[GPCA Updates] GP RELEASE Media ignore US election fraud, say Greens; GAO report cited

[Jim Stauffer]

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, November 16, 2005



MEDIA IGNORE MOUNTING EVIDENCE OF WIDESPREAD VOTE FRAUD AND
ELECTION MANIPULATION, CHARGE GREENS


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders urged the mainstream media
to cover evidence, including a report from the non-partisan
Government Accountability Office (GAO), which found that
electronic voting machines can be manipulated without detection,
along with other evidence of election fraud and obstruction.

"Why won't the media cover the GAO report?", asked Gwen Wages,
co-chair of the Green Party of the United States.  "Just as major
newspapers and broadcast media ignored indications that
intelligence of Iraqi WMDs and collusion between Saddam Hussein
and al-Qaeda had been cooked before the U.S. invaded Iraq, they're
now ignoring the destruction of American democracy."

After Election Day, 2004, Green presidential candidate David Cobb
<http://www.votecobb.org> led efforts to investigate widespread
reports of vote obstruction and manipulation by Republican and
Democratic officials in Ohio and New Mexico, especially targeted
at African American and young voters.  Unlike 2000, the major U.S.
media dismissed evidence compiled in 2004 by the Cobb campaign and
revealed during hearings led by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) that
Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell and other Republican
election officials used various means to fix the election's
outcome.

Greens cited recent news about election manipulation, covered in
independent print and Internet media:

. The GAO's 107-page report
<http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05956.pdf>, released publicly on
October 20, confirms that electronic voting machines are not
secure, can easily be hacked, and often use secret, in-house
software that is neither certified nor adequately inspected.  The
report supports many claims widely dismissed as 'conspiracy
theories' that George W. Bush was placed in the White House
through a fixed election in 2004, repeating the 2000 election
theft.  Mainstream media ignored the report's release.

. Voter Action <http://www.voteraction.org> reports that New
Mexico election officials have refused to allow the voter
plaintiffs in a law suit challenging the results of the 2004
Presidential Election (Patricia Rosas Lopategui v. Rebecca
Vigil-Giron, et al.) to inspect electronic voting machines. 
("Plaintiffs Blocked During Discovery Phase of New Mexico '04
Election Lawsuit", The Brad Blog, November 12, 2005,
<http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002008.htm>)

. Investigations by journalists Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
exposed electronic vote manipulation to prevent passage of four
election reform proposals on the ballot in Ohio, after the outcome
on November 8 was inconsistent to the point of statistical
impossibility with polls of voters conducted by The Columbus
Dispatch.  ("Has American Democracy died an electronic death in
Ohio 2005's referenda defeats?", The Free Press, November 11, 2005
<http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1559>)

The Green Party has called for voter-verified paper ballots to
provide an auditable record of votes cast on computer voting
machines, and for voting machine source code designed to be open
for public inspection and verification before and after an
election.


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193

"Federal Efforts to Improve Security and Reliability of Electronic 
Voting Systems Are Under Way, but Key Activities Need to Be
Completed"
United States Government Accountability Office, September 2005
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05956.pdf
http://www.gao.gov/htext/d05956.html

"Deep-rooted Voting Irregularities Persist, Watchdogs Say"
By Catherine Komp, The News Standard, November 10, 2005
http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=2585

"Powerful Government Accounting Office report confirms key 2004
stolen election findings"
By Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman, Axis of Logic, November 1,
2005
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_19846.shtml

"None Dare Call It Stolen: Ohio, the election, and America 's
servile press"
By Mark Crispin Miller, Harper's Magazine, August, 2005
http://harpers.org/ExcerptNoneDare.html