Election Fraud: An Expose and A Solution

ELECTION FRAUD: AN EXPOSE AND A SOLUTION

Emmy award winning director, David Earnhardt, has recently released “Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections”, another solid full length documentary on election fraud in America. It is a sequel to his 2006 offering, “Eternal Vigilance: The Fight to Save Our Election System”.

Earnhardt adds a new chapter to the election fraud narrative as he covers the 2006 national off- year elections. His film documents what Jonathan Simon and Bruce O’Dell of Election Defense Alliance statistically demonstrated in their November 2006 research paper “Landslide Denied: Exit Polls vs. Vote Count 2006”. The assertion is that 3 million votes “went missing” nationwide, negatively affecting numerous elections. Most of all, these 3 million voters, often urban and poor, were disenfranchised, seriously compromising the American democratic system.

For those who have been following election fraud, “Uncounted” is an important update. For neophytes, Earnhardt tells the complete story of documented election fraud, beginning with election 2000 to contextualize election 2006.

Footage from previous films reappear in “Uncounted” but are reworked and woven together with material from election 2006 to achieve Earnhardt’s objective. He covers familiar themes as simple and visible as too-few-voting machines, leading to unreasonably long lines in minority precincts, to discussions of exit polls vs. election results, to the problems of software-driven electronic voting machines.

Several personal interviews stand out, including a repeat of the Clint Curtis blockbuster testimony before the John Conyers Judiciary Committee in December, 2004. Here, he claims that as an employee of Yang Enterprises he was approached by then Florida Republican Speaker of the House and lobbyist, Tom Feeney, to create a program to flip votes in South Florida prior to the 2000 presidential election.

The interview of Bruce Funk, rancher and Republican County Clerk for over 23 years in Emery County Utah, is very compelling. Funk discovered flaws in the new Diebold machines and reported it to authorities. Diebold flew in attorneys to Utah who conferred secretly with state officials. They in turn pressured local officials who relieved Funk of his job. Thus a private corporation trumped a popularly elected government official!

Since the corporately controlled main stream media refuses to give the topic of election fraud light of day, it is incumbent upon the election integrity community to enlighten a largely unaware public. Films like “Uncounted” provide powerful visual images, accompanied by sharp, cogent analysis that can and do raise the awareness of citizen groups and prompt them to action demanding election reform. Such has been the case in Missouri, the Show Me State, where citizen patriots are working to amend the state constitution to return to paper ballots, hand counted, with citizen oversight.

As the nation moves toward Super Tuesday, public interest in the presidential election is picking up. The primary season is off and running, bearing witness to our flawed election system. For those of us attempting to educate the public to the serious problems of our election system, we must seize the moment.

Earnhardt advocates showing his film to raise awareness. That is an important first step. But his film has two major weaknesses: First, his traditional remedies, such as contacting legislators, writing letters to the editor, and volunteering to be a poll worker or poll watcher, to date have been ineffective in solving American election fraud. The events of elections since 2000 show all branches of government unresponsive to the will of the people.

We the people must take back our unalienable right to verify that our votes are counted and recorded so as to reflect the popular will. This can only happen when we return to paper ballots, hand counted at the precinct level with citizen oversight.

This brings us to the film’s second weakness. Earnhardt deals only with the problems of the touch screens and advocates paper ballots that can provide a paper trail, supposedly to be counted by optical scanners. This is a “faux solution.” All voting machines must go, both touch screens and optical scanners! Both systems involve the use of secret software, controlled by private corporations protecting their trade secrets. The secret software is employed when the optical scanners count the paper ballots. The first count must be correct and uncorrupted! History proves no second chance.

Recounts are expensive and very difficult to get. None have overturned an election since debacle 2000. Despite claims of the new and improved Holt Bill calling for a paper ballot, those optical scanners, employing corruptible secret software programs controlled by private companies, would still count our paper ballots. So it’s up to we the people!

Go to http://www.delawareiandr.org/legalpage.html for a list of 15 states where citizens can use the initiative petition to amend their constitutions and require hand counted paper ballots to regain control of their voting process. Additional states have statutory initiatives and the referendum.

Another site, www.hcpbnow.org, offers a federal solution by the November 2008 election. .All citizens have the opportunity to sign a petition requesting that Dennis Kuchinich reintroduce his call for all presidential elections, beginning with this November, to require hand counted paper ballots to elect the president. The site suggests he include all elections at the federal level in the same hand count process. No longer a presidential candidate, Kuchinich will have the time and can make a profound contribution to our democracy more important than with a presidential run. Tell him so!