHTLY so) but if we can’t ever hold a fair election and throw out the legislators that uphold the e-voting systems or the attorney general who turns his back on the evidence of massive fraud, what is the point of protesting the budget or any other piece of legislation. somehow i think our protesting is misplaced. and it’s ALL surreal when there is no enforcement of law or legal recourse for the people to take, other than pleas for help or letters written to the media and the GAB. the answer seems to me to keep on educating the people so that ONE BY ONE, people can begin to see what is actually going on…..how wonderful to imagine that someone IN the MSM would see that exposing this larger story of electronic voting fraud as the STORY of a lifetime and the crux of our democratic future….so that the people could get the real story of our electoral system…..but in the meantime we have BRAD’s excellent reporting which is unparalleled and unbelievably tight. thank you brad. i will continue to share links to your work. i appreciate all your efforts on the large scale and on the smaller wisconsin scene!
whoops…. just realized that this article was written by guest blogger ernest a. canning. my last comment was giving due credit to brad but thanks be to ernest for making my morning – all this vexes my SOUL and it was so wonderful to see every single point so beautifully laid out. you made your case. and then some!
@Jacqueline Janeke#16, I feel both your pain & your gratitude to Uncle Ernie. Both he & Brad are amazing. I’ve been doing some brainstormingas too what WE can do, especially since there is all this documentation:
To whit: (WARNING! LONG!)
people are waking up now that the Repugs are marching in lock-step and instituting such draconian voter suppression laws. I just read that a Florida Dem Senator just threatened to call for a DOJ investigation if Rick Perry signs a new voter law currently on his desk. Don’t think that means much, but add to it an actual NYT EDITORIAL, and other actions & events, and critical mass may yet erupt.
It may be too late for the rest of us to save our asses, but just think: Brad has DONE the work to put all the info in one place.
OK: WARNING-brainstorm alert. This is a LOT of info/ideas. If you want it, take it. If you don’t, you can’t have any!? 🙂
Why don’t we (the tiny few of us) write editorials wherever we are, or maybe a national editorial campaign, calling on Jimmy Carter to step in & ‘monitor’ OUR elections-using the Wisconsin debacle as a hook? That might get some coverage. Add a link to the Bradblog to provide extra mileage for our guy.
We can print bumper stickers.
We can make up signs asking whether our votes will be counted. Take them to city halls & state legislatures-stand up in meetings & demand accountability.
We can write editorials demanding that Secretaries of State STEP DOWN if there is an indication of election fraud in any particular state. Why NOT demand accountability from the top?
We can write to Wisconsin newspapers stating that WE WANT OUR REFUNDED (maybe the meme is REFUND DEMOCRACY?) from Kloppenburg.
If she didn’t feel she had a basis for fighting then she had NO RIGHT to take the people’s money & time. Demand that she continue to stand up for the people who VOTED for her!!
And contact the unions. The firefighters, teachers, etc. who just lost their rights BIGTIME can make good their as-of-yet only verbal threat to take their money out of the banks that are ROBBING them of their livelihoods, decent wages, pensions, etc. Now that THEY are getting targeted, perhaps they will be a bit more inclined to take serious, focused action on the Robber Barons & Banksters. WE KNOW WHO THEY ARE-LET’S SHINE THE SPOTLIGHT ON THEM.
Another way to build momentum for the message of Accountability & Accessibility, is to put together a single page of info-connecting the dots. Show up at US Uncut demonstrations (this group REALLY has it goin’ on-I do NOT know how they did it, but they sprang fully formed, brilliantly messaged, and PERFECTLY positioned with PR from heaven!) and hand out the connect the dots flyer to educate those angry enough to DO something.
OK-the dots:
1. Election fraud/stolen elections. Give Bradblog a shout-out.
2. Ownership of electronic voting machines by Repugs. Give The Voting News/Verified Voting & The Velvet Revolution a plug.
3. Theft of our financial wellbeing by the Banks. Pensions, foreclosures, credit card, high fees for bounced checks, blah blah blah. MOVEYOURMONEY.ORG. Heck, start your own PRIVATE bank with friends!! Or, use ONLY cash to pay your bills. This way, the banks don’t get to track your purchases, charge usurious fees, or own your personal information. OH, AND KILL YOUR CREDIT CARD!! Did you know there are some municipalities that are starting to legislate that you can’t use paper/metal money anymore!? Amazing. Locate local currency groups, list them. If there isn’t one nearby, START one, or at least a barter exchange.
4. Corporate theft of our politicians-Supreme Court-2000 election, down to the SC decision to ‘allow’ Corporations to be people.
5. Corporations not paying their fair share of taxes while STEALING & DESTROYING the commons. BP/Exxon/Dow Chemical/PharmaWhores/ Insurance Behemoths
6. Failure of the DOJ to do ANYTHING about this. Why are they going after the good guys & ignoring the corporate onslaught?
7. Dems&Repugs all in it together-mention the truth of this matter: they must play the game or DIE-but too many are willing to walk lockstep w/the Fascists. CLEAN MONEY-Publicly funded candidates & DISCLOSE ACT are only some of the solutions needed to dispel the take-over.
8. Cite the 14 points of Fascism. (At least a link!)
9. Mainstream media/media consolidation/Google suppression of web searches-WE ARE BEING FILTERED OUT OF THE GAME, SHEEPLE.
10. Not only STOP contributing to the two dominant parties, but send them letters, emails, etc. to let them know you won’t play with them til they start protecting your interests.
Partner up with other organizations who are doing similar work: I’d go with CodePINK, and maybe United For Peace & Justice. Less trusting of ANSWER & Move-On, as they tend to ignore the snarling monsters & dead bodies a bit too much for me. Daily KOS seems to be rising from the dead after a few years of moribundity & keeping election integrity activists at bay-maybe a network can be formed there, esp since that one blogger has taken on the Wisconsin battles, seemingly singlehandedly.
Lastly, Twitter is a powerful way to build momentum, consensus, and initiate actions. I vow to get a Twitter account this week.
Is anyone here on Bradblog’s hardy list of intrepid activists available to teach me what to do? If I learn it, I will teach it to 10, heck 100 others. If anyone offers, I’ll figure out how to get in touch with you…
This, IMNSHO, is how to get HEARD.
The name of the game is visibility.
I would be happy to coach/mentor anyone who has the time/energy/interest to take on a campaign of this nature.
That is all. Phew! Gotta go take my nap! 🙂
P.S. I got my Twitter account, and as soon as I figure out how to run it, I’ll be online. Got it under a psuedonym, but who wants MY personal bizness all over the Internet. Anthony Weiner anyone?!) Byr for now, intrepid election integtity freaks! (And sorry for typos-that thing where thee text doesn’t wrap is happening again.
UPDATE: I inquired with the GAB today about the status of Waukesha County’s recount minutes and was assured that they will, indeed, be posted on the GAB’s recount website as soon as they have been finalized and signed. They should get posted sometime around the end of next week.