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2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumThe No-BS Inside Guide to the Presidential Vote Recount - Greg Palast, Truthout
The nasty little secret of US elections is that we don't count all the votes.
Mail-in, Early and Absentee Ballots Go Absent
If you've gone postal in this election, good luck! According to EAC data, at least half a million absentee ballots go absent, that is, just don't get counted. The cause: everything from postage due, to "suspect signature." In Fitrakis' home state, Ohio, you need to put your driver's license number on the envelope, "and if you don't have a driver's license and leave the line blank -- instead of writing 'no driver's license' -- they toss your ballot," Fitrakis tells me.
It's a "gotcha!" system meant to knock out the ballots the officials don't want to count. (Remember, your mail-in ballot is anything but secret.) Team Green will try to fight for each absentee ballot rejected for cockamamie reasons.
If you've gone postal in this election, good luck! According to EAC data, at least half a million absentee ballots go absent, that is, just don't get counted. The cause: everything from postage due, to "suspect signature." In Fitrakis' home state, Ohio, you need to put your driver's license number on the envelope, "and if you don't have a driver's license and leave the line blank -- instead of writing 'no driver's license' -- they toss your ballot," Fitrakis tells me.
It's a "gotcha!" system meant to knock out the ballots the officials don't want to count. (Remember, your mail-in ballot is anything but secret.) Team Green will try to fight for each absentee ballot rejected for cockamamie reasons.
Hillary Joins the Fray
What will the Clinton camp add to the recount? "Lawyers," said Fitrakis, though he's yet to see them. The Clinton campaign is apparently helping find one voter in each Pennsylvania county, as one is required in each jurisdiction to file for a recount of that state.
What will the Clinton camp add to the recount? "Lawyers," said Fitrakis, though he's yet to see them. The Clinton campaign is apparently helping find one voter in each Pennsylvania county, as one is required in each jurisdiction to file for a recount of that state.
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/38553-the-no-bs-inside-guide-to-the-presidential-vote-recount
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The No-BS Inside Guide to the Presidential Vote Recount - Greg Palast, Truthout (Original Post)
womanofthehills
Dec 2016
OP
ucrdem
(15,703 posts)1. Welp that explains why red state Dems "failed to turn out"
after turning out in record numbers in the early voting figures, doesn't it? They turned out, and soon we'll have evidence that they turned out, and got their votes swiped by wingnuts running the elections. Changing the candidate won't fix that.
think
(11,641 posts)2. Crosscheck identified a breathtaking 449,922 Michiganders who are suspected of voting or registering
Trump's claim is based on a list of "potential duplicate voters" created by his operative, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Kobach (a top dog in Trump's transition team) directs a program for hunting down fraudulent voters using a computer system called "Crosscheck."
It's quite a computer: Crosscheck identified a breathtaking 449,922 Michiganders who are suspected of voting or registering in a second state, a felony crime, as are 371,923 in Pennsylvania.
~Snip~
The problem for Fitrakis: While he eventually plans to file suit against Crosscheck purges, in the meantime, it's not clear he can challenge the denial of a vote based on a false accusation of double voting. And for those who found their names missing and didn't demand a provisional ballot, there's no hope at all of recovering their vote.
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/38553-the-no-bs-inside-guide-to-the-presidential-vote-recount
It's quite a computer: Crosscheck identified a breathtaking 449,922 Michiganders who are suspected of voting or registering in a second state, a felony crime, as are 371,923 in Pennsylvania.
~Snip~
The problem for Fitrakis: While he eventually plans to file suit against Crosscheck purges, in the meantime, it's not clear he can challenge the denial of a vote based on a false accusation of double voting. And for those who found their names missing and didn't demand a provisional ballot, there's no hope at all of recovering their vote.
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/38553-the-no-bs-inside-guide-to-the-presidential-vote-recount
Cross Check, the voter purge list computer program appears to be at the heart of the Republicans voter suppression efforts.
iluvtennis
(20,815 posts)3. Wow, great article...eye opening...thanks for sharing n/t
Mc Mike
(9,170 posts)4. Thanks, woth. Excellent reporting, well worth reading. Rec, nt.
BSdetect
(9,047 posts)5. American elections are a shameful mess with states making it impossible to get real vote counts
I have nothing but doubt about the entire system. Voting machines that don't keep a paper trail?
Voting machine companies owned by Republicans?
States making registration and voting really difficult.
Its a farce.
There is no check and balance now - if there ever really was.
Once the SCOTUS id packed with RW toadies forget about progress.