Wednesday, August 10, 2011

HST Voter Turnout - Secret Warehouse Lets Sun Shine In!

AllTheScrutineersThatDon'tFit
E-BCVille


Yup.

That's right.

The image above actually shows the super secret warehouse and the seventy fine folks who are participating in the Oompa-Loompalooza (i.e. counting and verifying the HST referendum ballots).

How do we know this for sure?

Because the image above is, apparently, an official E-BC photo furnished to Black Press' "BC Local News Group".

Interestingly, the hyperbole about the number of ballots received, based on breathless bits of stenography from the proMedia that we commented on ad nauseum earlier in the week, has now receded such that the tagline on the image states that 'officials' report that turnout has been 'steady'.

What the heckfire does 'steady' actually mean anyway?

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Interestingly, however, E-BC has changed the turnout report goalposts.

Again.

Specifically, Tom Fletcher today reported that the turnout, along with the number of requests for replacement ballots (oooh goody, more 'Look, we are legitimate!'data are being dangled in front of noses) will be announced next week instead of first yesterday and then today.

And here is something else you may not have known.....

Apparently Mr. Craig James and the other good people of E-BC are doing a fraud check by randomly calling 6000 people who have 'allegedly' mailed in their ballots.

Hmmmmm.....

And if, say, five, or even fifteen, of those 6,000 can't remember the correct day/month/year order of their birthdate in HST referendum-ese, and/or think a telemarketer is calling and thus just say 'No' to any and all questions, will these then be trumpeted as evidence widespread fraud?

I mean it's not like the James' Gang has not tried to make hay out extremely small percentages of 'alleged' wrongdoers in the past, right?

Wrong......

The following is an excerpt from a post I wrote last fall after Mr. James' raised the spectre of fraud in the original anti-HST petition process, a process run almost totally by amateurs/volunteers, based on very, very small percentages:

".....The 'allegedly' legitimate 'acting' head of Elections BC, Mr. Craig James, came out swinging accusatory haymakers earlier this week because he and his had apparently identified some 2,208 registered voters that had signed the anti-HST petition more than once.

Which is way less than one percent.

But get this....Mr. James could only identify 38 registered voters that had signed petitions more than 3 times.

That, at approximately 0.005%, is absolutely infinitesimal.

As is the fact that only 7 of more than 6,500 canvassers (ie. approximately 0.1%) could even be 'accused' of 'alleged' improprieties.

In other words, rather than being slagged and dragged through the mud of the public prints, the schlock of the talk radio Watercarriers and the the clattering dentures of the hairdoos on the TeeVee, the overwhelming majority of the folks on the ground, who are the ones who have really made the tax revolt work, should instead be celebrated on high, by all of us, for their trustworthiness.

Heckfire.

Could you imagine if 99.9% of our provincial politicians and/or their handlers could be counted on to demonstrate such upstanding behaviour?..."


Of course, in the meantime I, for one, am still waiting, with baited Steno Sue-type breath, for those daily paper-cut count reports (see photo above, and recall all that envelope armour you applied, correctly or incorrectly, after marking your ballot).


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5 comments:

North Van's Grumps said...

Each one of those boxes equals one riding.... ABS equates to Abbotsford South http://www.elections.bc.ca/docs/map/redis11/edva/ABS_EDVA_MAP1of5.pdf

BNN means Burnaby North http://www.elections.bc.ca/docs/map/redis11/edva/BNN_EDVA_MAP1of1.pdf


The links above are Elections BC latest Redistribution maps dated August 8th, 2011... mandatory by law for August 4th, 2011.

What was the last day to cast your HST ballot?

HST Referendum voting closed at 4:30 p.m. Friday, August 5, 2011


Hmmmmm Is this why Cristy Clark chose the earlier date than September?

RossK said...

Thanks for the inside info NVG...

Any deeper and I'd have to wonder if, perhaps, you have disguised yourself as member of the Oompa-Loompapalooza brigade...

I actually have my own thoughts on the choice of date and methodology, here.

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Anonymous said...

I have a hunch that the furor from the Craig and media is that someone somewhere has polling info that puts the NO side in the lead and this is the first 'step' in a 'propaganda' campaign to discredit the vote.

Burgess

Anonymous said...

And in steps the federal goon to tell us 5 days after the vote that the hst cant be touched! the yes vote must have been overwhelming for the libs to put in a call to Mr harper?, my god are we doomed
they can change the rules circumvent whatever law that needs it.. has Jim Flarhety been in a coma all this time when we were busy trying to fill out this stupid mail in ballot what the hell is going on here? the liberals seem to have abdicated all morals except to fluff the pillows of big business.. another thrilling contract brought to you by the bc libs

Anonymous said...

Craig James's second step to discredit the HST vote.

Step 1: announce expectations that the badly-run, confusing, single-issue mail-in referendum will have the same turnout as the last provincial election.

Step 2: Find fraud (gasp) in some tiny fraction of the 6,000 voters he calls. (This will also serve to scare voters from participating in the next referendum. Imagine getting a call from the government about your private secret vote.) This "story" on "fraud" will then play ad nauseum in the mainstream media.

I wonder what step 3 will be? no release of results? discrediting a significant proportion of the votes?

So, as a skeptical citizen:
a) when are we going to see Premier Christy Clark's detailed by election results?
b) how will the mail-in referendum play out by riding? John Cummins please take note for Liberal ridings which will be in in play.