Just today a new report has been released on Instant Runoff Voting, by Mathematician Kathy Dopp, President of The National Election Data Archive. Here is her press release, and the full report is linked if you wish to review it. North Carolina has been targeted by outside groups to be a "beta test" for this election experiment. Many groups are being persuaded to endorse Instant Runoff Voting without hearing these important facts. North Carolina's voting software and machines are not up to mission requirements for this. Senior citizens and less educated voters will be hindered by this system.

Monday, June 9. 2008
New Report Says that Worrisome Realities Mar Alternate Voting Method - 15 Flaws and 3 Benefits of Instant Runoff or Ranked Choice Voting
Park City, UT June 9, 2008
The National Election Data Archive

The National Election Data Archive has released a research report “15 Flaws and 3 Benefits of Instant Runoff Voting or Ranked Choice Voting” which concludes that “Ranked choice voting (RCV)/instant runoff voting (IRV) is not worthy of consideration and its use should be avoided” because “there are simpler, fairer, less costly, more auditable alternative voting methods.”

According to Kathy Dopp, the report’s author, “The RCV/IRV method creates serious obstacles to implementing measures to detect and correct machine vote miscount, such as post-election audits. If counting complexity, increased potential for undetected vote fraud and error, increased costs, and difficulty of auditing were not important factors for elections, then RCV/IRV could be considered an improvement over today’s voting method.”

"Instant runoff voting" or “ranked choice voting” is a system where each "vote" is a rank ordering of all the candidates. The counting would proceed in "rounds" where in each round, the candidate with the fewest votes in that round is eliminated (both from the election, and from all orderings inside votes).

RCV/IRV is billed by its proponents as a solution to the “spoiler problem”. The “spoiler problem occurs when two candidates have overlapping support and both candidates are penalized. When a third party candidate receives an amount of votes that is more than the vote margin between the two major political party candidates, it may tip the balance of votes to the major political party candidate who is favored by fewer voters overall.

Support for RCV/IRV has grown since the 2000 election, and it is being tested or considered for adoption in some jurisdictions within Minnesota, North Carolina, and California.

According to Dopp the flaws of IRV/RCV include that it does not solve the “spoiler” problem except in special cases; it requires centralized vote counting procedures at the state-level; it encourages the use of complex high-tech voting systems; it confuses voters and increases over-vote rates; its complex and time-consuming to implement and to count; it makes post election analysis difficult to perform; it is difficult and time-consuming to manually count; it is difficult and inefficient to manually audit; it could necessitate counting all presidential votes in Washington D.C. if a national popular vote compact were passed; it entrenches the two-party system; it could deliver unreasonable outcomes; not all voters’ ballots are treated equally; it is costly; it increases the potential for undetectable vote fraud and erroneous vote counts; and it violates some election fairness principles.

The benefits of RCV/IRV over today’s U.S. voting method, called “plurality voting”, include that RCV/IRV eliminates the spoiler scenario in situations where the minority party candidate is behind both frontrunners; it will not elect a candidate who loses pair-wise to all other candidates; and it gives voters an opportunity to express their preferences among all candidates.

The National Election Data Archive recommends that fundamental integrity of elections should be restored first before considering any alternative voting methods, and notes that today, not one State utilizes all the measures that are required to ensure fundamental election integrity such as:

1. public access to all election records and data necessary to evaluate the integrity of the electoral process,

2. observable post-election independent manual audits of machine vote counts,

3. post-election ballot reconciliation of all printed, counted, unused, and spoiled ballots with voter process records, and

4. public oversight of ballot security.

The eight page report “15 Flaws and 3 Benefits of Instant Runoff or Ranked Choice Voting” explains the flaws and benefits of instant runoff voting in detail plus provides appendices with examples of how RCV/IRV violates fairness principles, plus provides three pages of endnotes of references and additional facts.

The full report is found on-line at http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/RCV-IRV/InstantRunoffVotingFla...

This release is also posted online at
http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/RCV-IRV/FlawsIRV-PressRelease....

Press Contact: Kathy Dopp 435-658-4657 kathy@electionarchive.org

About The National Election Archive:

The National Election Data Archive has been organized for educational and scientific purposes of promoting fair and accurate elections by researching, developing and promoting methods and procedures to detect voter disenfranchisement and vote count inaccuracy. Such methods include independent manual vote count audits, exit poll discrepancy analysis, and the public release and scientific analysis of election data along with public release of election records necessary to verify the integrity of elections. NEDA is a completely non-profit organization that relies on the donation of time by its volunteers who donate their time and expertise because of their dedication to vote integrity and public service. The project depends on donations from from citizens who are concerned about fair and free elections in the U.S. in order to continue its work. All donations are tax deductible. To make a donation or become involved in the project, please visit http://electionarchive.org

Fair Vote, a national organization, and Fair Vote NC are asking groups in North Carolina to endorse Instant Runoff Voting, also called IRV. The NC Coalition for Verified Voting vehemently opposes this voting method for many reasons. NC Democrats will be discussing resolutions this week at "town halls" and voting on them at the NCDP state convention on June 21.

IRV directly threatens NC's hard fought for Public Confidence in Elections Act, our law that requires paper ballots, audits and set strict standards for voting vendors. Our law would have to be gutted in order to weaken standards enough to allow for uncertified, untested voting software needed for IRV. Standards requiring vendor responsibility would also have to be removed.

Other North Carolina voters oppose IRV because of voter confusion and also because it is so difficult to count:

Eugene Weeks, Chair of the Wake Voter Education Coalition says: “We feel that IRV will disenfranchise certain segments of voters-especially the challenged and impaired voters. The ballot that is being used now is already confusing to some voters, yet you want to antagonize and confuse the voters more by asking them to not only vote for one candidate, but indicate a second and third choice before leaving the voting booth. Where is the voter's rights in this process?”

