"Explicit statistical evidence of massive ballot tampering in Palm Beach, Fl" > http://www.reagan.com/HotTopics.main/HotMike/document-11.17.2000.0.html > > Errors only Occurred in Presidential Races? > > Editor's Note: The following statistical analysis was sent to me by Robert > Cook, PE, a nuclear engineer, with an MS in statistical quality control, a > software testing specialist and QA manager, who has a track record for > analyzing and correcting trends, errors, and mistakes in heavy construction > projects (ships, power plants, nuclear reactors, military and aerospace > vehicles, etc.) for more than twenty years. > > Robert Cook presents here a remarkable statistical analysis of the Palm Beach > presidential ballot controversy that deserves serious investigation. He says > that the controversial 19,120 Presidential race ballots at issue there were > "destroyed by deliberate double-punching ballots in Palm Beach County FL with > a 'second punch' for Al Gore or Pat Buchanan. (In 1996, an additional 15,000 > Dole and Perot ballots were destroyed by double-punching presidential ballots > in Palm Beach County, FL. *) > > "It uses simplified but wide-ranging statistical comparisons to establish > beyond doubt that democratic operatives "stole" by double-punching ballots > approximately 15,000 Bush votes in Palm Beach County; and approximately 3,400 > additional Buchanan votes." > > References: > > (*9 Nov, 2000 CNN; Jim Smith, Former Florida Secretary of State; WSJ, > 11-10-2000) > (San Diego Union-Tribune, Nov 10, 2000, page A-12, Local Figure on Double > Voting Only 0.3%; Haas Sees Red Flag in Florida Totals; by Caitlin Rother) > (Los Vegas Sun, Nov 10, 2000. Statistics Point To More Than Random Error in > Florida Vote; by Jace Radke) > > The news media is utterly focused on the Democratic Party spin that voters > were "confused" in Palm Beach, FL. They are ignoring the 15,000 Bush and > 3,400 Buchanan votes that statistical evidence can show were stolen by fraud > in these 19,120 ballots. > > Worse, the national news media is ignoring the 2% of Florida who deliberately > and specifically refused to cast a vote for President: these Florida > resident, protesting BOTH major parties, are being ignored in the current > spin about "underpunched" ballots. These 2% of the voters - 10,000 in Palm > Beach alone - didn't "underpunch" any ballots "for" Gore. They specifically > tried to say "A pox upon both your houses!" and left that race blank. > > These 19,120 double-punched ballots demonstrate Democratic voter fraud....NOT > Republican fraud or "voter error" as publicized by the national media. The > 10,000 "protest ballots" are the means to further defraud the "protesting" > public by giving the democratic "judges" the ability to change these into > Gore votes. > > Statistical evidence cannot prove any single ballot was tampered with, nor > show which individual tampered with any single ballot. It can show specific > places and times and methods where the fraud was done. (For example, if > 15,000 dollars are missing from the register the day after your cashier left > on a Los Vegas vacation, there is no direct evidence that the cashier stole > the money. If, however, 19,120 dollars are missing from the register the > next year when the cashier again leaves for vacation in Los Vegas, one has > reason to investigate the cashier closely.) > > Consider these "unusual" ballot problems in Palm Beach, FL - every one of > them adds more Gore votes, and removed Republican and Reform party votes. > > ONLY Palm Beach County Florida voters seem incapable of understanding and > using this style of ballot. > > Palm Beach County has an error rate TEN TIMES larger than reported in ANY > other county in the nation using paper punch ballots! No information is > available about the number of ballots invalidated for previous primary, > state, and the 1998 Congressional votes. Unless an equal number (equal > proportion of "invalid ballots" per primary voter) of ballots was > double-punched in the 1996 primaries, the 1998 primaries, and the 1998 > Congressional races ..... the Palm Beach election officials are specifically > guilty of deliberate ballot tampering fraud in the year 2000 Presidential > elections.) > > ONLY in Palm Beach FL were 15,000 ballots "invalidated" (for double punched > ballots) in the 1996 Presidential election. (This is almost unique among the > entire nation! Certain central city Democratic precincts in Chicago reported > 120,000 double-punched ballots; and Duval County in Florida reported 22,000 > double-punched ballots. Neither used the same arrangement of candidates as > at Palm Beach. This shows that "lining up" buttons was NOT actually an issue > at Palm Beach, but was created as an excuse to blame the symptoms of fraud at > Palm Beach.) > > One early excuse given to the national news media by Democratic "spokesmen" > to explain the Palm Beach fraud was that people were 'exchanging" their > double-punched ballots - and were given new ones...If so, over 26 people per > minute "were confused" and voted twice for President! This many errors were > supposedly made, detected, and corrected (by handing out new ballots) while > no person made any "error" in any other race. This excuse would also mean > that more voters were being handed new ballots per minute than new voters > were being signed in. (19,120 "double punched" Democratic ballots divided by > 12 hours, there are fewer than 100 precincts in Palm Beach County where the > precinct level returns are suspect. Significantly, the massive number of > errors occurred only in a few of the precincts, and all of those precincts > were strongly Democratic. In precinct 144F, for example, there was only one > "counted" republican voter for president.) > > However, the "double-punched" ballots counted in the election were NOT > exchanged, and were actually read by the voting machine. They are the > symptom and the method of the fraud. There is no reason for this early > Democratic Party statement other than that of beginning a cover-up for the > double-punched ballots. > > Not surprisingly, this early fable was not maintained, and has not been > repeated. It also has not been retracted or contradicted by follow-up > stories in the national news media. > > ONLY in Palm Beach (and in ONLY the most heavily Democratic precincts) were > 19,120 ballots rejected in 2000 for double punching....This is a 4.4% error > rate overall; in the rest of Florida there is less than 1/2 of ONE percent > "double punch" error rate! (Unofficially, this error rate was 15% in > predominately Afro-American precincts, and 10% in precincts with large > numbers of Jewish retirees.) In strongly Republican precincts, the error > rate was the "usual" 1/2 of one percent.) San Diego County has 800,000 > voters, and (overall) has more senior, retired, minority, and new immigrants > than does Palm Beach County. Since all of these were represented the 1992, > 1996, and 2000 results in the San Diego double count totals, there can be no > excuse for "innocent errors" in Palm Beach. > > ONLY in Palm Beach did this "double punch" error happen ONLY in the > Gore-Bush-Buchanan selections for President. (In a truly random "error," the > mistakes happen in every race, all at about the same rate. In Palm Beach, > the massive errors (over 19,000) ONLY happened in the Presidential race.) > > ONLY in Palm Beach has the news media complained about "massive" ballot > confusion. In the 43 counties in Missouri, also mostly Democratic voters, > which use the same kind of ballot, there are NO complaints about "confused > voters" at all. (St Louis Post Dispatch, Nov 8, 2000) Therefore, ONLY in > Palm Beach FL do the Democrats have to "explain" a massive number of > incorrect votes. > > ONLY in Palm Beach did Gore GAIN 750 votes in a recount. In 50 out of 67 > counties in FL, the actual change in the recount was 5-7 votes, and in 63 out > of 67 counties, the total change was less than 30 votes either way. Further, > in 63 out of 67 counties the "changes" were somewhat evenly divided between > ALL the candidates, in rough proportion to the original number of votes. > This is the statistically expected result, and represents a true and legal > recount of the ballots without any change in the ballots themselves. > > This means that Palm Beach FL had an error rate in favor of Gore more than > 120 TIMES greater than any other county, (Two other heavily Democratic "inner > city" counties, (Flagler and Pinellas) had changes greater than 400 votes. > Whether or not fraud existed in those counties is possible, but not analyzed > here.) In a statistically valid recount, half of the errors would favor > Bush, and half favor Gore. This extreme change from the normal in only three > counties shows massive "tampering" towards Gore in those three counties > between the original machine count (already tainted by fraud) and the second > machine recount. > > In EVERY precinct in Palm Beach where Gore got more votes than there are > registered Democrats. Bush received less than 60% of the registered > Republican votes. In NO precinct in Palm Beach County did Bush receive more > than 80% of the number of registered Republicans. .... (Absentee ballots were > equally distributed by percentage between the two parties at 8% each. Thus, > there is specific evidence to show that the "level of interest" in the > Presidential election was equal between the two parties.) It is ONLY in the > "counted" turnout on Nov 7 that the democrats appear to "remove" 15,000 votes > in the Presidential race. > > Or, it is ONLY in Palm Beach County that more than 20% of the registered > Republicans "forgot" to vote for their party's presidential candidate. This > "lack of interest" by the republicans despite equally massive "get-out-the > vote" efforts by both parties. As shown by the absentee ballot numbers, > there WAS equal interest in the election by both parties; at least until the > votes were "totaled". > > ONLY in Palm Beach did Bush receive LESS than 65% of the registered > Republican voters. (Registered Republicans = 231,626 while Bush voters = > 152,954.) On average, in every other county in FL Bush received MORE votes > than there were registered Republicans. In the rest of the nation, poll > results show more than 90% of registered Republicans actively supported the > Republican candidate. (Also, unique in the entire state, the percentage of > Republican voters COUNTED as voting in Palm Beach was much less than normal, > despite the