Stealing Elections – Shame on Us

By Terry Brauer

On June 3, 2004, CNN filed a lawsuit against the State of Florida to gain access to a list of people who may be disqualified from voting this year by the Florida Division of Elections. Up to 48,000 people are on the list. In the 2000 election, 173,000 people were identified as felons or otherwise ineligible to vote.

Later, it was learned and disclosed that those lists contained numerous errors, and that thousands of eligible voters were prevented from casting ballots in the 2000 election.   

“Florida's 2000 felon purge program resulted in over 50,000 legal voters being disenfranchised,” said Leon County elections supervisor Ion Sancho in a written statement. A Florida state official acknowledged to CNN that the 2000 list contained errors – in particular, that it included felons convicted in other states, who are eligible to vote in Florida.

“Unless people look at the list and see their names and know that it's wrong, then they could end up in a situation where they don't have the right to vote,” said Tampa attorney Gregg D. Thomas of the law firm Holland & Knight, who is representing CNN in the matter. “It is incredible that information this important to a constitutional right, the right to vote, is not freely and openly disseminated.”

In his best-selling book, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy , Greg Palast laments that Thomas Cooper, who was declared ineligible to vote, was listed as being convicted of a felony on January 30, 2007, or more than 6 years after the election of 2000. Palast found many others whose name similarities were sufficient to get them stricken from eligibility.

Voters targeted for purging from eligibility were primarily black, Hispanic, and/or poor. Palast alleges that in the Florida election of 2000 – decided by 537 votes and the U.S. Supreme Court ruling – 179,855 ballots were not counted. Most of the ballots not counted were cast by black voters.

Stealing elections isn't a new phenomenon in America. Unless the public ensures that elections are protected from abuses by partisan zealots, it is conceivable that the 2004 election will be stolen in any of several states vulnerable to election manipulation and theft.

Stealing elections isn't a new phenomenon in America. Unless the public ensures that elections are protected from abuses by partisan zealots, it is conceivable that the 2004 election will be stolen in any of several states vulnerable to election manipulation and theft.

Diebold Election Systems, a division of a company that makes ATMs, boasts that it has installed 33,000 touch-screen voting machines nation-wide to date. Unfortunately, it is apparent that these machines are vulnerable to hackers and without a ballot-printing option, recounts would be impossible if necessary to settle a close election. In a 2003 fundraising letter, Diebold's chief executive Walden O'Dell said he is “committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year.” O'Dell and Diebold board member W.R. Timken have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign.

If qualified voters are declared ineligible again and/or hacked vote counts replace hanging chads in another election debacle, we will have only ourselves to blame.

On November 2, 2004, election judges and poll watchers will be needed throughout the nation. Communicating your interest and commitment to your county clerks and elections boards at least a month before the election will ensure that you are enabled to participate in the election process in meaningful way. Becoming involved with voter registration drives this summer will extend the power of votes to millions of Americans. Your investment in protecting the integrity of the ballots cast may determine the outcome of American domestic and foreign policy, social justice, and our economy for the next four years. The fate of the nation may well be determined by all of our commitments to becoming involved in our local communities both before and on Election Day.

Terry B. Brauer is C.E.O. of HealthCare Initiatives, Inc. in Portland, Ore. Terry may be reached by email at tb@healthcare-consulting.com .