Janice Sears of Wake County said: “If the best board of elections in North Carolina had this much trouble counting 3,000 votes, this is too dangerous to try statewide....The claim that 'voters like it' does not impress me because whether they like it or not has nothing to do with whether it is an accurate and effective way to conduct an election and count votes”

A Hendersonville voter said “It doesn't make any sense I call it instant confusion."

Rueben Blackwell, Rocky Mount City Council Member and co-chair for the NC Justice Center advised that: "To cast out an instant runoff speculative experiment in communities that have had historic voting rights violations issues is absolutely wrong…"

Is IRV worth the damage to our verified voting law, is it worth the expense, the voter confusion?In San Francisco, the largest IRV jurisdiction in the US, in 20 contests the results were the same as if a plurality contest were held. In other words, the final winners were still the candidates with the most votes in the first round of voting.

1. If you are a registered democrat, please contact your county and district party chairman ASAP, ask them encourage the delegates attending the State Convention (June 21) to vote YES for the Resolution OPPOSING Instant Runoff Voting.

County Party Chairman:
District Party Chairman:

2. Speak up at one of the town hall meetings this week.

The North Carolina Democratic Party Resolutions and Platforms Committee has 2 Town Hall meetings this week, one in Raleigh this Tuesday, June 10, 2008 - 7:00pm, the other in Greensboro on Thursday, June 12, 2008 both at their county party headquarters. The meetings are open and the Committee invites participation from all Democrats as they review and consider the Committee's recommendations to the State Convention. You can encourage discussion about the Instant Runoff Resolutions being considered for a vote at the state convention.

Vote YES for Resolution Opposing Instant Runoff Voting: The 2nd and 13th districts have passed resolutions in opposition to Instant Runoff Voting(IRV) because of it endangers the Public Confidence in Elections Act that we worked so hard for and that passed in August 2005.

Vote NO for Resolution Supporting Instant Runoff Voting: The 11th district Dems have passed a resolution in favor of Instant Runoff Voting.

Delegates will be attending the NCDP State Convention this Saturday, June 21st at the New Bern Riverfront Convention Center, 203 S. Front St., New Bern, 28563 at 10:30 am.

Support the resolution OPPOSING Instant Runoff Voting (IRV)

Resolution to restore Election Integrity by Opposing Instant Runoff Voting (IRV)

WHEREAS, supporters of Instant Runoff Voting (hereinafter “IRV”), a form of Ranked Choice Voting (hereinafter “RCV”), succeeded in getting an IRV pilot program passed in 2006, allowing IRV to be used in up to 10 municipal elections in 2007 and up to 10 county elections in 2008, and that said law further requiring that the State Board of Elections set up closely monitor the program and report on the results to the General Assembly;

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the North Carolina Democratic Party and elected and appointed Democratic officials urge the North Carolina General Assembly not to extend the IRV pilot project beyond 2008, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the North Carolina Democratic Party and elected and appointed Democratic officials urge the North Carolina General Assembly hereby withhold any further endorsement of IRV and oppose IRV because it has endangered Public Confidence in Elections in North Carolina.

3. Ask your non political group or organizations to adopt their own resolution opposing Instant Runoff Voting and share that with the NC Coalition for Verified Voting, via joyce@ncvoter.net

For more information please read Jan 14, 2008 Point of View: Worrisome realities mar instant runoff voting

Learn more about IRV in North Carolina at http://www.ncvoter.net/irv.html and also at
http://www.instantrunoffvoting.us

The gullible will be impressed with this little circus act by the Clinton Campaign with a "friendly" assist by comedian Rush Limbaugh:

Pro-Hillary Group Announces 25,000 Signatures For "Dream Ticket"

Liberals also are probably forgetting that Rush Limbaugh is still, STILL trying to prop Hillary up. He asked his listeners (there are 22 million according to his ratings) to fill out a form on the Hillary Clinton website urging her to stay in the race.

Al Giordano at the Field throws cold water on this gig - he points out that Rush Limbaugh is at it again, asking his "dittoheads" to give Sen Clinton "feedback" via her website:

Nice Try, Rush
One of the most lastingly significant developments of the late Democratic primary campaign is how, from March 4 to June 3, a nationally-syndicated right-wing Republican radio talk show host kept the Democratic contest alive. But all bad things must come to an end, and - if Senator Clinton does what she’s said she’ll do tomorrow at noon and cleanly exit from the contest - Rush Limbaugh’s “Operation Chaos” becomes something for the history books.

Limbaugh made one last try at it Wednesday, the morning after Senator Clinton urged her supporters to advise her, via her website, on what to do now that the primaries are over. Limbaugh told his listeners:

"Well, as we all know, ladies and gentlemen, Operation Chaos continues. Mrs. Clinton did not quit. Everybody assumed that she was going to quit… Everybody is saying she’s getting closer to quitting, they’re trying to figure out what it is she wants and so forth. All this means is that Operation Chaos continues. Greetings, my friend, and welcome…

…the Drive-Bys and the Democrats, some of them are just beside themselves that Mrs. Clinton won’t get the hint and won’t get out; that she will not quit. I think this is perfectly understandable that the Clintons are behaving this way. Hillary can take this all the way to the convention if she wants.

