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Protesting Election Irregularities

By TChris, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Sun Feb 06, 2005 at 09:12:38 AM EST
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by TChris

Voting irregularities in the United States during the last two presidential elections produced angry commentary but little action. Not so in Iraq, where disenfranchised voters took to the streets.

Hundreds of Iraqis shouted slogans and waved Iraqi flags Sunday outside Baghdad's heavily guarded Green Zone to protest alleged irregularities they say prevented tens of thousands of people in Mosul from voting in last weekend's landmark elections. ... Electoral commission officials in Baghdad have acknowledged that many polling sites never opened Jan. 30 or opened late because of what they said were security concerns.

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    Protesting Election Irregularities | 11 comments (11 topical)
    Re: Protesting Election Irregularities (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 06, 2005 at 09:39:50 AM EST
    Is refusing to vote being disenfranchised? If I were a black person of a certain age I suspect that statement would p*ss me off mightily. -C PS - Any angst for the massive irregularities in WA and WI? Thought not.

    Re: Protesting Election Irregularities (none / 0) (#2)
    by glanton on Sun Feb 06, 2005 at 09:55:37 AM EST
    I wonder if we're ever again going to have an election in this country where everyone is at least satisfied at the end that the votes were tallied fairly, and everyone who wanted to vote, voted.

    Re: Protesting Election Irregularities (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 06, 2005 at 11:12:02 AM EST
    You just have to love the audacity of the side-bar banner ad claiming that no one will ever again get 100% of the vote in Iraq because the U.N. is there. The U.N. has been in Iraq for years, and was the handmaiden of Saddam's many elections with 100% of the vote. The U.N. opposed Saddam's removal and opposed holding the elections on schedule. Kodi Annan is just trying to buy himself some new legitimacy.

    Re: Protesting Election Irregularities (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 06, 2005 at 11:17:49 AM EST
    USA: voter disenfranchisement, families working 3 jobs, no time to protest, no change. Iraq: voter disenfranchisment, 20% unemployment, plenty of time to protest (with a dash of riot), change initiated. What's that Prof. Horton said about slavery not being a sidebar?

    Re: Protesting Election Irregularities (none / 0) (#5)
    by wishful on Sun Feb 06, 2005 at 11:29:03 AM EST
    Correct me if I'm wrong here, Cliff, but the republicans are still actively sueing to have the Washington gov. vote overturned. No "get over it" for repubs. That's only the advice repubs give to democrats when the election goes their (repub's) way. They see no need to heed their own advice, evidently.

    Re: Protesting Election Irregularities (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 06, 2005 at 12:32:06 PM EST
    Wishful - I don't really follow the WA stuff as that strikes me as good old fashioned ballot box stuffing. But it seems to be wending its way throught the courts in an orderly fashion. I am much more concerned with WI as that seems more like an idictment of same-day/any-precint voting, which I am in favor of if run right. Here in NC the resident Agriculture Commisioner just resigned his seat in favor of the challenger due to vote counting issues in a small county. But that was not endemic so I wasn't worried about it. Seems to me like the Iraqi thing went off pretty well. -C

    Re: Protesting Election Irregularities (none / 0) (#7)
    by scarshapedstar on Sun Feb 06, 2005 at 02:41:07 PM EST
    Lambasting an Iraq post for not mentioning Wisconsin. I think Cliff just set the record for Glennuendo.

    Re: Protesting Election Irregularities (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 06, 2005 at 06:47:49 PM EST
    Cliff, I'm from North Carolina, too, and you've got to admit that something fishy went on with that Ag Commissioner vote. Since all those votes got lost, we should have co-commissioners the next four years, or put someone completely neutral in the post.

    Re: Protesting Election Irregularities (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 06, 2005 at 07:53:03 PM EST
    ". . . everyone is at least satisfied at the end that the votes were tallied fairly, and everyone who wanted to vote, voted." well, that everyone who was qualified to vote and wanted to, voted once. It is technically feasible, we just have to have the will to create that voting system.

    Re: Protesting Election Irregularities (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 06, 2005 at 08:19:32 PM EST
    Apparently we are exporting our own brand of democracy, all right . . .

    Re: Protesting Election Irregularities (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 06, 2005 at 08:37:42 PM EST
    (Pay attention Cliff) Here are the FACTS: 1) 28 states have lost their right to a legal election. They have NO record of their vote other than that supplied by Bush-backer companies, from secret software supposedly 'tested' and certified, by other Bush-backers. There is NO independent data ("paper trail"), and therefore no right to recount. The theft of these voting rights is a first in the history of this country. These are illegal elections. 2) We CAUGHT Diebold stealing the (itself unconstitutional) recall election in 2003, that put the Liar Schwartzenegger into power. We caught Diebold illegally installing and removing UNtested, UNcertified software; AND we caught them flipping votes, their salesmen allowed to alter vote totals without ANY official documentation of their actions. 3) We CAUGHT Triad in Ohio 2004 swapping out the boards in counting computers all across the state of Ohio, which is a felony, to prevent a legal recount. Further, we CAUGHT them supplying false data to the voting authorities to be reported as the machine results regardless of what the machines actually said. Bush campaign chair/OH SecState Katherine Blackwell refused to allow the paid-for legally-ordered recount. WE STILL HAVEN'T HAD A RECOUNT OF OHIO. 4)For the first time in history, the Hayes-Tilden law has been activated by both Houses. A full legal investigation is required. But we won't get it, because a coup isn't a real government. None of that is "angry commentary." That is facts in evidence. The 'failure' of the legal system of the country to fulfill its duty is not just in WA or elsewhere; it is nationwide. Something like 80% of American voters haven't had a legal election in FIVE YEARS, and the actions of the SCOTUS in 2000 was entirely unconstitutional, and violated the spirit of the Hayes-Tilden law. I'm all in favor of holding the WA election, top to bottom, again, along with those of every other state who have electronic paperless "voting." I'm not a partisan who wants my party to win illegally. I want fair elections. Facts in evidence. How about we ALL get our RIGHT to legal elections, eh Cliff? Cliff, you have about reached the end of your scoffing maneuver. The lack of outrage about this situation by ordinary Republicans is damning your party to the trashbin of history, once the bell finally rings down the curtain on Bush's Diebold coup(s). Run, don't walk, for the lifeboats. The Titanic is heading for an inevitable disaster, and while the unqualified captain is boozing it up, drunk with power.

    Protesting Election Irregularities | 11 comments (11 topical)