Before addressing the Culver City Democratic Club last night, a late-blooming election-justice expert warned her hometown audience that they did not have to believe what she was going to tell them.
And then, in the tradition of 19th century Johnny Appleseed walking the bucolic countryside, the passionate, charming and eloquent Judy Alter, a retired UCLA professor, scattered her own seeds of several bombshell claims during the next 45 minutes.
She said the ’04 Presidential election was stolen from the Democrats.
Between contrived computerized methodology, a complicated labyrinth linking a computer monopoly to undeniable Republican Party ties, and nightmarish, wildly unreliable counting systems, Democrats hardly had a chance, she concluded.
Further, by her accounting, Republican chicanery denied droves of Democrats their fair victories in the Congressional elections in November of ‘06.
The Democrat John Kerry actually won the popular vote for the White House over President Bush four years ago, Prof. Alter asserts.
Had it not been for anti-Democratic Party computerized voting in the ’06 off-year election, by her research, 354 Democrats would have been elected to the 435-seat House of Representatives.
In a Former Life
Nary a sound was heard from the perhaps cynical, but emphatically sympathetic, crowd, which at least had heard the Kerry claim before.
The accuser of massive fraud and electoral abuse is an inspiringly energetic woman tilting toward 70 years old, if not already there. Prof. Alter lived a long and fruitful academic life in the arts before tumbling into the unrelenting turbulence that drives the deeply committed of all ages who zealously pursue election justice.
A professor of high-powered dance — she earned a Masters in dance 47 years ago — she has taught around the world and across the country.
Exactness Valued
The antithesis of a casual observer, Prof. Alter seems almost fanatically devoted to achieving statistical perfection, which may help explain her commitment to correcting what she regards as disgustingly intolerable electoral imprecision.
For example, she does not merely say that her plunge into the swirling waters of voter fraud was triggered by what she holds was a manipulated outcome to the special gubernatorial election in October of ’03 to choose a successor to the recalled Gray Davis.
Prof. Alter is clear about the date, practically the hour, that she dedicated her life to bannering and correcting this perceived injustice. It was four days after Election Day. Not “a few days” later, but exactly four.
That stands out in one of her biographies.
The Power of Precision
When Democratic Club President Greg Valtierra introduced Prof. Alter, he mentioned an obscure personal statistic in what appeared to be a throwaway line.
Since devoting her life to politics 4 1/2 years ago, Mr. Valtierra said, she has delivered 92 separate talks on election injustice.
Prof. Alter resisted correcting Mr. Valtierra until her first paragraph.
She was much too pleasant to be haughty, but there was a sense of upbraiding when she said, airily, “This is my 102nd talk.”
Prof. Alter is affiliated with the liberal group Election Defense Alliance, an arm of the Malibu-based International Humanities Center, a social and ecological justice organization formed 10 years ago.
She believes voting irregularities are endemic. She insists overt errors occur often enough to create suspicion and swing the results away from Democrats and toward the Republican camp.
The Real Reason
Computerized voting, heavily controlled by GOP sympathizers and operatives, appears to be the true reason for America’s political swing rightward in the early years of the new century, according to Prof. Alter.
In response to a question from former Democratic Club President Tom Camarella as to what ordinary citizens could do to help remedy the perceived electoral chaos, she said:
“We have to work with our legislators to help us get rid of privatized computerized elections.”
This was Prof. Alter’s repeatedly hammered theme — that the computer franchise monopoly, held by the Diebold company and its allies, not only has multiplied incidents of sophisticated fraud but has dirtied the entire election system.
As America moves from public to private vote tabulation, from hand-counting to computerized methods, she said, the integrity of an already questioned system has been further jeopardized.
Light and Darkness
Her classroom experience shone through last night as she cupped the crowd in her hands, start to finish, and never was pedantic or preachy.
However, probably owing to her immense passion for her subject, Prof. Alter became entangled in the weeds a few times. She wandered off the main highway and into details, personalities and situations unfamiliar — and unexplained — to her listeners.