pre-election attention to Florida as a critical state; and > massive Republican get-out-the-vote campaigns.) > > This is very significant when the Republican Senate race is examined. > > To compare similar counties in Florida, look at the 10 counties in Florida > where there are more than 100,000 democratic voters for president. In every > one of these counties - EXCEPT Palm Beach County - Gore received FEWER votes > than Nelson, the democratic Senate candidate. In Palm Beach county, Gore > received slightly more votes than Nelson, which is not by itself > statistically significant. However, his "gain" over equally sized counties > IS directly proportional to the number of "blank ballots" (or "protest > votes") that was cast in Palm Beach County.) > > However, in 8 of 10 of these counties, Bush led McCollum (the Republican > Senate candidate by a major proportional to the county size, with the margin > being between 25,000 votes and 4000 votes. > > McCollum ONLY led Bush in Palm Beach County and Lee County (which is also the > focus of fraud due to its change in votes during the recount.) The margin of > Bush's lead in two counties close to Palm Beach in population was 15,000 > votes and 15,000 - equal to the number of Republican presidential voters > "missing" when the number of registered Republicans is checked. > > The only way this could occur is if 15,000 registered Republican voters went > to the polls, and "forgot" to cast their votes for president, or were > "confused" and voted twice for President but did NOT replace their ballot at > the polling booth; while remembering to correctly and accurately punch 15,000 > votes for the Republican Senate candidate. > > The same number of "missing" Republican votes is found when the four > Congressional races involved in Palm Beach County are checked. > > ONLY in Palm Beach County do the smaller (Congressional) races outdraw the > Presidential race. Again, the number of total Republican votes "missing" > (not counted in the presidential race) is equal to 15,000 Bush votes > destroyed by double punching in the Presidential race. > > The only way this could occur is if 15,000 registered Republican voters went > to the polls, and "forgot" to cast their votes for president, or were > "confused" and voted twice for President but did NOT replace their ballot at > the polling booth; while remembering to correctly and accurately punch 15,000 > votes for the Republican Congressional candidate in their district. > > When the two "coincidences" of correct votes in two other races are included, > it is impossible to accept "confusion" in the presidential race. > > ONLY in Palm Beach did Buchanan get less than HALF of the votes he received > before in 1996. Buchanan's "lost" votes in that county in 2000 were much > greater than in any other district in Florida. (Buchanan received over 8,000 > votes in 1996 Republican PRIMARY (where only registered Republicans can vote; > but he received only 3,407 under the Reform Party from ALL voters in the 2000 > Presidential election. (Pat Buchanan has relatives who live in Palm Beach > County, and this local support greatly increases the number of local voters > who choose Buchanan, compared to every other region of the country. There > are over 14,551 members of the Reform party in Palm Beach County - which > indicates that less than 1/5 of the Reform voters voted for their own > candidate. The Fraud is NOT whether Gore voters were "confused" and voted > for Gore, but rather WHY Reform Party and Libertarian voters were prevented > from registering THEIR vote!) > > Much has been (erroneously) made of the number of apparent Buchanan votes, > with some partial observers (paid by the democratic Party officials who > started the first lawsuits requesting a recount) claiming that his total vote > count "must" be wrong. > > It is important to note that Buchanan's running mate is the FIRST > Afro-American to run for national office. Further, she is only the SECOND > woman to run for national office. Given the demographics of the Palm Beach > is, and its high concentration of minorities, it is perhaps surprising that > Buchanan-Foster didn't get more votes than they are credited with receiving. > > There is a simple, single explanation for ALL of these 19,120 problems in ONE > set of ballots in ONE district in ONE state. > > 15,000 Bush ballots, and 3,400 more Buchanan ballots, were double-punched to > imitate a Gore vote, AFTER legitimate voters left their polling booths. > > Assume 45,000 ballots were stuck with a stiff wire or pointed tool. It would > take somebody a little bit of privacy and about 15 minutes. A ream of paper > is 1 inch thick, 45,000 many ballots can be carried by one person in one > handcart or box, damaged, and returned to position very quickly. More > simply, they could be punched several hundred at a time while the stack is > lined before being read at the voting machine - since all the ballots would > already be lined up and stacked neatly in order at that time. > > Originally, > 3,000 = Buchanan > 15,000 = Bush > 25,000 = Gore (Gore has approximately a 2:1 margin over Bush in Palm Beach > Cty.) > 1,250 = other parties and random existing errors > 750 = "blank" or "protest votes"- No vote for President; other