Berkeley Researchers Challenge Bush win in Florida
Sunday, November 21, 2004 at 03:55AM
TheSpook
Study indicates
electronic voting machines may have awarded 130,000 - 260,000 or more
in excess votes to Bush in Florida
Electronic voting machines in Florida may have awarded
George W. Bush up to 260,000 more votes than he should have received,
according to statistical analysis conducted by University of
California, Berkeley graduate students and a professor, who released a
study on Thursday. The researchers likened their report to a beeping
smoke alarm and called on Florida officials to examine the data and the
voting systems in counties that used touch-screen voting machines to
provide an explanation for the anomalies. The researchers examined the
same numbers and variables in Ohio, but found no discrepancies there.
Their aim in releasing the report, the researchers said, was not to
attack the results of the 2004 election in Florida, where Bush won by
350,000 votes, but to prompt election officials and the public to
examine the e-voting systems and address the fact that there is no way
to conduct a meaningful recount on the paperless machines. The analysis
-- which hasn't been formally peer-reviewed, but was examined by seven
professors -- showed a discrepancy in the number of votes Bush received
in counties that used the touch-screen machines and counties that used
other types of voting equipment. The researchers examined numerous
variables that might have affected the vote outcome. These included the
number of voters, their median income, racial and age makeup and the
change in voter turnout between the 2000 and 2004 elections. Using this
information, they examined election results for the Republican and
Democratic presidential candidates in the state in 1996, 2000 and 2004
to see how support for those candidates and parties measured over eight
years in Florida's 67 counties. [more] and [more] and[more] and[more]
Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).
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