Kaz, I fibbed! This was too good to pass up. Must stay away from reading newsSorry :(Turkey's main opposition parties are engaging in behaviour typically characterized as You can't have your cake and eat it too" DS
An official report signed by ballot box officials in Istanbul's Ümraniye district on April 16, 2017 shows that CHP and Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) members, Hasan Çelik and Olcay Emir respectively, accepted that the ballots were not stamped but they were indeed authentic.
CHP and HDP members, named above, at the polling station signed an official statement accepting that unstamped ballots were both acceptable and authentic
The report indicates that 48 ballots in ballot-box numbered 3017 were unstamped. "We have unanimously agreed on the validity of the [unstamped] ballots as there is no uncertainty regarding the voters' will," the report read, indicating that although the ballots were not stamped, they were indeed valid and represented the decision of the voters.
Let's talk about this.
- If CHP and HDP party members were so very concerned about unstamped ballots why did they allow the ballots to be cast?
- Did someone else require the accountability of these two party members as a condition for this allowance to be made? Were observers from other parties present?
- What were the circumstances surrounding the request for these unstamped ballots to beused and cast?
- -Were CHP and HDP party members aware of who the voters were and what their vote may be?
I was a scrutineer at a provincial election some years ago, as stated previously, in my more naive days. One of my siblings and I had volunteered to assist. It seems sensible to me that an observer or scrutineer indicated to CHP/HDP party members they had to sign off on allowing these unstamped ballots to be case.48 ballots in one ballot box? Could the CHP/HDP party have allowed this at others polls?Perhaps this is how it is they've come up with the as many as 2.5 million ballots claim? Apparently this is not the first time unstamped ballots have appeared in elections including previous appeals by CHP to have unstamped ballots accepted
" The YSK on Wednesday rejected appeals by main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and the Patriotic Party (Vatan Partisi) to cancel the April 16 referendum over the debate on unstamped ballots, and a look at previous election decisions shows that this was not the first time. The board had previously accepted unstamped ballots as valid, upon necessary inquiry and investigation confirming the authenticity of ballots. Opposition parties, including the CHP had even appealed to the board in previous elections to count unstamped ballots as valid"
In the 2015 general elections, the CHP submitted an appeal to the provincial election board when the district election board in Istanbul's Maltepe district decided to consider unstamped ballots as invalid. The provincial election board ruled in favor of the CHP and declared the unstamped ballots as valid."
Making all this carrying on about these so called "unstamped ballots" a red herring as well as the BIG LIE- It's a BIG red herring LIE! Basically a fallacy of distraction. Here's what we know based on all the news reports the last few days- Yvet garnered the majority support- Unstamped ballots were used in referendum and their use was okayed by opposition parties, allowing for 48 ballots, in one ballot box alone.-Unstamped ballots have been accepted in other elections- In fact the CHP has appealed for them to be considered as valid on previous occasions-The article continues on
"YSK's precedents also show that the board has declared unstamped ballots valid after inquiries confirmed the authenticity of ballots. For instance, in the 1984 local elections, the County Election Council in the town of Akçaalan in Kütahya province declared all votes without stamps were invalid, but the Social Democracy Party submitted a petition to deem the ballots valid. Upon investigating the request, the YSK said that there was no doubt about the authenticity of the unstamped ballots and that it was the Ballot Box Committee's mistake, ruling that the unstamped ballots are indeed valid.
In the 1994 local elections, ballot box committees in Ankara failed to stamp ballots and the County Election Council (CEC) declared that all votes cast with unstamped ballots were invalid, upon objection by the True Path Party. Two applicants then appealed the results to the YSK, which then announced that the aforementioned ballots were valid, in a decision saying that the purpose of Law No. 298 and Circular No. 138 is to prevent election fraud, but that the lack of stamps was the ballot box officials' fault and that an investigation has shown that the aforementioned ballots were indeed authentic. Also in 1994, a similar decision was made for the Salkım town in Nizip, Gaziantep.
In the 2004 local elections, a total of 145 ballots unstamped by the ballot box committee were also declared invalid in southern Mersin province and the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) submitted a petition to annul election results. However, the YSK ruled that the aforementioned ballots were valid and ordered a recount for the purpose of declaring the winner.
From earlier today
About those Trump Claims that USS Carl Vinson was "steaming" to North Korea..
And last night: