This article (below) worries me. Who is doing something and what is being done to prevent election fraud in The United States of America?

Where is Ralph Nader now?! I thought he cared about things like this???!!!

What is being done? What do we need to do?

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=258286

Activists Worry Election Reform May Wane
With Election Over, Activists Worry That the Momentum for Reform May Be on the Wane

Nov 16, 2004 — Sure, there were hours-long lines, temperamental electronic machines and some old-fashioned misplaced ballots, but America's democracy worked well enough on Nov. 2 to elect a president.

Now, some voting activists worry that the pressure that fueled four years (and billions of dollars) of work to fix the election system is on the wane. Others say that skeptics should just admit it: While not perfect, the system is getting better.

"Overall, things went well," said Doug Chapin, director of Electionline.org, a nonpartisan clearinghouse on election reform. "Rather than being focused on how broken the system was, or how unsure we were about the winner … (the nation took) a tremendous step forward from 2000."

That's not enough for some activists, who worry any momentum the reform movement had will now fade away.

"There is a risk that, because the election was not perceived as close as it once was, people say `Whew, we took care of that, election reform, that's over,'" said Elliot Mincberg, vice president at People for the American Way Foundation, a liberal group active on election, court and education issues.

His group and others are trying to keep the pressure on pushing for a comprehensive review of the election.

And there is no shortage of glitches to review, among them:

An electronic voting machine in suburban Columbus, Ohio, gave President Bush 3,893 extra votes in a precinct where only 638 voters cast ballots. The error wasn't large enough to affect Bush's 136,000-vote victory in the swing state.

In North Carolina's Carteret County, some 4,500 early ballots were lost because of outdated software.

Some 33,000 ballots initially went uncounted in a county south of Utah's Salt Lake City, equal to roughly one in five voters. A programming glitch in the punch-card machines was blamed.

But in the end, some say those problems were relatively minor.

"Were (the elections) perfect? They never are. But overall, did the voters have a good experience with this? Absolutely," said Doug Lewis, who works with local and state election administrations at The Election Center, a Houston-based nonpartisan group.

He and others say credit is due to money from the 2002 federal Help America Vote Act that helped improve the system; local and state election officials who put new machines in place and made more comprehensive efforts to educate voters; and the public itself, as tens of millions of new voters turned out.

Advocates of electronic voting machines declared vindication, too. "The machines were reliable, they were accurate, and they did provide all of the benefits that people hoped they would," said Alfie Charles at Sequoia Voting Systems, one of the largest providers of voting equipment.

Broader theories about widespread election problems gained currency on anti-Bush Web sites and blogs, but most experts dismissed them.

One pointed to Florida counties that brought in more votes for Bush than registered Republican voters (many vote Democratic for local races, but Republican for president, experts countered). Another claimed that early exit polls showing a Kerry victory were more accurate than the actual vote counts.

A handful of Democratic members of Congress asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate new technologies used in the election, citing the Florida results, long lines in Ohio and Florida, and other troubles.

Avi Rubin, a Johns Hopkins University computer scientist and one of the most prominent critics of electronic voting machines, said the complaints missed the point that he and others made about the inability of most electronic voting machines to verify the results.

"I am disturbed by all of the accusations of conspiracy theories. The people who are doing that are taking away all the credibility from those who are rational," Rubin said. "If there was a problem and the election was stolen, it was done very well. And that's the problem with this technology. … Do I think the election was stolen? No. Do I think it could've been? Yes."

This year's glitches and the possibility of another 2000-like postelection muddle are reason enough to make sure that the efforts to improve voting systems don't flag, said DeForest Soaries Jr., chairman of the federal Election Assistance Commission.

So far, the federal government has given states $2.4 billion of a promised $3.8 billion for election reform, with much of that to be spent in the next few years on improving statewide voter registration systems. Beyond that, officials aim to strengthen the system of poll workers, and to resolve the doubts about electronic machines and their ability to conduct credible recounts.

Working on specific problems will "be easier because we won't have this presidential race looming. It'll be easier because we won't have this contentious partisan climate," Soaries said. But making sure the election issue continues to get attention "will be harder, because people won't be watching."

Yes Peggy but what I can't figure is how to get any good election reform put into place with the Congress and White House controlled by a party that doesnt want it.

Well, BBV is still on the job ... see the Volusia County findings in the Fair Election Forum...and the democratic underground forum is going fast and furious.

The problem is a lot of people just don't want to talk about this...like they refuse to beleive it could happen HERE.

I for one am trying to be as much of an activist as possible...might not show here becaue the emphasis is on other issues. And I am getting some 'tin hat' comments ... what bothers me is that they are from other progressives.

My guess is that on Thursday we may hear more..but not from the Corporate media. There is a LOT going down behind the scenes....maybe it is better to keep it low key for now....keeps the freep factor low.

