MyDD :: Foul Play at the Iowa Straw Poll

Foul Play at the Iowa Straw Poll

by DerekLarsson, Sat Aug 11, 2007 at 11:09:56 PM EST

A starling statistic from the Iowa Straw Poll won't leave my mind and may foreshadow many more Elections to come.

There were 26,000 total Tickets sold for this event, yet there were only just 14,302 votes tabulated.

Now think about that for a minute.
26,000 people purchase tickets to go to a Straw Poll event, and yet we are to believe that 12,000 of those people couldn't even care less about the voting part? Just what were they there for?

This is not believable.
12,000 people went through all that trouble to get a ticket, drive a long distance, wrestle around with parking, or public transportation, and spent their whole Saturday away at a crowded and noisy event, and then did not even vote for anybody?
What were they there for again?

I don't buy it. This is not believable.
An Investigation is needed here.

I think what happened is that the Diebold E-Voting machines threw away votes -- as we also saw last year with the 2006 Florida-13 race and the NC-08 race (hurting the more liberal candidate in each race) --
And, these machines most likely threw away the votes that were intended for only the anti-Iraq, anti-War, anti-Central-Bank, anti-Patriot-Act, anti-Empire candidate in the race, Ron Paul.

We all know that Ron Paul had a huge very visible and very vocal crowd of supporters there at the event, that were perhaps equal in number to, or at least in the same ballpark as Mitt Romney.

So, if the machine only registered 1 out of every 4 Ron Paul votes -- for Ron Paul himself -- and then threw the rest out, that would explain his much lighter than expected 1,300 vote total, and also explain some of the huge gap between ticket buyers (26,000) and the total people recognized as having voted (14,000) in the event.

Of course, it could even be worse than this (even more Ron Paul voters votes thrown away), thus robbing Paul of an outright victory in the Straw Poll.

The point is that we will never know here.

E-Voting Machines are not transparent.
E-Voting Machines are not verifiable (even with a Paper receipt, because as we have seen, there is no comprehensive audit & recount that is ever done, and no after-the-fact Court litigation remedy that isn't directly obstructed).
E-Voting Machines are a privatization and outsourcing of our right to vote.
The Corporations that do this do not release their software, and the systems are proven to be easily tamperable even with honest vote tabulation software.

All it takes is one insider to throw the Election or software installed on one system that adjusts the tabulation.

I don't trust these results at all.
Who is with me on this?

Poll

Votes: 8
Results : Vote Link : Polls

Tags: E-Voting, Deibold, Sequoia, ES&S, Hart, Corporations (all tags)

Permalink :: 14 Comments :: Post a Comment

Re: Foul Play at the Iowa Straw Poll (none / 0)

I don't think you can draw any conclusions about the event from the number of tickets sold vs. votes. The campaigns buy huge blocks of tickets and give them away to people. The event is nothing more than a fundraiser for the state Republican party - it's essentially meaningless.

Do we know how many people actually attended vs. the number of votes? That's a completely different matter. We all know that the voting system stinks, but I'm not sure that was the problem here.

No Way. No How. No McCain.

by Denny Crane on Sat Aug 11, 2007 at 11:42:43 PM EST

Re: Foul Play at the Iowa Straw Poll (none / 0)

I freely acknowledge that no clear proof has yet been established.
However, I am very suspicious with any anomolies in combination with the damn E-Voting Machines. A red flag has to go up there.

Let's say that 20% of the tickets that got sold, ended up being "no shows" at the event. That still is only 5200 people that don't vote, which ought to put the total vote count tally at approximately 20,500.

That number, 14000 is a very low number here, and also Ron Paul's vote count is again a low number relative to his visible supporters.

I'm not saying this is conclusive.
But I remain mighty suspicious,
and I feel it is worthy of more Investigation.

For a "surge" in Truth: Say NO to NeoCons!!!

by DerekLarsson on Sun Aug 12, 2007 at 01:19:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]

I think a lot of ticket-holders didn't show up (none / 0)

I bought a bunch of tickets to the Jewish Food Fair in Des Moines this spring and gave them away to friends. Only about half of my friends showed up on the day.

It was really hot on Saturday, and probably a lot of people didn't feel like dealing with the hassle.

