How We Will Know the Fix Is In For Ohio

[McCamy Taylor]

No matter how many "experimental software" patches they stick on E-voting machines in Ohio, there is only so much that the GOP can steal. Polling is a science. Pre-election polls and especially exit polls have proven reliable in other countries. They were reliable in Ohio in 2004, too---except in GOP controlled precincts that did not have a paper trail. (See my cartoon from 2004 below)

So, if the GOP plans to steal more than the statistical margin of votes through E-vote fraud, they will have to suppress the exit polls. Back in 2004, on election day, Ken Blackwell ordered pollsters to stand far away from the polls. Exit pollsters went to court and got an injunction. Now, why did Blackwell want to keep pollsters far away from the polls? Research shows that the reliability of exit polls goes down as the distance to the polling place rises. If you catch people right as they come out, you get a better sampling. This is proven science. In 2004, Rove planned to explain away the exit poll-vote discrepancy difference by saying that Blackwell's "safety" rule inadvertently made the polls unreliable. And plenty of statisticians around the world would have backed him up. Because the press saw through this gambit, reliable polls were done---and we saw the result.

This year, exit pollsters have decided to concentrate on battleground states. That means that their results will be even more accurate---making it harder for the GOP to get away with meaningful fraud unless the race is too close to call--which it won't be. Romney is pissing off too many Ohio voters with his Jeep lies. So, the only way they can steal the state this time is by trying to obstruct exit polls once again.

Back in 2004, very few people got suspicious when Ken Blackwell issued his election day exit poll order. I knew something was up, because I have experience with polling, surveys and statistics. This time, everyone should familiarize themselves with the science of exit polls. And if anyone in Ohio tries to obstruct exit pollsters---say, by engineering a "terror alert" or busing in a bunch of protesters to surround polling places and maybe even attack exit pollsters or by telling pollsters how to do their job or by putting police between the pollsters and the polls---that will be the signal that fraud is underway. Which should trigger two things. First, the federal government needs to step in to assist and protect the pollsters. And second, citizens need to make an extra effort to get out the vote in Democratic controlled precincts, since E-vote fraud can not steal a landslide.

[Dubster]

1. Spam deleted by gkhouston (MIR Team)

[flamingdem]

2. I hope someone comes forward and busts them

There has to be someone who's sick of the stealing of votes

[Columbus Free Press]

3. There has been a concerted effort

To undermine exit polls and other ways that citizens can detect fraud:

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2012/4754

[RomneyLies]

4. .

[Blue Meany]

5. What I do not understand is why Democratic politicians never call them on this. It seems to me

that the evidence is there--especially for 2004--for election theft. The evidence is pretty suggestive for cheating the Republican primaries this cycle, as well. And no authority has investigated this. It is simply impossible to do this kind of thing without leaving a trace, so I am confident that with a proper investigation the culprits could be caught. Why does no one in law enforcement and no one in the political arena want to touch this?

[McCamy Taylor]

6. In 2004, Rove controlled the DOJ. Meaning if you questioned him

he could look through Cheney's illegal domestic wiretap records and discover that you or your wife or your daughter in law 1) got a tip from a stock broker that panned out (insider trading) 2) logged onto a gay porn site (self explanatory) 3) entered drug or alcohol rehab (self explanatory) 4) hired a high priced hooker while on vacation.

I am convinced that Martha Stewart was prosecuted so that Rove could threaten to prosecute anyone who got a good stock or investment tip. I suspect that Kerry conceded in 2004 because Rove threatened to prosecute his wife for "insider trading".

So, there was good reason for everyone to kiss Rove's you know what in 2004. The same is not true for Romney---yet---in 2012. If he gets into the White House, I expect to see the press turn into his whore the way it did for W. But I don't think it wants to be Romney's whore. The press did not look very good between 2000 and 2004--which is why you started seeing them go rogue in 2005. Individual reporters have careers to think about and the corporate media has its own interests which are not always the interests of the President-Select. For instance, Disney/ABC did not like GOP plans for a la carte cable which would cut Disney's profits. GE/NBC wanted more nukes, cap and trade and lower oil prices.

[bkkyosemite]

7. Rove, Norquist , Koch Bros etc. , all need to be hung by their toes

and stoned in the square for all to see.

[valerief]

8. Did they suppress the exit polls in 2004? I seem to recall wildly different results in

exit polls from vote tallies.

[TroyD]

9. When are Secretaries of State going to be stripped of their power to control elections?

That's what I'd like to know.

[Coyotl]

10. Fact check: In 2004 the electronic voting precinct in Ohio shifted Blue, favoring Kerry

And the electronic machines were a small portion of the total vote. So, your claim is bogus.

The 2004 Ohio election was stolen with punch cards. That system was designed to steal elections in Ohio.