Since my first post questioning the voter turnout and other anomalies in Alaska's election, I've been accused of all sorts of things. I have been misquoted in the Anchorage Daily News. They claimed I wrote the election was "stolen." I wrote "Stolen Election in Alaska?" It wasn't the word, it was the punctuation.
But there is good reason to be concerned. A lawsuit filed in 2006 in State Superior Court to release the Diebold GEMS Software from 2004 revealed the database had been tampered with. Unfortunately, the user log-in and password were set to the default settings so it was impossible to tell who had edited the software numerous times post election, since all entries were made by "administrator" with password: "password". So it's not too outrageous for anybody to believe it's important, this time, to pay very close attention to the results of last Tuesday's election...
Since Election Day, the votes have been rolling in to the Division of Elections. They are now reporting 90,635 ballots remaining to be counted; nearly 29 percent (28.8%) of the total vote has not been counted yet.
Though closer to the total votes cast in 2004, the turnout percentage is still down from that election in which neither our own Governor nor Barack Obama were running. The total ballot count is at 314,268, with turnout at 63.3% (registered voters = 495,731). Turnout in the 2004 General was 66.6%, with 314,502 voting and 472,160 registered voters statewide. If 100% of the requested mail-out ballots are returned in time to be counted, we can expect about 3600 more.
I'm proud of the Alaskan mail-in voters. They really seem to have shown up this year. All the envelope licking and stamping, well, it's impressive! According to the newest numbers from the state, 92% of those who requested absentee ballots have now returned them! Fantastic! You betcha. I wonder what GOTV worked so well, since the 2004 return rate was dismal by comparison. A total of 58,559 absentee ballots were mailed to voters and just 32,075 were returned by the deadline in 2004. That was a pitiful 52%. Hard pressed to figure out why there was such an increase in absentee voter participation this year, while turnout by voters at the polls was so low.
The BRAD BLOG : Alaska's New Numbers: Still Very Stinky
But there is good reason to be concerned. A lawsuit filed in 2006 in State Superior Court to release the Diebold GEMS Software from 2004 revealed the database had been tampered with. Unfortunately, the user log-in and password were set to the default settings so it was impossible to tell who had edited the software numerous times post election, since all entries were made by "administrator" with password: "password". So it's not too outrageous for anybody to believe it's important, this time, to pay very close attention to the results of last Tuesday's election...
Since Election Day, the votes have been rolling in to the Division of Elections. They are now reporting 90,635 ballots remaining to be counted; nearly 29 percent (28.8%) of the total vote has not been counted yet.
Though closer to the total votes cast in 2004, the turnout percentage is still down from that election in which neither our own Governor nor Barack Obama were running. The total ballot count is at 314,268, with turnout at 63.3% (registered voters = 495,731). Turnout in the 2004 General was 66.6%, with 314,502 voting and 472,160 registered voters statewide. If 100% of the requested mail-out ballots are returned in time to be counted, we can expect about 3600 more.
I'm proud of the Alaskan mail-in voters. They really seem to have shown up this year. All the envelope licking and stamping, well, it's impressive! According to the newest numbers from the state, 92% of those who requested absentee ballots have now returned them! Fantastic! You betcha. I wonder what GOTV worked so well, since the 2004 return rate was dismal by comparison. A total of 58,559 absentee ballots were mailed to voters and just 32,075 were returned by the deadline in 2004. That was a pitiful 52%. Hard pressed to figure out why there was such an increase in absentee voter participation this year, while turnout by voters at the polls was so low.
The BRAD BLOG : Alaska's New Numbers: Still Very Stinky
