Could The Associated Press (AP) Rig The Election?

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Fri, 22 Oct 2004 21:24:25 -0400

Subject:Could The Associated Press (AP) Rig The Election?

 

 

 

Could The Associated Press (AP) Rig The Election?

Address:http://www.rense.com/general58/couldtheassociatedpress.htm

 

Rense.com

Could The Associated Press(AP) Rig The Election?

By Lynn Landes

10-22-4

 

 

 

The Associated Press (AP) will be the sole source of raw vote totals for

the major news broadcasters on Election Night. However, AP spokesmen

Jack Stokes and John Jones refused to explain to this journalist how the

AP will receive that information. They refused to confirm or deny that

the AP will receive direct feed from voting machines and central vote

tabulating computers across the country. But, circumstantial evidence

suggests that is exactly what will happen.

 

And what can be downloaded can also be uploaded. Computer experts say

that signals can travel both to and from computerized voting machines

through wireless technology, modems, and even simple electricity.

Computer scientists have long warned that computer voting is an

invitation to vote fraud and system failure. An examination of Diebold

election software by several computer scientists, including Dr. Avi

Rubin and his staff, proved that secret backdoors can be built into

computer programs that allow votes to be easily manipulated without

detection.

 

ES & S, the nation's largest voting machine company that will reportedly

count 50% of all votes, describe on their webpage how " accessible " their

results are, " At ES & S, we know election administrators and the public

want fast and accurate election results. That is why we have developed

several election management system software solutions to make the

reporting process easier, more reliable, and more accessible. " Diebold,

the second largest voting machine company, advertises a similar service.

Both ES & S and Diebold have close ties to the Republican Party.

 

But, can't the AP be trusted? Isn't it an objective non-partisan news

organization? Some say no. The AP is batting for a Bush presidency.

 

In Online Journal, Stephen Crockett and Al Lawrence, the hosts of

Democratic Talk Radio, wrote, " ...the Associated Press ran a story that

was widely published in newspapers and on the Internet, headlined " Bush

Leads Kerry In Electoral Votes, " that could have been written by the

Bush campaign. The assignment of states to candidates, the headline and

the conclusions were all simply wrong. The Associated Press should print

a retraction and work to see that it is widely published. "

 

And on WBAY TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin ran an AP article reporting that

Bush has won the election, weeks before the election is to take place.

The AP reported, " At this hour, President Bush has won re-election as

president by a 47 percent to 43 percent margin in the popular vote

nationwide. Ralph Nader has 1 percent of the vote nationwide. That's

with 51 percent of the precincts reporting. " According to reports, the

AP is now saying the article was a " test article, " a never-heard-before

journalistic practice.

 

Who is the AP? The Associated Press was founded in 1848. It is a

not-for-profit news cooperative, some would say monopoly,, that rakes in

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 controls the bonds. AP spokespeople

would not give out information on who sits on their board, however AP

leadership appears 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. APME vice president, Deanna Sands, is

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).

 

Many Americans believe that polling organizations and the broadcasters

will raise the red flag on any election shenanigans. But others have

their doubts.

 

The Collier brothers, authors of the book, VoteScam: The Stealing of

Democracy, wrote about vote fraud and the role the news media and polls

played. In 1970, Channel 7 in Miami projected with 100% accuracy (a

virtual impossibility) the final vote totals on election day. When asked

where they got their exit poll data, both Channel 3 & Channel 7 claimed

that the League of Women Voters sent it in from the precincts. But, the

League's local president tearfully denied it, say, " I don't want to get

caught up in this thing. " The broadcasters then told the Colliers that a

private contractor used the data from a single voting machine to project

the winners, but the contractor said he got the data from a University

of Miami professor, who in turn denied this. In the end, the news

broadcasters appeared to have got the polling numbers out of thin air.

 

One thing is clear. The air will be thick with distrust and doubt on

Election Night 2004.

 

________

 

Lynn Landes is one of the nation's leading journalists on voting

technology and democracy issues. Readers can find her articles at

http://www.ecotalk.org/ .

 

Lynn is a former news reporter for DUTV

http://www.dutv.org/

and commentator for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

Contact info: lynnlandes

(215) 629-3553