Uh....YES! Of course. Obviously.
I guess this is supposed to be a daring public revelation by Mr. Kennedy. But the fact is....this is old news. Very old, stale news.
On January 5, 2005, the House Judiciary Committee Democratic staff published a 102-page report "Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio," that explained in clear and objective detail the irregularities, intimidation and purposeful misinformation that occurred before and on the November 2, 2004 election in Ohio.
The thousands of egregious, unlawful violations of voting rights in Ohio 2004 fell under 14 broad categories:
-- Voting machines were often allocated in a significantly uneven manner among Republican and Democratic wards
-- New restrictions on provisional ballots
-- Limiting voter registration
-- Intimidating new minority voters
-- Targeting minority and urban voters for Election Day challenges
-- Denying provisional ballots to absentee voters who never got their ballots
-- Voter registration irregularities
-- Numerous instances of votes incorrectly recorded
-- Numerous obvious errors in recording votes
-- Chaos in counting provisional ballots
-- Recounts were delayed
-- Manipulation of recount software by voting machine manufacturer
-- Failure to Issue Recount Procedural Standards
-- Inadequate objective observations of recounts
This urgent issue has never caught fire with with American public because the voting process in the United States is enormously complex and replete with hundreds of eye-glazing, snore-inducing procedures. But...as the old saying goes....the devil is in the details. It's in the myriad of boring details and mind-numbing procedures where elections are stolen.
(I know this because I'm an Election official for Orange County, California. I first served for the November 2004 elections, in order to gain a bird's eye view of the process. Am presently preparing to work as an Election Judge for California's June 6 primary.)
The Janary 5, 2005 Congressional report on Ohio 2004 concluded that criminal violations occurred in Ohio of the following: the US Constitution, the First Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Civil Rights Act of 1968, the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act of 2002, and many more statutes and regulations.
Election irregularities in November 2004 also occurred in New Mexico, Florida, Nevada, Colorado and many other states, but Ohio 2004 perfectly exemplifies what currently needs to be fixed in the US voting system to ensure free and fair elections in our country.
Mr. Kennedy concludes his Rolling Stone article by writing, "The issue of what happened in 2004 is not an academic one. For the second election in a row, the president of the United States was selected not by the uncontested will of the people but under a cloud of dirty tricks.....
American history is littered with vote fraud -- but rather than learning from our shameful past and cleaning up the system, we have allowed the problem to grow even worse. If the last two elections have taught us anything, it is this: The single greatest threat to our democracy is the insecurity of our voting system.....Nothing less is at stake here than the entire idea of a government by the people."
Nice words and pretty patriotic sentiments, Mr. Kennedy, written a safe 18 months after the 2004 elections and well after the President's ratings hit irretrievably awful lows.
You know as well as anyone, Mr. Kennedy, that it takes years of focus and legislation to clean-up elections systems. It takes courageous actions, not just politically-timed words, to change the course of events. Here's my question for you, Mr. Kennedy: With your money and vast influence, what action are YOU actually taking to guarantee voting rights in the United States?
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Related Articles
-- Democracy & Voting - What Went Wrong in Ohio 2004
-- Liberal Blogs Yawn, Exult at Robert Kennedy's "Rolling Stone" Article on Election 2004
Comments
On the contrary, Robert Kennedy’s article may well be the first time a mainstream publication has covered the stolen 2004 election. Kennedy did an outstanding job of supporting the allegations of fraud by copious documentation. I don’t get your questioning of Kennedy’s motives, denigratiion of his careful research, and asking what ACTIONS he’s taking instead of what you call stale talk.
Have you written on the stolen 2004 election in a publication with the kind of national readership Robert Kennedy has for this article? If so, I missed it. What is old news to you is very likely going to electrify those only “informed” by the mainstream media, so please don’t knock it.
I wnder if Gonzales will charge him for breaching national security?
One of the main points in Kennedy’s RS article is that Fourth Estate failed to report on the abuses that took place in the 2000 and 2004 elections. We’re FINALLY seeing the first thorough, researched, and trenchant accounts of this wrongdoing in a mainstream publication, and all you have are snide pedantic poo-poos and challenges to Kennedy to do more.
What did you do? I haven’t seen anything in your bloviating blog about this before today. Frankly, I’m grateful to him for writing it, and you should be, too. I hope words might start the ball rolling on something akin to an Orange Revolution in the U.S. Seeing Ken Blackwell behind bars would be a nice start.
The liberal blogosphere has been on this issue, with great urgency, for much more than a year. BradBloggers, for instance, has been heroic in rolling up their sleeves, and getting intensely involved in understanding the complexities and fighting the wrongs of the US voting system.
I wrote the article in the left margin and noted at the bottom of this post(Voting Rights in Ohio 2004) in summer 2005. But more than writing, I am getting involved in the system as a grassroots activist in order to bring clarity and change, as best one person can. What I’ve done is miniscule in comparison to BradBlog and many other progressive bloggers who have led on this issue.
Many members of Congress, especially in the House, have spoken out and taken actions, as much as possible in this Republican-led Congress.
Sure, Kennedy’s words are correct. My point is: with his vast influence and resources, WHAT is he doing besides writing one high-profile Rolling Stone essay, to change status quo?
I, for one, am tired of political leaders talking and then walking away, without taking action. We need leaders who lead, not just talk. If Robert Kennedy wants to be a leader on this issue, then he should take action. Otherwise, he is just one more talker….and we Democrats already have plenty of talkers.
Let me give you an example: Mr. Kennedy’s own father, who was never content to merely identify issues. He took definite action by becoming intensely and publicly involved in whatever cause he was supporting.
It’s time for action! Now that Kennedy has come out of the political closet with this view, what next? Robert Kennedy is a powerful man who can do plenty to protect voting rights in this country.
(And yes, it would be delightful and quite appropriate to see Ken Blackwell behind bars.)
You sound jealous. Be supportive of things like this. This NEEDED to happen. Be happy.
Friends…I AM listening.
Good for him for taking a stand and getting widespread attention. It doesn’t take any guts for a blogger to write about this, it takes a lot more for a visible celeb to. Even if his grandfather stole the 1960 election on behalf of JFK.