STOLEN ELECTION IN ALASKA?
Shannyn Moore
11/06/08


Something stinks. Not just an ordinary low tide smell. Not like
something you'd blame on the dog. It smells like an infection. For me
to plug my nose, I'd have to overlook some curious facts. In Alaska,
more people voted for George W. Bush in 2004 than voted for Sarah
Palin on Tuesday despite an identical 61-36 margin of victory. Yes.
Only four years ago 54,304 Alaskans got off their sofas and voted for
Bush, but decided to sit home and not vote for Palin in 2008. In turn,
I have to ignore the 30,520 Alaskans who felt progressive enough in
2004 to vote for John Kerry, but weren't inspired enough to get out
and vote for Barack Obama. I would have to glance past the 1,700%
increase in the Democratic caucus in February, the 20,991 newly
registered voters, and the three largest political rallies in Alaska's
history. I would also have to forget the people I stood in a long line
with to early vote. Try not to remember 12.4% more Alaskans showed up
for the August primary vote than did four years ago, before the Palin
nomination. It would be helpful not to know every other presidential
election since Alaska began keeping records has had a larger turn out
than the one this year with our own Governor on the ticket. Don't
think about the Lower 49's record voter turn out this year either. Try
to delete the memory file, though difficult, that 80% of us approved
of Sarah Palin just two months ago.

Something stinks. You don't care? Obama won. Yes. He. Did! Free at
last! Wait. Democracy demands all of the votes be counted... if you
can find them. In the balance hangs the fate of Alaska's Senate seat
and House seat. We still don't know if we have elected now convicted
felon Ted Stevens, or Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich. We still don't know
if Don Young and his million dollar legal problems will defeat former
State Representative Ethan Berkowitz and his dreams of Washington DC.
Alaska hasn't had a Democrat represent us in Washington DC since Mike
Gravel lost his senate seat in 1980.

Four years ago, 313,592 out of 474,740 registered voters in Alaska
participated in the election-a 66% turnout. Taking into account 49,000
outstanding ballots, on Tuesday 272,633 out of 495,731 registered
Alaskans showed up at the polls; a turnout of 54.9%. That's a decrease
of more than 11% in voter turnout even though passions ran high for
and against Obama, as well as for and against Sarah Palin! This year,
early voters set a new record. As of last Thursday, with 4 days left
for early voting, 15,000 Alaskans showed up-shattering the old record
set in 2004 by 28%! Consider the most popular governor in history-and
now the most polarizing-was on the Republican ticket. Consider the
historic nature of this race; the first African American presidential
candidate EVER! The second woman to ever make a presidential ticket;
and she's one of our own. Despite that, we're supposed to believe that
overall participation DECREASED by 11%. This historic election both
nationally and for Alaska Had the lowest Alaska turnout for a
presidential race ever!!! That makes sense. Really??? Something
stinks.

But wait, there's more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shannyn-moore/stolen-election-in-alaska_b_141704.html