Monsanto Pulling Illegal Vote Counters Into Oregon GMO Recount?
By Christina Sarich | Natural Society
Monsanto Caught ‘Playing Dirty’
At least three counties have thrown out election observers which Monsanto and their cronies flew into Oregon to influence the current recount of votes for Measure 92 to label genetically modified foods.
According to Oregon law, only registered voters can serve as recount observers. In at least 3 counties, Monsanto’s out of state political operatives have been forced to leave the recount room. Who knows what other shady tactics they have employed.
The law requires all election observers to be from within the state. As of this writing, there are only 812 votes between the ‘No’ and ‘Yes’ sides of the labeling debate in Oregon. More than 3000 outstanding ballots had to be chased down and clarified for the recount. More than 1.5 million ballots had to be counted by hand starting last Tuesday, and workers have until December 12 to finish the recount, though some counties are expected to finish earlier.
In 22 statewide recounts around the U.S. since 2000, the average shift was only 0.03 percentage point, according to FairVote, a Maryland-based advocacy group. But this election seems to be following a different trend. The initial difference of 812 votes out of 1.5 million is already suspect, and many of the contested votes have fallen on the ‘yes to label’ side. Long-time KGW political analyst Len Bergstein now says that he believes the YES side will be victorious!
Oregon’s GMO labeling Measure 92 was originally reported defeated thanks to Monsanto’s onslaught of more than $22 million dollars in negative ads. But the measure is still alive.
If you want to ensure that Monsanto doesn’t win again with their funny money and manipulative political tactics, you can contribute by chipping in to the Yes on 92 Emergency Recount Response Fund to help us make sure every vote is recounted fairly and accurately.
Even if the YES to label wins, you can bet Monsanto and the GMA will sue Oregon just as they have in Vermont and Hawaii, but at least they will have to launch multiple lawsuits at once. If we keep adding the pressure, at some point they have to surrender. Keep it up!