Boy... these people must be smokin' some heavy stuff because they are so far out of touch with what's going on they don't have a clue. They apparently don't have any internet connection either. Don't they realize we haven't seen anything but the TIP OF THE ICEBERG yet ?

Tell 'em to come on over here and they'll find a whole new reality. In case they don't know, election reform is going to be a major initiative for A WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE after this assault on our democracy by those who think we are collectively too dumb to realize that the current trend spells the end of democracy as we know it.

Honestly? I care. About REAL election reform.

What do I honestly think about others?

Simple. Let's start with the major players and work our way down.

The DNC and RNC care about making every vote count so long as it can help them. Just watch the tactics. Each side would only support recounts of precincts and counties and states that can help them.

The same holds true for ALL current politicians.

Bev Harris, Avi Rubin, et al. care only about reforming elections to the extent of getting rid of those infernal machines.

Jeff Fisher only cares about election reform now because it is a hot topic amongst his liberal base and he can certainly do his best to ride the coattails of people like Bev.

Again, most loyal Democrats and Republicans only care about election reform when it helps them to further their agenda.

We don't hear the Republicans yelling about reform, why? Because they won!

We hear the Democrats yelling for reform, why? Because they lost!

If Bush's and Kerry's roles were exactly reversed right now, we would be listening to the Republicans whine and utter silence from the Democrats.

Politics is all about what is hot at the moment. This flame will continue to burn for a bit, then it will flicker, fade and die and something else will be the hot topic of the month.

Sorry to sound so pessimistic, but this is reality. Voter fraud is the flavor of the week and nothing more. And there are quite a few people who are using it to get their names out their, into the media, so they are more recognizable the next time they decide to run for office.

So, there you go. Yes, I really care. Yes I will do my part to help make our system better. But I have sincere doubts about the motives of others.

Don't doubt. Sit back, watch and LEARN. We're gonna fight this thing to the grave if we have to. And the numbers are growing daily...

Just ignore brossignol, he is a verified freeper.

Riiiiiight!

So what Ken is saying is just to simply do as he tells you to!

I, on the other hand, am willing to let everyone think for themselves.

I also am not willing to absolutely censor someone because I simply disagree with them which is why I not only never reported Ken for his numerous rules violations for name calling and personal attacks, but have actually asked the mods consistently to leave his posts as they were written.

Who do YOU trust?

It is hard NOT to doubt. I mean, OK, let's say you, me, and the guy over there... oh and her, over there.... oh and THAT guy continue to fight tooth and nail, what about everyone else?

I have serious doubts about most people's motives here.

I honestly think that many, who continuously chase after red herrings, here honestly do have the best intentions.

But, then I have to seriously question those who post misleading information, do NOTHING other than attack other people here and those who seem to believe that every vote FOR KERRY should count.

It is rather disheartening.

However, I have been asked to compile a report on electronic voting and its viability. This includes covering the potential for hacking as well as possible hacking that occurred in this election.

I have completed the initial report which covers this election, debunks Bev Harris' demonstration as well as several others and reaches a very simple conclusion.

Since the report is in the hands of those who asked for it now, I will share the conclusion:

The hacking of these machines in THIS election could only have been done either by insiders within the companies who wrote the software and designed the systems or with their cooperation.

This actually removes this from the level of hacking, because they would have had to have been given login information and instructions.

There was no *hacking* done by operatives of any party. Period.

The amount of time necessary to hack the logins on these machines and the information that one would have had to dig for (connection info, phone numbers, IP addresses, whatever) would far exceed what could be accomplished in such a short period of time.

I had several people within my company work on this report, and they continue to do so. I estimate that my cost, in absolute dollars, by the time the report is complete will exceed $50,000.

I don't doubt MY motivations and intentions, but I DO doubt those of others.

Hi Peggy,

A lot of people really care about the election problems. And a number of people are working on it. I think the main thing that is frustrating is trying to get the media to ask questions and investigate and pay attention to what is being done.

E-mailing our representatives and letting them know that we want election systems that we can trust and e-mailing, telephoning, writing just about anybody in the media to let them know the same is one beginning step.

I'm disappointed that most in the media are taking an either it's fraud/conspiracy theories/or it's not fraud point of view. They are taking a conclusion and working backwards to incidents instead of looking at the voting problems and voting count irregularities objectively and seeing if there are any patterns or further questions to pursue and working outward from there.

Personally, I have so many questions. I live in California and on November 11th there were news reports here that Diebold has agreed to settle a suit with the state of California and pay $2.6 million because of problems with its machines. Yet, the national media hasn't covered this.

Another troubling situation was the lack of voting machines in some precincts. Isn't there a law that provides for equal opportunity to vote?