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Was the 2004 Presidential Election Stolen?: Exit Polls, Election Fraud, and the Official Count
On the afternoon of election day 2004, the world was abuzz with the news: exit polls indicated that John Kerry would decisively win the election and become the next president of the United States. That proved not to be the case.
According to the official count—the number of votes tallied, not necessarily the number of votes cast—George W. Bush beat Kerry by a margin of three million votes. The exit polls, however, had predicted a margin of victory for Kerry of five million votes. Occurrences of vote manipulation, vote suppression, and outright election fraud were alleged at the local level in many precincts throughout Ohio and other "battleground" states.
Where the controversy of the 2000 presidential election had come about as the result of an extremely close race, in 2004 the irregularities were widespread and appeared to follow a clear pattern. Why then did the Democrats concede the election early the next morning? Why has there been no investigation by any major news organization? What does it say about our democracy when the slot machine industry is more strictly regulated than our electronic voting machines?
Was the 2004 Presidential Election Stolen? analyzes the available data, and attempts to answer the question of whether America's sitting president was inaugurated after winning, or losing the 2004 presidential race.
According to the official count—the number of votes tallied, not necessarily the number of votes cast—George W. Bush beat Kerry by a margin of three million votes. The exit polls, however, had predicted a margin of victory for Kerry of five million votes. Occurrences of vote manipulation, vote suppression, and outright election fraud were alleged at the local level in many precincts throughout Ohio and other "battleground" states.
Where the controversy of the 2000 presidential election had come about as the result of an extremely close race, in 2004 the irregularities were widespread and appeared to follow a clear pattern. Why then did the Democrats concede the election early the next morning? Why has there been no investigation by any major news organization? What does it say about our democracy when the slot machine industry is more strictly regulated than our electronic voting machines?
Was the 2004 Presidential Election Stolen? analyzes the available data, and attempts to answer the question of whether America's sitting president was inaugurated after winning, or losing the 2004 presidential race.
- GenresNonfictionPolitics
288 pages, Paperback
First published June 6, 2006
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About the author
Steven F. Freeman
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There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 22, 2024
WAS ELECTION FRAUD "PART OF THE BUSH-CHENEY ARSENAL"?
Steven Freeman did the research and analysis in the book; Joel Bleifuss is editor of 'In These Times.'
This 2006 book early on cites the report of the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee (the Republicans declined to participate), 'Preserving Democracy: Went Wrong in Ohio,' which charged that "massive and unprecedented voter irregularities and anomalies in Ohio... were caused by intentional misconduct and illegal behavior, much of it involving Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell." (Pg. 5) Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean noted that many of the alleged irregularities (e.g., malfunctioning voting machines; excessively long lines to vote, etc.) affected African-American voters. (Pg. 6)
The authors look back on the hotly contested 2000 election in Florida, and note that the nonprofit National Opinion Research Center studied the 2000 election, and their data "reveals that despite all the legally and illegally disenfranchised voters, and despite the other obstacles faced by Democratic voters, including the butterfly ballot and blockades, Gore would not only have won, but would have done so by a large margin, almost 50,000 votes." (Pg. 41)
They also point out, "if fraud were part of the 2004 Bush-Cheney Campaign arsenal, it would be more aggressively used ... in the critical swing states of Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania... consistent with a hypothesis of election fraud, the average WPD (Within Precinct Disparity) in the eleven battleground states is significantly higher than in noncompetitive states." (Pg. 138)
They conclude, "the way to restore people's already damaged confidence in our democracy is to pose these questions, to investigate them with all available resources, and then to begin a public debate, since what is at stake is not only the outcome of the last presidential election, but also our future as a democracy and our identity as a people." (Pg. 145)
Very fact-filled (which can make it "dry" reading), this is an excellent analysis of the 2004 election controversy.
Steven Freeman did the research and analysis in the book; Joel Bleifuss is editor of 'In These Times.'
This 2006 book early on cites the report of the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee (the Republicans declined to participate), 'Preserving Democracy: Went Wrong in Ohio,' which charged that "massive and unprecedented voter irregularities and anomalies in Ohio... were caused by intentional misconduct and illegal behavior, much of it involving Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell." (Pg. 5) Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean noted that many of the alleged irregularities (e.g., malfunctioning voting machines; excessively long lines to vote, etc.) affected African-American voters. (Pg. 6)
The authors look back on the hotly contested 2000 election in Florida, and note that the nonprofit National Opinion Research Center studied the 2000 election, and their data "reveals that despite all the legally and illegally disenfranchised voters, and despite the other obstacles faced by Democratic voters, including the butterfly ballot and blockades, Gore would not only have won, but would have done so by a large margin, almost 50,000 votes." (Pg. 41)
They also point out, "if fraud were part of the 2004 Bush-Cheney Campaign arsenal, it would be more aggressively used ... in the critical swing states of Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania... consistent with a hypothesis of election fraud, the average WPD (Within Precinct Disparity) in the eleven battleground states is significantly higher than in noncompetitive states." (Pg. 138)
They conclude, "the way to restore people's already damaged confidence in our democracy is to pose these questions, to investigate them with all available resources, and then to begin a public debate, since what is at stake is not only the outcome of the last presidential election, but also our future as a democracy and our identity as a people." (Pg. 145)
Very fact-filled (which can make it "dry" reading), this is an excellent analysis of the 2004 election controversy.
July 27, 2023
To the victor go the spoils, though most Americans are aware of that anymore. In the evermore divided political state of the Union, distrust is easy to sow as politicians and the media work together in their clearly biased ways to influence one half of the population this way or that. According to the statistics shown in this book, we, as a nation, have been steadily declining for more than two decades as each election passes. It’s interesting to see the troubles of the ‘04 election, and terrifying to see the possible implications of the ‘24 election.
November 29, 2008
Lots of statistics suggesting something funny was going on. Convincing if you can trust the exit polling data.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews