Voter Fraud In Alaska?

The Presidential race is over, Barack Obama had a landslide victory, picking up electoral votes in such places as Indiana and even one of Nebraska's. Nothing like Florida in 2000 or Ohio 2008 happened and the race was called early at 11pm EST. Yet after many of us went to bed, the polls closed in Alaska one hour after the crowds were cheering for Obama and the results from up north are extremely troubling.

From RawStory:

Even though the polls this year have generally been pretty accurate, they were way off in Alaska. Stevens was running between 7% and 22% behind his Democratic challenger in the polls, but now he is narrowly ahead in the vote count

Polling analysis website 538.com comments, "The emerging conventional wisdom is that there was some sort of a Bradley Effect in this contest -- voters told pollsters that they weren't about to vote for that rascal Ted Stevens, when in fact they were perfectly happy to. Convicted felons are the new black, it would seem. The problem with this theory is that the polling failures in Alaska weren't unique to Stevens."

The polls also consistently showed Rep. Young as losing by at least 6%, but he is currently ahead in the vote count by 8%. Even in the presidential race, where polls showed McCain leading by 14% or less, the vote count has him winning by 61% to 35% -- precisely the same margin as George Bush in 2004. That represents a polling error of at least 11% to 14% in all three races.

At the same time, total voter turnout appears to be about 11% lower in Alaska this year than in 2004 -- despite over 20,000 new registrations, heavy turnout in the primaries, record early voting, long lines at the polls on Election Day, and the state's own governor being on the ballot, all of which had led to an expectation of record participation.

A possible "Bradley effect" in the opposite way is one possibility for Stevens' narrow margin that puts him ahead of Mayor Begich, but it doesn't add up for the other races at the Presidential level and for the Congressional seat. If I had to put on my Captain Obvious glasses, I might just see that Democratic votes were wiped off the tallies. Now who would do such a thing?

Well can you guess who tallies the vote up in the Last Frontier State? If you said "Diebold" then congratulations, but for the voters in the state, I apologize. Of course, Alaskans already know the company's miserable track record, with possible illegalities in 2004 as well as the primary race in 2006 with a state that scoffs at those that would dare question Diebold's accuracy. It is still early, but one thing is for sure, this whole thing smells fishy.

Obama Camp Provides Useful Tips To Protect Your Vote

This five minute short is a fantastic way to learn about Republican strategies that help to suppress the vote and how to get around them. Making sure your vote counts is not only important for the integrity of the system, but also that you ensure your voice is heard tomorrow. We are working towards a new kind of politics in America where hate and bigotry do not play a role but for now we must fight against the evil with full knowledge of how the old racist and dare I say, classist system works.

Olbermann Shows Why McCain Has Dropped Voter Fraud Claims

Keith asks the question and finds the answer:



Republicans best watch what they say about voter fraud when it is their side committing the crimes they accuse others of.

Gov. Crist Calls McCain An Exaggerator That Enjoys Chaos

Governor Charlie Crist of Florida may not have directly attacked John McCain, but he certainly painted a broad stroke across many Republicans who have tried to over-hype ACORN as the creator of a voter fraud nightmare. John McCain has spent millions in ads and plenty of precious time to attack Obama for ACORN's terrible activities meant to register voters. Too bad for John, his main man in Florida tore the talking point to shreds yesterday.

From The Miami Herald:

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida's governor says his fellow Republicans may be exaggerating claims of voter fraud in the state.

Gov. Charlie Crist said Wednesday that he has confidence in Secretary of State Kurt Browning, who says there's only been a scattering of isolated incidents.

Crist said in the closing days of any campaign "there are some who sort of enjoy chaos." There may be more of that going on than fraud, he said.

Oh John McCain enjoys chaos alright, his face said it quite clearly last night during the debate. Since he clearly loses on the issues, he is doing whatever it takes to distract the country from what truly matters. The problem with his ACORN-ranting is that his claims are unfounded. Just because some people turn in fraudulent voter registration cards doesn't mean that people can vote more than once. There are mechanisms in place to prevent that and no GOP henchman has yet to prove that there has been one case of voter fraud due to this. Of course, lying about everything and anything is John's style, so no one should expect anything different.

Colorado Ethics Watch Restores Integrity To State's Voter System

The traditional media, whether it be locally or nationally focused, rarely does its job of policing our government and rooting out corruption. So it is a great thing that we do have organizations like Colorado Ethics Watch to fill in while they all suck at the corporate teat. While not the first state to have voter problems, Colorado has been having some difficulties with a certain state official named Holly Lowder and her friend John Paulsen. The former is the state's elections director and the latter sells voting systems to the state. Can you guess where this is going?

From The Rocky Mountain News:

Holly Lowder, 66, resigned from her post as elections director two months before what is expected to be one of the biggest elections in recent Colorado history. She held that job since 2006. Before that, Lowder served as Alamosa County clerk for about 25 years.

Colorado Ethics Watch had been pursuing documents from the state regarding Lowder's ties to John Paulsen.

Paulsen, 59, operates a software company called LEDS, LLC from his home in Castle Rock, records show. LEDS has installed voter databases in more than 30 counties and recently got two contracts worth almost $184,000 with the secretary of state's office for data work related to the current election season.

Records show that Lowder recently lived at a Cherokee Street home in Denver that is owned by Paulsen.

Chantell Taylor, director of Ethics Watch, called Lowder's resignation "no coincidence."

At least Rocky Mountain News credited them for the story, whereas many traditional outlets will generally just take stories outright, generally via the AP. The article itself gives Lowder a chance to respond, but you can tell that Lowder isn't fooling anyone, either at Colorado Ethics Watch or the Rocky Mtn News.

When asked why she resigned, she said "I retired. I did not resign."

Paulsen did not return numerous phone calls and e-mails seeking comment.

One of his earliest government contracts was with Alamosa County during Lowder's term as clerk. The county bought Paulsen's voter database and also uses his system for all its electronic property records.

So yeah, you can tell it sounds fishy and when the husband (who is separated from Holly) was interviewed he had no idea that Paulsen was supplying her new digs. So now we have one less corrupt official who deals with our nation's ballots. If only the media would work as well as Colorado's Ethics Watch, we might just get a fair and accountable system.

Yeah, wishful thinking, I know.