August 14, 2006 at 02:27:13

BREAKING: McKinney Pursuing Legal Challenges to Elections in Georgia

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By Matthew Cardinale (about the author) Page 2 of 4 page(s)

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"The suit we filed was regarding voting irregularities in the Primary. One, many irregularities deprived voters for the right to vote for the candidate of their choice. Two, we simply do not know without independent verification that Donzella is not the winner of the election," Johnny Wilson, Attorney for Donzella James, said in the press conference.

"Our voting system is not complete. I am convinced that electronic voting in its current state is a clear and present danger to our Democracy," Ron Allen, Clark Atlanta University graduate student, said. "We [young people] may be young, but we're not naive."

"I ran for Secretary of State because I understand that Democracy starts right here. Georgia Senate Bill 591 would have made the paper ballot the official ballot of record," Angela Moore said. "In November we will test [in 3 precincts] if it [a paper trail] will work, but nonetheless it won't be the official ballot of record."

"I'm here to tell you, it's not sour grapes. But while we're talking about fruits, if you put in an orange and you get out an apple," then there's a problem, Donzella James said. Donzella James acknowledged APN to the other media initially present for "taking the issue seriously."

One problem which came up in the most recent election, is "people voted for a candidate in the Primary but came back and were not allowed to vote for the same candidate," Faye Coffield, private investigator, said.

The State Election Board replied that those voters lived in a split Congressional District, Coffield said. But the district was not split in the time span that occurred during the three weeks between the Primary and Runoff Elections.

"I am preparing to call on the Secretary of State's Office to investigate the matter. I'm hoping to get a look from the FBI and US Department of Justice to determine how this could happen, why it happened, and whether it's illegal," Coffield said.

Congresswoman McKinney called these "ghost voters" or "phantom voters" in Rev. Al Sharpton's radio program yesterday.

"The fact is, the voters needed to force the runoff were so small, it is mathematically possible that the inclusion of voters who were ineligible to vote could be responsible for the need for a runoff. Thus, if this is the case, the runoff in itself may have been unnecessary," Coffield said in written remarks obtained by Atlanta Progressive News.

McKinney Pollwatcher Karon Edge-Kitzpatrick gave an absolutely amazing speech. It was as if she was challenging the anger, frustration, and trauma of thousands and thousands of voters across the entire state of Georgia. Fitzpatrick's speech and energy was comparable to that of US Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (D-OH) on the floor of the US House when she contested the 2004 Presidential Election.

"I stand here today as a public servant honored to work with Donzella and our Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. Why does Democracy allude us today? When we entered the world of electronic voting, Democracy was thrown out the window... Instead today, we have continuing voter disenfranchisement and irregularities in our voting system and no audit trail," Fitzpatrick said.

"We have a black box voting process," Fitzpatrick said.

"Until we get this issue resolved, ALL ELECTIONS should be declared invalid. We must go back to paper if that's the only way to ensure... verification. Instead Diebold has given us an electronic poll book and we're supposed to trust that a Democratic vote isn't being turned into a Republican vote. They continue to fail us in having blackouts," Fitzpatrick said.

"I received far too many calls that voters, when they pressed the name for Cynthia, and their opponent's name came up. Or, the machine voted on its own!" Fitzpatrick said.

"When these problems occur it emphasizes the disenfranchisement of our voters. I stand with those courageous enough to fight. Democracy isn't dead. We're not going to allow it to be dead. The vote... is too precious to allow political infighting. We won't have another stolen election. Here today I applaud you all. We're in this for the long haul. It's on," Fitzpatrick said.

SOME ELECTIONS PROBLEMS THAT HAVE COME TO OUR ATTENTION

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

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Matthew Cardinale is Editor of Atlanta Progressive News. He has written previously for the Sun-Sentinel Newspaper, Shelterforce Magazine, The Advocate Magazine, The San Francisco Bay View, and the Berkeley Daily Planet Newspaper. He has also (more...)

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