John McCain: 100 years in Iraq "would be fine with me."

by desmoinesdem on Mon Aug 13, 2007 at 01:45:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Foul Play at the Iowa Straw Poll (none / 0)

And, these machines most likely threw away the votes that were intended for only the anti-Iraq, anti-War, anti-Central-Bank, anti-Patriot-Act, anti-Empire candidate in the race, Ron Paul.

I think the diebold machines actually threw away the votes of the ultra conservative Tom Tancredo! CONSPIRARCY I SWEAR!

Good job catching this one Derek. We must not rest until the man who wants to bomb Mecca has every vote counted in his favor!

by world dictator on Sat Aug 11, 2007 at 11:51:34 PM EST

A Republican cluster Foock (none / 0)

Who gives a shiite.

Not I.

by dpANDREWS on Sun Aug 12, 2007 at 12:23:31 AM EST

Election Integrity (none / 0)

The point is that these E-Voting Macines should not ever be used, period ... anywhere.

And it matters, because I would rather see a General Election race between two anti-War candidates (Obama or Edwards or Kucinch .vs. Ron Paul), then run the risk of seeing decades of more War, Death, Torture, Bankruptcy, and financial ruin.

We can only take so much...

For a "surge" in Truth: Say NO to NeoCons!!!

by DerekLarsson on Sun Aug 12, 2007 at 01:10:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Foul Play at the Iowa Straw Poll (none / 0)

I understand that Sam Brownback bussed in 100 busloads. If many were from his home state (KS), I imagine many were not eligible to vote in the IOWA straw vote. You can presume the other candidates had many cheerleaders who were not Iowa voters or were otherwise ineligible to vote there as well.
The Romney family alone would add about 11 to the total, not counting their spouses and children.

Why not ask/consult with someone who knows the Republican Iowa straw poll techniques to get your answers.

I agree that Diebold machines are subject to many errors and should not be used, but in this case, why should we care?

In this case A (tickets sold) + B (Diebold machines) does not necessarily = C (fraudulent or inaccurate totals).

by susie on Sun Aug 12, 2007 at 01:24:00 AM EST

Everything is a conspiracy (none / 0)

to Ron Paul fans.

They wear tinfoil hats to ward off the black helicopters swooping in over the grassy knoll. Not to mention the Collectivist conspiracy to poison us with dental fillings and fluridation.

by hwc on Sun Aug 12, 2007 at 01:38:04 AM EST

Re: Everything is a conspiracy (none / 0)

So true.

"Another problem we have...is that in election years we behave somewhat as primitive peoples do at the time of the full moon." --Harry Truman

by Steve M on Sun Aug 12, 2007 at 02:42:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Foul Play at the Iowa Straw Poll (none / 0)

LOL. Many vocal Ron Paul kids are from other states, but they can't really vote. That's the same fomula obama kids will likely utilize in the future.

Hillary: We will finally have a president who doesn't mind pulling over and asking for directions. Am I right, ladies?

by areyouready on Sun Aug 12, 2007 at 01:50:47 AM EST

Re: Foul Play at the Iowa Straw Poll (none / 0)

The Republican Party said the Story County auditor will provide the voting machines, which have been used in official elections.

A representative for Mitt Romney's campaign said they believe the results will be fair.

It could have been the same person: Mary Mosiman

quote source

by Jasonik on Sun Aug 12, 2007 at 02:29:29 AM EST

Re: Foul Play at the Iowa Straw Poll (none / 0)

Let the voting conspiracies begin. We'll be reading a lot of them until the primaries are over.

by reasonwarrior on Sun Aug 12, 2007 at 04:54:28 AM EST

Re: Foul Play at the Iowa Straw Poll (none / 0)

12,000 people went through all that trouble to get a ticket, drive a long distance, wrestle around with parking, or public transportation, and spent their whole Saturday away at a crowded and noisy event, and then did not even vote for anybody?

Given that most people had their tickets paid for by a candidate's campaign and many were bused in by the candidate (375 buses, hence no hassle with parking), what's more interesting to me is the sheer amount of money that candidates wasted on bringing all those people out only to have them not vote.

One Million Strong --- Join up

by psericks on Sun Aug 12, 2007 at 11:19:10 AM EST

Re: Foul Play at the Iowa Straw Poll (none / 0)

The extras were cheerleaders.

It was reported that voters had to show Iowa ID this year for the first time.

by susie on Mon Aug 13, 2007 at 12:46:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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