This affects every one of you in the 49 states that are "not Iowa" because what happens in Iowa will play a major role in which presidential candidates you get to vote for.
Please distribute this to every single person you know in Iowa. Black Box Voting does not have many Iowa members, and needs your help to get this information where it needs to go.
PROBLEMS AND ISSUES WITH THE IOWA CAUCUSES - AND WHAT EVERY IOWAN CAN DO
Black Box Voting needs live IOWA CITIZEN REPORTS on Jan. 3. Note that the Iowa caucuses must allow observers and must allow both video and photography, as long as you do not disrupt the proceedings. You do not need to be a member of the party to observe or videotape (but you must be registered for that party if you want to participate in the caucus).
In some locations, there will be a Republican caucus AND a Democratic caucus in the same building, giving observers the opportunity to capture evidence in both parties' caucuses.
Below is an update on election integrity problems with both Republican and Democratic caucuses, in addition to info on how to find your local caucuses.
REPUBLICAN CAUCUS PROBLEMS AND ISSUES:
The Republicans are running such an opaque dog and pony show that, unless they correct procedural issues, citizens nationwide should demand that Iowa lose its "first in the nation" status. Here are the issues for Republican caucuses:
1) Black Box Voting has received unofficial reports that political operatives have urged citizens NOT to ask too many questions and NOT to take photos or video of precinct caucus results, warning them that only "conspiracy theorists" would want to independently confirm the announced results.
It is your DUTY as a citizen to oversee your governmental processes. Because Iowa caucus procedures lack basic checks and balances, such as posting the precinct caucus results at the precinct caucus location for the public to examine, it is actually very important for members of the public to take video and photographs and share them.
WHAT TO DO: If you see or hear anyone ridiculing, name calling, or implying that citizen oversight actions will cause "blowback" on their candidate, please REPORT THIS to Black Box Voting, via e-mail or online, live-time forum reports in the IOWA FORUMS section at Black Box Voting.
2) The Iowa Republicans have NOT publicly agreed to promptly release precinct results for the Jan. 3 caucus. Instead, we are seeing bait and switch tactics, as they emphasize to caucus participants that the counting will be done in public at the precinct. While they keep your eye focused on the front end, a switch can take place at the back end. When they release a total result to the media without releasing the individual precinct results at the same time, there is no way at all for citizens to confirm that their precinct results added up to the announced total.
Please CONTACT both the Iowa Republican Party and the Iowa Secretary of State to tell them you expect to see those precinct results published at the SAME time they announce the statewide total. Iowa Republican Party: (515) 282-8105 Iowa Secretary of State: 515-281-0145 515-281-7142 (Fax) sos@sos.state.ia.us
(But aren't caucuses "owned" by the parties and not the Secretary of State? It's like this: If Iowa wants to position itself as the first in the nation for caucuses, perhaps the ONLY possible influx of mass tourist dollars in January in Iowa, they need to run transparent caucuses with proper checks and balances. If they don't citizens nationwide should recommend dropping the Iowa First in the Nation concept).
3) One thing the Republican Party of Iowa has done RIGHT is making caucus locations transparent. All you have to do is go to http://www.iowagop.org and click the map to find every Republican caucus location in a county. Not so for the Democrats, who are making it harder to get a complete listing!
4) We have received conflicting reports as to the procedures at the Republican caucus. A spokesman for the Republican Party of Iowa told Black Box Voting that the votes would be written on paper and counted in front of candidate representatives and observers, then signed off on by precinct captains or whoever they've got in charge. WHAT TO DO: If that's the case, get a photo of the signed results and e-mail it to Black Box Voting - or upload it directly to the IOWA FORUM section of this Web site.
I believe Iowa keeps it this way because they make MONEY from all candidates running … the reason Kucinich wasn’t there is because because his Iowa field director operates from a home office rather than a rented storefront.
Following is statements from CBS news and jwharrison Blog ,,,
“In a statement included in the Kucinich release, the Register said it "was our determination that a person working out of his home did not meet our criteria for a campaign office and full-time paid staff in Iowa." The person they are referring to is Kucinich Iowa Field Director and State Coordinator Marcos Rubinstein, "who coordinates campaign activities from his home office in Dubuque, bolstered by a dozen-or-so other senior campaign staff who have traveled the state over the past several months," according to the Kucinich campaign.
The Kucinich campaign calls the exclusion "arbitrary and unreasonable."
"The Iowa caucuses have been portrayed as having national implications, and if the Register has decided to use hair-splitting technicalities to exclude the leading voice of the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party, then the entire process is suspect," it said in the release."
And here’s something to ponder … although Dennis Kucinich was left out, Alan Keyes was not.
by
chris ferry (0 articles, 5 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 12 comments)
on Monday, December 31, 2007 at 12:05:05 PM
Attn all Oped News readers- this is THE most important story of the day-no the year! What is the point of the endless bickering over candidates when they are planning on fixing the elections AGAIN! If they can, they will no doubt.
PLEASE JOIN ME IN SPREADING THIS EVERYWHERE!!!!!!
and please consider running for Congress in order to change our election process for the better
www.peacecandidates.com
by
Nadia (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 49 comments)
on Monday, December 31, 2007 at 12:20:13 PM
Not everybody lives in Iowa. What can I do in Delaware where our black box voting left Bush with a 5% increase between the exit polls and the official vote in 2004? Kerry won. But it contributed to the supposed majority popular vote for Bush that wasn't which made Kerry throw in the towel. Tampering with primaries is just as bad as with the general elections. Both deny the citizens their rightful say in this critical process.
