Something We Can Do About the Voter Fraud

A lot of people feel extremely frustrated about the rampant voter suppression going on as evidenced by the many comments on my last post about my experience in Nevada and the voter registration fraud going on there.

Here's an idea of something we can do right away that may have an effect: call the US Attorney General Michael Mukasey's office and complain about it. I think if we flood their offices with calls they will be forced to address it.

Here are some numbers that you can call to complain:

Office of the Attorney General: 202-353-1555

Voting rights discrimination: 1-800-253-3931

Civil Rights Division
202-514-4609 (voice)
202-514-0716 (TDD)

Check out the letter[pdf] sent to him from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights which includes many excellent groups (like the ACLU, NAACP, League of Women Voters, AFL-CIO, etc etc).

Let's back these groups up by voicing our complete lack of acceptance for the government ignoring this situation (although apparently they are willing to target ACORN):

http://www.alternet.org/democracy/104201/justice_department_targets_acorn_but_ignores_gop_voter_suppression

I think if the response to this situation even begins to approach the response to the bailout, they are going to be scrambling to rectify it. If not, we will at least have on record that many many of us knew about it and were trying to do something prior to the election. This may be useful if the outcome of the election is in question and lawyers have to get involved.

Comments

[TAMB]

Great stuff! Put this woman in charge of a fortune 500 company! I will definitely make the calls. The electronic voting machine story is spine chilling. I just pray this doesn't turn into a national nightmare. If the machines can be hacked, however, then surely the computer gals and guys can also figure out how to trace the code? Anyway, thanks for all your excellent work. I still want to see an article about this in The New Yorker!

[harlow]

Thank you for the information. I will call.

[highwing3]

Hi Kamala.
Great work! I've passed this around and will do what I can to bring gov. attention to this Republican crap.
Dave Saylor

[Kamala Lopez - Huffpost Blogger]

Also, if you are not familiar with the story told by Clint Curtis, who was a computer programmer hired in October of 2000 by Republican representative Tom Feeney of Florida to write a "hidden code prototype" that could be used in the voting machines to "control the election," I highly recommend you investigate this story further. One source is a new film by Patty Sharaf called "Murder, Spies and Voting Lies: The Clint Curtis Story." There is also a good article from Wired Magazine here:

http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2004/12/66002

Eighty percent of the country are using electronic voting machines in this election. According to multiple sources, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible to detect whether an internal programming code, set off by an individual in contact with the machine, was "flipping votes" as many claim occurred in the 2004 election. The software code used in voting machines is considered proprietary and it is protected from public examination (!) so nobody can really do a thorough investigation of the code at this point. Many computer experts, however, have said that these machines are laughably easy to hack...

After this election we must press the government to conduct a complete overhaul on the voting system including a hard look at whether using electronic voting machines should be used at all.

[hearya]

Perfect for Halloween viewing , "Murder, Spies & Voting Lies" could make your hair stand on end. I have been sharing the DVD with friends who are always horrified. I got mine here www.votinglies.com

[Kamala Lopez - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks for correcting me on the 80% stat. What is actual percentage of voting using the machines?

[hearya]

About that figure "eighty percent of the country using electronic voting machines", I think you mean to say eighty to ninety percent are "counted electronically". Even if you don’t press a touch-screen to vote, your scanned paper ballot is likely counted by a central tabulator . Central tabulators are made by the same companies who make those flawed voting machines. They are equally and undetectably hackable.

[hearya]

There is an awesome interactive map from DVICE showing how the votes are counted in all states.
Find it here: http://dvice.com/voting/

[Kamala Lopez - Huffpost Blogger]

I just got off the phone with a woman by the name of Kat in the US Attorney General's office, voter rights division, and I gave her the phone numbers of Josue and Juanita, the two people in Nevada I spoke with last weekend regarding the voter registration fraud. She said that the attorneys from their office would be contacting them.

Another thing to do is call CNN. They have set up a hotline to report any voter fraud or irregularities here: (877) GOCNN08 [1-877-462-6608]
You can leave a message there detailing your complaint - not sure what will happen with it though. They cut me off after 60 seconds.