: Opening Pandora's Box

OPENING PANDORA'S BOX; Hearings on Election Problems Begin

by ALLEN ROLAND

First they ignore you.Then they laugh at you.Then they fight you. Then you win . Mahatma Gandhi

Michigan Congressman John Conyers, the leading Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, conducted a hearing into voting irregularities in Ohio. The house GOP leadership refused to sanction or recognize the hearing.
(Photo: House.gov)

Pandora's box has been opened and the media is ignoring and laughing at the audacity of a growing group of concerned citizens and representatives who are challenging the legality of the 2004 election ~ particularly in Ohio.

On Thursday 02 December, Democratic Representative

John Conyers, Jr. of Michigan, ranking Minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell outlining a long series of voting irregularities in Ohio during the Presidential election last month.

The factual data in that letter, combined with information

that has since been brought to light, is the subject of a hearing Conyers and fellow Judiciary Democrats held on Wednesday 08 December.

Truthout's William Rivers Pitt was there to cover the event, and here is his on the scene report ;

Wednesday 08 December 2004
11:20AM www.truthout.org

Susan Truitt just said, "We have privatized public elections and this must stop. This election is not over. I saw a man come to the polls with an IV in his arm from the hospital because he could not get an absentee ballot in Ohio."

Wednesday 08 December 2004
11:25AM

" Almost all of these panelists are bringing lawsuits against the election in Ohio. I guess they are correct when they say this election is not over. I think maybe it has just begun. "

Wednesday 08 December 2004
11:35AM

" John Bonifaz is on fire. He is not merely waxing poetic about the value of voting. He has Blackwell bracketed and braced. This man has no quit in him, and is bringing yet another lawsuit in Ohio. If I were Blackwell, and I saw Bonifaz coming, I'd run like hell. "

Wednesday 08 December 2004
11:40AM

" There is such a volume of data being presented here that I am able only to take frantic notes. I will have a more complete report later tonight. This is historic ! "

Wednesday 08 December 2004
11:50AM

" Shawnta Walcott of Zogby International reports that her crew has seen an unprecedented level of suspicion over the results of this election. Zogby Inc wants a blue-ribbon panel to investigate the claims made in this hearing. "

Wednesday 08 December 2004
12:00PM

Rev. Jackson demands a constitutional right to vote. "If some can argue that the right to bear arms is explicit in the constitution, how can we tolerate our right to vote being described as 'implicit' in the constitution?"

Wednesday 08 December 2004
12:10PM

Rev. Jackson: "We cannot vent and then have Congress not act. If these reports are not investigated, we have all wasted our time. This cannot simply be an academic venting session. Take this struggle to the streets and legitimize it there, as they did in Selma."

Wednesday 08 December 2004
12:20PM

" An interesting exchange. Nadler asked how fraud can be proven on electronic machines. Cliff Arnebeck said his lawsuit would employ the best experts in court to make the case. One such expert, Bob Fitrakis, is on the panel, and reeled off a slew of specific problems with specific machines. Nadler's eyes got real big. . .

Conyers then hinted that he might officially object to seating the Ohio Electors. Wow ! "

Wednesday 08 December 2004
12:35PM

" These Democratic congressmen just raised a collective plea to everyone: Please help us push the GOP majority to address these issues officially. The invitation was extended to GOP members to come to this hearing. None came. "

Wednesday 08 December 2004
12:40PM

" And of course the wheels come off as soon as the floor is opened to questions. Everyone wants to make their speech, absent a question, and Conyers has to push people along, and the speechifiers get pissy, and we all look like fools. Progressives are uniquely gifted at this, and it never gets any less frustrating to watch. "

Wednesday 08 December 2004
1:05PM

" I am taking a break to get some air during the Q&A portion. All in all, this has been an incredibly valuable forum, if only because Conyers's investigative team now has a lot more data to work with. That, and all those lawsuits...ho boy. "

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And here is PANDORA'S BOX ~

For those of you who question my previously published 20 amazing facts about this election, which were also presented at this hearing ~ here they are with verifiable links. ( by Alicia )

1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold

2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htm

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

3.The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.

http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/private_company.html

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1647886

5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.

http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004/03/03_200.html

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/031004Fitrakis/031004fitrakis.html

6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee

http://www.blackboxvoting.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=26
http://www.hillnews.com/news/012903/hagel.aspx
http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/000896.php

7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates.

http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_28/b3689130.htm
http://theindependent.com/stories/052700/new_hagel27.html

8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes. http://www.essvote.com/HTML/about/about.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/041020evotestates/pfindex.html

10.Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
http://www.diebold.com/solutions/default.htm

11. Diebold is based in Ohio.

http://www.diebold.com/aboutus/ataglance/default.htm

12. Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as senior managers and developers to help write the central compiler computer code that counted 50% of the votes in 30 states

http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,61640,00.html
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/301469.shtml

13. Jeff Dean, Diebold's Senior Vice-President and senior programmer on Diebold's central compiler code, was convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree.

http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

14. Diebold Senior Vice-President Jeff Dean was convicted of planting back doors in his software and using a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of 2 years.

http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

15. None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio.

http://www.globalexchange.org/update/press/2638.html
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/10/26/loc_elexoh.html

16. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee was able to do it. (See the movie here.)

http://wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,63298,00.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4874190

17. 30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable touch screen voting machines with no paper trail

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml

18. All - not some - but all the voting machine errors detected

and reported in Florida went in favor

of Bush or Republican candidates
http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65757,00.html

http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/

ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsOut.htm
http://www.rise4news.net/extravotes.html
http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=950
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0411/S00227.htm

19. The governor of the state of Florida, Jeb Bush, is the President's brother.

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/7628725.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10544-2004Oct29.html

20. Serious voting anomalies in Florida - again always favoring Bush - have been mathematically demonstrated and experts are recommending further investigation .

http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsOut.htm
http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/

government/policy/story/0,10801,97614,00.html

The beat goes on ~

Allen L Roland

Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website www.allenroland.com He also guest hosts a weekly national radio show TRUTHTALK on Conscious talk radio www.conscioustalk.net

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