Sunday, December 21, 2008

Mike Connell's 1/50 College Park Privileged Flight Plan

Seems like Mr. Connell's Plane was headed from a typical Wash. DC small plane airport.
See Google map below and zoom out.
-----------------------------------------
"Deep Throat" Emerges in Mike Connell Plane Crash (RE: Ohio Election Fraud - Rove Cheney Bush)

* Posted by James aka adap2k on December 4, 2009 at 5:30pm

An anonymous informant has provided information indicating that an airplane piloted by Republican computer expert Mike Connell was sabotaged before it crashed on December 18, 2008, near Akron, Ohio.

One of Connell's sisters says she believes the family will file a wrongful-death lawsuit against Republican strategist Karl Rove if foul play ever is proven in the plane crash.

Those are two of the major revelations in a stunning recent investigative piece at BradBlog, by award-winning television producer and writer Rebecca Abrahams.

Connell, the founder of New Media Communications in Richfield, Ohio, was considered a skilled and experienced pilot. He developed campaign Web sites for a number of Republican clients, including George W. Bush and John McCain.

Connell had been forced to give a deposition in an election-fraud lawsuit on November 3, 2008, the day before the general election. Roughly six weeks later, his plane crashed next to a vacant house in Lake Township, Ohio, as Connell was returning from a business trip to Washington, D.C. The cause of the crash is unknown, and it remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Why was Mike Connell a central figure in election-fraud issues? And why have questions been raised about the nature of the plane crash that killed him? Abrahams summarizes:

Although mainly un-reported, there's a great deal of controversy surrounding Connell's death--largely in part because he was the architect of many Republican websites including GeorgeWBush.com and GWB43.com, the site Karl Rove used for 95% of his email correspondence. Connell was also considered a key witness in the election fraud lawsuit King Lincoln Bronzeville Neighborhood Association v. Blackwell. The suit implicates Former Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth J. Blackwell, Karl Rove and others of 2004 election night vote rigging.

Attorneys in the case believe that Connell, who had not been accused of any wrongdoing, had firsthand knowledge about the missing White House emails and Rove's alleged wrongdoing with respect to the 2004 Presidential election.

Connell's sister, Shannon, says she believes her brother's work related to politics led to his death. Reports Abrahams:

Although her brother never spoke of his work, Shannon believes that Mike's ties to the Bush Administration and the GOP are somehow related to his death.

"It just seems way too convenient, the timing since he had been deposed. He didn't get to testify. But I don't think he would've perjured himself. When it comes down to it, he was basically an honest person. If push came to shove and he was under oath testifying, I believe that he would've told the truth. I think that there were other people who believed that as well."

The Connell family has received tangible evidence that suggests foul play in the plane crash. Reports Abrahams:

Recently, the Connell family has been dealt another blow--an anonymous memo penned by someone identifying themselves as "Mark Felt" (the name of the man who was ultimately revealed to be "Deep Throat"), cataloguing an order and mission to remotely intercept and rig the instrument panel of Mike Connell's plane then "sanitize" the area.

Heather confirms receipt of this memo, which was cc'd to six unknown recipients.

What does the memo mean? Abrahams reports that it is being taken seriously:

Those close to the case believe the person behind the memo is a real informant with inside knowledge about Connell's plane crash. There are a number of Intelligence officials looking into it, including the FBI. The FBI field agent in charge of the case, Jack Vickery, did not return my calls. But Cliff Arnebeck, the prosecuting attorney in the case and the one who deposed Mike Connell last November, issued the following statement:

We received copies of the "deep throat" letter and redacted report of a jackal that "is not supposed to exist." We passed on to the FBI this and other information we have relevant to the matter. Our impression is that the FBI is doing its job of investigating specific allegations regarding the assassination of a vital witness in our federal election fraud case.

The term "jackal" refers to a hired assassin. And Abramhams quotes an expert on the subject:

Former CIA operative John Perkins wrote about such "jackals" in his book, Confessions of an Economic HitMan, and says while he doesn't have any inside knowledge about Connell's death, he would not be surprised if he was murdered.

"It wouldn't surprise me a bit. They've certainly assassinated a lot of people in this country. The Kennedys were assassinated. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. It's entirely possible that Paul Wellstone was assassinated. We've had a long, long history of assassinations. It's extremely successful in terms of turning politics around and getting people off cases. In a way, Bill Clinton was assassinated but it was a personality assassination. The Connell case is just one more possibility."