spots may be > filled in. > > After .... > 3,000 Buchanan + Gore = thrown out. > 15,000 Bush + Gore = thrown out. > 25,000 Gore (+ Gore) = GOOD VOTES for Gore = counted already > 1,250 + others + Gore = thrown out. > 750 = "blank" + Gore = Gore additional "free" votes > > Stamping 45,000 ballots with a tool (or other device) THROUGH the Gore slot > gives: > > Every Gore vote = still a valid Gore vote. (No change in the total, no > change in the recount.) > > Every Bush, Buchanan, Workers Party, and Libertarian Party ballot IS > IMMEDIATELY INVALID. They will be thrown out because they have two votes. > They NEVER were counted in the first place = no change in the recount. The > double-punch occurs ONLY in the presidential race, and no position on the > ballot is disturbed. All other races are correctly counted. > > EVERY ballot that had no vote (a "protest vote" against both major > candidates) becomes a Gore vote. All other races on the ballot are not > disturbed, and are correctly counted. > > Evidence of fraud by selectively punching "empty" or "protest" ballots before > the recount. > > Statewide, 2% of the voters deliberately chose NOT to select a presidential > candidate. 2% of 45,000 ballots is 900, statistically equal to the 950 > "votes" changed into 750 Gore votes, and 150 Bush votes during the recount. > It is statistically impossible (odds of over 149 million to 1) to have ONE > county out of 67 change its recount votes by over 900 votes if it is counting > untainted, unaltered ballots, while the other 64 counties (using legal > methods) change their recounts by less than 30 votes either way! > > Significantly, the recount results DO require that approximately 900 ballots > be "blank" or "protest" votes (originally) before tampering. From the first > set of 45,000 tampered ballots, there would [have to be] no "blank ballots" > for the Presidential election - all would have an original vote, or be blank > from a protest vote and be filled in by the original double-punching. > Further, no additional double-punching could be done, or an additional 15,000 > presidential votes would be canceled during the recount. > > However, the recount processed all ballots again, and thus allowed 900 > "selected" blank ballots to be "newly counted" - rather than being left blank > as in the original. > > The key to prosecuting the criminals involved: maintaining the double-punched > ballots separate in the order they were originally received, and under > evidentiary control for later prosecution. > > 1. RECOUNTING them by hand, recording the remainder of the votes on the > ballot. Gloves are required to avoid contaminating the fingerprint evidence > (if any) of who handled the ballots. Also, if available, precinct numbers of > which precinct processed should be kept with the ballot. Note that > continuing the "hand-recount" effort (as now demanded by the Democrats) will > destroy any fingerprint evidence available, since all judges are handling the > ballots with no protection.. > > 2. Finding out the order of the double punched ballots (in groups, > one-by-one, or only at the top of box of ballots) will yield forensic > evidence to indicate how the fraud was done, and who did it. > > 3. Looking for a pattern of tears, hanging remnants of paper, and misshapen > holes - a pattern that will appear ONLY in those ballots that have duplicated > votes - I have used this kind of paper-punch ballot for many years here in > GA. A "valid" hole is created when you punch the ballot above the hole in > the voting booth. IF the ballot has been "stacked" together and many ballots > were punched at one time - the stacked ballots will have remnants, paper > tears, misaligned holes, and oddly shaped holes......It is these violated > 15,000 Bush votes that Gore wants to declare "Gore" votes....further > violating the legal Bush votes already voided by the voting machine. > > 4. The fraudulent double-punched ballots will show double punches ONLY in > the presidential race....and no other errors in other races that are properly > punched. A "valid error" in the first race (the presidential race) that was > detected by the voter and replaced with another ballot - WILL NOT BE > RECORDED. THOSE BALLOTS WOULD HAVE BEEN REPLACED ALREADY by the election > official and the replacement put in the ballot box. > 5. The double-punched ballots will ALWAYS include a Gore vote....legitimate > errors will have randomly distributed errors in every position.... If the > ballots include an overwhelming number of number of "Bush + Gore" votes, and > almost no "Bush + Buchanan" votes, then that proves that this set of ballots > were tampered with and never counted in the first place ... because the > voting machine discards double punched ballots.. IF the ballots include "no" > (or very few) Bush + Buchanan, or "Buchanan + somebody + Gore votes" > else....then it shows that they were deliberately tampered with to exclude > (throw out) otherwise valid Bush votes. > > There has been speculation that the tampering may have involved Buchanan > duplicates "accidentally" punched in several thousand ballots cases by > double-punching the Buchanan position. This creates a Buchanan > "double-punch" rather than a "Gore" double punch. The same evidentiary