...Oh, I was watching this last night, and I was going nuts, she’s burning down the house. Unity schmunity. Divided we are, this was Mrs. Clinton’s message last night. So she says she wants everybody to go to her website, HillaryClinton.com, and share your thoughts. Now let me tell you what this is about. What she wants, she wants to grab as many people on her website urging her to keep going, to stay in this, so she can show that to the Obama people. She’s talking about her 18 million votes which is as much, if not a little more, than he got. She’s still talking about the Electoral College states that she won that put her at a mythical tally of 267, when you need 270. So clearly she’s angling for something, and she needs public support in order to get it. Vice president, Supreme Court nomination, something along these lines. It’s going to be a real interesting thing to watch Obama deal with this. So as the commander-in-chief of US Operation Chaos, I would like to urge all of you who want to, to go to HillaryClinton.com and tell her what you think she ought to do. "

In any case, good on Senator Clinton for dropping her whole “tell me what to do via my website” effort to somehow stay in the contest through the convention in August. Because a very large percentage of the feedback she no doubt got via her website to stay in the race came from the Limbaugh chaos lobby, as are, frankly, many of the anonymous comments that transitioning Clinton bloggers are receiving now that claim to be from Clinton supporters urging votes for McCain or third party candidates.

...more at the link

 

The following words come to mind: gross intellectual dishonesty and shamelessness, Bush in a pants suit. Kitchen Sink.

"While the opposition — and more importantly, her opponent’s potential voters — were relying on her assurances to the contrary, she was already signaling to Florida operatives that she planned to press for counting the anticipated favorable Florida outcome and thereby to capitalize on her opposition’s absence from the fight."

Clinton Had a Long-Term Strategy for Florida and Michigan Madison Powers, CQ Guest Columnist May 28, 2008

...This coming weekend, the Rules and Bylaws committee of the Democratic Party meets to discuss what to do about seating both the Florida and Michigan delegations. The last two weeks have produced an escalation of Clinton rhetoric, comparing her effort to get the votes of the two states counted as comparable to that of suffragettes, civil rights marchers, and freedom fighters.

...However, the real story of the Clinton reversal may be more troubling than the usual account suggests, and our own memories may well have obscured the real nature of how we have gotten to where we are 3 months out from the convention. The drumbeat for counting Florida and Michigan actually began in late January, before it became clear to most observers that the nomination was not going to be locked up easily and early.

Well before Clinton began her series of primary contest losses, she made public her plan to press for delegate votes from the two states that had violated the rules. Four days before the Florida primary on January 29, and just two weeks after her 55 percent share of primary votes cast in the Michigan primary in which neither Edwards nor Obama were on the ballot, Clinton announced that she would ask her “Democratic convention delegates to support seating the delegations from Florida and Michigan.” Perhaps the rest of us did not pay much attention at the time, but Florida Democratic Party officials took immediate notice and extended to her their thanks for her promise of support.

Contrary to the familiar view that her argument for counting Michigan and Florida is a tactic of last-minute desperation, Clinton’s reliance on counting both the delegates and the popular vote from both states was integral to her long-term vision of her possible electoral path to the nomination. It is —and has been for months — her Ace in the Hole. Hers is not a late campaign conversion or a post hoc, unplanned maneuver.

The effort to press for the counting of Florida and Michigan was a premeditated act, a deliberate strategy adopted at a time when it was clear that her opposition was relying on her representations that neither outcome would count. It was, in effect, a classic case of bait and switch....

....more at the link

Hillary changes stories like she changes pant-suits:

The Michigan flip-flop in 2 quick quotes.

parenthetical - May 27, 2008

As this discussion enters what we can only hope is its last couple of weeks, some brief research helped me distill the integrity problem of the Clinton MI position into two little quotes for my own reference.

October '07 (speaking about the upcoming MI primary):
"It's clear, this election they're having is not going to count for anything,"
Clinton said Thursday during an interview on New Hampshire Public Radio's call-in program, "The Exchange."

March '08:
"If you're a voter from Florida or Michigan, you know that we should count your votes," she said. "The results of those primaries were fair and should be honored.

Florida Democratic lawmakers were equally complicit in moving up the Florida primary.

Those poor Florida Democrats DKOS

To hear the Clinton campaign and Florida Democrats tell it, they were innocent bystanders to their state's GOP in deciding to move their election date up prior to their sanctioned slot in the calendar.

The reality is much different: Watch the video That's the Florida Senate Democratic minority leader Steven Geller overtly pretending to object to the new calendar, laughing about it the whole time.

Geller: The chair of the Democratic National Committee has of coursed threatened that if we move the primary to before the first Tuesday in February that they will sanction us at the Democratic National Convention. So the Democratic leader and the Democratic leader pro-tem are jointly making this motion, which we will duly show to them later, that we tried not to have the election before the first Tuesday in March.

Chair: And so Sen. Geller are you urging a negative vote or would you like us to pass this vote?

Geller : Oh no sir, we really really want this, don't we senator?

Chair: I understand. Please don't throw me into the bramble bush.
They were mocking the DNC's calendar and its rules from the beginning. This wasn't a Democratic Party dragged along by a malicious GOP. Florida Democrats wanted their state earlier in the calendar.

Some of us may be suffering from temporary insanity caused by prolonged electile disruption. 
A group of democratic voters are threatening to vote for 4 more years of Bush if their preferred Dem does not get the nomination.  One wonders how much the right wing managed to engineer this effort for Dems to self destruct. (Its so easy to do).

What does it say about your candidate?
IF a disgruntled Democrat would prefer to vote for John McCain (R) rather than for the democratic nominee, then that  Dem's preferred candidate can't be too good.

To those threatening McCainicide: Splash cold water on your face and ask yourself this question:

Does candidate A (your preferred Democratic candidate for President) = John McCain(R)?

Does candidate A (your preferred Democratic candidate for President) want you to support John McCain if your preferred candidate does not win the Democratic Nomination?

Please know that if candidate A really would prefer a republican in the White House if "A" didn't get the nod, then candidate A is tragically flawed, selfish, and cares nothing about our country nor our troops stuck in Iraqmire. 

And if you go along with that, then the blood of the soldiers and innocents in Iraq is on your hands.

This election is not about our petty selfish demands, it is about getting our troops home and reclaiming the America we once knew.   Petty selfish rivalries carried that go to the extent of cutting off one's nose to spite one's face = murder of innocents from 2008 - 2012 and more.

