Rob Kall: Are there
any things that our listeners and readers can do about these nine ways that the
election are being stolen? You have in the back of the book a collection of
ways to beat the ballot bandits, so maybe you can talk a little bit about some
of them.
Greg Palast: Yes, well
I'll be happy to talk a little about the nine ways that they steal it. What I think is the most important part of
the book is a tear out at the back of it called "Seven Ways to Beat the Ballot
Bandits." We don't have to sit on our hands. I call "Seven Ways to Beat the
Ballot Bandits" the "ballot condom for safe voting." It tells you things, a
basic kind of voting hygiene...
Rob Kall: Wait a
second, wait a second. Well I just need to say, if you're talking about a
condom, whether it's used or not, either way you're "effed" I mean.. (laughs)
that just prevents some of the risk... I mean (laughs)
Greg Palast: Yeah, well okay. (laughs) Well, you got me
there. (laughs) But some of the things you can do, like for example, one of the
obvious things to do is register to vote. Now, you think oh, I'm registered to
vote. Sure you are, Jack. Let me explain
something. I'm sitting in Washington
D.C. looking at an empty building called the U.S. Elections Assistance
Commission, which was defunded by the Republicans. But before they did they
collected the fact that 22 million, and I want you to write that on the back of
your hand, that 22 million voters have had their registrations purged from the
voter rolls in the last two years.
That's the official number. Now, most of those, it's not going to make a
difference, you know people registered elsewhere. But about 3 million people of the 22, about 3
million are legal American citizen voters who've had their votes challenged by
the Themis Machine or the Data Trust Machine; these are two giant data mining
operations, The Themis by the Koch Brothers, Data Trust by Karl Rove. So
they've wiped out a lot of legal voters. You don't know if they put you down as
a felon, or in Florida, insane. You can't vote in Florida if you're insane
unless you're the Governor or Secretary of State. And then, in a lot of states,
you have everything- inactive voters"my own assistant, bless him, who knows this
stuff inside and out, showed up at the last Congressional Election and he was
told he couldn't vote because he was an inactive voter, and he said "I've voted
for everything from the PTA on!" and he said "Too bad, you're inactive." So he
was not allowed to vote. They gave him a provisional ballot, which was then
thrown in the garbage, that's is another thing.
So check your registration! Okay, you know, check your registration. If
you want to, by the way, get the ballot condom, then go to ballotbandits.org.
You don't have to get the book, though you should, you know unless you want to
be deliberately stupid, get the book, which is a lot of fun. And if you can't,
and if you are a victim of New Jersey's and Philadelphia's No Childs Behind
Left schooling, then just at least read the fifty page comic book inside by Ted
Rall. But go to ballotbandits.org, and our foundation has a poster up there. Download it,
spread it around it, seven [7] ways to beat the ballot bandits or order copies
of our very colorful folder, poster; get the word around. And one of the
things, is just register. Go online and make sure you are registered with your
proper name at your proper address, so you don't have any B.S.
So you know, people talk about the
ID laws, one in twelve voters have their names misspelled on the voter rolls by
the clerks who enter the names. You'll show up with the correct ID, but if
you're listed as Bob Koll, you are effed (laughs)
Rob Kall: Now, How do
you check, how do you check to determine how you're listed? What do you do?
Greg Palast: Okay. The
state, your Secretary of State's office, or the County Board of Elections,
wherever you are, should have your name on the voter rolls.
That's a public listing, and
everyone has them online these days. So, you should be able to check your
registration. Make sure it's listed as active, not challenged by some GOP jerk,
and I say GOP because sometimes, if you're in New Mexico, you would probably be
challenged by Democrats, especially if you're Hispanic. The Democratic party
really hates Hispanic voters. They're
all Democrats, but it doesn't really matter. That's another story in the book.
So, just make sure you registered by going to the county Board of Elections
site. If you're not, re-register. It doesn't hurt.
If you re-register, by the way, it
doesn't cause any harm. It just makes sure that you're there. So please do so.
And don't just go to like...
Rob Kall: Can you
register online now? Or what's the best way to register?
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
4
3
2