Perkins says that the mysterious plane crash long has been a popular tactic with hired assassins:

"It's so easy to cover it up. The evidence is destroyed and everybody knows airplanes are fragile anyway, small airplanes in particular. So it's a very clean type of assassination in terms of ways to do it because the area where the plane crash happens can be quickly cordoned off . . . and the evidence can be cleaned up very quickly and most of it is destroyed anyway. But if there's anything left, it can be disposed of very, very quickly."


The Connell family wants to know the identity of the informant. The family also wants to know more about threats Mike Connell reportedly received in the weeks leading up to his death.

Shannon Connell is quick to say that justice will be difficult to achieve in her brother's death. Reports Abrahams:

Shannon says if there were proof of foul play, she believes her family would file a wrongful death suit against Karl Rove. But she says she's not sure her family will ever know what really happened that day in December.

"I think Mike got caught up in some other people's lives and didn't know how to get out or was trying to get out. You know, I'm real cynical about whether justice will be done. A lot of the government officials probably have gotten away with a lot of things. My position now is what's going to make this different? What's different with my brother's death that's any different than Paul Wellstone's?"
--------------------------------------------
FlightAware, a Web site that tracks flight plans, reported that the plane was coming from College Park, Md., departing at 3:31 p.m. and scheduled to arrive at Akron-Canton at 5:43 p.m."(Quoted From Ohio.com)

Only 50 People can use this airport due to it's proximity to D.C.
as explained in this video. I am sure they are 50 very special people since September 11, 2001 of the Bush Cabal including this ill fated flight of Mike Connell.

http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&q=college+park,+md+airport&fb=1&t=h&z=16&g=college+park,+md+airport&iwloc=addr


View Larger Map

Sunday, December 7, 2008

National Strike? Tell them They Don't OWN US

http://www.usalone.com/cgi-bin/petition.cgi?pnum=914

The employer (Republic Windows And Doors http://www.montereyherald.com/ci_11161578?nclick_check=1&forced=true ) states that Bank America told them they cannot pay the workers their separation and vacation pay when Bank America received billions (See 60 Minutes Footage/transcript w/ head of Bank of America, Ken Lewis:

"The total was $125 billion of taxpayers' money. Bank of America, Lewis says, didn't need the money _ but got $25 billion anyway."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/19/60minutes/main4531244.shtml) from the government of the people of the United States.

So why are they holding back a few thousand for the employees who are about to lose their livelihood? And will the company owners walk away with the untold liquidation numbers? And Bank America stalls the line of credit when they have these funds from OUR government.

"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." Lincoln's First Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1861.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Richard Hayes Phillips Crunches 2008 Numbers, It Ain’t Pretty

IMAGINARY NUMBERS PERSIST IN OUR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.

November 22, 2008

Lurking within the numbers that recorded Barack Obama's election victory are some numbers that cannot be true. And while the errors are of nowhere near the magnitude to call Obama's victory into question, they are substantial enough to continue to challenge the accuracy of optical scanners and electronic tabulators. We need a fair, accurate, and verifiable count, especially because, in every election, there are some contests that are very close, and even relatively small discrepancies, whether accidental or intentional, could reverse the outcomes of those elections.

Many of the imaginary numbers derive from erroneous data for voter turnout, which is equal to the total number of ballots cast divided by the total number of registered voters, expressed as a percentage. Both the Diebold tabulators and the ES&S optical scanners produce two different sets of numbers for ballots cast. One parameter is called "cards cast," and the other is called "times counted." The lower number may or may not be true. The higher number certainly is not true, because it is derived by counting each page of every absentee ballot, which has the effect of double counting them as ballots cast. This does not necessarily carry over into the vote count for individual candidates or ballot issues, but it does make the vote count unverifiable. If we do not know how many voters there were, then we do not know if the right numbers of votes were counted, and we certainly do not know if they were assigned to the right candidates.

Equally disturbing are the states that report no voter turnout data at all. In Indiana and Missouri, for example, these data are not available until the official results are certified, which is to say: "First we certify the results, and then we release the numbers." Thus the public does not get to scrutinize the accuracy of the results prior to certification, and therefore cannot bring errors to the attention of election officials in a timely manner. In Virginia, the numbers reported as "turnout" are invariably equal to the number of votes counted, which is not the truth, and is of no use at all. There are always some voters who do not make a choice for a given office or issue, and we need to know how many of these there were, in order to assess the accuracy of the count.

