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Making Votes Count: Is a Theft of the 2004 Election Already Underway?
Nader vs. Anybody But Bush: A Debate on Ralph Nader's Candidacy
Making Votes Count: Is a Theft of the 2004 Election
Already Underway?
We speak with New York Times editorial writer Adam Cohen
about voter suppression and fraud in the 2004 election. From
U.S. soldiers being told to use non-secret ballots to the
Pentagon counting the votes of the military and U.S. citizens
living abroad. From partisan secretaries of state overseeing
the election to Homeland Security preventing new U.S. citizens
from registering and much more. [includes rush
transcript - partial]
One week from today, millions of American will enter the
polls in one of the most hotly fought presidential races in
U.S. history. Already thousands of people of begun voting
in some two dozen states. And as some predict an unusually
high voter turnout, there are widespread concerns of all votes
being counted and the possibility of a fair election:
In Florida, the Department of Homeland Security said new
U.S. citizens could not register to vote on the sidewalk outside
where they were being sworn in.
The Pentagon is telling soldiers to send non-secret ballots
by email to be counted by an outsourced firm.
Thousands of GOP election challengers will be placed at polling
places across the country to question voter eligibility.
And electronic voting machines will count nearly a third
of this year's votes - all without a paper trail.
Today, one week before the November 2nd election, we continue
to look at issues of voter protection.
- Adam Cohen, editorial writer for The New York Times.
He has been traveling across the country ahead of next week's
presidential election monitoring voting problems. He is
leading The New York Times special coverage called "Making
Votes Count"
Nader vs. Anybody But Bush: A Debate on Ralph Nader's
Candidacy
We host a debate on Ralph Nader's candidacy with nationally-syndicated
columnist and former Nader supporter, Norman Solomon and Ralph
Nader's press secretary Kevin Zeese.
With a week to go before the November 2 election, the race
for the White House appears to be heading into a dead heat.
Most major polls put President Bush and John Kerry neck and
neck. Both candidates have more or less stopped traveling
to any states not designated as battleground states and have
consolidated their efforts in a few key pockets of the country.
Their campaign buses pass through places like Pennsylvania,
Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin and Colorado. These states also get
bombarded with campaign TV ads. But as Bush and Kerry crisscross
the swing states eating pancakes, hunting geese and visiting
factories, they are not alone. Well, maybe when it comes to
hunting geese.
Independent Presidential candidate Ralph Nader is heading
into the final stretch of his campaign. And like the two major
party candidates, his calendar is all about the battleground
states. Nader's candidacy has been marked by constant, almost
daily battles to win ballot access. According to Nader's website,
he is on the ballot in 34 states. He has charged the Democratic
party with operating a dirty tricks campaign against his candidacy.
The head of the Democratic National Committee, Terry McAuliffe
and other party leaders have charged that Nader's is a vanity
campaign that could help Bush retain power. Nader says his
candidacy hurts Bush more than Kerry. But it's not just the
Democrats mobilizing against Nader. Many of his most prominent
supporters from his previous campaigns have jumped ship this
year. People like Michael Moore, Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky,
Phil Donohue, Tim Robbins and Cornell West to name a few.
Many of them have signed onto a letter urging people to vote
for John Kerry in all swing states, saying "For people
seeking progressive social change in the United States, removing
George W. Bush from office should be the top priority in the
2004 presidential election. Progressive votes for John Kerry
in swing states may prove decisive in attaining this vital
goal."
Today, we are going to spend the rest of the hour debating
Ralph Nader's candidacy.
- Kevin Zeese, Ralph
Nader's press secretary. He joins us from Washington
DC.
- Norman Solomon, nationally-syndicated columnist. He supported
Nader in 1996 and 2000. This year, along with 70 prominent
progressives who previously supported Nader, he signed onto
a letter calling on people to vote for John Kerry in swing
states. He is organizing progressives to urge Ralph Nader
to drop out of the race.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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