Stop it.  This is not a fracking game. Its life or death, and McCain = more of the same insane.

We can't indulge in childishness, selfishness or foolishness right now.  Think of others besides yourself, who have to live with the consequences of such madness(McCainicide)

 

***Pass this on to fellow Obama supporters***

Today Hillary is sending out an email urging her supporters to tell the DNC to "count every vote." This is something she would never do if the candidates' delegate counts were reversed.

Contact the DNC today at this link Also choose "Election 2008" when you get to the "issue" box.

You can use the same message that I sent:

JUST SAY NO TO HILLARY's APPEAL.

From the September 2, 2007 NY Times:

“We believe Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina play a unique and special role in the nominating process,” Patti Solis Doyle, the Clinton campaign manager, said in a statement.

The pledge sought to preserve the status of traditional early-voting states and bring order to an unwieldy series of primaries that threatened to accelerate the selection process. It was devised to keep candidates from campaigning in Florida, where the primary is set for Jan. 29, and Michigan, which is trying to move its contest to Jan. 15.

Be fair to all states who are members of the Democratic Party and ensure that other states don't try to pull a Florida or Michigan on the party again.

SIX days ahead of the North Carolina primary began a "Jim Crow" effort aimed at supressing the African American vote. A group called Women's Voices Women's Vote (WVWV) has been placing robocalls to voters across North Carolina that seem designed to fool them into thinking they have not yet registered to vote. The North Carolina NAACP has filed a complaint and also alerted the Department of Justice:

N.C. NAACP files formal vote-suppression complaint against Women's Voices, alerts U.S. DOJ of concernsFacing South. Saturday, May 03, 2008

The North Carolina NAACP has filed a formal complaint of possible voter suppression against Women's Voices Women Vote, the D.C. nonprofit that as we revealed earlier this week was behind the deceptive and illegal robo-calls made to state residents. The N.C. NAACP hand-delivered its complaint today to state Attorney General Roy Cooper and State Board of Elections Executive Director Gary Bartlett. It's also alerted the U.S. Department of Justice that it's collecting more information from its national network and is contemplating filing a formal complaint with that agency.

N.C. NAACP President Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II (center in photo) announced the filing of the complaint at a press conference held this afternoon outside the N.C. Department of Justice. He was joined by his group's attorney, Al McSurely (left), and Bob Hall (right) of Democracy North Carolina. The state Attorney General's office is already investigating Women's Voices, but the N.C. NAACP and Democracy North Carolina want to be parties to that investigation.

"When you mess with the right to vote, you're messing with everything that is fundamental in our democracy," Barber said.

Here is the full text of the group's complaint, dated May 2. When it refers to "Ex. 1," that is the WVWV letter to Gary Bartlett available here ; "Ex. 2" directs readers to news reports at DailyKos, Facing South and NPR. "HKonJ" refers to Historic Thousands on Jones Street, a statewide coalition of some 70 social justice groups organized by the N.C. NAACP; Jones Street is where the state legislature is located in Raleigh.

RE: Voter Suppression Activity Targeting Black Voters in North Carolina

Dear General Cooper and Mr. Bartlett:

On behalf of the North Carolina Conference of over 100 NAACP Branches across North Carolina, I file this formal complaint against an organization out of Washington, D.C. called Women's Voices Women Votes (hereafter "WVWV") that has engaged in a pattern of massive robo-calls and mass mailings that appear to be designed to suppress and dilute voter participation, with a peculiar focus on African Americans.

One of our HKonJ Partners, Democracy North Carolina, made a request to both agencies earlier this week, to investigate automated telephone calls with misleading information about the voting process made to African Americans. We now know the source of the calls to be WVWV and we know from this group's own admission in a letter faxed to Mr. Bartlett on 28 April 2008 that it knew these messages would confuse voters. The Attorney General has taken initial action to stop the illegal calls, but there needs to be a much more aggressive investigation into WVWV's intentions and aims and the effects of its massive efforts to confuse voters.

Who was targeted? Why? How could a national organization be ignorant of the dates of one of most important primaries in the history of our State? How could a national organization give such wrong-headed directions to unregistered voters during the exact same period when they could easily register through our one-stop early voting procedure? Does the evidence show that WVWV violated NC General Statute 163-275(17),which makes it a felony crime to communicate misleading information about the voting process with the "intent and the effect" "to intimidate or discourage potential voters from exercising their lawful right to vote." Democracy North Carolina joins with us in requesting a much more aggressive investigation of the actions of the group. Here are some of the areas we urge you to look into:

1. The WVWV told Mr. Bartlett in its 28 April 2008 letter that it was about to mail voter registration information to 276,118 unmarried women in North Carolina and that it was sending similar mailings to "unmarried women not just in North Carolina, but around the country." (See Ex. 1) A comprehensive examination of the mailing list must be done to determine how many of these letters wnet to "unmarried women" as opposed to African Americans and other people of color, how many of each group were registered or not registered, and which misleading message each group received.

2. Although in this same letter the WVWV said it was only targeting unmarried women, three days later, on 1 May 2008, after Democracy North Carolina had raised the issue of possible targeting of African Americans, the WVWV denied it only targeted unmarried women. In a written answer it said: "While our focus is on unmarried women, we have worked to target other under-represented groups through our project, the Voter Participation Center." (Ex. 2) To what extent does the WVWV discriminate in how it communicates to African Americans in contrast to unmarried women? We cite as one example the contrast in the automated telephone messages sent to black versus white households in late April.

To speed your investigation (it is probably too late to prevent or remedy the damage done to voter turnout during early voting and on Tuesday, May 6th, but we trust a solid investigation will prevent similar misfeasance in future elections), permit us to share with you the information we have gathered since we first became aware of the confusing robo-calls and mailings a few days ago:

1. WVWV admitted it made thousands of automatic calls to North Carolina residents on 24 and 25 April 2008. (See Ex. 2) On calls, apparently to white women, a woman said: "Hi. Just a reminder. Your voter registration form is in the mail to you. Your voice counts and your vote . Sign it, date it and send it in. Thanks!"

