Kerry's people learned the lesson from the Bushies.  Bush declared victory and put together a transition team so that anything Gore's people did looked like an attempt to steal the election from the rightful winner.

One thing I think we have to do is demand the vote totals for each state down to the precinct level.  Some states offer this, and some don't, but there are rarely rules to require or prohibit this detail.  With enough noise, we can get it, and then we'd have strong suggestive evidence of touchscreen fraud if there was any.

Gore was a gentleman and bowed out. But Kerry has killed men who threatened him. When is the last time a man like that was elected President?

We're going to have to fight till the last dog dies.

Or does this sound better planned than our campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq?

-John.

What a sad and sorry commentary on our times. To not do this would be foolish and imprudent indeed. Knowing he'll need it demonstrates JKs very firm grasp on reality and the times he lives in. I'm glad he's up for it, it would turn my stomach.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/special_packages/election2004/9951952.htm

Is that the sound of lawyers circling, flapping their bat-like little wings?

I'm trying to figure out what state a small group of people assisting GOTV would be most helpful for Oct 31-Nov 2.  I wish there was more info on Colorado since that looks like an opportunity for not only a potential steal, but also to pick up a senate seat.

I guess the question is "Where is the race the tightest that could use some help?"  Even if the question can't be answered - where does one turn for additional info?

Thanks.

to read this and see that they are ready to stand and fight. I'm falling in love with my party again!  Is there a place we can donate to help out?

So Kerry and the Red Sox both played the same way: drive your fans to despair by falling behind early, then somehow rally at the end.  Is this "strong finisher" trait some kind of cue to the Massachusetts mind?  Do Boston garbage collectors kill time for 80% of their shift, maybe even throw some garbage back out of the truck, and then somehow get it all done in the final hours?

Maybe IQs are so high there that everyone gets bored until they're losing, like gifted kids in school.

I hope Kerry doesn't do foreign policy like this.

Peace, JW

JW

There is more than one Election Protection organization. First is the Kerry-Edwards-DNC Election Protection Task Force, a crack team of lawyers such as Eric Holder and Ron Kirk who will manage any overall legal challenges and strategies (no Warren C, this time, whew -- this is no job for a statesman). They have teams of lawyers recruited and trained, but may always need more.

Then there's the DNC's Voting Rights Initiative, open to all kinds of volunteers:
http://www.democrats.org/vri/volunteer/index.html

There's also, tangentially, the 160 OSCE monitors who will be spread out across the US looking at whether best practices are followed. They can't challenge results, but they can report problems afterward for Congress and the President to act on.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/08/08/international.observers/

Then there are the private groups. The one you linked is explicity non-partisan.

There's Election Protection itself:
http://www.electionprotectionvolunteer.org/electionprotection/index.cfm?mktcode=EI001
(Common Cause/Working Assets/PFAW)
Also via:
http://www.electionprotection2004.org/
(These guys are focusing on areas with concentratinos of fraud, vote suppression, etc., such as minority-heavy cities.)

Voters Unite!
http://www.votersunite.org/
(Verified Voting spinoff -- opposed to computer ballots)

VoteWatch:
http://www.votewatch.us/

And a Vote Watch resource page:
http://vote2004.eriposte.com/

I know there are a couple of others, too, but I can't pull them all up just now.

but I responded to an e-mail asking lawyers to volunteer for KE04 election protection and all I've gotten are the usual campaign e-mails, only delivered to my work e-mail instead of my home or blog e-mails.  And I'm in Colorado.  So I wonder what the heck is really going on.

As I found when analyzing Florida 2000 data, there were frequent and very suspicious surges in many precincts for Nader and others. In Seminole county precinct 28, 429 voters suddenly appeared out of nowhere during the recount.  1015 voters are listed in precinct 28 in the Senate and other race lists, However, 1444 people are listed as voted on the presidential recount data sheet.  In total, 620 additional voters were mysteriously added to the votes casted list.  I guess there were alot of problems with precinct 28s voting machines?  But fortunately Seminole county vote counters recounted late into the morning on November 9th with Republican congressman John Mica himself overseeing the process.  From the Orlando Sentinel, "they were running each individual ballot through the voting machines.  Any ballot the machine rejected was then examined by hand, and if the will of the voter could be determined, they prepared a new ballot to replace the original rejected ballot and added this newly created ballot to the count."  Very convienient indeed, Seminole county was the last county to report and the additional 384 votes(net 98 votes for Bush)gave Bush his 327 vote lead which would have been erased by Gore's additional 286 votes.  Before the Seminole county recount Bush led by only 229 votes, Gore's additional 286 votes would have given Gore a 57 vote lead at the end of the first recount.

Bush's recount leaders-------
Seminole county: 384 votes
Polk County: 194 votes
Volusia county: 143 votes
Palm Beach county: 105 votes
Martin county:106 votes
Dade county: 77 votes
Okolusa: 50 votes

Good thing Seminole came through in a clutch since only 6 out of 67 counties delivered more than 50 additional votes for Mr. Bush.