Caucus Voting Flubs Highlight Our Flawed Election Systems

As first reported by Bev Harris

http://www.blackboxvoting.org

(Maine Caucus Addendum added below on 2/19/12)

Problems experienced with the Iowa caucus included reporting of the wrong result (Romney didn’t win it) and "lost" voting results.  In Nevada’s caucus more votes than voters were counted and it took ridiculously long to count a one-race ballot.  The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the cause for the results fiasco there was that a number of precincts produced more completed ballots than there were people who actually attended the caucuses in those precincts.  But did you know that both Nevada and Iowa hired some of the same dubious professionals to run the caucuses? 

The Iowa Republican Party hired CAP Public Affairs to run the caucus. This firm is lead by two former Executive Directors of the Iowa Republican Party, Gentry Collins and Jim Anderson, and by Alan Philp (hence the name CAP). Nevada Republicans also hired CAP, and others, to help oversee the 2012 Nevada caucus. [http://bit.ly/wy6O3m ] In Navada: “The state Republican party is going pro.”, wrote the Nevada News Bureau, naming Collins, Anderson and Philip, and others, as those hired to run the their caucus. [http://bit.ly/y0QIgO ]

(see also CAP  Public Affairs Website: http://cappublicaffairs.com/)

The problem is, Collins, Anderson and Philip don't have a good track record in running caucuses and Philip has a particularly sordid history in political circles, especially in Colorado.

Alan Philip has been associated with political dirty tricks in Colorado, according the Bev Harris. He was the director of a 527 organization called The Trail Head Group which subsequently became Coloradoans for Justice. The group produce blatantly false attack ads egregious enough to spark a criminal investigation of Philip. (see references below)

1. http://www.stateline.org/live/...
2. http://www.coloradopols.com/diary/5731/
3. http://www.5280.com/blogs/2006/09/24/willie-horton-ad-against-ritter
4. http://coloradoindependent.com/804/trailhead-director-may-face-criminal-charges
5. http://www.denverpost.com/ci_4516223

While everyone agreed the operative's ads were thoroughly odious, Alan Philp  was not arrestedor charged. His organizations finances did come under additional scrutiny, however. (see references below)

1. http://coloradoindependent.com/tag/alan-philp
2. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/09/15/246885/-EXCLUSIVE:-Colorado-GOP-527-Cooking-the-Books-or-Sloppy-Chefs-
3. http://coloradoindependent.com/639/updated-new-complaint-filed-against-trailhead-alleging-money-laundering

There is no such thing in America as a National voting system. Official elections for national, state and local offices are run by each state. State elections are over seen by the state’s Secretary of State, often a partisan appointees. Caucuses are run by party official of particular political parties. On a National scale, our state and political party election processes are broken. They are full of errors, conflicts of interest and insecure voting practices. As we move forward in the 2012 campaign season we should take every opportunity to study the voting process in every state and raise public awareness of every questionable practice or system failure until there is enough public support to constitutionally reform how elections are conducted in this country.

GoTo "A Voters Bill of Rights:  http://bit.ly/xZJpI9

ADDENDUM:

Maine GOP Show How Not To Do Democracy (Again) 

The Atlantic, February 17, 2012

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/02/maine-gop-shows-how-not-to-do-democracy-again/253284/

The last time we check The State's Republican Party was frantically defending its decision to disenfranchise GOP voters whose caucus was postponed due to snow last weekend. There's been some good news and bad news since then.

SUMMARY:

The good news: Chairman Charlie Webster has announced that the results of Washington County's caucus, which is scheduled for Saturday, will be included in the straw poll of presidential support

The bad news: The results on Saturday may have been even more tainted than the original critics presumed. The party has admitted that some results were missing because they were caught in email spam filters, and there were other counting errors in jurisdictions across the state. Webster said Friday that a recount had not changed Romney's win, although the new vote total hasn't been released yet.

DATA DRIVEN VIEW POINTS COMMENTARY:

Would you hire any of these GOP bunglers to run a general election. You may say, “Who cares that party bosses screw up their caucus voting as long as my state’s general election is OK.” But when you elect these party candidates for state office, this collection of vote bunglers come with them and run things!!! The Republican Party is highlighted here because there is no real contest this year in the Democratic Party, but both parties show amazing disrespect for the democratic process. This mishandling of the vote in nearly every state so far this year should sound the alarm bells for citizens everywhere.