The Democratic party is again facing questions about its handling of the primary process in some precincts in New York City, where initial "unofficial" tallies reported zero votes for Sen. Barack Obama, of Illinois, rival of local junior senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for the party's presidential nomination. The undercounts appear to represent severe distortions of the actual tally, and occurred in areas where Obama's support rivaled Clinton's.
The question has been raised by several party leaders as to how any candidate could be expected to have received zero votes and why the problem was not corrected sooner. Some have suggested the extreme error points to the unlikelihood of wrongdoing, while others allege some sort of conspiracy to steal enough votes to add one or two delegates to the Clinton tally. There is no evidence of any campaign operatives being involved.
The New York Times has reported that its own review of election night tally reporting "found about 80 election districts among the city’s 6,106 where Mr. Obama supposedly did not receive even one vote, including cases where he ran a respectable race in a nearby district."
Their report also found that some of these contests were close enough that one or two votes could sway the precinct. "In the Harlem district, for instance, where the primary night returns suggested a 141 to 0 sweep by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, the vote now stands at 261 to 136. In an even more heavily black district in Brooklyn — where the vote on primary night was recorded as 118 to 0 for Mrs. Clinton — she now barely leads, 118 to 116."
17 February :: Kosovo to declare independence from Serbia today, according to reports from Pristina, EU agencies; EU officials said "around 1,900 international police officers, judges, prosecutors and customs officials and approximately 1,100 local staff will be based in headquarters in Pristina or located throughout the judicial and police system in Kosovo", according to CNN, with EU staff replacing the UN mission currently aiding in the running of the territory... Musharraf gov't says parliamentary elections will be held as scheduled, despite massive suicide bombing that killed at least 27 at secular candidate's campaign rally; opposition parties have criticized the gov't for the escalation of allegedly extremist-motivated violence, and fear the gov't may use the bombings as a pretext to suspend elections or take measures to fortify Pres. Musharraf's hold on power... New release of economic data paints worrying picture of coming trends in US economy; IHT reports "With the price of oil near record levels, import costs grew in January at the highest annual rate in a quarter century, the Labor Department said. In New York, manufacturing activity fell to its lowest level in five years. And consumers, responding to a national survey, said they felt worse about the economy than any time since the recession era of the early 1990s", also quoting High Frequency Economics economist as saying "The sustained volatility in the markets, the rise in energy and food prices and, of course, the catastrophe in the housing market, is making consumers extraordinarily miserable"... Report suggests organizing everyday household processes to be more environmentally-friendly has become standard part of domestic planning stress in some parts of US; a write-up in IHT suggests "The truth is, we're not living very naturally - we're in our cars, staring at the computer screen, separated most of the day from the people we love", but warns against using ecological considerations as a stand-in for other personal goals... Report suggests economic hardship, political disappointments, marginalization, lack of progress toward democracy, are combining to drive Egyptian youths first toward religion, then in some cases to radical fundamentalist movements that seek Islamic state, abolition of secular culture, specifically "With 60 percent of the region's population under the age of 25, this youthful religious fervor has enormous implications for the Middle East. More than ever, Islam has become the cornerstone of identity, replacing other, failed ideologies: Arabism, socialism, nationalism"...
Illinois senator Barack Obama scored three convincing wins over rival Hillary Clinton, senator for New York, in the Democrats' 'Potomac primaries'. Obama won Virginia by a margin of 64% tp 35%, Maryland by a margin of 60% to 37%, and the District of Columbia by a margin of 75% to 24%, over Clinton. Sen. Clinton declined to congratulate her opponent for the victories and has focused her campaign's attention on upcoming contests. She also chided the Illinois senator for not yet accepting an invitation to debate in Wisconsin ahead of the primary there next Tuesday.
Arizona senator John McCain has hardened the perception that he is the nominee of his party, sweeping the same three primaries. Conservatives in Virginia showed skepticism for some of his policies and/or senatorial record, shifting their vote to Mike Huckabee. McCain has sought to assuage doubts about his allegiance to current GOP policies by voting against a ban on harsh interrogation techniques and promising to make Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent, though he initially opposed them.
