2008 Woodie Awards
News of Possible Voter Fraud Spreads through Blogs; Unmentioned by Media
Brian O'Connor
Issue date: 11/24/04 Section: News
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Online watchdog groups recently filed Freedom of Information acts in order to count provisional, absentee, and electronic ballots in counties suspected of voter fraud. Claims made by many weblogs of fraudulent activity range from the destruction of voter registration materials, to impossible numbers of voters in certain key counties in this year's presidential election.
After the fiasco known as the 2000 presidential election, watchdog groups, public advocates, and international monitors watched the results come in this past November. While many were pleased that the election ran smoothly and did not appear to demand a recount, many groups began questioning the validity of George W. Bush's second election.
Walden O'Dell, the CEO of Diebold, Inc., the company responsible for the electronic voting booths used in critical swing states, said that he was "Committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year," in a statement to President George W. Bush's biggest supporters earlier this year. According to http://www.commondreams.org, a watchdog group, that letter was distributed a day prior to the qualification Diebold as a firm allowed selling upgraded electronic voting machines in Ohio for the 2004 election, a decision made by Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell (R-OH). O'Dell supposedly invited Vice President Dick Cheney to a fundraiser at his estate last July, resulting in $500,000 to the Bush/Cheney reelection campaign, and W.R. Timken, another member on Diebold's executive board members, gave President Bush a tour of the Diebold facilities. According to commondreams.org, both Timken and O'Dell were "Pioneers" in the Bush reelection campaign, meaning they both donated over $100,000 to the incumbent. Soon enough, total numbers of votes coming from Diebold machines in Ohio, Arizona, and California reported numbers of votes that outnumbered actual registered voters in the counties. Fifty-Seven Precincts in San Luis Obispo County, California began showing results that were way beyond the numbers of actual voters in the county.
After the fiasco known as the 2000 presidential election, watchdog groups, public advocates, and international monitors watched the results come in this past November. While many were pleased that the election ran smoothly and did not appear to demand a recount, many groups began questioning the validity of George W. Bush's second election.
Walden O'Dell, the CEO of Diebold, Inc., the company responsible for the electronic voting booths used in critical swing states, said that he was "Committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year," in a statement to President George W. Bush's biggest supporters earlier this year. According to http://www.commondreams.org, a watchdog group, that letter was distributed a day prior to the qualification Diebold as a firm allowed selling upgraded electronic voting machines in Ohio for the 2004 election, a decision made by Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell (R-OH). O'Dell supposedly invited Vice President Dick Cheney to a fundraiser at his estate last July, resulting in $500,000 to the Bush/Cheney reelection campaign, and W.R. Timken, another member on Diebold's executive board members, gave President Bush a tour of the Diebold facilities. According to commondreams.org, both Timken and O'Dell were "Pioneers" in the Bush reelection campaign, meaning they both donated over $100,000 to the incumbent. Soon enough, total numbers of votes coming from Diebold machines in Ohio, Arizona, and California reported numbers of votes that outnumbered actual registered voters in the counties. Fifty-Seven Precincts in San Luis Obispo County, California began showing results that were way beyond the numbers of actual voters in the county.