Home > British MP Michael Meacher Suspects US Election Rigged

British MP Michael Meacher Suspects US Election Rigged

by Open-Publishing - Friday 3 December 2004
7 comments

Elections-Elected USA

Meacher writes:-Now allegations are surfacing that the use of electronic voting systems and optical scanning devices may have had a significant influence on the result. Computer security experts insist that such sys- tems are not secure and not tamper-proof, yet they were used to count a third of the votes across 37 states. Though the Democrats remain strangely coy about the whole subject, academics and political analysts are now drawing comparisons between areas that used paper ballots and areas that used electronic systems. Is it possible that results in the latter were rigged?

An analysis of the poll by different states points up inconsistencies that cannot be explained by random variation. In Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Iowa, New Mexico, Maine, Nevada, Arkansas and Missouri, where a variety of different voting systems were used, including paper ballots in many cases, the four companies carrying out exit polls were almost exactly right and their results were certainly within the margin of error. In Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Minnesota, New Hampshire and North Carolina, however, where electronic or optical scanning machines were used (though not exclusively), the tracking polls were seriously discrepant from the published result.

Two aspects of this are immediately striking. One is the large size of the variance, and the other is that in every case it favoured Bush. In Wisconsin and Ohio, the discrepancy favoured Bush by 4 per cent, in Pennsylvania by 5 per cent, in Florida and Minnesota by 7 per cent, in North Carolina by 9 per cent and in New Hampshire by an astonishing 15 per cent.

Moreover, extensive voting irregularities have been reported across the US - including intimidation, exclusion of black voters from electoral rolls, touchscreens that consistently registered support for Bush when the name Kerry was touched, and a large number of county precincts (including in Ohio) where the number of votes cast exceeded the total number of registered voters, sometimes by large margins. In Florida, for example, the number of votes reported for all the candidates exceeded the maximum possible voter turnout by 237,522, so that a minimum of 3.1 per cent of the votes must be fraudulent, and possibly considerably more...

...So can we really be sure that this year’s result was an accurate reflection of the popular will? It has emerged that the Diebold Gems software and optical scan voting machines used in counting a high proportion of the votes may not be tamper-proof from hacking, particularly via remote modems. Two US computer security experts, in their recently published book Black Box Voting, argue that “by entering a two-digit code in a hidden location, a second set of votes is created; and this set of votes can be changed in a matter of seconds, so that it no longer matches the correct votes”. After the Florida fiasco four years earlier, the US Congress voted $3.9bn to improve the quality of voting systems. Perhaps the latest revelations about what happened where electronic systems were used may become known as the “November surprise

Forum posts

  • Now we need US politicians to act.

  • Well of course the election in the US was rigged. That is a given. It was something many of us knew would occur anyway, thus the request for a paper trail for every vote. We didn’t get it though and now, we have Bush in office who many of us believe once again stole the election just like in 2000. At least half of this nation did not vote for him and of those who did not vote for him, it is unlikely we have ever been so against a presidential candidate as we were against Bush. The USA has become a banana republic for the second time in a row with respect to presidential elections. The majority of the people of the USA are not that gullible or ignorant nor do we stand by or support the poor choices Bush has made.

    Where does that leave us though now? Many of us feel as if we have no democracy anymore and that in fact, if you have the money and the friends, you can buy the presidential election. Bush has proven that twice now. We are no longer a democracy but have fallen under the ideal of a dictatorship type government. Yet we are still virtually powerles to change it. Even if we get a recount and even if we can prove Kerry actually won, there is no way they will allow him to become the president. It won’t happen. Bush owns the country now. How about some help from the outside demanding fair elections and recounts for the US? The same as claim to demand for other nations?

    • The previous entry is correct in my mind. We are heading into a dictatorship or in one already. Yes we do need other countries to help us with this and demand investigation just like the world did for Ukraine. I guess other countries are afraid to say anything, they may get on the wrong side of us. Here we go down the road again.

  • well .... it has taken a month and finially some one with some significance ... ie...a title ... has spoken the unspeakable in america ... in Britian !!!! thank you and we need your voice .... the fix was in to the degree many of us knew not to go to the polls ... when there is this level of fraud ... you go back to the declaration of independence and throw off the usurpers... and we can do it as the UKRAINES did ... peacefully in the streets .... now if only there were a "leader" to call us to the streets to STAY !!! UNTIL THE TRUTH IS UNVEILED !!! or do we have the courage and support from voices outside our tryanical state to call ourselves out and stand in the "all types of weather" accross our land in the town square in each community till we get the truth

    • To quote the man who is deeply involved in this fraud:

      "There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again." —George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002

      Or to quote what Mr. Bush was likely trying to say — "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." [Chinese Proverb]

      Ironic that Bush says the goal of the US is to spread “democracy” throughout the world. I wonder what type of democracy he is actually describing---one like we currently have in America with fradulent elections? Is that why we are fighting, killing and getting killed in the Middle East?

    • Complicity. An anaethetised global populace. Numbed and dumbed to the most powerful man in the world illegally taking power TWICE!! Turning a blind eye to mass slaughter, because the mainstream media is complicit in the cover up. Complicit in ignoring that the most powerful man in the world can’t even debate without a radio receiver up his back like a grotesque ventroliquists monkey. The ’war’ deemed Illegal by an organisation called the UNITED nations. No one cares a fuck. At least not anyone who can make a difference. They’ve too much to lose in terms of cash. The circle continues, just like demonstrating US style, round in a circle carrying placards, the circle of war as inevitable, and ingrained in our psyche. Oh well, it’ll all be over by Christmas ?

    • Take heart folks, we do not need to go out into the streets to take back our government, all we have to do is simply and loudly refuse to vote the whold thing will implode. When only the republican sheep go to the polls it will become an absurdity too laughable for it to be taken seriously, think about it people. I have heard people say no I have to keep trying, I will try to get others to come and vote for the oposition candidates....this will NEVER work. Just the opposite they will only count enough oposing votes that the oposition will still lose...get it? Do not vote and try to take as many of your fellow voters into this resistence...stay away in droves or only go to the polls with placards saying I refuse to vote in fraudulant elections.....this can and will work to end the corruption that has been passing for the elections in this country for 2 in a row. Nothing else can break up this activity which is sanctioned by both parties and will continue.