McCain has also begun to attack the new Democratic frontrunner personally, with Obama responding that he respects McCain's record of service, disagrees with his policies and looks forward to a vigorous debate (should he win his party's nomination). Ironically, McCain also sought to take up the mantle of Obama's crusade for change, using Obama's very words and claiming he's "fired up and ready to go".
The presidential campaign of Barack Obama has issued a statement regarding reports of voter-registration irregularities in Louisiana that allegedly led to the denial of the vote to hundreds of people. The Obama campaign website published the following:
The Obama campaign submitted an urgent request for assistance to the Secretary of State’s Division of Elections today, after receiving widespread reports from Democrats across Louisiana who reported that they were not allowed to vote because their party affiliation had been switched. Hundreds of Louisiana democrats went to the polls to vote in today’s presidential primary and found that they were now on registration lists as Independent or Unaffiliated voters.
The outcome of the voting in Louisiana appears to be a win for the Illinois senator, but his campaign has been vehement in pushing for greater access to the polls for would-be voters, and took issue with the manner in which voters' party registration was allegedly switched without their knowledge.
The investigative blogsite, Bradblog, has published this summary of a wave of irregularities in the primaries held in recent days:
Georgia: Widespread bottlenecks for voters as problems occur with Diebold's new e-pollbook system and the state's new Photo ID restrictions. Voters waited in line for up to two hours in some places.
New Mexico: 17,000 (11%) forced to vote on provisional ballots in Democratic Caucus as previously registered Democrats find they are no longer on voter rolls recently privatized by voting machine company ES&S.
Arizona: We've begun receiving reports from voters and local officials of polling places where some 40% of voters were forced to vote on provisionals, after state registration system outsourced to ES&S. [UPDATE: One such report is now published here, from a poll worker who reports that of 1291 ballots cast at her polling place, 540 --- some 41% --- were forced to vote provisionally.]
California: Various reports of voters registered for one party to find they were switched to another, or not registered at all. Confusion about how to handle non-partisan voters in Los Angeles County leads to nearly 100,000 votes which may not be counted properly.
Problems with electronic voter-registration records, with the management of these systems by private contractors, and especially where non-verifiable touchscreen machines have been used —leaving no physical record of voter intent, only a potentially (and in many cases to date proven to be) flawed electronic "tally"— are occurring in a disturbingly high number of places, and irregularities are already threatening to undermine the overall integrity of the 2008 election process across the United States.
The presidential campaign of Mike Huckabee is "exploring all available legal options regarding the dubious final results for the state of Washington State Republican precinct caucuses". The state's Republican party halted the count at 87% of votes counted, a margin of just 242 votes separating John McCain from Mike Huckabee, and a reported 12,000 votes tallied to that point. Ron Paul was just 427 points behind Huckabee, in third place, when the counting was stopped.
The state Republican party then issued a press release around 2:30 am declaring John McCain the winner of the primary, despite not completing the vote count. At least 1,500 votes were expected uncounted when the state was called for McCain by the party, raising serious issues about the caucus organizers' adherence to the "intent of the voter" principle. The Huckabee statement goes on to declare that "more than one in eight Evergreen State Republicans have been disenfranchised by the actions of their own party."
Reports from New Mexico are demonstrating a range of problems that faced voters during the Super Tuesday "nationwide primary" Democratic party caucuses there. The New Mexico caucus system is run by the party itself, and involves actual paper ballots, cast by each individual voting. But the list of voters eligible to participate is not maintained by the party itself or by the state, but instead by ES&S, an electronic voting-machine manufacturer.
Whether due to this layered management of the voter registration rolls or not, on the day of the caucus, some 17,000 New Mexicans were required to cast provisional ballots because despite being properly registered, their names did not appear on caucus attendee lists, and their official ballots were not provided.
In an astonishing parallel to this voter access glitch, it has been reported that at least three ballot boxes, full of uncounted ballots, were taken home and kept overnight by a county chairwoman for the Democratic party. The margin separating Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the voting, as this news emerged, was just 217 votes out of 136,000 cast (a difference of just 0.16%). The ballot boxes, which may now be tainted and will likely have to undergo an investigative audit before being counted and added to the totals, could easily contain the votes needed to change the outcome of such a close contest.