This apparent lack of concern for accuracy results in two wild and obvious discrepancies:

(1) If the reported number of ballots cast is too high, and the number of votes counted is accurate, there will appear to be too many uncounted votes -- whether "undervotes," ballots cast with no choice for the office, or "overvotes," ballots cast with two or more choices for the office. Ordinarily the percentage of undervotes/overvotes for the office at the top of the ticket will be on the order of 1% or 2%. When the percentage exceeds 10%, or even 20%, the numbers are imaginary. (2) If the reported number of votes counted is too high, and the number of ballots cast is accurate, there will appear to be an overcount. These are known as "phantom votes," because there can be no legitimate explanation when more votes are counted than the number of persons who voted. When there is even one "phantom vote," the numbers are imaginary.

The most disturbing thing about the two different sets of numbers produced by Diebold tabulators and ES&S optical scanners is that it opens a window of opportunity for wholesale election fraud. If the reported number of ballots cast and the reported number of votes counted are both too high, the two numbers, relative to each other, will not appear impossible. The only red flag would be that the voter turnout percentage (ballots cast divided by registered voters) might appear too high when compared to other counties in the state. Only by painstakingly counting the numbers of names in the voter signature book, and the absentee voter lists, and the provisional voter lists, precinct by precinct, can the accuracy of the turnout data be verified, and even then we have no way of knowing if the votes were assigned to the right candidates. If a serious discrepancy were found, and there were no paper ballots, or if the chain of custody for those ballots could not be verified, there would be no way to correct the count. Imagine how the Internal Revenue Service would respond if you told them that you keep two sets of books.

In Ohio, according to numbers posted on the official website of Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, and presumably provided by the county Boards of Elections, there were 5,600,022 ballots cast in the 2008 presidential election. Of these, 146,484, or 2.62%, were not counted as votes for President. This would be the combined total of "undervotes" and "overvotes." While these results are incomplete and unofficial, this is a very high number. In the 2004 election, there were 5,722,391 ballots cast, of which 96,760, or 1.69%, were not counted as votes for President.

COMPARISON OF VOTER TURNOUT IN OHIO

Registered Voters

Ballots Cast

Percent Turnout

Votes Counted

Under

/ Over

% Under

/ Over

2008

8,291,877

5,600,022

67.54%

5,453,538

146,484

2.62%

2004

7,974,770

5,722,391

71.76%

5,625,631

96,760

1.69%

According to these unofficial results, there were four counties in Ohio with more than 15% undervotes for President. Either 15.77% of the voters in Wayne County, 17.21% in Highland County, 20.14% in Butler County, and 23.75% in Perry County made no choice for President, or else the machines are not accurate. Closer scrutiny reveals that these are the four counties with the largest percentage turnout (ballots cast divided by registered voters). All four counties reported 80% turnout, or very close to it, compared to 67.54% statewide. This suggests that the erroneous data are the numbers of ballots cast (identified by Brunner as Voter Turnout). For example, there were not really 42,046 voters in Butler County who made no choice for President. It is more likely that there were about 40,000 fewer voters than the number reported. If the clearly erroneous numbers from these four counties are excluded from the statewide totals, there are 86,399 undervotes or overvotes remaining, which amounts to 1.63% of 5,288,930 ballots cast in the other 84 counties in Ohio, a percentage quite in line with the election results from 2004.

OHIO COUNTIES WITH MORE THAN 15% UNDERVOTES

County

Total Voters

Voter
Turnout

Percent Turnout

Barack Obama

John

McCain

Others

Total Votes

Under

/ Over

% Under

/ Over

Perry

22,897

19,839

86.64%

7,128

7,585

415

15,128

4,711

23.75%

Butler

261,359

208,757

79.87%

62,871

101,537

2,303

166,711

42,046

20.14%

Highland

26,996

22,022

81.58%

6,437

11,390

405

18,232

3,790

17.21%

Wayne

73,344

60,474

82.45%

21,144

28,730

1,062

50,936

9,538

15.77%

By comparison, there are six other counties in Ohio with a reported turnout above 75%. Three of these counties (Coshocton, Putnam and Geauga) have undervote/overvote rates of 1.92%, 1.51% and 1.25%, respectively, quite in line with the statewide average. In Mercer County the percentage is 0.13%, low enough to be questionable. Only 27 of 20,700 voters made no choice for President, or else the machines are not accurate. In Morgan County the percentage is 7.87%, which is much higher than the real statewide average, suggesting that the reported number of ballots cast is too high. There are seven other counties with undervote/overvote rates greater than 4%, or two and one-half times the real statewide average. One of these, Hamilton County, where Cincinnati is located, is the third largest county in the state, where 26,015 more voters were reported than the number of votes counted for President. Either 26,015 voters in Hamilton County made no choice for President, or else the machines are not accurate.