2. An African American man, who identified himself as Lamont Williams (hereafter "Lamont") gave the following message to other homes: "Hello. This is Lamont Williams. In the next few days, you will receive a voter-registration packet in the mail. All you need to do is fill it out, sign it, date and return your application. Then, you will be able to vote and make your voice heard. Please return your registration form when it arrives. Thank you." According to WVWV, "Mr. Williams is a professional voice talent," and his calls only went to men and a woman was used to contact women."

3. Lamont's calls tell people that are registered that they are not and that the only way they can vote is to wait a few days, get a form in the mail, fill it out and mail it back in. As one commentator said, "Whether the result of deliberate design or massive negligence on the part of WVWV and/or its vendors in terms of the timing of the calls and the determination of who would be called, the end result is something which rightly raised suspicions about the intent of this program."

4. Contrary to North Carolina law, there was no identification of the organization who had paid for the call, WVWV, or its "project" organization, Voter Participation Center, nor did Lamont provide any way for the receivers of his misleading message to check on it, if they had questions.

5. Mr. Kevin Farmer, in Durham, N.C. has an original tape of Lamont's message, which was apparently aimed at a young African American male voter who had registered to vote for the first time in 2004, and whose 2004 telephone number was reassigned to the store where Mr. Farmer now works.

6. Rev. and Mrs. Nelson Johnson received Lamont's message three times. Neither are unmarried women--they are African American civil rights activists in Greensboro.

7. When Lamont's messages were sent to hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians on April 24th and 25th the deadline to register for the May 6 primary had passed if you tried to register by mail. You could easily register--and Vote! by going to a one stop early voting place. WVWV focus has been on unmarried women. (See Ex. 1)

8. WVWV sent Mr. Bartlett its fax from the Institute of Women's Policy Research which has the same address, 1707 L Street NW, Suite 750, Washington, DC 20036 as the Women's Voices. The letter was dated April 24, but the fax was sent late in the afternoon of April 28, which was the same day the mailing was scheduled to leave the mail house for North Carolina.

9. In the letter to Mr. Bartlett, the WVWV explained its massive 276,118 mailing that was about to be sent, but did not mention Lamont's calls or any other calls, presumably to the same people, telling them to look for the mailer. (Ex. 1)

10. Copies of the mailing pieces were not sent to Mr. Bartlett for his review or even as a courtesy. Some of the messages on the mail pieces are misleading while others appear to misrepresent North Carolina law regarding the registration process. For example, some say, "The deadline for voter registration is approaching," but the mail-in deadline has ended two weeks earlier. Some say, "state law requires you to update your voter registration records," but voters who move within a county are allowed to vote without previously changing their registration.

11. WVWV has said they have tried to delay the 276,000 pieces of mail destined for North Carolina and that "a majority of the mail that was going to North Carolina will not be delivered, and our folks are continuing to try to make sure that as much of the NC mail as possible is held until a later date." (Ex. 2) Based on conversations with WVWV's vendors and postal officials on Friday, approximately 110,000 pieces are still being delivered this week, most heavily in Eastern North Carolina.

12. WVWV said it "was a mistake" for Lamont not to identify the sponsoring organization and "we regret the error and will ensure it does not happen again." WVWV has repeatedly been challenged on the inaccurate and misleading mass robo-calls and mass mailings in other states, and it merely apologizes, and says they will do better in the future. Months ago, we understand, WVWV pledged to identify the source of Lamont's calls. This promise was broken.

13. The robo-calls in N.C. were part of a massive set of calls and mailings in 24 states in late April 2008 that included Kentucky, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Oregon--all states where the voter registration deadline has passed and the primary is approaching. Two months earlier, on 6 and 7 February during other primary campaigns, Lamont, or someone acting for WVWV, made millions of calls in 22 states, including Virginia. At that time, the registration deadline had passed in Virginia and the primary was days away. The resulting chaos led to an investigation by the State Police and more promises from WVWV to change its deceptive practices.

14. WVWV says it was fully aware of the closing of the registration rolls in North Carolina, the availability of one-stop registration/voting, and other important voting factors that would influence the impact of its call/mailing operation. In its letter to Mr. Bartlett, WVWV apologized for the confusion its poor timing caused, but dismissed the timing as an "unfortunate coincidence."

15. Voters in Virginia, Oregon, Wisconsin, Kentucky and Michigan complained to the WVWV that the anonymous calls probably caused voter confusion and frustration. The Institute for Southern Studies found media or other reports about complaints regarding WVWV calls or mailings in at least 10 states in the past five months.

By copy of this letter we alert the U.S. Department of Justice that the NC NAACP is collecting more information through our national network in contemplation of filing a formal complaint about this issue. We also copy this letter to our National NAACP leadership, which has approved these complaints. Through our national organization, we will see information about how these confusing robo-calls and mailings affected minority voter participation in other states, such as West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky, as we continue our discussions about our next steps to expose efforts to confuse and mislead voters in key primary states. We will also be consulting with two national Election Protection hotlines that are monitoring the primary election in North Carolina to evaluate whether their findings shed additional light on the actions of WVWV.

...more at the link including audio of "Lamont's robo call"

Women's Voices Women Vote - Organizational Chart Shows Clinton Ties Run Deep

NPR has the Center for Investigative Reporting's organizational chart for "Women's Voices, Women Vote"
here

Here's my brief sketch of the group, from the above chart:

Here are the members of WVWV who worked for Bill Clinton

Page Gardner is the Founder and President of WVWV.
She served as Bill Clinton's deputy political director for his 1992 campaign.
She also served on his presidential transition team.