and > analysis rules apply. The result, as far as Bush is concerned, is the same. > The valid Bush vote is voided, not by a Gore + Bush double punch, but by a > Buchanan + Bush double punch. Any Gore votes in the group accidentally > double-punched will be voided as well. > > Obviously.... Every tampered ballot WILL include a GORE vote, if the double > punch was done by a Gore operative inserting a false Gore vote. Of all > double-punched ballots, a certain number (0.3% of the original 460,000 > ballots, or 7-9% of the 19,120 double-punched ballots) will contain "true" > errors randomly spread among all the contenders. Or if an "error" was made > in the tampering, the pattern would be a massive number of Gore + Buchanan > and Buchanan + Bush double-punched ballots, plus the same 7% of randomly > generated errors spread among all contenders. Further, if an error in > double-punching fraud occurred, it is reasonable to assume that the error did > not occur every time. The ratio of Gore + Buchanan and Gore + Bush and > Buchanan + Bush ballots may vary between precincts, depending on how long the > puncher was "confused" and how many operatives got "confused" between the > Buchanan button and the Gore button. > > The combination of deliberate double-punched Gore + valid vote" ballots and > confused "Buchanan + valid vote" ballots will total 19120 ballots. > Approximately 1400 ballots will be random errors, and the remainder, > deliberate (or accidental!) double-punched ballots > > To verify this....count the doubled ballots, list each with what OTHER votes > were cast. Almost NO "legitimate" Gore voter would choose other Republican > choices, or at least very, very few would. IF almost all of the Bush + Gore > ballots had mostly Republican choices, or blanks where there is a Democrat > running unopposed, then that shows additional evidence where a Bush vote was > destroyed. > > ONLY when a Gore + Buchanan ballot shows almost all Democrats is there the > potential for "confusion": these few ballots will show the few cases where > some Gore supporter actually got confused! > > A Buchanan + Gore vote with a reform Party vote for Senator is evidence of a > Buchanan vote that got destroyed. Approximately 2000 of these ballots are > expected. There is a definite possibility that the double-punch fraud > involves the Buchanan presidential vote being duplicated - either > accidentally (by error!) of a Gore operative double-punching the wrong ballot > hole, or by a Buchanan operative adding votes for his candidate. > > The Democratic cover-up by Election Officials began before the ballots were > "officially counted. Massive and continuing publicity that declares "voter > confusion" before the ballots are "counted" or results released indicates > that the "double-punch" error was known before the ballots were totaled > "officially." > > Palm Beach County was one the last counties in Florida to release its voting > results, and the Palm Beach County results were critical in a last minute > "surge" in Gore votes that reduced Bush's lead from 50,000 votes (in Florida > overall) to less than 1500. Late delivery of votes, with the specific > precinct vote count delayed until the required number of votes is known, is > classic symptom of local election fraud. It DOES NOT prove fraud, but late > delivery of vote results is the most common way of tampering with the vote, > and is essential if ballot tampering is involved in the vote fraud. Late > delivery of fraudulent votes has happened in several previous democratic > elections at the national level, showing that the individuals involved had > close knowledge of previous fraud and its successes. > > Local Democrat officials are claiming that these are "double -punched"! They > know...and were told early this morning! to collect 3000 old folks who could > claim they were confused...They quickly needed a cover story to explain that > the ballots were "confusing" to create the 3000 Gore - Buchanan "voters" that > they need. > > But in the remaining two days after the elections, no local democratic > officials can physically identify the required number (19,120) "confused" > witnesses who can attest to actually double-punching ballots. ANY citizen > who realized that they double-punched a ballot at the polling booth was able > to exchange ballots and resubmit his choices. IT IS CRITICAL TO UNDERSTAND > THAT THESE "REPLACED" BALLOTS WERE SET ASIDE IMMEDIATELY, AND WERE NEVER > COUNTED IN THE MACHINES. The 19,120 double-punched ballots include ONLY > those actually an error (approximately 1300) and those double-punched by > fraud. > > Note, after the first two days, the local party officials have softened their > rhetoric and are only claiming "hundreds" of "confused voters." Again, no > actual lists of these citizens have been released for confirmation or > interviews by investigators. > > Further evidence of deliberate double-punching of ballots, and perhaps of > making an error in the fraud itself by double-punching a Buchanan hole rather > than a Gore hole is the immediate cover-up effort by democratic officials. > > The national Democratic Party hired a Texas telemarketing firm to call > several thousand voters in Palm beach County late Tuesday night specifically > to "prompt" Palm Beach citizens to declare "they were confused" by the > ballots, and specifically to declare being "confused" between the Gore and > Buchanan ballot positions. Further, the national democratic telemarketing > campaign was instructing users in what to claim ballot positions to be > "confused" with, and was specifically prompting the people that they called > to declare a "Buchanan-Gore" confusion on Tuesday night, before midnight. > This was approximately 5 hours BEFORE the Palm Beach results were released. > > Also, national democratic teams were in flight to Palm Beach immediately > after midnight, again before the results were officially known to anyone. > This indicates that democratic leaders at the precinct level (and thus the > national level) knew about the "confusion" (accidentally/incorrectly > double-punched Buchanan ballots) BEFORE the Palm Beach votes were counted, > and several hours before they were released to the Florida election officials. > Note too that this telemarketing campaign began before the Palm Beach results > were announced. Before anyone (other than election officials) knew how any > double-punched ballots existed, nor which ballot choices (for president) were > double-punched. > > No democratic source has ever offered proof of this "vast number" of confused > voters, and no Democratic operative has offered any explanation why > "confusion" needs to be advertised and prompted for in a telemarketing phone > blitz at any time other than this elections. This indicates that the actual > number of voters actually "confused" is minor, and further indicates that the > Gore-Buchanan "confusion" may exist. The individuals who are suing now to > revote that ballots are experienced democratic officials, donors, and > activists - on even a formerly elected official. > > Democratic officials in Palm Beach County have not been able to explain why > 15,000 ballots were double-punched in 1996 AND in 2000. The "butterfly > ballots were NOT used in the previous Presidential election. Thus, there is > a pattern not of massive error by the voters, but of continued fraud by the > Democratic election committee members and local officials. Further > indication of deliberate fraud is that there is no evidence of previous > massive "voter error" in Democratic primaries, Democratic runoff's, or > Congressional races the past years. Specifically, massive "voter confusion" > does appear in the democratic primaries (where Democratic votes must be > accurate!) and where there was little effective opposition to the Democratic > Congressman (Waxler). > > Symptoms of voter fraud by double punching will stand out by the number of > the doubled punches, and by the remaining choices on the ballot. > > A Republican voter will have in almost every case have punched Bush + several > other Republican candidates. > > So look for how many "Bush + Gore" ballots have mostly Republican choices > below. THESE ARE FRAUDS. They represent Bush votes that were stolen. There > are about 15,000 of these ballots. > > A "true" Libertarian voter would most likely have chosen most, if not all, of > the Libertarian candidates in the following positions...Or, if they were > fiscally conservative, but socially liberal - as many are, the Libertarian > candidates would be combined with many democratic candidates. Libertarian > votes will, therefore, be difficult to identify uniquely, but their votes are > important, and should be tracked and identified. > > A "true" Buchanan voter would have punched Buchanan and a mix of other > candidates....A Buchanan (Reform Party) voter would most likely be choosing a > variety of following positions, depending on his personal opinion of freedom > and regulation. Some, who chose Buchanan because of Foster's position on the > ticket, will follow with Democratic candidates, or leave the remaining > choices blank. Conservative Buchanan supporters will almost certainly choose > all Republican candidates in the following positions. Liberal Buchanan > supporters (including union members who agree with his position on trade and > NAFTA) will follow with their mostly liberal choices. > > Again, it will be difficult to sort out the Buchanan votes from any that > might represent "real" Gore-Buchanan confusion. But the effort should be > made. There will be about 2000-3000 of these ballots. > A "mistaken" "Gore + Buchanan" Democratic voter would ALMOST CERTAINLY have > chosen the Democrats in the rest of the ballot.....or, IF AS THEY CLAIM, > those "Gore + Buchanan" voters that were "told to push the second hole" > really "only followed directions" and did not do anything else, ---- THEN > the rest of the ballot would be solid Democrat, or more likely blank. > > There will be approximately 0.3% of the total ballots used (1380 out of > 460,000) that are legitimate errors or protest votes with a several > candidates selected. Since these are truly random, they will have all sorts > of weird and wonderful errors. > > There most certainly is massed "confusion" in Palm Beach County.....but it is > NOT among the 19,120 Bush, Nader, Buchanan, and Browne voters in 2000....nor > from 15,000 other "confused" Dole and Perot voters in 1996. > > Robert Cook, PE, cook.r@csaatl.com > Marietta, GA >

-- (cappello@alltel.net), November 24, 2000

Answers

If I remember correctly from my very brief exposure to IBM-type punch cards, a stack of 100 is exactly 1". Thus, 15,000 would be a stack 150" or 12 1/2" long. That is a lot of cards to be repunched in a short period of time. Plus, to hide the action, cards would have to be selected more or less randomly between all precincts, which would take more time to find Bush or Robertson votes. Hanging chads might result from someone hurriedly punching when the card was hand-held.

Some of the above makes a bit of sense, such as the Democrats being so surprised they lost the Florida election, as in, "What do you mean we lost when we rigged it to start with?"

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), November 25, 2000.

I just got back from a long mission trip in Haiti, where the U.S. government thinks they need to get involved to see that they have a "fair election". TIME OUT!!!!! Looks like it is time to clean our own house. diane in michigan

-- Diane Green (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), November 25, 2000.

OK, folks...what do we do, other than pray...which, believe me, I am doing. If we howl in protest, the Democrats say we are not being fair...we are intimidating the poor vote counters. ARGHHHHHH. Type the "Drudge report" into your search engine, and check out what the military thinks of all the goings on. Hubby knows a LOT of military folks who intend to hand in their resignations and retirement requests if Gore gets sent to the White House. It is scary.

-- Leann Banta (thelionandlamb@hotmail.com), November 25, 2000.

That was hard to read and comprehend (I guess statisticians don't have to be good writers!), but I think I got the gist of it, and it makes me mad!! Ballot fraud on any level is despicable, but that was massively organized, premeditated fraud to try to win the highest office in the land. I've got to get ready for work, but will be looking for more answers on this thread when I get home tonight.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), November 25, 2000.

Disobey. December18. Stop contributing to your own imprisonment.

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), November 25, 2000.

OK, Doreen....so what happpens on Dec. 18? Guess I missed something; fill me in!

-- Leann Banta (thelionandlamb@hotmail.com), November 25, 2000.

Man, that thing sure is long! December 18th is supposed to be the day that truckers stop truckin' and workers stop workin' to "make certain" that Geo. Bush is installed as the President.