OTHER OHIO COUNTIES WITH 75% TURNOUT

County

Total Voters

Voter
Turnout

Percent Turnout

Barack Obama

John

McCain

Others

Total Votes

Under

/ Over

% Under

/ Over

Morgan

9,171

7,062

77.00%

2,921

3,387

198

6,506

556

7.87%

Putnam

24,320

18,629

76.60%

5,169

12,855

323

18,347

282

1.51%

Coshocton

22,204

16,978

76.46%

7,580

8,583

489

16,652

326

1.92%

Delaware

119,612

91,102

76.16%

35,849

53,671

954

90,474

628

0.69%

Geauga

66,721

50,370

75.49%

20,692

28,314

735

49,741

629

1.25%

Mercer

27,585

20,700

75.04%

5,636

14,730

307

20,673

27

0.13%

OTHER OHIO COUNTIES WITH MORE THAN 4% UNDERVOTES

County

Total Voters

Voter
Turnout

Percent Turnout

Barack Obama

John

McCain

Others

Total Votes

Under

/ Over

% Under

/ Over

Hamilton

605,634

426,808

70.47%

208,802

187,862

4,129

400,793

26,015

6.10%

Fayette

16,431

11,988

72.96%

4,199

6,931

183

11,313

675

5.63%

Sandusky

43,377

31,049

71.58%

15,101

13,935

569

29,605

1,444

4.65%

Marion

41,644

28,852

69.28%

12,016

14,840

664

27,520

1,332

4.62%

Vinton

9,036

5,782

63.99%

2,405

2,962

158

5,525

257

4.44%

Monroe

10,217

7,104

69.53%

3,623

2,973

209

6,805

299

4.21%

Holmes

18,166

11,389

62.69%

3,074

7,590

248

10,912

477

4.19%

Also according to the unofficial results, there were three counties in Ohio with "phantom votes" – more votes counted for President than the number of voters who cast ballots. Only an examination of the voter signature books and absentee voter lists could possibly determine if these votes are legitimate. For such an examination the provisional voter lists are irrelevant at present, because, as of this writing, the provisional ballots have yet to be counted. In Allen County, the turnout is reportedly 62.93% even without the 3,154 phantom votes which, if considered, bring the turnout to 67.40%; and there are 1,723 outstanding provisional ballots which, if counted, would bring the turnout to 69.84%. Any of these percentages are plausible. The problem is that we do not know which, if any, of these numbers are real. If the number of votes counted exceeds the number of ballots cast, at least one of those numbers is imaginary.

OHIO COUNTIES WITH PHANTOM VOTES

County

Total Voters

Voter
Turnout

Percent Turnout

Barack Obama

John

McCain

Others

Total Votes

Phantom Votes

Allen

70,652

44,463

62.93%

18,206

28,656

755

47,617

3,154

Henry

20,135

13,667

67.88%

6,163

8,091

273

14,527

860

Summit

379,939

268,661

70.71%

155,105

110,499

3,445

269,049

388


The number of phantom votes is always a minimum, because they are always offset by genuine undervotes or overvotes. In other words, the number of extra votes counted for a given office minus the number of ballots containing no vote for that office will equal the number of phantom votes that appear in the election results. Similarly, the reported number of undervotes will be artificially low if any phantom votes are in the system. Thus, in a state where phantom votes appear in any of the counties, undervote/overvote percentages close to zero in other counties are suspect. In Ohio there are eight counties where the undervote/overvote percentage was reportedly less than one-quarter of one percent. Less than one out of every four hundred voters made no choice for President, or else the machines are not accurate. In Hardin County, for example, there were zero undervotes or overvotes reported. There were 12,740 voters, and every single one of them made a choice for President. If an examination of the ballots should reveal even one undervote or overvote, this would mean that there are phantom votes in the count.