Joe Goode is the Executive director of WVWV.
He was a polster for Bill Clintons 1992 Presidential campaign.

Michael Lux is a board member.
He worked on Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign.
He claims to have switched his support from Hillary to Obama,
but only has donated to Hillary and Hillpac.

Mimi Mager is a board member.
She served as a member of the Clinton-Gore transition team.
She was a founding member of Emily's list (which supports Hillary)

John Podesta is a board member.
He is a former chief of staff to President Clinton.

Pat Griffin is on the leadership team.
He is a partner at Grifin Willins CPM,
WVWV has paid CPM 88,842 for strategic planning.
Griffin is Former top advisor to Pres Clinton, served as assistant to president Clinton for leg affairs

Anna Greenberg, Leadership Team, Sen VP Greenber QRR.
WVWV paid GQRR 225,854 for polling focus groups.
also conducts surveys for NPR.
Greenberg has served as pollster to president Clinton.

Maggie Williams is on the leadership team. Also partner at Griffin Williams CPM.
She is current campaign manager for Sen Cinton.
Advised her senatorial campaign.
Was chief of staff of for Hillary Clinton while she was first lady.
Served as assistant to President Clinton and COS at President Clinton's foundation.


Here are the members of WVWV who worked for Hillary Clinton

Maggie Williams is on the leadership team. Also partner at Griffin Williams CPM.
She is current campaign manager for Sen Cinton.
Advised her senatorial campaign.
Was chief of staff of for Hillary Clinton while she was first lady.
Also served as asst to Pres Clinton and COS at Pres Clinton's foundation.

Mimi Mager is a board member.
She served as a member of the Clinton-Gore transition team.
She was a founding member of Emily's list (which supports Hillary)



Ties to Clinton campaign through marriage or money

Ron Rosenblith is on leadership team.
Is married to Page Gardner (who was Bill Clinton's dep political director for his 92 campaign.)
He is CEO of Integral resources, and
IR has received 791,954 for phones from WVWV.

Hal Malchow is on the WVWV Leadership team.
He is president of MSHC.
MSHC has received 580,319 from WVWV for voter list development.
Malchow's MSHC is owed nearly $1 million by the Clinton campaign for printing expenses.


Members who say they support Obama or Edwards

Todd Webster, leadership team. is President of Webster Strategies.
WVWV has paid Webster Strategies 89,953 for website communication.
Says is Obama supporter, Obama campaign has paid WS 8,000.
No donations found.

b]Michael Lux is a board member.
He worked on Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign.
He claims to have switched his support from Hillary to Obama,
but only has donated to Hillary and Hillpac.

William McNary is a board member and says he supports Obama but no donations found.

Chris Desser is a board member/co founder. Endorsed Edwards.

See the full chart here at NPR

Dear Pastor Wright -

Why are you doing this?
Why now?

Is it the millions of  $ worth of publicity?
Is it because you are promoting a new book?
Is it anger that Obama had to denounce your inflammatory words?
Is it your ego?
Are you utterly selfish?
Are you jealous of Senator Obama who could do more to heal race relations than any single man since Martin Luther King?

Have you gone stark raving mad?

I know that you are a very intelligent man and that you cannot possibly believe that Obama will get elected if you continue to spread your poisonous cloud around him.

Why now, when Clinton is losing badly,McCain is polling low -  tons of bad news going out against either one, Clinton fund raisers and delegates defecting, all of a sudden this guy goes on a media blitz?

Why couldn't you wait until we had a Democratic President in the White House?

I hear ultra liberals and "progressives" say how you are only speaking the truth and you are defending your honor, and that of your church. 

I'm a liberal too, but I don't buy what you are selling.

We know the un-decideds and the cross over voters won't buy it.

The funny thing (sad actually) is that the end result of your "media blitz" is that more people are mis-understanding the black church and black people.

Who appointed you the representative of "The Black Church" anyway?

Any smart person (which I know you are) who has dealt with the media knows that "the media is not your friend"... and learns to measure their words carefully.

Your interview with Bill Moyers was measured and engaging. 

But your speech at the NAACP event was divisive and further stressed the differences between black and white, which is the opposite of Obama's message that we are more alike than different.

I realize that you will make millions by promoting yourself this way, but aren't you wealthy enough? Didn't your church just spend millions on a new house for you?

Pastor Wright, I used to admire and respect you. 
Not anymore.

Now - I judge you by your actions.

You are knee-capping a very good man and for what?

Maybe you are wanting God to damn America - with a republican president.

Is anyone paying you to do this?

Can someone tell me with what moral authority do the likes of
Joe "Dead Intern" Scarboro and "Racist" Pat Buchanon or David "Dances With Rove" Gregory
advise anyone, anywhere on who is the fit candidate to be president?
Or with what superior judgement do these losers tell us who is winning or losing, when everything they say goes agsinst the facts and match?

Fox News totally owned.   Wow… this priest is sharp! The little Fox reporter wasn’t expecting someone this studied.

“Was Bill O’Reilly a Marine?”

Go here to watch the video
...I’m speechless, this guy was good at telling Faux News off and exposing their prejudices and spin.  He pointed out everything that is wrong with this country and the Repubs through this little weasel of a Fox News reporter.

"They'd say 'Jesus was a madman'"

The priest knows what he is talking about, while the Fox news reporter keeps trying to push the "racist" and "anti American" slant consistently.  He said:

"How can Pastor Wright be a racist? I am white and he and I are friends!"

The priest said that if Fox replayed 30 second sound bites of what Jesus said, then Fox would accuse Jesus of being a terrorist etc. Same with Martin Luther King.  Priest said - you want to portray King as some soft fuzzy peaceful person, and he wasnt!.. (I paraphrase poorly, but there's no transcripts)

That's it. That man's new name is The Bus Driver, because he just took Fox News to school.

