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For all you GS conspiracists, after working with and for them for years, I have never met a more hardcore group of dedicated and liberal Democrats. If you are a Republican in the NYC offices, you keep it to yourself.
I am not sure what a GS conspiracists is. Open secrets states they mostly donate to Dems. NYC is known for Dem leanings. Don't think political leanings really matters much in this case.
An important thing that people should realize is that information I have posted shows that with little to no modification you can effect these machines remotely. That could be more local or further away. Possibly even via satellite.
Apparently there is some history of corruption and conflicts with these arrangements. Sure no one is shocked.
This 2007 report to congress on this issue has some good info. THE LANDES REPORT
Some bits from that report.
Although there is mounting evidence of widespread computer vote fraud in American elections dating back decades, the Department of Justice (DOJ) under the direction of Craig C. Donsanto (since 1970) has taken a hands-off approach to any serious investigation. And, since the news networks’ exit polls are equally susceptible to manipulation and fraud, voting rights activists in several states conducted Citizen Audits or Parallel Elections as a check against official vote totals. In effect, activists asked voters to go public with their votes. Voters signed forms that include their name, address and who they voted for. Candidates and voters can then use a comparative analysis to check audit results against official returns. Last year, activists in San Diego, California used their results to win a recount. (See: http://www.thelandesreport.com/CitizenAudit.htm)
The AP is in control of exit poll reporting on election night. But who controls the AP? The Associated Press (AP) was founded in 1848. It is a not-for-profit national news cooperative, some would say monopoly, that earns about $500 million dollars a year. The AP is owned by its 1,500 U.S. daily newspaper members. Their board of directors is elected by voting bonds. However, it is not clear who owns the bonds. AP leadership in 2004 appeared quite conservative. Burl Osborne, chairman of the AP board of directors, is also publisher emeritus of the conservative The Dallas Morning News, a newspaper that endorsed George W. Bush in the last election. Kathleen Carroll, senior vice president and executive editor of AP, was a reporter at The Dallas Morning News before joining AP. Carroll is also on the Associated Press Managing Editors (APME)’s 7-member executive committee. The APME "works in partnership with AP to improve the wire service's performance," according to their website.
It is worth noting that former APME vice president, Deanna Sands, was the managing editor of the ultra conservative Omaha World Herald newspaper, whose parent company owns the largest voting machine company in the nation, Election Systems and Software (ES&S), which counts 50% of the vote. Even if the AP’s actions were not suspect, one should consider the obvious absurdity of the situation. The AP reports exit poll data based on secret sources to verify election results based on secret ballots that are counted in secret by private corporations.
Just two companies, Election Systems and Software (ES&S) and Diebold, which were started by two brothers, Bob and Todd Urosevich, process 80% of all votes in the United States. These companies make, sell, and service both ballot scanners and touchscreen machines. Like other voting companies, they also have close ties to the GOP. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska was the president of AIS (which eventually became ES&S) just before he won a surprise landslide victory in 1996. Wally O'Dell, chief executive of Diebold, promised in a fundraising letter to Republican supporters that he would "deliver" Ohio to George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election.
Sequoia Voting Systems, America's third largest voting machine company, is foreign-owned. In 2003, Sequoia was owned by De La Rue of the United Kingdom (UK). Today, Sequoia is owned by Smartmatic Corporation, which is owned by a Dutch holding company. Smartmatic is privately held. A controlling interest is held by its founder and CEO, Antonio Mugica, who holds dual Spanish and Venezuelan citizenship.
Chuck Hagel apparently had holdings in McCarthy Group Inc. (ES&S) which he failed to disclose.
Here's some interesting information in regard to specific polling issues that became a bigger issue in 2004. The whole polling topic comes up in relation to elections constantly.
"Although I had arrived just shortly before the polls closed at 7 p.m., I was the only member of the public or the press around except for a couple Associated Press (AP) reporters in the far corner of the room. They were busy setting up their laptop to the ES&S computer in the backroom, which provided them with direct feed of the results."
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