OHIO COUNTIES WITH LESS THAN 0.25% UNDERVOTES

County

Total Voters

Voter
Turnout

Percent Turnout

Barack Obama

John

McCain

Others

Under/

Over

% Under

/ Over

Hardin

18,036

12,740

70.64%

4,847

7,553

340

0

0.00%

Carroll

19,697

13,715

69.63%

6,302

6,952

449

12

0.09%

Mercer

27,585

20,700

75.04%

5,636

14,730

307

27

0.13%

Greene

114,059

80,277

70.38%

31,888

47,190

1,064

135

0.17%

Defiance

26,504

18,606

70.20%

8,058

10,138

374

36

0.19%

Hancock

53,911

35,998

66.77%

13,357

21,898

671

72

0.20%

Champaign

26,157

18,471

70.62%

7,161

10,919

351

40

0.22%

Medina

128,636

87,973

68.39%

39,645

46,829

1,305

194

0.22%

Unfortunately, such numbers are nothing new for Ohio. In the 2005 off-year election, the unofficial results showed eight counties with undervote/overvote percentages above 10% for Issue Two, an election reform initiative that was the biggest draw on the ballot. The rate was as high as 23.03% in Pike County. In the same election there were 395 phantom votes in Greene County. In the 2006 mid-term election, the unofficial results showed 16 counties with undervote/overvote percentages above 10% for the United States Senate. The rate was as high as 26.48% in Cuyahoga County, where 148,928 voters allegedly could not decide between Sherrod Brown and Mike DeWine. In the same election there were 1,275 phantom votes in Marion County. All of these counties used Diebold touch screens. There was an attempt to correct these numbers in the official results, but four of these same counties still had undervote/overvote percentages above 10% for the United States Senate, and two new counties appeared on the list. In Stark County, where the official results showed only 4,107 more ballots cast than the unofficial results, Sherrod Brown gained 11,634 votes, and Mike DeWine gained 8,612 votes, which is impossible. In Cuyahoga County, where Diebold touch screens were used, the official results showed better than 100% turnout, more ballots cast than registered voters, in sixty precincts. In Summit County, where ES&S optical scanners were used, the official turnout was 110.16% countywide. These imaginary numbers were posted online by the Boards of Elections, and were certified by then Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell. These numbers are set forth in greater detail in my book, "Witness to a Crime," in a chapter entitled "Auditing the Mid-Term Election."

And it's not just Ohio. In New Mexico, in the 2008 presidential election, at least 23 of 33 counties reported phantom votes. There were 14,744 more votes counted than "actual voters" (to use the terminology of the New Mexico Secretary of State) in 23 counties. And there were only 152 fewer votes counted than "actual voters" in the other ten counties, which suggests that there may also have been phantom votes in these counties that were offset by a greater number of genuine undervotes or overvotes for President.

