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NEW HERE? How to find what you're looking for Black Box Voting (.ORG) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, 501c(3) organization funded by citizen donations. Contact info: 425-793-1030; cell 206-335-7747; Mailing address: 330 SW 43rd St. Suite K, Box 547, Renton WA 98057. E-mail
Yesterday, we reported that according to Indiana's own figures, 1.1 million voter registrations had been cancelled, one-quarter of a million of those in just two counties. Another researcher, Steve Rosenfeld, began tracking back through data from the Election Assistance Commission, finding that the cancellation quantities didn't jive with the numbers you'd expect. According to Rosenfeld, after talking with the office of the Indiana Secretary of State the explanation is that "cancelled" does not mean "cancelled registrations" it means "changes" to registrations. IF TRUE, THIS RAISES ANOTHER CONCERN Because Indiana is implementing an ID requirement, and this will require that voters name and address match when the voter registration database is compared with their ID, an unscrupulous data entry person would no longer need to PURGE registrations in order to knock people off the voting rolls. All that's required is CHANGING the registration slightly, to introduce typos. Many locations are now enamored of using "electronic pollbooks" instead of the paper printouts. We all know what happens when you enter a name with a typo: The computer says "can't find". Try it. Use any computer program you have, and enter your name with a typo. Then do a search for your name. If I typo "Ben Harris" and search for "Bev Harris" I won't find it. Now, with the paper pollbooks, a pollworker might see that it's a typo, if my address is the same. Whether they accept that Bev Harris is Ben Harris is open to how flexible they feel at the moment. With electronic pollbooks, they may not find the typo-name at all. And if an unscrupulous political hack enters "changes" or "updates" that introduce a typo into the address, or name and address, it may be impossible to find you at all. Example: I alter "Bev Harris" to make it read "Ben Harris" and then change "973 SW 43rd St" to "793 SW 43rd". Gone. Poof. Some say the problems with the Florida 2000 election have now been codified into federal law nationwide. In terms of the now-mandatory statewide voter lists, that's true. These centralized records allow changes to be introduced from either your county or the state, and a single person can cook the list. When you add voter ID into the mix, it allows very subtle attacks that will produce mismatches. Mark my words, the new watchword for 2008 will be "human error." Add "human error" to the term "computer glitch" for meaningless and unacceptable terms that introduce voter dis... More 5-4-08: One million cancelled or altered - The Incredible Disappearing Indiana Voter Rolls In April 2008 when Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita announced the release of "record high" voter registration rolls, with 4.3 million voters set to vote in the Tuesday May 6 primary, he didn't mention that a whopping 1,134,427 voter registrations have been cancelled. Now, the voter rolls are supposed to be tidied up prior to each election. Indiana's last general election was in Nov. 2006, and they have had a slew of special and general elections since then. So how have 1.1 million voters -- 26 percent of the current statewide list -- escaped the regularly scheduled voter registration cleanup squads? Who are these million voters and where do they come from? One quarter-million of them come from just two northwestern Indiana counties: Lake and Porter. Lake County reports purging 137,164 voters and neighboring Porter County cancelled out 124,958 voters. Lake County, the home of Gary, Indiana, has spawned the Jackson Five and a great old musical (The Music Man) and and has been referred to as "the second most liberal county in America." Lake County has one of the heaviest concentrations of African-American voters that you'll find anywhere in the USA. Nearby Porter County, the home of Valparaiso, is 95% white and went solidly for Bush in the 2004 election. It also has a lot of college kids. For whatever reason, these two counties had ... what ... massive data entry problems? Exceptionally messy records? Lots of dead people who climbed back into their graves? Or will we see a lot of disappointed voters on Tuesday, when they perhaps learn that they were among the lucky million people who got purged? HERE'S WHERE THE HEAVIEST PURGES ARE: Lake 137,164 48% (Gary) Porter 124,958 115% (Valparaiso) Marion 68,120 10% (Indianapolis) Monroe 66,009 85% (Bloomington) Tippecanoe 53,456 58% Madison 42,952 47% (Anderson) Hamilton 42,325 26% The percentage represents the ratio of the number of purges to the current voter list. Example: If a location currently has 100,000 voters on its rolls, and purged 53,000 along the way, we assign a ratio of 53% to the purge vs. current list. It would be nice to have the original quantities, it would make for a cleaner number, but this is not available on the Secretary of State's Web site, so I haven't got a tidier statistic for you, wish I did. I also wish the time period for these purges was clearly indicated, but it is not indicated -- nor can it be derived -- from available information at Indiana's ... More NEWEST VIDEO - Election Reality TV - Face to Face with the recount guys NEWEST VIDEO - Election Reality TV - 9 Minutes on the Road w. Butch & Hoppy VIDEO - Election Reality TV - The Jeannie Dean Video VIDEO - Election Reality TV - Butch & Hoppy II - Pack o' Lies VIDEO - Election Reality TV - Butch & Hoppy Ia: Chase begins VIDEO - Election Reality TV - Butch & Hoppy Ib: Chase begins Click here to read older stories artwork contributed by art101.com
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