To be quite honest, I don't much care which one is the president, but I am just tired of all of this garbage with the processes being as corrupt as the politicians and I will take any excuse to stand up and call it bogus and make a move towards accountability on the parts of ALL of us.

Obviously Mr. Bush is the lessor socialist, and all of this stuff in Florida certainly looks like spiritual warfare to me. That's just my opinion.

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), November 25, 2000.

BINGO, Doreen, that is just what I told my daughter a week or so back. It sure does LOOK like spiritual warfare, doesn't it???!!! Which makes prayer all the more important.

-- Leann Banta (thelionandlamb@hotmail.com), November 26, 2000.

OK, let's somewhat looks at this in the cold, hard facts of dawn. If I read the original post correctly, someone or someones in Palm Beach county managed to alter a large number of ballots between the time the voting stations closed and the machine counting began. Something like 15,000 paper ballots.

Palm Beach County Canvasing Board is nearing completion of their manual recount of questionable ballots and it appears Gore will pick up less than 100 additional votes.

This then implies Bush would have outvoted Gore in a heavily Democratic county by these 15,000 or more votes.

Makes the original post seem extremely unlikely, especially since the same County Canvasing Board, which seems to have been bending over backwards to be fair, would of had to be involved beforehand.

Conspiracy theories have a life of their own.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), November 26, 2000.

Thank you Ken!!! My neighbor has been filling my mailbox with tons of conspiracy ideas since this whole thing started. I had no idea there were so many sites out there that each have a major theory about what is "really" happening.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), November 26, 2000.

shhhh....people are trying to sleep here. everything is just aok and we are all having sweeet dreams.shhhhh

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), November 28, 2000.

To add to its woes, now the ballot numbers in Palm Beach County don't add up. That is, the number of handcounted ballots do not equal the number of machine counted ballots. Canvasing officials have thus far declined to say how large the discrepancy is or in which direction (more or less ballots). This doesn't mean there was fraud, just somewhere along the line precinct totals were recorded different. However, it does give rise to the Republican claims hand- counts are inheritedly inaccurate.

How accurate is the machine count? The general procedure is when they arrive at the counting room ballot boxes are opened and the cards aligned. They are then run through the counter, and when done, the number of ballots has to agree with the figure provided by the precinct of the number of ballots issued to voters. If they don't, it must be determined why. Usually the difference is the number of ballots which were voided due to the voter asking for another card. Anyway, the results from a precinct aren't certified until the numbers absolutely agree. All this is done under the direct supervision of the Canvasing Board (as was several test runs of the counting equipment prior to the election.)

Thus, the presumption has to be the hand-count total is the wrong one. I think it was in Palm Beach County were one precinct was double-counted. May have been more than one, or one or more didn't get counted.

According to the results submitted on November 14th (for Palm Beach and Miami/Dade Counties) and November 26th (for Broward County). In Palm Beach County Gore had 269,754 votes (64%) to Bush's 152,964 (36%). In Miami/Dade county it was Gore 328,867 (53%) and Bush 289574 (47%). In Broward County it was Gore 97,341 (56%)to Bush 115,253 (54%). About the only thing interesting about these number is all three are considered to be heavily Democratic counties, yet Bush beat Gore in Broward County, even after their recount, and came close in Miami/Dade County.

Statisticians are going to have fun with this election for a long time.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), November 28, 2000.

I wish I had time to read all of the above post, but I am slammed this week at school (finals coming up and a lot of days off in Nov: Thanksgiving weekend, Veterans Day, and Election Day, so no time left!)

I hope that somewhere buried in that information is some commentary about the filling in of the voter registration numbers in Seminole County FL. If it is found that the Rep. "helpers" did indeed fill in those numbers (it's illegal and the precedent for throwing out all the absentees it would affect, is as recent as the fraud in Miami, what 2 years ago?...anyway, it would eliminate Bush's lead, period.) This is the one thing left to watch, except for Geo. W's appeal to the U.S. Supremes.

Hope you all had a good T-day weekend, and "see" you in a few days...

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), November 28, 2000.

Here's a link to info re: my above post. I haven't had time to read much of it, so I can't speak to it's impartiality. However, there are massive footnotes and links, if you want to follow up.

http://www.campaignwatch.org/

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), November 28, 2000.