{"article":{"id":118388,"heading":"Florida Voting Fraud","author":"Amy Belanger and Denny Burbeck","created":"2004-11-02 03:50:21","modified":"2004-11-02 03:50:21","last_modified":"Tue, 02 Nov 2004 10:50:21","article":"

People who voted for third party candidates in 2000 are getting a bit

jittery about now. They've

been blamed for putting President Bush in office by the Democratic spin

doctors who needed someone to blame for losing the election (the one they

actually won before it was stolen by the Republicans).

The Dems would rather attack third party politics than confront how

Florida was rife with election fraud, undoubtedly orchestrated by Florida

Governor Jeb Bush and his Republican Secretary of State, Katherine Harris.

Ralph Nader is an easier target than the Republican Party, and pointing

the finger at a scapegoat is easier than confronting the poorly managed

2000 Dem campaign.

Let's take a look back and refresh our memories of the things the press

discovered when all the attention was turned towards Florida in 2000;

investigations that would not have happened if it the election hadn't been

so close (with Bush winning by 537 votes).

1) In what I'm sure the Palm Beach Election Commission and the State

Election Commission must have thought was a clever, fraternity-prank-like

move, they made the ballot misleading and confusing to Gore

voters, many of whom unknowingly voted for Pat

Buchanan. Over 13,000 people in one county did notice

their error and filed a complaint to get a new ballot (as

prescribed by state law) but were refused.

<13,000-plus Gore votes stolen>

2) A total of 27,000 votes in Palm Beach County were misread

by voting machines, and the Florida Election Commissioner,

Katherine Harris stopped these votes from being counted

by hand. She did the same thing to Galveston County, one of

Florida's blackest, poorest and most Democratic counties,

where machines misread 1 out of 8 ballots.



3) Harris, who just happened to be the Co-Chairperson for the

Republican Party in Florida, hired a firm (with Republican ties)

for $4.3 million to generate a list that took 57,700 Democrats

off the voting rolls if they happened to have the same name as a

felon (without making sure they actually WERE the felon). The list turned

out to be 95% wrong in the one county that took on the task of calling

each disenfranchised Democrat to verify their status as a felon.



These stolen votes - totaling far more than Ralph Nader's 95,000 votes in

Florida - would have gone unreported had Florida not become the deciding

factor in the 2000 Election. Where has the outrage gone over these stolen

votes and why is it now redirected, even by progressives, at a champion of

the people who dares to speak truth to power.

For Mr. Nader to be unjustly labeled a spoiler is beyond a mathematical

error; it is a travesty of justice and an attack on Democracy. Especially

since it is clearly documented that, in this country's past, it was third

party candidates that brought about social change for the good of

the working class (i.e.. the populist movements that gave us the

women's right to vote, the abolishment of slavery, social security,

minimum wage, the right to form unions and increase their standard

of living and their safety). These acts of justice wouldn't have even been

touched by the two major parties if reform candidates had not

put these issues on the political table.

Ralph Nader is doing a great service for America by pushing the needs

of the people into the public arena. Most Americans want an end to war,

stronger environmental protections, health care for all and a decent

living wage (Ralph proposes $10\/hr. minimum). Without Ralph Nader, those

perspectives would not make it through the corporate wall of campaign cash

that stands between both major parties and the American people.

In states that are not swing states, where Bush is expected to win

easily or Kerry is a slam dunk, a vote for Ralph Nader is like

a referendum on the needs of the people. It is safe to vote for a true

American patriot, Ralph Nader. So vote your hopes, not your

fears, and send a message to the world that Americans expect a return to

government \"of, for and by the people\" rather than two parties selling out

our interests to corporate profits.



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