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GAO to Investigate Election
By Robert Lemos
http://news.com.com/Government+watchdog+to+investigate+election/2100-1028_3-5464969.html
Story last modified Tue Nov 23 13:47:00 PST 2004
The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm
of the U.S. Congress, will investigate anomalies in the November
election at the request of five Democratic representatives.
In two letters, sent Nov. 5 and Nov. 8, Reps. John Conyers Jr.,
D-Mich., Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Robert Wexler, D-Fla., asked
that the GAO investigate various complaints about election machine
technology and procedural issues preventing some votes from being
counted. Two other members of the House of Representatives, Robert
Scott, D-Va., and Rush Holt, D-N.J., signed the Nov. 8 letter.
"On its own authority, the GAO will examine the security and accuracy of voting technologies, distribution and allocation of voting machines, and counting of provisional ballots," the five members of the House said in statement Tuesday. "We are hopeful that GAO's nonpartisan and expert analysis will get to the bottom of the flaws uncovered in the 2004 election."
The lawmakers provided to the GAO some 57,000 incident reports that had been received by the House Judiciary Committee.
While most observers have concluded that election technology performed reasonably well in the last election, a variety of anomalies have cropped up. In Ohio, President Bush received a boost of some 4,000 votes in the preliminary tallies due to a transmission error. Data from Florida has raised eyebrows and led to at least one analysis that claimed the result of voting there is statistically implausible.
The congressmen asked the GAO to move quickly while there was still evidence from the election to analyze.
"There is substantial concern that much of the primary evidence needed to evaluate these allegations will not be preserved without immediate action," the representatives argued in the Nov. 8 letter.
Eight other members of the House of Representatives gave their support to the GAO request as well, the congressmen said in their statement.
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MSNBC Reports GAO Recount
Investigation For Election
Source: Countdown-MSNBC
URL Source: http://www.libertypost.org
Published: Nov 8, 2004
Author: Keith Olbermann
2004-11-08 23:47:20 by OKCSubmariner
Ping List: *NoBush2004*
Tonight on MSNBC's "Countdown" program Keith Olberman reported that 5 US Congressman have requested an investigation by letter, in writing, of voting machine irregularities in Ohio and Florida and other states that could lead to a national recount in up to 34 states.
The request for GAO action came because of the following irregularities according to Olberman:
Huge margins for Bush in Florida counties in which registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans 2-1, places where the optical scanning of precinct totals seems to have turned results from perfect matches for the pro-Kerry exit poll data, to a large Bush margin
In Florida, there were reports of a substantial drop off in Democratic votes in proportion to voter registration in counties utilizing optical scan machines that was apparently not present in counties using other mechanisms. http://ustogether.org/election04/florida_vote_patt.htm
In South Florida, voters in Palm Beach, Broward and Dade Counties reported that they attempted to select John Kerry but George Bush appeared on the screen. CNN has reported that a dozen voters in six states reported similar problems. See "Touchscreen Voting Problems Reported," Associated Press, November 5.
In Columbus, Ohio, an electronic voting system gave President Bush nearly 4,000 extra votes. "Machine Error Gives Bush Extra Ohio Votes," Associated Press, November 5.
In Youngstown, Ohio voters who attempted to cast a vote for John Kerry on electronic voting machines said they saw that their votes were instead recorded as votes for George W. Bush.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that officials in Warren County, Ohio, had “locked down” its administration building to prevent anybody from observing the vote count there.
Warren County Commissioners confirmed that they were acting on the advice of their Emergency Services Director, Frank Young. Mr. Young said he had been advised by the federal government to implement the measures for Homeland Security
The State of Ohio has said that of all of its 88 Counties,
Warren alone decided the Homeland Security measures were necessary.
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