NEW MEXICO COUNTIES WITH NET PHANTOM VOTES, 2008

County

Eligible Voters

Actual Voters

Percent Turnout

Barack Obama

John

McCain

Others

Total Votes

Phantom Votes

Bernalillo

393,922

279,278

70.90%

171,357

110,522

3701

285,580

6,302

Cibola

15,489

9,006

58.14%

5,828

3,130

139

9,097

91

Curry

22,305

14,362

64.39%

4,664

9,593

169

14,426

64

Doña Ana

108,747

66,698

61.33%

40,276

28,066

930

69,272

2,574

Eddy

27,908

19,670

70.48%

7,351

12,500

242

20,093

423

Grant

22,188

13,750

61.97%

8,142

5,406

207

13,755

5

Guadalupe

3,554

2,185

61.48%

1,557

620

19

2,196

11

Lea

28,933

18,460

63.80%

5,108

13,347

190

18,645

185

Lincoln

13,779

9,570

69.45%

3,534

6,001

160

9,695

125

Los Alamos

13,186

10,922

82.83%

5,824

5,064

181

11,069

147

Luna

12,357

8,333

67.44%

4,311

3,870

159

8,340

7

McKinley

37,833

22,750

60.13%

16,572

6,382

253

23,207

457

Rio Arriba

25,732

16,439

63.89%

12,703

4,086

151

16,940

501

Roosevelt

10,429

6,683

64.08%

2,303

4,311

106

6,720

37

San Juan

65,376

45,759

69.99%

18,028

27,869

614

46,511

752

San Miguel

21,646

12,736

58.84%

10,320

2,478

143

12,941

205

Sandoval

79,423

57,895

72.89%

32,669

25,193

768

58,630

735

Santa Fe

97,704

70,655

72.32%

55,566

15,808

849

72,223

1,568

Socorro

12,533

7,871

62.80%

4,696

3,032

167

7,895

24

Taos

24,828

16,468

66.33%

13,816

2,866

204

16,886

418

Torrance

9,656

6,910

71.56%

3,087

3,735

119

6,941

31

Union

2,433

1,736

71.35%

492

1,227

23

1,742

6

Valencia

40,605

28,823

70.98%

15,366

13,136

397

28,899

76

NEW MEXICO COUNTIES WITH NET UNDERVOTES, 2008

County

Eligible Voters

Actual Voters

Percent Turnout

Barack Obama

John

McCain

Others

Total Votes

Under

/ Over

Catron

2,912

2,113

72.56%

664

1398

50

2,112

1

Chaves

34,439

22,136

64.28%

8,197

13,651

264

22,112

24

Colfax

9,212

6,391

69.38%

3,490

2,805

89

6,384

7

De Baca

1,467

1,056

71.98%

359

675

9

1,043

13

Harding

778

629

80.85%

260

358

8

626

3

Hidalgo

2,885

1,973

68.39%

993

936

22

1,951

22

Mora

4,067

2,772

68.16%

2,169

569

22

2,760

12

Otero

32,659

21,827

66.83%

8,610

12,806

350

21,766

61

Quay

6,125

4,005

65.39%

1,547

2,367

82

3,996

9

Sierra

7,974

5,502

69.00%

2,352

3,017

116

5,485

17

Unfortunately, such numbers are nothing new for New Mexico. There were phantom votes reported in New Mexico in the 2004 presidential election also. According to a "Summary Report on New Mexico State Data," by Ellen Theisen and Warren Stewart, who examined election results for the entire State of New Mexico at the precinct level, there were a total of 2,087 phantom votes reported in 250 of 1,429 precincts. This amounted to 34.85% of the official margin of 5,988 votes separating Bush and Kerry. Moreover, the real number of undervotes or overvotes for President must have been greater than was reported at the state level, where there were 775,301 ballots cast, and 756,304 votes counted for President, which leaves 18,997 undervotes (or overvotes). Because phantom votes appearing at the precinct level cancel out undervotes reported in other precincts, the real number of undervotes for President must have been 2,087 higher, or 21,084.

NEW MEXICO COUNTIES WITH PHANTOM VOTES, 2004

County

Eligible Voters

Actual Voters

Percent Turnout

John Kerry

George Bush

Others

Total Votes

Under / Over

% Under / Over

Phantom Votes

Bernalillo

356,536

262,617

73.66%

132,252

121,454

3,105

256,811

7,045

2.68%

1,239

Chaves

33,520

22,156

66.10%

6,726

14,773

206

21,705

485

2.19%

34

Cibola

14,270

8,003

56.08%

3,913

3,477

97

7,487

528

6.60%

12

Dona Ana

94,345

63,777

67.60%

31,762

29,548

650

61,960

2,075

3.25%

258

Grant

21,100

13,751

65.17%

7,095

6,135

162

13,392

458

3.33%

99

Lea

29,333

18,317

62.45%

3,646

14,430

105

18,181

149

0.81%

13

McKinley

34,934

22,223

63.61%

13,051

7,351

221

20,623

1,664

7.49%

64

Otero

31,052

21,326

68.68%

6,433

14,066

265

20,764

589

2.76%

27

Quay

6,198

4,129

66.62%

1,422

2,661

34

4,117

18

0.44%

6

Rio Arriba

24,839

15,613

62.86%

9,753

5,149

97

14,999

661

4.23%

47

San Juan

63,340

45,938

72.53%

14,843

29,525

638

45,006

959

2.09%

27

Sandoval

63,951

45,863

71.72%

21,421

22,628

492

44,541

1,323

2.88%

1

Santa Fe

94,634

67,782

71.63%

47,074

18,466

660

66,200

1,780

2.63%

198

Taos

23,080

15,482

67.08%

10,987

3,666

182

14,835

702

4.53%

55

Valencia

37,398

26,155

69.94%

11,270

14,474

268

26,012

150

0.57%

7

In 2004, the great majority of phantom votes (1,649 of 2,087, or 79.01%) were reported in precincts which used optical scanners, the same technology now in use in New Mexico on a statewide basis. Small wonder that phantom votes now exceed undervotes statewide. If the 2008 results from New Mexico were examined at the precinct level, one would surely find the numbers of both phantom votes and undervotes to be even higher than 14,744 and 152, respectively, with the additional numbers canceling each other out. Only an examination of the voter signature books, the absentee voter lists, and the provisional voter lists could possibly reveal how many of the 829,938 votes counted were "actual voters," and how many were not actual voters. And unless there are paper ballots to be examined, or the phantom votes are due to canvassing errors, the numbers assigned to the candidates cannot be corrected, because no one can know which votes were from "actual voters" and which were not.

