Start:
Thu, 11/10/2005 - 5:00pm

We are all concerned about many issues right now and the way the media is spinning them - the electronic voting fraud allegations, the Bush "mandate", who the next senate minority leader should be, etc.

We're all a little drained from this election. But there is something we can do - we can write to the media (and our elected representatives) and voice our concerns on these issues. Click here for an easy-to-use database of national and local media contacts, put together by the League of Women Voters.

You can use these contacts to express your views on the following issues:

Fraud in Electronic Voting: Allegations & Mounting Evidence

Update: Click here to read the quick & informative email by Rapid Response Network on this issue!

While I have been hearing that many progressives want to simply accept the election results and move on, others are concerned that Kerry gave in so easily, especially in light of electronic voting in swing states. There is concern that (1) there are huge (statistically significant) differences in the results of counties that used machines made by Diebold and other companies as compared to the results of counties that didn't use these machines, (2) exit polling does not match up with the results given by the machines, and (3) there are many accounts of the motive and ability of Republicans to hack machines.

New Links & Info:
Update on the More-Votes-than-Voters Scenario: There was concern about the fact that Cuyahoga County, Ohio had several precincts in which there were more votes than actual registered voters. The explanation from Cuyahoga is that the extra numbers are from absentee ballots; those votes are recorded in the totals for every precinct in the legislative or congressional district which covers that precinct, so there is overlap and hence larger totals appear on the pages.

www.Bloggermann.com is the blog of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, which has updates about his reporting on allegations of electronic voting fraud in Ohio and Florida.

Click here for the website of Kathy Dobb, who is compiling the Florida results and putting it into visual graphs that show the difference between counties using optical scanners and those using touch screens.

Click here if you would like to join a petition to Congress calling for an investigation into voting irregularities.

Daily Kos is also covering this story. Look under "Diaries" in the lower right.

Background:
Many precincts in swing states, including Ohio and Florida, used electronic voting machines that did not have any paper trail. Experts have warned about the hazards of electronic voting without paper trails, including the warning that fraud could be perpetrated on a mass scale without anyone knowing. So the media is reporting that absentee ballots and paper ballots were not enough to change the difference in Ohio, perhaps the real question is whether the results from electronic machines are accurate.

BlackBoxVoting.org and StolenElection2004.com are two websites that are exposing the role of electronic voting in this election.

Click here for an article at Common Dreams about alleged election fraud in Florida.

Progressive blogs and organizations such as DFA and MoveOn are now talking about the problems with electronic voting on Nov. 2, but the media is only very slowly starting to report on this, and often in a very dismissive way. This could be because there is nothing problematic to report, or it could be another case of the mainstream media ignoring a very real issue, as they have so often throughout this election season and before.

Some of the blogs and groups are pointing out that in areas that did NOT use electronic voting, exit polls matched final results. In areas that DID use electronic voting, exit polls were much stronger for Kerry than the reported results.

From what I am hearing, people are divided on Kerry's decision to concede so soon. Some say we needed closure, while others say he should have waited for the provisional and absentee ballots to be counted in Ohio, for the sake of his supporters if nothing else. You may be firmly on one side or the other of this issue. You can use the link above to tell the media how you feel.

Mandate
Despite the close election, Bush is declaring a mandate. You may have received several emails and read several blog posts saying that there is no mandate, and this is the smallest margin by which any sitting president has ever been re-elected. But we need to transfer the no-mandate reality from the emails and blogs to the mainstream news media so that it gets out to the public.

New Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate
Tom Daschle was defeated in his re-election bid in South Dakota. So we need a new Democratic minority leader and it sounds like it might be Henry Reid from Nevada. Some people are happy, some people are not.

If you want to sound off on this issue, email the media or email our U.S. Senators, Chuck Shumer and Hillary Clinton, to tell them how you feel and if you think they should push for someone more progressive. Click here to go to the webform to contact Sen. Clinton. Click here to go to the webform to contact Sen. Shumer.

The Lack of Questioning of Electronic Voting Machines
While I have been hearing that many progressives want to simply accept the election results and move on, others are concerned that Kerry gave in so easily, especially in light of electronic voting in swing states. There is concern that exit polling does not match up with the results given by the machines, as well as many other stories about the motive and ability of Republicans to hack machines. Click here for a Sunday night blog post by MSNBC's Keith Oberman about a story-in-the-works on electronic voting fraud in Ohio and Florida. Click here for an article at Common Dreams about alleged election fraud in Florida.

Background:
Many precincts in swing states, including Ohio and Florida, used electronic voting machines that did not have any paper trail. Experts have warned about the hazards of electronic voting without paper trails, including the warning that fraud could be perpetrated on a mass scale without anyone knowing. So the media is reporting that absentee ballots and paper ballots were not enough to change the difference in Ohio, perhaps the real question is whether the results from electronic machines are accurate.

BlackBoxVoting.org and StolenElection2004.com are two websites that are exposing the role of electronic voting in this election.

Progressive blogs and organizations are talking about the problems with electronic voting on Nov. 2, but the media is not. This could be because there is nothing to report, as in, no probelm, or it could be another case of the mainstream media ignoring a very real issue, as they have so often throughout this election season and before.

Some of the blogs and groups are pointing out that in states that did NOT use electronic voting, exit polls matched final results. In states that DID use electronic voting, exit polls were much stronger for Kerry than the reported results.

From what I am hearing, people are divided on Kerry's decision to concede so soon. Some say we needed closure, while others say he should have waited for the provisional and absentee ballots to be counted in Ohio, for the sake of his supporters if nothing else. You may be firmly on one side or the other of this issue. You can use the link above to tell the media how you feel.