While problems with touchscreen voting caused New Mexico to cast aside that option, and to opt for paper instead, it has been reported that a number of precincts saw no paper ballots available and/or a shortage of provisional ballots. Governor Bill Richardson, a would-be presidential candidate in this year's race, has said he is "deeply disturbed by the reports that problems and delays at polling locations may have kept people from voting".
7 February :: Bush spokesman says "waterboarding" is legal, may be authorized for use at any time, "under certain circumstances"; critics express disbelief, as two recent laws, Supreme Court ruling clearly bar use of abusive interrogation techniques; according to the LA Times "The technique has been traced to the Spanish Inquisition and has been the subject of war-crimes trials dating back a century", and Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (AZ) recently said in a televised debate he found it inconceivable "anyone could believe that [waterboarding is] not torture. It's in violation of the Geneva Convention. It's in violation of existing law"; it is thought the declaration by a White House spokesperson is based in part on the Bush administration's long-running, highly controversial assertion that Congress cannot dictate such policies to the Executive... Destruction of Hindu temples by authorities in Malaysia sparks ethnic tensions, allegations of a racist state that ignores the ethnic Indian minority; some 20,000 ethnic Indians defied a gov't ban against organizing a march through Kuala Lumpur to protest ill treatment, marginalization, demolition of places of faith and worship... Outcry in Britain over apparently irregular bugging of a minister of parliament who visited a constituent facing extradition to the US; according to the Christian Science Monitor "The outcry involving Sadiq Khan, whose conversations with a man facing extradition to the United States on terrorism charges were secretly recorded, has generated alarm that individual rights are increasingly becoming subordinated to national security"; the UK has until now resisted using wiretap evidence in court, but CSM adds that "Bugging and telephone wiretaps can be set up without recourse to a judge – unlike the vast majority of European democracies and the US. The home secretary authorized more than 3,500 spy operations in 2005 and 2006"...
As the most widespread presidential primary vote in US history took place yesterday, across the continent and beyond (American Samoa also voted), there were glitches, confusion and unjustifiable waits in states across the country. Three examples stand out: touchscreen machines failing in New Jersey, a suspiciously confusing ballot in Los Angeles, and multiple irregularities in Georgia, where long waits, questionable ID laws and more failing Diebold machines made voting a serious challenge by any rational standards.
In the case of Georgia, the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) —who won the state convincingly— has requested an investigation into irregularities that may have prevented some from casting votes, including the up to 90-minute waits reported and isolated cases of voters then being directed to alternate polling locations and an alleged campaign of phone calls to elderly voters telling them they could vote by phone (a lie, apparently designed to prevent their voting).
In New Jersey, Governor Jon Corzine was forced to stand idle while his touchscreen voting machine did the same. Two touchscreen machines at the "Hoboken Fire Department Engine Company No. 2 on Washington Street would not work for about 45 minutes as the polls opened", according to a report by Brad Friedman, sourcing the Associated Press. Gov. Corzine was forced to wait at least 45 minutes while the problem was repaired. The votes were non-verifiable electronic votes, and FOX News reported that there were no provisional ballots made available at the polling place.
New Jersey is home to Rep. Rush Holt, a Democrat, who is the leading proponent in Congress for voter-verified paper trails for all touchscreen machines. He has two bills currently pending debate, which would mandate a nationwide voter-verified paper trail standard. Some complain that more appropriate legislation would be to ban all touchscreen machines outright, due to their numerous vulnerabilities to computer error, human error and tampering.
In Los Angeles, perhaps the most serious irregularities occured. On a registration form that precedes the ballot itself, and that requires voters to select their party affiliation or non-partisan affiliation, selecting "Independent" had the effect of registering the voter, likely inadvertently, as a member of the "American Independent" party, making them ineligible to vote in the Democratic primary.
Independent or unaffiliated voters eligible to vote were required to select either "Decline to State" —which grammatically does not mean there is no party affiliation—, or otherwise "DTS" or "Non-partisan", all of which appear unrelated to the interest of an independent voter interested in choosing a Democratic candidate of preference.