One is reminded of the famous quotation from Lew Wallace, Territorial Governor of New Mexico from 1878 to 1881: "All calculations based on experience elsewhere, fail in New Mexico."

By examination at the precinct level, Theisen and Stewart were able to show that, in the 2004 presidential election, phantom votes and undervotes were reported in the same counties. Even these numbers are minimums, because even at the precinct level, phantom votes and undervotes cancel each other out. Even so, there were eight counties in New Mexico where undervote rates above 4% were reported in 2004. Four (Cibola, McKinley, Rio Arriba and Taos), which also had phantom votes, are shown in the table above; and four (Colfax, De Baca, Mora and San Miguel), which did not have phantom votes, are shown in the table below. Seven of these counties (all except De Baca, by far the smallest of the eight) are located in northern New Mexico, and all seven have majority Hispanic or Native American populations.

What these numbers really mean is that in some precincts there were more phantom votes than undervotes, while in other precincts there were more undervotes than phantom votes. The only way to tell how many phantom votes have entered the system and corrupted the count is to examine all the ballots, one by one, and determine how many undervotes there really were. Then, by simple subtraction, one can calculate how many phantom votes there must have been in order for the numbers to turn out the way they did. If there are no paper ballots, there is no way to correct the corrupted count. If we really care about the accuracy of the vote count, we might as well go to hand counted paper ballots in the first place and dispense with the machines.

Because phantom votes and undervotes cancel each other out, it is possible to rig the machines so that a portion of "actual voters" have their votes disappear, thus opening a window of opportunity to replace them with phantom votes for the desired candidate. So long as the number of phantom votes does not exceed the number of undervotes, no one will be the wiser.

Theisen and Stewart showed that in the 2004 presidential election, statewide, although only 382,941 (49.39%) of 775,301 votes were cast at the polls on Election Day, these accounted for 17,095 (81.08%) of the undervotes. The rate was 4.46% (17,095 of 382,941) for Election Day voting, compared to 0.70% (1,664 of 236,340) for early voting, and 1.49% (2,325 of 156,020) for absentee voting. Also, the undervote rates were far higher with push-button electronic voting machines 3.67% (17,600 of 479,761), the major culprits being Sequoia Advantage at 5.28% (5,703 of 108,044), and Danaher Shouptronic at 4.89% (10,409 of 212,965), than with optical scanners, on which the undervote rate was 1.18% (3,484 of 295,540). An equivalent rate of 1.18% on electronic voting machines would have resulted in 5,660 undervotes, not 17,600, which raised the disturbing possibility that 12,000 votes cast on electronic voting machines may have been lost to machine malfunctions. This was twice the official margin of 5,988 votes separating Bush and Kerry.

New Mexico's undervote rate of 2.72% (21,084 of 775,301) was the highest in the nation, and Stewart confirmed that the electronic voting machines were programmed so that you could erase your own vote. If you pushed the button for "straight party voting," this would activate the choices for all the candidates in that party. If you then pushed a button for a specific candidate (for example, John Kerry), you were "deselecting," or erasing, your own vote. All 33 counties in New Mexico used optical scanners for absentee voting, but 21 counties used electronic voting machines at the polls, and all had striking differentials in their undervote rates. In Taos County, which voted 70.97% for Kerry, the undervote rate was 0.61% (12 of 1,968) for absentee voting, but 9.55% (672 of 7,036) at the polls. In San Miguel County, which voted 67.67% for Kerry, the undervote rate was 0.78% (13 of 1,657) for absentee voting, but 10.06% (686 of 6,816) at the polls.