Clinton's Debt to Penn

Yes, the source here sucks, (Bob Novak, traitor) - but I read it with a bit of vomit in the back of my throat so you wouldn't have to.  Even a stopped watch is right two times a day.  It looks like the Clinton campaign is in worse disarray, no make that chaos - then previously thought. 

Two big issues in the article:

Penn claims to still be running the show and message-

Immediately after Mark Penn resigned as Hillary Clinton's chief strategist a week ago, he was on the phone with at least two prominent Democrats to assure them that nothing had changed. He said that -- though lacking a title now -- he still was polling and crafting her message, adding that he had just participated in a top-level conference call. De facto retention of Penn signaled a desire to defeat Barack Obama at any cost.

The Clinton campaign is bound to Penn by $10 million in debt - they just can't escape -

Beyond loyalty, Penn is welded to the 2008 Clinton campaign by financial ties. A source who has had close connections with Penn got word to me that he believes the Clinton campaign is $10 million in debt to Penn, Schoen & Berland, which is owned by Burson-Marsteller. The campaign's March report to the Federal Election Commission recorded indebtedness to the company of nearly $2.5 million (with its expenses for the month listed at $3.1 million).

My sources suggest that Clinton's full indebtedness may be revealed only gradually. This money link helps explain why Penn is still around even though organized labor demanded his scalp last summer and he is blamed inside the campaign for failing to perceive the public's demand for "change."

 

She's b-a-a-a-a-ck! Just when you thought it was safe...."Tonya"Clinton is putting her skates back on, some time before primary day in Pennsylvania.So says a Clinton operative "overheard" by National Review reporter Jim Geraghty. I don't know the creditability of the NR. Still, this bears watching.

The Clinton campaign is circling the drain. Only by mortally wounding Obama would Clinton have any hope of getting the nomination in her lifetime. As others have warned, she would have to break Obama's back now, ruining him as a politician forever, to even hope for last ditch run in 2012.

If a Bombshell Will Drop in Pennsylvania, It Will Drop a Week From Now

Jim Geraghty. Thursday, April 10, 2008. The National Review

A smart political operative said within earshot of me yesterday that if Hillary has more metaphorical bombshells to drop on Obama — and this operative has heard secondhand that she does — she'll do so between April 16, the date of her next debate with Obama, and April 22, Pennsylvania's primary day. The timing, of course, is so she doesn't get asked about it by the moderator or confronted by Obama.

Hillary's numbers have actually been inching up a bit in the Keystone state lately. At the beginning of the month, Public Policy Polling shocked the world by suggesting Obama was ahead by two points. Their latest poll puts Hillary up by 3. In the Insider Advantage poll, Hillary's lead has increased from three percent to ten percent. In SurveyUSA, she's gone from leading by 12 to leading by 18. Some other polls show no change or a slight loss of ground.

On Saturday, March 22, Congressman Patrick McHenry insulted the troops by berating a guard working in the Green Zone.
On Friday, April 4th, McHenry endangered the troops by posting a video on his website that gave actual distances of how close rockets came to hitting the building that lawmakers were sleeping in.
On Sunday, April 6, a Colonel and two other troops were killed in the U.S. Embassy's fitness facility Sunday when a mortar round crashed into the building.

Pentagon tells lawmaker not to air Green Zone video again
By Lisa Zagaroli | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Tuesday, April 8, 2008 WASHINGTON — The Pentagon told a North Carolina lawmaker Tuesday that he couldn’t re-air a video he'd shot in Baghdad after accusations surfaced that he breached operational security in detailing enemy rocket attacks.

Rep. Patrick McHenry, a Republican, traveled to Iraq with other lawmakers for the first time on March 22. The video was the second incident stemming from that trip that has drawn unwanted attention to McHenry. Earlier, he was criticized for berating a guard in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone for not allowing him into a gym there because the congressman did not have the proper identification credential.

The new criticism stems from a video that was featured on his Web site last Friday. Shot in the Green Zone, it showed McHenry gesturing to a building behind him and saying that one of 11 rockets “hit just over my head.” Then he named two other places struck by the rockets.

A U.S. Colonel and Two Other GIs Were Killed in a Mortar Attack on the Green Zone on Sunday, While They Were Exercising in the Fitness Facility of the U.S. Embassy

Colonel is only the 9th of his rank to be killed in Iraq
By CHRISTOPHER LEONARD
(Published April 09, 2008)
ST. LOUIS — Family members are mourning an Army colonel who had worked at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama and who is only the ninth solider of his rank to have been killed in the Iraq war.

Col. Stephen Scott died Sunday during a mortar attack on facilities inside the protected Green Zone in Baghdad, which houses the U.S. Embassy....
Scott, a member of the Huntsville Track Club and an avid runner, was on a treadmill in the U.S. Embassy's fitness facility Sunday when a mortar round crashed into the building, killing him and two other soldiers, King said.

She "feels your pain"......   Clintons report $109.2M for 7 years  By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer  

WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Clinton reported $20.4 million in income for 2007 and more than $109 million since 2000 as they gave the public the most detailed look at their finances in eight years

...According to a summary of the seven years provided by the campaign, the former president's speech income since he left the White House totals $51.85 million and his income from his two books — "My Life " and "Giving" — totals $29.6 million.

Hillary Clinton had $10.5 million in book income over the period from her book "Living History." She donated earnings from her other book, "It Takes a Village," to charity.

Clinton's tax returns show that of the remaining presidential candidates, she is the one most able to access large amounts of personal money. She lent her campaign $5 million in late February and could contribute more if she finds herself falling far behind Obama's proficient fundraising.

...In 2006, Obama reported income of nearly $1 million, with nearly half of it coming from the publication of his second book, "The Audacity of Hope." Last week, the campaign disclosed that Obama and his wife, Michelle, gave $240,000 to charity last year.

more at the link

Maybe she can pay the Boys and Girls Club now???

