The Election has Not Yet Started...

...But it looks like the theft of the Election has started already. Greg Palast, the man who reported in detail on the theft of the 2000 Election, has already discovered a few interesting occurrences.

It's not even Election Day yet, and the Kerry-Edwards campaign is already down by a almost a million votes. That's because, in important states like Ohio, Florida and New Mexico, voter names have been systematically removed from the rolls and absentee ballots have been overlooked—overwhelmingly in minority areas, like Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, where Hispanic voters have a 500 percent greater chance of their vote being "spoiled." Investigative journalist Greg Palast reports on the trashing of the election.

Some noteworthy things seem to be happening in Colorado.

Colorado Secretary of State Donetta Davidson just weeks ago removed several thousand voters from the state's voter rolls. She tagged felons as barred from voting. What makes this particularly noteworthy is that, unlike like Florida and a handful of other Deep South states, Colorado does not bar ex-cons from voting. Only those actually serving their sentence lose their rights.

There's no known, verified case of a Colorado convict voting illegally from the big house. Because previous purges have wiped away the rights of innocents, federal law now bars purges within 90 days of a presidential election to allow a voter to challenge their loss of civil rights.

To exempt her action from the federal rule, Secretary Davidson declared an "emergency." However, the only "emergency" in Colorado seems to be President Bush's running dead, even with John Kerry in the polls.

Why the sudden urge to purge? Davidson's chief of voting law enforcement is Drew Durham, who previously worked for the attorney general of Texas. This is what the former spokeswoman for the Lone Star state's attorney general says of Mr. Durham: He is, "unfit for public office... a man with a history of racism and ideological zealotry." Sounds just right for a purge that affects, in the majority, non-white voters.

From my own and government investigations of such purge lists, it is unlikely that this one contains many, if any, illegal voters.

But it does contain Democrats. The Dems may not like to shout about this, but studies indicate that 90-some percent of people who have served time for felonies will, after prison, vote Democratic. One suspects Colorado's Republican secretary of state knows that.

So it appears that some people are already busy at work to use statistics and dirty trick to one party's advantage,- namely, the Republicans.

I think this writing by Mr Palast is a must read for anyone concerned with the democracy in America. Personally, I find myself equally appalled and outraged by any kind of voter purging, regardless of who the perpetrator is. If you happen to know of an instance of election tampering by democrats, feel free to contact me with your stories, and if they are noteworthy I will publish them too.

However, as it appears at the moment, it is the Republicans who are mostly doing it,- from Republican election officials to the CEO of Diebold committing to deliver victory for Bush.