This brings us back to the 2008 election in Ohio. Those four counties with extremely high undervote rates – Perry County (23.75%), Butler County (20.14%), Highland County (17.21%), and Wayne County (15.77%) – all used electronic voting machines, not optical scanners. While their anomalously high turnout percentages, ranging from 79.87% to 86.64%, suggest that the reported numbers of ballots cast are too high, we do not know this, and there are no actual ballots to examine in order to find out. Surely there were not 42,046 voters in Butler County, Ohio who made no choice for President. One hopes that these were not "actual voters" whose votes were lost on Premier (a.k.a. Diebold) touch screens.

Not all states have such widespread problems as in Ohio and New Mexico. Even in Florida, only three counties reported imaginary numbers. Duval County reported 615 phantom votes; Glades County reported 935 undervotes/overvotes (21.78% of ballots cast); and Union County reported that all 5,293 voters made a choice for President. In the other 64 counties there were, unofficially, 62,679 undervotes or overvotes, or 0.78% of 8,029,011 ballots cast.

In North Carolina, only one county reported imaginary numbers. Camden County reported 147 phantom votes. In the other 99 counties there were, unofficially, 43,576 undervotes or overvotes, or 1.00% of 4,349,175 ballots cast.

NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY WITH IMAGINARY NUMBERS

County

Registered Voters

Voter Turnout

Percent
Turnout

Barack Obama

John McCain

Others

Total Votes

Under

/ Over

Camden

7,168

4,877

68.04%

1,646

3,291

87

5,024

- 147


In Nevada, no imaginary numbers were reported, whether phantom votes or inordinate percentages of undervotes. In Nevada, voters have the option of choosing "None of these Candidates." Thus, we know how many undervotes are intentional, and how many might be inadvertent, which serves as useful baseline data. Statewide, out of 967,346 ballots cast, 6,251 (0.65%) voted for "None of these Candidates," and another 2,202 (0.23%) made no choice at all. The highest percentages for "None of these Candidates," ranging from 1.00% to 2.71%, were in eleven sparsely populated counties with only 49,747 ballots cast among them. The highest percentage for no choice at all was in Churchill County, with 91 (0.85%) of 10,695 ballots cast. These numbers confirm the inaccuracy of much higher reported rates of undervotes.

The quest for election integrity, when properly considered, is not a partisan endeavor. We must not be lulled into complacency because a Democrat has been elected President. It is still true that only a close election can be stolen, and the 2008 election was not close enough to steal.

Electronic voting machines and optical scanners have opened a window of opportunity for election fraud on a scale that has never before existed in America. People may be weary of hearing about it, but the problem has not gone away. It is a mistake to focus exclusively on the old-fashioned methods of voter suppression and voter disenfranchisement, even though they are real, because electronic voting is disenfranchising all of us, in a silent way, so that we don't even know it is happening. This is consumer fraud. The defective products need to be recalled.

I would rather have paper ballots, marked by voters, counted by dedicated poll workers with white hair, bleary eyes, too much coffee, and too little sleep, who might have to count the ballots twice in order to reconcile an error of one or two, than have electronic tabulators count 14,744 extra votes in New Mexico, or report that 42,046 voters in Butler County, Ohio made no choice for President. I would rather wait until the next day to find out who really won the election, and know that the candidate the people voted for is the one installed in office. Electronic tabulation is driven by an inordinate need for instant gratification, reflecting not the desire of the people, but the compulsion of the media to get the story first, whether or not they get the story straight. Responsible journalism does not do this, especially when our democracy is at stake.

Our elections go forth as if the numbers are correct, and no one is checking to see if they really are. We trust that the machines are accurate, but there is no basis for that trust. Our leaders don't want us to know there is a problem, because we might get upset if we found out about it. When we do examine the numbers, we find that our elections are not verifiable. The entire process needs scrutiny. It is up to the people to do it. This means you. I have devoted four years to investigating election fraud. I have done my part. I have taught you how to fish. Now go fish.

---------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------


Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D., is the author of "Witness to a Crime: A Citizens' Audit of an American Election." This is the document of record for the fraudulent 2004 presidential election in Ohio, the state that decided the election. It is based upon 30,000 photographs of actual forensic evidence – ballots, poll books, voter signature books, ballot accounting charts, and other election records. The book is 448 pages, hardcover, and comes with a CD containing more than 1,200 of these photographs. "Witness to a Crime" is not sold in stores. Autographed copies are still available by mail order or through PayPal at http://www.witnesstoacrime.com

R.D. Laing

R.D. Laing
Speaking on Autonomy