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Pat Williams (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 82 comments)
on Monday, December 31, 2007 at 3:35:46 PM
I can't understand this. Why should there be any contravercy over an open system. You register, you take a card into the booth, you circle the name of your canditate, you drop it into the box, every hour the box is dumped on the table and sorted out by name, counted and called out. Then they can be sent to a central hub for a final tally and broken down by districts. What the h3ll is so hard about this?
by
Louis Park (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 6 comments)
on Monday, December 31, 2007 at 7:11:17 PM
ELRON - VOXEO: The Israeli Defense Firm That Tallies the Iowa Caucus
The Iowa caucus is only a few days away and the nation's attention will be directed to the results, which signify the beginning of the U.S. presidential race. But does anyone watch who tallies the results of the Iowa caucus?
The Iowa caucus results were tallied in 2004 by a company that is headed by a man whose company was bought by Elron Electronics, the Israeli defense firm. I suspect that it will be the same this year. Don't expect to see any grassroots political activists doing the tally in Iowa. The Israeli defense establishment takes care of that part of the American "democratic" election process.
by
Damocles (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 3 comments)
on Tuesday, January 1, 2008 at 4:17:02 AM
A few caveats on the Voxeo info AND MORE ON WHAT TO DO
1) No documentation has been provided on Voxeo, only a report of verbal interviews
2) Note that the Voxeo information is from 2004 and is not current.
3) The Voxeo information may have nothing to do with the Republican Party, which due to the opaqueness of its procedures, deserves much more scrutiny.
The Voxeo connection has not been proven, but might be with the (missing) expenditure reports for the Iowa Democratic Party and the Republican Party of Iowa.
Christopher Bollyn, who wrote that article, has been on the right track with questions about who programs the automated cell phone tabulation program. Other important questions still need to be answered about the routing of the telecommunications and the server holding the data.
Yesterday the Iowa Democratic Party announced the Web site that will host the precinct results. Remember, precinct results are one-half the equation, the other being citizens to take EVIDENCE -- not tell stories -- of the actual precinct results while they are at the caucus. ONLY YOU, THE CITIZENRY, CAN MAKE THAT HAPPEN. Photos, video, of the following:
1) Republican - show of hands votes.
2) Democrat - warm body counts
3) Both Parties - any obstructiveness or attempts to impose social consequences, by ridiculing, calling people with cameras names (eg "conspiracy theorist" and any attempts to obstruct. Do not provide justification by doing ANYTHING that can be deemed "interference" with the goings-on.
PHOTOS: Get photos of the final results at the caucus, preferably signed by the precinct officials.
PROPAGATE: Upload photos to multiple web sites. Upload video to YouTube or GoogleVideo. Distribute the links to multiple sources
BE SPECIFIC: Identify who took the video or photo using real name. Privately (via e-mail to the Web sites of your choice) send your contact information. If you uncover evidence of importance, it does no good unless it can be authenticated, meaning someone has to have your contact into. Identify the location the video/photos were taken. You can use the Iowa Forum at blackboxvoting.org to upload -- just register and log in and hit the "upload" button while posting a message.
It's a little odd to me that this site is not owned by the Iowa Democratic Party, only "paid for" by the Iowa Democratic Party, and the notation at the bottom that it was designed by Strategic Media appears to tie it back to The Forbin Project and VGM Group.
Questions remain. Anyone who can send me the complete expenditure reports for the Iowa Democratic Party and The Republican Party of Iowa gets two points.
by
Bev Harris (73 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 21 comments)
on Tuesday, January 1, 2008 at 11:23:10 AM
Looks like you are finally getting somewhere with this Bev..
... and I for one admire the heck out of you!
I'll never forget the early days after election 2004 when you, me, Bob Fitrakis, Brad from Brad blog and a few others were seemingly the only folks raising hell about Ohio. To see what you have managed to accomplish since then is amazing.
by
Steven Leser (189 articles, 35 quicklinks, 32 diaries, 1265 comments)
on Tuesday, January 1, 2008 at 2:58:16 PM
John Howard gets two points times six - he has uncovered three years worth of expenditure reports for the Democrats and three for the Republicans. I have uploaded the documents and here they are:
The 2005 document for the Democrats shows a single $500 payment to VOXEO. This single payment of $500 in June 2004 does not corroborate that VOXEO tabulated the Iowa 2004 caucus votes. The amount is way too small and the date is questionable. It is very interesting, though, and I think more will unravel that will support Bollyn's statements that VOXEO may have tabulated the results.
Next comes his assertions on the Israeli connection and Elron. These do not necessarily check out; will know more tomorrow when I receive more documents.
The core issue with the VOXEO connection has nothing to do with whether it does or does not have an Israeli connection, but rather, does VOXEO answer the question of "who is the vendor for the cell-phone-initiated automated tabulation service for the caucuses?"
Identifying the vendor is important, and it is equally important to identify the routing of the information going out to the public. A middleman in the process could easily wreak havoc in Iowa, where the presidential selection process is not subject to public records, is not subject to public election administration laws, and is missing some checks and balances -- in the case of the Republican caucuses, missing MOST of the key checks and balances.
by
Bev Harris (73 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 21 comments)
on Tuesday, January 1, 2008 at 10:45:36 PM
