Bradblog: Another 'Hole' Plugged in the Clint Curtis/Tom Feeney Vote-Rigging Scandal via Dan Rather

Hissyspit

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Tue Aug-28-07 12:08 PM
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Bradblog: Another 'Hole' Plugged in the Clint Curtis/Tom Feeney Vote-Rigging Scandal via Dan Rather

Edited on Tue Aug-28-07 12:12 PM by Hissyspit

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4994#more-4994

BLOGGED BY Brad Friedman ON 8/28/2007 8:05AM
Another 'Hole' Plugged in the Clint Curtis/Tom Feeney Vote-Rigging Scandal via Dan Rather Report on Sequoia's Gaming of Florida Punchcards in 2000

ALSO: More Feeney Lies, Ethical Problems Revealed as Florida 'Vote-Rigging' Software Firm Owner Contributes $5000 to the Corrupt Congressman's Abramoff Legal Defense Fund...

By Brad Friedman from on the road in Burlington, CO...

http://www.imgred.com/

The recent Dan Rather report (complete video here) on the gaming of the paper punchcard ballots by Sequoia Voting Systems in Florida, just prior to the 2000 election, plugs up at least one important "hole" in the Clint Curtis story. We first broke Curtis' story back in late 2004 and have been reporting on it ever since.

You'll recall that Curtis alleged --- in sworn affidavit , live video-taped testimony before a U.S. House Judiciary delegation, and via polygraph test --- that he was asked by Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) to create a touch-screen vote-rigging prototype program, just months prior to the 2000 election when they both worked at the same Florida software firm.

One of the main criticisms of Curtis' striking allegations was that "nobody was even thinking about touch-screen voting systems in Florida prior to the 2000 Presidential Election debacle."

Dan Rather's remarkable investigative report, however, would seem to indicate otherwise: seven Sequoia company whistleblowers reveal on camera that, despite their objections, they were forced to use poor quality paper for the punchcards to be used in Florida in 2000. They also revealed that they had been instructed to deliberately mis-align the chads for ballots going to Palm Beach County, FL only.

As well, another recent revelation puts the lie to Feeney's claim, made years ago, that he no longer had anything to do with the owners of the Oviedo, Florida firm where he was their general counsel and registered lobbyist in 2000 (even as he served as Speaker of the FL House at the same time). Curtis was employed as a computer programmer for the company, which had multi-million dollar contracts with both the state and NASA, where Feeney's wife has worked for several years.

- snip -

In mis-reporting the exclusive news that Curtis had successfully passed a polygraph test concerning these matters back in April of 2005, St. Petersburg Times' Pulitzer Prize winning political reporter Lucy Morgan wrote:

Feeney says he doesn't recall ever meeting Curtis and never had a conversation with anyone about fixing elections.

Feeney also points out that touch screen machines were not even contemplated before November 2000, when widely used punch card machines contributed to 36 days of uncertainty over the presidential election.

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RaleighNCDUer

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Tue Aug-28-07 12:14 PM
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1. Why is this the first time, after 6 1/2 long years, I've heard of the

Sequoia whistleblowers?

I always wondered why there should suddenly be so many problems with a voting technology that had been around for decades. Deliberately used low-grade cardstock - deliberately misaligned chads. Wow.

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Hissyspit

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Tue Aug-28-07 12:16 PM
Response to Reply #1

2. That's what the Sequoia Whistleblowers said in the report!

Why did it take this long for someone to ask us?

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