Clinton owes a total of $19,627.20 to 14 school districts with an average debt of $1401.94. The largest amount, $4411.05, is owed to Winnacunnet Cooperative School District in Hampton, New Hampshire.

She owes 7 colleges and universities a total of $19,983.48 with an average debt of $2854.78. The largest amount is owed to the athletic department of Southern New Hampshire University. She owes them $9542.80.

She owes 11 cities and towns a total of $13,184.63 with an average debt of $1198.60. She owes the town of Hampton, New Hampshire the most with a debt of $4628.96. (Hampton, NH gets hit twice.)

Lastly she owes the Boys and Girls Clubs of Sioux City and Blackhawk County Iowa a total of $1,625.00 with $1000 of that owed to the Boys and Girls Club of Blackhawk County.

Hillary Clinton's latest lie is that Obama doesn't want North Carolinians to vote.She went on TV lying to local media and North Carolina Voters.
The Wall Street Journal, owned by Clinton's friend and fund raiser Rupert Murdock, further spread the Clinton fairy tales.
She claimed that she just didn't understand "why Senator Obama and some of his supporters didn't want you to be able to vote."

Clinton's claims fly in the face of logic considering Obama's huge popularity in North Carolina. In fact, Obama was just in NC last week and is projected to beat Senator Clinton by 12 points there, this flies in the face of logic. How is it that the media would give free air time to this politician (Clinton) who was recently and publicly branded as a chronic and brazen liar? The Washington Post awarded Senator Clinton "4 Pinocchios" for her frequent and sizable whoppers.

Hillary Clinton: Obama wants to prevent NC, other states from voting

WWAY NewsChannel 3, March 31, 2008



"I didn't understand why Senator Obama and some of his supporters didn't want you to be able to vote"

Play video

Sen. John McCain is the presumptive nominee for republicans in the upcoming presidential race.
But the nomination is still up for grabs on the Democratic side. NewsChannel 3's Ann McAdams
had the chance to interview Sen. Hillary Clinton via satellite. Clinton spoke about the upcoming
North Carolina primary against Barack Obama.

Also posted here at Democratic Underground

Senator Obama was just in North Carolina last week, at a Town Hall in Greensboro.

March 26, 2008 The News Times

Obama presided over a town hall meeting and took questions from the audience at packed
and loud War Memorial Auditorium.
(Click here to watch video of Obama's visit to Greensboro)

Most of N.C. delegation to back Obama, congressman predicts

Tuesday, April 1, 2008 Winston Salem Journal By James Romoser and Sean Mussenden

Several North Carolina congressmen are on the verge of endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for president, according to Democrats familiar with the discussions.
"It is my hope and expectation that it will happen sooner or later,"
said U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Democrat from Wilson and the only member of Congress from
North Carolina who has publicly endorsed Obama so far.

Obama expected to win North Carolina by 12 points

Real Clear Politics has Obama winning North Carolina by 12 points over Hillary Clinton with 49.8 - to 37.8.

Rasmussen Markets data now give Obama a 89.0% chance to win the North Carolina Primary
while expectations for a Clinton victory are at 13.0%.
and
Obama a 82.0% chance to win the Democratic nomination
while expectations for a Clinton victory are at 16.0%.

Did the sky open up, and the angels sang? (Sarcasm)

An odd thing has been happening regarding the right wing and the Clintons.  I've been meaning to write about this for awhile.  Hillary and Bill Clinton have some New Best Friends (NBF), and they are part of what the Clintons coined as "The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy": 
3/4/08 Bill Clinton was on Rush Limbaugh's show the day of the Texas primary.

Listen to the radio clip here. Limbaugh himself was sick that day, and Mark Davis filled in.  Limbaugh had already urged Republicans to cross over to keep Hillary Clinton in the race. Yes, Bill Clinton went there. I wonder if that bothered Chelsea any, considering that Limbaugh once referred to her as the Clinton family dog?

3/7/08  Hillary Clinton Pulls A Zell Miller - Must Lose Super Delegate Status   (Invoked when you endorse a republican)

Clinton praises McCain again, says he's crossed `Commander in Chief threshold' Posted at the Carpetbagger Report  At a press conference on Monday in Ohio, Clinton was defending her "3 a.m." ad, and told reporters,  "I have a lifetime of experience I will bring to the White House. I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience he will bring to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech he made in 2002."

3/25/08  Hillary even visited the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review a paper owned by Richard Mellon Scaife (part of the "vast right wing conspiracy").

Hell froze over? Scaife once said that the death of Vincent Foster was the "Rosetta stone" of the Bill Clinton administration. (He also funded the so-called "Arkansas Project" at The American Spectator.)

3/26/08 Rush Limbaugh Taking "Operation Chaos" to North Carolina and Pennsylvania   

Talk radio host Rush Limbaugh wants "dittoheads" to switch parties and vote for Hillary Clinton in the democratic primary.... Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos" helped Clinton to garner more votes in the Texas and Ohio primary according to exit polls:
For a party that loves to hate the Clintons, Republican voters have cast an awful lot of ballots lately for Senator Hillary Clinton: About 100,000 GOP loyalists voted for her in Ohio, 119,000 in Texas, and about 38,000 in Mississippi, exit polls show.

3/26/08 Hillary did a sit-down interview with FOX News' Greta Van Susteren,  which aired Wednesday night.

The Democratic race is a "long way from being over," Hillary Clinton told FOX News on Wednesday, and she has no qualms about taking the primary fight all the way to the convention floor.

No Date. Video of a Bill Clinton interview with Barbara Walters posted on John McCain's 2008 Campaign website.

Bill is telling Barbara that John McCain would be the most electable republican. http://www.johnmccain.com/pathtovictory/democrats.htm?s=google&t=electability