Any independent voter who selected Independent (capital "I") and not DTS or the related option, will have no vote counted in the California primary. The Los Angeles city attorney Rocky Delgadillo has requested an inquiry into the problem, which could disenfranchise literally hundreds of thousands of Californians. The specific problem is exacerbated by the fact that there is no logical reason for voters to select the bubble, since they have requested the Democratic ballot and are either officially registered or not with any given party.
Delgadillo issued a statement saying "I urge the Secretary of State and County Registrar to do everything within their power to ensure that every vote is counted, and to carefully weigh voter intent against this confusing Los Angeles County ballot design. [...] Los Angeles' non-partisan voters must not be disenfranchised because of a confusing ballot design."
As many as 776,000 voters with no party affiliation were expected to go to the polls in Los Angeles County, a number in itself far higher than most states' overall primary electorate. The mass confusion could certainly cause a huge drop in the number of ballots counted, according to Los Angeles County election rules.
[ You can find more on voter-verified paper trails and the all-votes-count standard at VerifiedVoting.org, which also hosts a map showing which states still use unverifiable paperless touchscreens, and which states require paper trails, manual recounts, and what level of the legislative process pending legislation may be at, at present. ]
The figures from the biggest day of primary voting in US history are coming in, and reveal a lot of interesting detail about the make-up of the campaigns. Sen. John McCain was the day's big winner, though he did not win enough delegates to seal the nomination. McCain, still struggling to convince many conservative Republicans, won 9 states on the day, including the big states of California, Illinois, Missouri, New York and New Jersey.
The Democratic contest was more complicated: Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York won her home state, as well as the big prize of California, but many of her victories were closer margins, whereas Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois won many smaller states, and by enormous margins, taking Idaho 80% to 17%, Alaska 74% to 25%, Kansas (where he was born) 74% to 25%, Minnesota 67% to 32% and Colorado by the same margin. There is some speculation that when the counting is done, Obama, who won more states but with much smaller populations, may come away with more delegates, due to the Democratic party's proportional delegate assignment rules.
Fmr. Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney won 6 states, possibly 7 if Alaska officially goes his way, including a 90% to 5% margin over McCain in Utah (Romney is a Mormon, Mormons comprising the majority of Utah's population). Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee also won 5 states, and has declared his intention to stay in the race and keep fighting for the nomination.
The biggest prize in the Super Tuesday 24-state primary vote today will be California, with more than 36 million inhabitants, the most populous state in the nation. Observers expect Clinton and Obama to nearly split the delegates available, which amount to more than 50% of the total. The Republican contest could be close to being decided, if frontrunner McCain achieves a "sweep", as some expect, with more than 40% of delegates in play, and a winner-take-all rule in some GOP contests.
Until two weeks ago, Sen. Hillary Clinton (NY) led her principal Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama (IL) by a margin of more than 10%. By this weekend, that margin had shrunk to 2%, with some polls showing Obama with a lead. By this morning, polls suggested Obama has opened a 13 percentage point lead over Clinton 49% to her 36%, possibly gathering to his cause many voters who had supported the progressive campaign of fmr. Sen. John Edwards (SC). A SurveyUSA poll conducted during the same period shows Sen. Clinton with a 10% lead.
Georgia, where Obama holds a commanding 20 percentage point lead, according to the latest Zogby poll, is expected to be important to the candidate's maintaining momentum through the day and into the coming contests. Bloomberg reports "or the next 90 minutes after polls close in Georgia, returns will come in from 10 states, including primaries in the Northeast. Anything other than victory for New York Senator Clinton in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Delaware would be a coup for Obama, an Illinois senator."
Among Republicans, new frontrunner Sen. John McCain (AZ) has pulled ahead in many key states, and himself predicts he will defeat rival Mitt Romney in his home state of Massachusetts. Pollster John Zogby says "It looks like a big day for McCain with Romney making a last stand in California".
McCain's momentum, based on his victories in South Carolina and Florida, seems to give him the edge in terms of support and energy, though many conservative Republicans are wary of his "credentials" in the area of social and fiscal conservatism. His tough talk on issues of war and security has brought momentum from that part of the Republican electorate concerned about defense issues, though there is general skepticism across the nation on issues of economic recovery and fiscal policy.
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