http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/editorial/40345.htm
and picked up by http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor.../whosevotefraud
QUOTE
WHOSE VOTE FRAUD?
Count every vote?
That's what Angry Left Demo crats have been demanding ever since the bitterly contested Florida presidential balloting in 2000 — and, more recently, the top-of-the-ticket jousting in Ohio.
The Angries had better be careful, though: Counting every vote may not work in their favor.
Take, for example, last year's hyper-contentious gubernatorial race in Washington state.
One would think that almost four months after Election Day, and seven weeks after a swearing-in ceremony, the true outcome of that contest would be clear.
It isn't.
The Washington governor's race is still very much in question.
Even though Democrat Christine Gregoire took the oath of office last month, a judge has decided to grant Republican Dino Rossi — the man declared the Election Day victor — a day in court.
Rossi is seeking to nullify the election based on suspicious voting tabulations, primarily in King County (which contains Seattle).
Rossi's initial 261-vote margin dropped to 42 following a state-required machine-run recount. In late December, following a Democratic Party-paid hand recount, Gregoire "won" by 129 votes.
Between the two recounts, King County "found" more than 700 ballots officials claim were wrongly rejected. They are included in the recount.
* The person in charge of King County ballot integrity, a Democratic political appointee, can't explain why there are 1,800 more votes "cast" than there are people who actually voted.
* More than 100 provisional ballots were tossed into the election machines before they were certified as legitimate.
* An estimated 1,109 convicted felons — all inegible to vote — illegally cast ballots in the election. Of these, 884 were in heavily Democratic King County.
It will be several weeks before the case is heard, but if Rossi is successful, Gregoire would be forced to step down and a new election called.
Similar issues are at play in Wisconsin, a state John Kerry "won" by about 11,000 votes. Many Republicans believe that the Bush campaign really won Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes. Questionable — in some cases criminal — behavior has been documented:
* In Milwaukee, five Democratic campaign staffers, including Sowande Omokunde, the son of Rep. Gwen Moore, and Michael Pratt, the son of former acting mayor Marvin Pratt, will stand trial on felony charges of criminal damage to property, for slashing the tires of GOP get-out-the-vote vans.
* The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel found a discrepancy of 7,000 more ballots cast than there were records of people having actually voted. Curiously, the city has refused to let the paper examine questionable same-day voter-registration cards.
* Multiple state and federal official inquiries — including the FBI's — have been opened to examine Milwaukee's situation as well as other electoral oddities across the state.
In Pennsylvania, Philadelphia has always been a nexus of Election Day shenanigans. As a Republican spokesman has said, "Vote early and vote often is as much a part of Philly as cheesesteak and the Liberty Bell."
Philadelphia voting machines were found to have votes already tabulated — before any votes were legally cast! Rep. Curt Weldon, a Republican who represents suburbs outside of Philadelphia discovered — and videotaped — members of the proto-Angry groups Move On.org and America Coming Together collecting absentee ballots from prison inmates and taking them to the local Board of Elections.
While some Pennsylvania convicts have the right to vote, third parties are not permitted to collect and forward absentee ballots. So MoveOn and ACT were breaking the law. Yet the story barely made the news.
And so on.
Count every vote?
Sounds like a plan to us.
Count every vote?
That's what Angry Left Demo crats have been demanding ever since the bitterly contested Florida presidential balloting in 2000 — and, more recently, the top-of-the-ticket jousting in Ohio.
The Angries had better be careful, though: Counting every vote may not work in their favor.
Take, for example, last year's hyper-contentious gubernatorial race in Washington state.
One would think that almost four months after Election Day, and seven weeks after a swearing-in ceremony, the true outcome of that contest would be clear.
It isn't.
The Washington governor's race is still very much in question.
Even though Democrat Christine Gregoire took the oath of office last month, a judge has decided to grant Republican Dino Rossi — the man declared the Election Day victor — a day in court.
Rossi is seeking to nullify the election based on suspicious voting tabulations, primarily in King County (which contains Seattle).
Rossi's initial 261-vote margin dropped to 42 following a state-required machine-run recount. In late December, following a Democratic Party-paid hand recount, Gregoire "won" by 129 votes.
Between the two recounts, King County "found" more than 700 ballots officials claim were wrongly rejected. They are included in the recount.
* The person in charge of King County ballot integrity, a Democratic political appointee, can't explain why there are 1,800 more votes "cast" than there are people who actually voted.
* More than 100 provisional ballots were tossed into the election machines before they were certified as legitimate.
* An estimated 1,109 convicted felons — all inegible to vote — illegally cast ballots in the election. Of these, 884 were in heavily Democratic King County.
It will be several weeks before the case is heard, but if Rossi is successful, Gregoire would be forced to step down and a new election called.
Similar issues are at play in Wisconsin, a state John Kerry "won" by about 11,000 votes. Many Republicans believe that the Bush campaign really won Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes. Questionable — in some cases criminal — behavior has been documented:
* In Milwaukee, five Democratic campaign staffers, including Sowande Omokunde, the son of Rep. Gwen Moore, and Michael Pratt, the son of former acting mayor Marvin Pratt, will stand trial on felony charges of criminal damage to property, for slashing the tires of GOP get-out-the-vote vans.
* The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel found a discrepancy of 7,000 more ballots cast than there were records of people having actually voted. Curiously, the city has refused to let the paper examine questionable same-day voter-registration cards.
* Multiple state and federal official inquiries — including the FBI's — have been opened to examine Milwaukee's situation as well as other electoral oddities across the state.
In Pennsylvania, Philadelphia has always been a nexus of Election Day shenanigans. As a Republican spokesman has said, "Vote early and vote often is as much a part of Philly as cheesesteak and the Liberty Bell."
Philadelphia voting machines were found to have votes already tabulated — before any votes were legally cast! Rep. Curt Weldon, a Republican who represents suburbs outside of Philadelphia discovered — and videotaped — members of the proto-Angry groups Move On.org and America Coming Together collecting absentee ballots from prison inmates and taking them to the local Board of Elections.
While some Pennsylvania convicts have the right to vote, third parties are not permitted to collect and forward absentee ballots. So MoveOn and ACT were breaking the law. Yet the story barely made the news.
And so on.
Count every vote?
Sounds like a plan to us.
